YOU HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO, BABY 

Submitted for Volume 3, Issue 2 

 These days, it is assumed that young people living today are all for equality, however,   everyone should take a huge step back before ever saying that they are completely unbiased against people based upon ethnic origin or gender.   The question everyone should ask themselves is, "Are you TRULY a person who is an equal opportunist?"    Most people would answer yes, but in reality, most people today are just as biased as the generation before them.   School is a small fragment of society, but reflects hugely on the state of society.  In observing the school environment for many years, I can honestly say that the messages of racial and gender equality have been lost in the dumpster. 
 

 This is not saying that the majority of young people are not ‘tolerant of the differences of others’.   The fact is that most students can coexist in relative peace,  but being able to ‘accept’ differences is one thing; ‘embracing’ differences is another thing altogether.      You only have to witness a regular lunch period in your school cafeteria to witness the obvious segregation that just screams out for your attention.    The cafeteria is arbitrarily  split up into certain sections based upon race and gender, and students voluntarily group themselves together according to their ‘characteristics’.    The sad fact is that this event happens on a regular basis, and nobody seems aware of this fact.    Language is an obvious barrier, but an even larger barrier is the different cultural backgrounds.    These barriers creates walls within the student body that are almost unbreakable.    The separation between males and females is an even more embarrassing, for one would think at that age,  people wouldn’t care about gender. 
 

It is true that everyone is not going to get along with one another, but even with all the various ethnic groups that may exist within a student body,  the pattern of separation is still rampant.   In the development of friendships, it is plainly seen where the lines are drawn when is comes to social interaction.    For the most part, a group of friends are usually of the same race, and this is the case for almost all ethnic groups.    Relating only with people of the same race or gender is a predicament that can be very detrimental  for the future of a country like Canada.    Young people never learn the undeniable truth that all people are truly created equal.   People develop the irrational idea that their race of gender are ‘superior’, and thus, function through life only within their ‘segment’ of society.    Go through most places in the downtown core and you will witness separation as well based upon ethnic lines.    People just don’t seem to understand that the basis of a county like Canada is not to live in a cocoon, but to function with people of all types. 
 

 A lot has been discussed upon racism, and indeed, it requires discussion.  Sexism in society is something that also cannot be ignored.    On both sides, sexism continues to dominate the attitudes of most people, whether it be concerning the ‘roles’ of certain genders, or the subject of ultimate equality.    On one end, you have the men, most of whom have that almost too typical ‘chauvinistic’ attitude, believing that the female’s place is being subservient to the male.    This attitude is clearly out of date, but is still embraced by most young men.   These men will likely continue the tradition of the ‘old boys club’.   The women should also be held accountable for the continual existence of sexism.   Most young women today still believe that they must always be passive, never making their own decisions, or charting their own destiny.   Young women still expect to have doors opened for them, or have their chairs pulled up for them at the dinner table, customs that are simply incompatible with the times.     By not being vocal for equality, women are simply feeding the flames of sexism, that can only cause harm for them in future. 
 

 The surface has only been scratched on the disparity that still exists amongst society today based upon race and gender.    Sure, there has been great progress in the quest for equality, but what people don’t realize is that the road to true equality is far from being reached.    In order for any progress, people must remove themselves of their inhibitions about the differences in people.    Only until then can anyone honestly say that he or she is a person who is truly blind the race or gender of others.   True, the physical traits of a person are more apparent at first glance, but only through time and understanding does the true image of person become revealed. 
 

Why we didn't print it: While we here at HTP agree with everything this article says about racism and sexism being bad, this whole topic is kind of old hat. I think most people already realize that a) this kind of bias is bad & b) it exists in our school albeit ever so subtlety, i.e. the racial division in the cafeteria. The cafeteria example is not even that great a piece of evidence, because it is pretty simplified (the cafe isn't really all that racially segregated, beyond the fact that most black students sit near the music wing door), and also something most people are already aware of. If you want to write an article like this find some new angle, i.e. why aren't there any black Prefects?