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Least favorite sterotypes
Posted By: Howard, on host 65.6.63.155
Date: Monday, February 27, 2006, at 14:23:02

The word "sterotype" began as a printer's term. It referred to a plate, usually metal, that could be used to make the same image over and over again.

More recently, we use it to mean a mental image of something suggested by its label. Some sterotypes are not very accurate. For example, racial sterotypes suggest that skin color, language, facial features, etc. determine the personality of an individual.

So sometimes, it's best to avoid thinking in terms of sterotypes. Nobody will confess to having a favorite sterotype, but most of us have least favorites.

Personally, being a teacher, I dislike the sterotype that dictates that a teacher is a middle-aged slightly overweight single woman with her hair in a bun. She wears glasses and probably has a pencil behind her ear. I think she probably exists only in the funny papers. The only way that sterotype fits me, is that I wear glasses, but for more than half of my teaching career, I didn't. I always carried my pencil in my shirt pocket, mainly because of the way my ears stick out.

What is your least favorite sterotype?
Howard

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