Children Aware Of White Male Monopoly On White House

[Richard D]

Source: Science Daily

Challenging the idea that children live in a color or gender blind world, a new study from The University of Texas at Austin reveals most elementary-school-age children are aware there has been no female, African-American, or Hispanic President of the United States. And, many of the children attribute the lack of representation to discrimination.

<snip>

During 2006, more than a year before Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama entered the presidential race, the researchers interviewed 205 children between the ages of five and 10 about their knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about the similarities among U.S. presidents. In three studies, children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds answered questions about the absence of female, African-American and Hispanic presidents.

The researchers found most children are aware that women and minorities have been excluded from the U.S. presidency. Although most of the children believed people of all races and genders should be president, they offered surprising answers as to why only white males have held the nation's highest political office:

* One in four participants said it is illegal for women and minorities to hold the office of president;
* One in three children attributed the lack of female, African-American and Latino presidents to racial and gender bias on the part of voters; and
* While some children expressed the belief that prejudice shapes how adults vote, another third of the participants said members of the excluded groups lacked the skills to hold the position.


Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081005121335.htm

[Miss Chybil]

1. From the mouths of babes... nt

[amber_86]

2. So true

Kids aren't stupid. They see and hear things from people they are around. My mama told me everyone is the same and that color is just God's love for us. And that's why everyone is different in his eyes.

[Sweet Freedom]

3. In kindergarten

my daughter asked her teacher why she didn't see any female names among the presidents they were discussing. (She came up with that on her own -- I had not pointed it out to her.)

[RayOfHope]

6. My daughter asked me the same when she was in first grade, but it was race instead of women

she asked "why can't a black person be president' (we're white, BTW). I was proud and dismayed at the same time--proud she would ask such a question, and dismayed that she even had to wonder. Of course a black man can (and WILL!) be president.

[Sweet Freedom]

7. Yes, I've spent a lot of time

talking to her about the historical significance of this election. (Secretly, she was a bit excited that a woman wasn't the nominee because my daughter thinks she still has a shot at being the first female president. :))

[cosmicone]

4. How demographically intriguing....

"* One in four participants said it is illegal for women and minorities to hold the office of president;"

--- These will grow up to be Bushbots (compare with Bush's 24% approval rating.)

They probably will grow up to believe Saddam had WMDs and was responsible for 9/11 :rofl:

[Kittycat]

5. 1:4 today, more like 1:6 or 7 tomorrow

Many of these kids will grow up and rebel against their parents, since they're becoming such a minority (despite how vocal they are). Look at the changes we've seen just in the past 50 years.

[ContraBass Black]

8. "the idea that children live in a color or gender blind world"

Who has this idea? Surely not many people who know children who have met people of races other than their own, can tell the difference between male and female, and are not physically blind.