Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

   One of the microagression's I have personally experience is the being a minority. Even though I am a white woman, I was seen as a minority at my high school because my high school consisted of blacks and hispanics. I can understand how Alejandro feels about being a minority because when I was in high school I was a minority myself. At most times I felt left out because there was nobody of my same race attending school. It was also hard for me to apply for scholarships because most scholarships were for hispanics and blacks only.
One incident I remember clearly when I was in high school was that I was told I could not apply for the Summer Bridge Program because of my race. The program was offered to high school students who came from minority families and also would be the first generation to attend college. I really felt bad because I had wanted to get into this program because I felt it would have better prepared me for college. I was the first generation to attend college in my family, but because I was not black or Hispanic I was not eligible. It had really hurt my feelings because I felt like I was being discriminated against. I also felt that it was unfair to discriminate because I was an excellent student who was taking Advanced Placement courses in preparation for college. I had wanted to attend college to make a better life for myself. I feel if I had been in this program I might have attend college earlier in my life and might have a career by now.
    The ways that my experience has affected my perception of the effects of discrimination,prejudice and/or stereotypes is that people should never be judged by the outside, but rather what they have on the inside. This weeks scenarios have taught me to always choose my words carefully so I do not offend anyone. From personal experience I know what it feels like to be discriminated against and I can tell you it hurts. I also learned that it is important to teach my children and also the children in my future classrooms to like everybody and to always be nice to each other. I need to show them how to not judge people and accept them for who they are instead of trying to change them.