Tell Ed Angela (Anqi) Liu
Sec. 002 20415897
#2 Response: Perception of Others (Reading 5) Socially constructed difference refers to the manmade distinction of people basic to various traits, such as ethnics, gender, and physical conditions (45). As the construction process is heavily affected by predetermined assumption and stereotyping of the general public, so has born the "privileged group"-- people who benefit because the socially accepted positive view towards the group they belong to (46). In some sense, I have experienced the pleasure of being one of the privileged. China born and China bred, I acknowledge the fact that my culture regards students who receive flying marks to be more capable than others who do not in all aspects of life. After humbly admitting that I have been reasonably accomplished in all subjects, I was naturally labeled as one from the "good class" and people-- usually parents and teachers-- started to talk to me differently, treat me equally as adults, ask me for advice and take my words seriously. On the contrary, I have witnessed how my head teacher, Ms. Chen, who had always been so kind and gentle to me, once put on a hard face and reprimanded a fellow student for failing to get a satisfying test result. On other occasions, teachers would immediately link students are who academically below average with wrongdoings whenever something goes wrong, while trusting those high mark receivers to be model students and would be the last to blame for misdeeds. However, sometimes it's very hard to avoid falling into stereotypes. Once on a TV show in which job interviews were conducted live in front of audience, there appeared a college girl who was substantially shorter than average people. I was filled with sympathy at the sight of her child-like body, wondering what she could do, if anything at all. To my surprise, she turned out to be quite versatile, highly accomplished in the fields of piano, calligraphy and writing. What's more, she possessed amazing communication skills that were crucial to the job. No wonder she got offers from multiple companies. Though fully aware that pre-judging people with disability is inappropriate, I still expect inferior performance from them subconsciously. And in this I do not stand alone. I think the existence of socially constructed difference, whether privilege or oppression, is unacceptable. It apparently serves as a symbol of inequality. Nonetheless, the difference is there, and has far-reaching influence. The best we can do is to stay rational and to keep our perception free from distortion exerted by socially constructed difference.