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Incorporating Black Images and References to Increase African American Student Performance in Introductory Psychology
Incorporating Black Images and References to Increase African American Student Performance in Introductory Psychology
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Incorporating Black Images and References to Increase African American Student Performance in Introductory Psychology
The racial diversity of students has risen nationally. The percentage of Black /African American students has also increased as more of them can access education. Even though they can access education, their performance cannot be compared to the White college students who seem to be performing better. In fact, of all these races, the Black students who have graduated college are the least. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a strategy to ensure that African Americans also successfully finish school.
One of the ways to do this is by coming up with a teaching method that is culturally responsive or somewhat culturally relevant. Such a teaching method should make use of the students ‘cultural resources. Historically Black Colleges and Universities have been doing this. Over time there has been an increase in the number of racially undergraduate students graduating with degrees in psychology. This number is still significantly low as compared to the other races. It has remained to be significantly low to date.
Psychology educators reported that they face several problems when it comes to incorporating cultural diversity. The issues faced staying the same ones three decades later. One of the issues that psychology educators are facing is time constraints. The traditional course content does not allow for the incorporation of such since it is not flexible enough.
Therefore, a pilot study was conducted to analyze whether the incorporation of diverse cultures would see more Black students succeeding. The study used two sets of course materials, namely White imagery slides and Black imagery slides. White imagery slides are the slides that contain the images of people who appear to be white or of European descent. The slides containing people who appeared to be of African descent were referred to as the Black imagery slides.
There were sixty participants involved in this pilot study. All of them were African American undergraduate students between the age of eighteen to thirty-six years. Forty-eight women and twelve women were involved. All the participants were enrolled in four introductory psychology sections at HBCU, located in the Southeast Region of the United States. Thirteen students who identified as a race instead of African Americans were eliminated later on.
This pilot study was conducted through the quasi-experimental research design. The independent variable was the racial imagery slides that were used in each introductory to psychology class. The same psychology professor with years of experience taught all the sections. The potential effects of time were minimized by holding meetings of each section at the same time alternatively.
The professor came up with all the slides to be used in each of the sections. The slides were either Black or White Imagery depending on the section that it was used in. It occurred throughout the whole semester, which was fifteen weeks. The same topics were discussed on the same dates. The Institutional Review Board approved this pilot study. A research assistant was there to assist the psychology professor, who was the main researcher. The assistant was responsible for collecting data to ensure that there was no bias. The assistant approached the students at the beginning of the semester to inform them about the research. They were also made aware that the instructor would not know who decided to participate or not. The students who chose to participate signed a consent form. Those who chose not to were given an alternative assignment to do. At the end of the semester, the assistant was responsible for calculating the final course grades and submitting them to the evaluation professor.
At the beginning of the semester, the students who agreed to participate filled a demographic questionnaire. It collected information on their gender, age, race, and college classification. The students who participated were to be awarded a two percent extra credit. The final exam result was based on three examinations, one last test, class participation, online homework, written answers to exam review sheet questions, completion of a given project, and a brief report.
In general, the students exposed to black images performed better than those exposed to white imagery. This pilot study is enough proof that incorporating racial diversity to the introductory psychology course would favor the black students. The racial content should not take up any additional time. It should also be relevant to the traditional course material. A black student in an introductory to psychology class that makes use of black imagery is likely to perform better than another student who is in a similar course that makes use of white imagery.
There are a couple of limitations to this pilot study. First, only the final course grades were used to come up with the conclusion. The use of different outcome measures would have led to more accurate results. Other outcome measures that should have been used include attendance, test performance, and many more. Using one psychology instructor is disadvantageous in that his behavior might have varied with the various sections. In the future, many psychology professors should be used to get accurate results. The pilot study is also limited by the fact that the students have different academic abilities.
The researcher would have included people of various races to get a complete result. By using only the black students, the researcher overlooked the people of other races. This research should be carried on further to get better results. Perhaps even the students of European descent will benefit from exposure to the diverse content in introductory psychology.
Reference
Kelly, K., & Patrice, K. (2019). Incorporating black images and references to increase African American student performance in introductory psychology: A pilot study. Journal of Black Psychology, 45(1), 52-62.
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Income Pay Gap in the Society
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Income Pay Gap in the Society
The entertainment industry exists as a glamorous arena whereby successful performers can make a tremendous amount of money. The case is the same with the athletes, for example, the footballers who usually make some vast amounts of money despite working for only a few hours. Whereas the average individuals are struggling to make a living, the singers, movie stars, the sports personnel as well as other celebrities generate a lot a lot of money within a short period. This is contrary to other professionals, for example, the doctors, police, and firefighters who usually saves a lot of lives and even work under life-threatening situations and are thereby paid pennies. This group of individuals contributes a lot to make the world better, but in many cases, their contributions are not recognized. The athletes together with the celebrities are certainly paid far too much money, and most of them do not contribute anything else to the society rather than entertainment (Reinick and Carmen, p.58). Instead, they tend to live extravagant lives for example by driving expensive cars and partying hard, and this can be attributed due to the easily earned money they receive.
They are gaining a lot of money, whereby the wages plus salaries are traditionally centered on the worth of an individual’s work. In contemporary society, an individual should be paid according to the occupation’s economic significance as well as their value to the community. Therefore, there is a need for the athletes and the other celebrities’ salaries to be moderated and also be controlled. Relatively than giving them the vast amount of money, the money should be used to cater for the needy, the orphans, street families and other vulnerable groups in the society. In this paper, the way the athletes and celebrities make a lot of money in a short period, compared to other professionals who typically saves lives, and earn less money is discussed and analyzed. Also, the way in which the vast amount of money that they make can be used to help the needy in society is considered.
It is depicted that the amount of money that a famous athlete generate from only one sporting event is generally higher compared to the average salary a teacher would earn in numerous years. Several explanations explain this discrimination is the artificial barrier surrounding the entertainment industry. For example a celebrated actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, at one time earned over fifty million dollars for the movie, “Inception” and up to today the money is still coming in. Contrary, thousands of security guards at a particular border in combination would never experience being paid this enormous amount of money in their lives. Another example to explain this is the case of Tiger Woods, a golf player. During his thirteen years of playing golf, he has managed to earn over one billion dollars thus making him among the highest paid athletes ever (Derdenger and Timothy, p.137). It is evident that his level of playing the game is excellent and liked by many individuals, but the amount of entertainment he offers is typically not worth the one hundred and twenty-eight million dollars he generates per year. There exists quite a considerable number of athletes who are also remarkably paid, and Tiger Woods is one of them. Leonard Armato who is a sports agent believes that though the professional athletes offer some entertainment to a large group of individuals in the world, they are extremely overpaid, and the millions of dollars that they usually generate could be distributed more evenly throughout the society and help the disadvantaged and marginalized individuals.
Teaching as an occupation is regarded as one of the most economically essential jobs since the future economy of the country typically depends on the education of the youths. However, teachers tend to be paid less than the average professional salary of an athlete. For instance in basketball, for every basket Kobe Bryant scores, he gets paid some money which is equivalent to the average salary of a classroom teacher in a year. Moreover, doctors, firefighters, and police officers usually risk their lives while most of the time they are saving lives to earn a fraction of what the athletes and celebrities earn. The individuals in the military usually leave their families behind and decide to protect and also to defend the country having in mind that the worse might happen and they may never return home. However, it becomes a disappointment that these heroes do not get much recognition as the athletes and the music and movies celebrities like Michael Jordan and Mike Tyson, typically receives from the society.
Although it is understandable that becoming a well-known athlete or music celebrity requires a lot of hard work for example in training, it is evident that these individuals do not contribute a lot to the society than entertaining the public at large. Therefore, if these athletes and the celebrities want to continue being rewarded with the affluence as well as with the fame that is unfairly conferred upon them, they have to make the whole believe that they are working as positive role models for those who admire them and also to the future athletes. These players further need to have a substantial additional impact on the community by giving back to the community.
Another excellent example to elaborate the difference in the pay gap between the different individuals in the society is Floyd Mayweather case. On one night of work, this individual managed to make a total of two hundred and seventy-five dollars. According to Forbes 2017, the highest paid athletes in the world was three prominent sports individuals; Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, and James Lebron. The three individuals managed to earn a total of two hundred and million dollars from their profession and endorsement deals. Mayweather only required only one night to surpass their total joint earnings. This was considered the highest pay in the history of sports (Badenhausen and Kurt, p.32). This example shows the disparity in incomes whereby the athlete’s single day work pay is enormous that it will take several years for the average professional worker like the police officers to earn.
Stars are typically paid much more for what they do even if some of their works are not even that influential. An example is a show on CBS known as “Two and a Half Men,” that averages for about fifteen million viewers per episode. Despite its considerable number of views, the show tends to be not complex, and there is no significant creativity portrayed in it. However, it is alleged that the actors of the show usually makes a lot of money from it. An example to explain this is the case of a 17 years old boy who happens to be a costar in the show known as Angus Jones, whereby he signed a novel deal worth that offers him with a three hundred thousand dollars per episode accompanied with a five hundred thousand dollars as a signing bonus (Flack and Sean, p.43). Sincerely speaking, this is a significant amount of money for a seventeen-year-old boy compared to the pay that the more accomplished actors like John Hamm and Steve Carell make. It is vivid that acting by just presenting oneself, waiting around and then articulating your lines for some minutes is justified to earn that enormous amount of money compared to what other individuals do on a daily basis. Thus this is not hard work that guarantees a paycheck of three hundred thousand dollars. For example, there exist other individuals like the construction workers who on a daily basis build the buildings which are of great importance as they tend to serve different purposes. Although this kind of individuals contribute a considerable impact on the communities compared Angus Jones, they will never bring home a paycheck of three hundred thousand dollars.
While considering the current atrocious economy, it is unfair to continue paying the celebrities as well as the athletes the unreasonable amount of money. That money could be used for other useful and equitable reasons like improving the livelihoods of the poor in the communities. Thus this notion of just appearing in a particular show and coming with a lot of money should be discouraged in society. This is because the individuals who are diligent and working hard are paid pennies, while the shallow-minded who lacks nothing of that great importance are paid millions (Reinicke and Carmen, p.53). This issue can result in individuals being depressed by this life. It is depressing to learn that even these celebrities and athletes are exposing their lavish lifestyle especially on social media showing the achievements they have made within a short period. It also traumatizing that will all the wealth they are amassing, the majority of them only care for themselves as they cannot show a single project that they have initiated and it is helping the communities around them. Even though these celebrities and athletes contribute a lot to the entertainment industry, the tendency of shoving a lot of money towards them need to stop for the majority of them have nothing worthwhile to give.
Tupac powerful speech on greed is a significant one in this discussion. His unearthed interview of 1992 proves to be quite relevant to the current living standards of the different groups in the society. In this interview, Tupac stands up to be an exemplary artist compared due to his worry on the little progress that has been made. He speaks about the different class in the society, race as well as the type of greed that leads to some individuals to live in higher living standards of owning even private while there are others in the society starving (Slavik and Nathan, p.59). According to Tupac in his interview, it makes no sense to walk around exposing a lot of money while others have none. He talks of how the minority rich spend their money on unnecessary things rather than using that money for the advantage of others. Therefore, Tupac was trying to show is that those who got a lot of money without much struggle, lack proper mechanisms of using the money they earned. This phenomenon is still evident in contemporary times with many cases of what Tupac was criticizing being evident in athletes, actors, musicians and other prominent and influential individuals in the society.
For example, we live in a time whereby the celebrities are publically fighting over petty issues in the society with the aim of publicity. These celebrity stars are only fighting and aiming for unnecessary things for instance, who owns an expensive and a large mansion or who drives an expensive car. One will never hear them competing on who will do a specific project aimed at assisting the communities. All they do is to live luxury lives for money is still flowing in their bank accounts. This is the type of greed that Tupac discussed two decades ago, and it seems to have grown and evolved a lot especially with the current celebrities (Slavik and Nathan, p.44). The lust for materialism has been dramatically reflected in the music industry, but it seems to be a more general problem, not only in the music sector but other areas like in sports. Therefore the luxurious and disastrous lives of these individuals can be attributed to the fact of the pay they usually generate. Their salary is considered to be not hard-earned, and therefore they spend it, the way they like without considering the plight of others in the communities who are in great need of assistance.
In the United States, for example, inequalities in income continue to increase as the rich are getting richer whereas the poor are continuing to suffer. The rising level of disparity tends to affect not only the big urban areas but also the financial centers in the country. This can be attributed due to the increased pay gap between the different social levels in the society. The poor majority are being accompanied with low wages, and therefore they tend to live a low key lives while the famous and prominent individuals are earning millions. There is a great need to try and decrease this income gap, and therefore proper measures need to be put in place. The first mechanism is reducing the huge pay which the athletes together with the other celebrities typically earns. This money can be used to fund some projects like California’s homeless populace that has been centered with some controversies for some period. California’s homeless population has tremendously grown to about one hundred and thirty thousand individuals (Dillion and Liam p.29). Most of the funding comes typically from the federal government and other agencies, but there seems to be none coming from the athletes and the celebrities who possesses tremendous affluence. Therefore if for example the athletes, as well as the stars who are paid a lot of money, decides to have their pay cut and the funds to be directed towards helping these needy individuals, this problem could be of the past. The money that they earn could even build these individuals some decent houses and help them to live happy lives. Moreover, the funds can also be used for other special cases that need a lot of funding like in the healthcare and schools.
In conclusion, it is evident from the above discussion that there are some individuals in society, for example, the athletes, musicians and other celebrities who earn more than they deserve. They are paid millions of dollars of dollars for just doing some simple tasks over a short period compared to the other group of professionals like doctors, firefighters, teachers and the police officers who in their duties risk even their lives but are paid pennies and are not recognized compared to the athletes and the other celebrities. Therefore there is a great need of reducing this income gap by lowering their earnings, and thus these funds should be used to help the needy in the society who are suffering.
Works Cited
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Dillion, Liam. “Billions of Dollars to Help California’s Homeless Population Are Piling Up — and Going Unspent.” Los Angeles Times, 25 March. 2018 https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-slow-homelessness-spending-20180325 story.html.
Flack, Sean. “Stars Are Paid Too Much for What They Do.” Iowa State Daily, 12 Oct. 2010http://www.iowastatedaily.com/opinion/columnists/stars-are-paid-too-much-money-for-what-they-do/article_38b0a65c-d4c2-11df-83be-001cc4c002e0.html.
Frank, Vincent. “New Los Angeles Rams Stadium Project Now Expected to Cost $5 Billion to Build.” Forbes, May 27 2018https://www.forbes.com/sites/vincentfrank/2018/03/27/new-los-angeles-rams-stadium-project-now-expected-to-cost-5-billion-to-build/#335cc6f613b2.
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Reed, Adam. “$9 Million and a Lifetime of Bragging Rights Are on the Line for Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.” CNBC, 23 Nov. 2018https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/23/9-million-and-a-lifetime-of-bragging-rights-on-the-line-for-tiger-woods-and-phil-mickelson.html
Reinicke, Carmen. “US Income Inequality Continues to Grow.” CNBC, 19 July. 2018https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/19/income-inequality-continues-to-grow-in-the-united-states.html.
Slavik, Nathan. “There’s Too Much Money: Watch Tupac’s Powerful Speech on Greed.”DJBOOTH, https://djbooth.net/features/2016-04-20-tupac-speech-greed.
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