By IANS
New York : Learning about racism helps to understand the “other”. In a study that challenges the idea that racism education could be harmful to students, researchers found white students who underwent such education developed positive attitudes towards African Americans.
The study, by a team of researchers at The University of Texas, found that white students who learned about racism were more likely to value racial fairness, had more racial guilt and were less likely to accept stereotypes about African Americans.
But African-American children who learned about racism did not differ in their racial attitudes from those whose studies omitted the racism information.
Findings of the study appear in the November/December issue of the journal Child Development.
Led by psychologists Rebecca Bigler and Julie Milligan Hughes, the study presented biographical lessons about 12 historical figures (six African Americans and six European Americans) to two groups of children aged 6-11.
For each group, some lessons provided information about racism, such as racially biased hiring practices and segregation, while others omitted this information. After the lessons, the children were interviewed about their racial attitudes and reactions, including guilt, defensiveness and anger.
“There is considerable debate about when and how children should be taught about racism,” said Bigler. “But little research has examined elementary-school-aged children’s cognitive and emotional reactions to such lessons.”
While the study shows learning about racism is beneficial to both black and white children, Bigler noted the lessons did not present information about the most violent forms of racial prejudice.
“Additional work on the topic is needed so that we know how to best present to children some of the more abhorrent truths from US history,” Bigler says.