Racial and Gender Paper Topics in Schools

Racial and Gender Paper Topics in SchoolsAs a child of the 90's, I remember my father telling me all the time about how much he hated the test on race and gender. He made me go to the newspaper and fill out a form and give my opinion on various race and gender topics. In fact, it was only the second time that I actually took this kind of race and gender paper topic test and that is long before I even went to college. Fortunately, I found out why I hated this paper topic, but I didn't.The test was one that we used in school and it was just called the Student Paper Test. It was always designed to test my opinions on various subjects. Everything from whether or not I believed in God to what classes I should take. When it came to race and gender, there were questions about a hypothetical relationship between two girls in a class, like a friendship or two sisters.For example, if there was a study hall on a Thursday and a person did not come to class the next day, the teacher would ask the class 'if your sister was a boy, do you think she would be more interested in science than the other girl?' This article is an example of a real paper topic. Each subject test on race and gender was designed to get the students to say whether or not they agreed with a certain statement.It was very clear that if the teacher did not answer a question with a definite answer, then the teacher would get a point for the students who answered that question with a yes or no. However, if the teacher asked a question and the students had to put their ideas into words, then the students who did not get a yes or no answer, took a different paper topic but still scored as if they agreed with the statement.Although the answers were all pretty similar, this made it clear that if the students did not write down anything to answer the question, they got a real race paper topic. So, the students were graded on the basis of the race and gender paper topics they selected. It was amazing how high the s takes were on the race and gender paper topics. Students were required to think hard on such issues, and obviously the papers were graded on the basis of a written essay and the essay topics.The students who did not get a paper topic to write about did not get a grade, but those who had to answer yes or no were graded on the basis of their ability to think and write on race and gender. Some students may not have realized how high the stakes were on this race and gender paper topics until they saw them on the teacher's chart. As a result, they ended up with a paper topic that did not offer them much input, which in turn resulted in them getting a lower grade than students who did write a paper topic.Unfortunately, race and gender paper topics are still a common way to grade students. While some papers are meant to be funny, others are designed to test students on their knowledge of ideas, which in turn makes the race and gender paper topics more important.Race and gender paper topics are obviously still very popular in schools and colleges today. A good idea for teachers is to take a look at what race and gender topics are commonly being used today, then ask students how they feel about the topic. They will probably tell you that they disagree with the topic but it is difficult to get past this prejudice against any topic that is used in education.