The world in conversation project at Penn State University

      My older brother Habib once told me that his high school English teacher stated a "valid" comment on the ability of students to write based on their race. Her exact words were, " I can tell the difference between an English essay written by a black student from an English essay written by a white student." From a technical perspective, how many black or white students has this high school teacher had, for her to base and reason the capability of the prose and language of her particular students essays, and generalize it as the same capability of racial groups all over the Nation? She is effectively rational indeed. Her reason for black students not being able to write effectively was because blacks usually communicate in ebonics. Therefore, Asians, Latinos and Caucasians do not speak in colloquial terms. Before, I continue to enumerate the reasons this teacher deserves praise, I want to discuss an interesting project that was done at Pennsylvania State University which highlights the ambiguities in stereotypes.
On September 14, 2011 the communication classes at Penn State met together to discuss the topic of race. At the beginning of the conversation the students were afraid to speak up. However, as the conversation progressed the emotions and conflicts that each us had to face with our experiences of racism began to illuminate. One of the African American females in the room explained how she felt when she was the only African American in an English class. "I felt like I had to prove I was educated to represent blacks in a  positive way," she stated.