Reflections of Prejudice

Firstly, I used the prejudice of Singapore schools, mostly about pupils in top schools such as Hwa Chong Institution and Raffles Institution. I find it very interesting because it is quite controversial, and I am investigating the cause of the prejudiced. It is also a local topic I believe everyone is very familiar with since we ARE from Hwa Chong Institution. Through this, the message I want to convey is that we should understand the cause of all these prejudice to help us to better clear some misunderstanding about us.

Next, I find the lesson on prejudice very fascinating, as Mrs Raj helped us to differentiate stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. Stereotypes are the generalisation of a group of people, prejudice is the thought of opinion on people without evidence and discrimination is the treatment given to a group of people, and it is caused by prejudice. I found it useful when she asked us to cite examples of the different category to give us a better understanding of the three words. I understood better when we used examples from "To Kill a Mockingbird" as we had already understood the context, so we could make reference and thus can comprehend the use of prejudice, discrimination and stereotypes on the characters like Boo Radley and Tom Robinson.

In my own opinion, I find that prejudice should be unacceptable in society, as prejudice and stereotypes are like an unseen criteria used to judge people on, even though they might not even be as bad as you think they are. The use of stereotypes will be a burden to many. For example, an ex-offender released from prison will immediately give people a bad impression, so they already have a disadvantage. In my opinion, we should only trust what we see and hear from these people. This way, we will be able to create better judgments and help give the person a chance to prove him/herself. We will also benefit from it, like the ex-offender is more skillful than an ordinary person in that line of job, so you will benefit from his skills as well. So choose to believe your own senses, and not let others do the thinking for you.