stereotypes galore

Re: Governor Blanco's statements about stereotypes

I have found that in trying to make an issue about stopping stereotypes, only more stereotypes are made or confirmed. I agree with her that in order to stop the stereotypes we personally have to have expectations about people based on their age, gender, race, etc. However, I think some people take that too far...they want to banish anything dealing with stereotypes. For example, in the book Language Police by Diane Ravitch, there is a list of stereotypes that are not allowed in texts, illustrations or reading passages on standardized tests and text books. here are a few examples (by the way, these are just a few of the many stereotypes listed, and mostly ones i find ridiculous) :

gender specific stereotypes to avoid:
•Mothers comforting children, giving sympathy, hugs, kisses, or hot milk at bedtime
•Mothers shopping
•Boys as intelligent, logical, mechanical, strong, rough, competetive, active, brave, problem solvers, adventurous leaders, messy, unoncerned with appearance, quiet and easygoing, confident, career-oriented, or concerned with achievement

race specific stereotypes to avoid:
•American Indians as craftspeople
•Native Americans living in rural settings or reservations
•Native Americans portrayed as "close to nature"
•Asian Americans as intelligent, musically gifted or class valedictorian
•Hispanics as warm and expressive
•Jewish people as jewelers, doctors, dentists, lawyers, classical musicians, tailors, shopkeepers or diamond cutters

age specific stereotypes to avoid:
•Older people as funny or charming
•Older people as retired, at the end of their career, have lived the most fruitful years of their lives or are engaged in a life of leisure activities
•Older persons who suffer from physical deterioration
•Children as healthy and energetic


My question is...how does this help? By avoiding such issues in tests, arent we just pointing them out? I mean, how should mothers be portrayed? As beating their children before bed? as cold and uncaring? How should boys be shown? apparently there's not much left for them but to be stupid and exessively neat as far as I can tell. And why shouldn't Native Americans be shown being close to nature? should we show them littering? surely not all Native Americans are living on reservations, but to make a point of avoiding the subject, what good is that doing?

The truth is, stereotypes are a generalization of all people based on a large number of people who fit a certain profile. by avoiding a certain image, we're really noting it as legitimate. we're focusing on the problem instead of the solution. I'll take the example of older people suffering from physical deterioration. we all know that many older people do, indeed, suffer from physical deterioration. by an organization making a point of avoiding this image, they're treating it as a negative thing to suffer from physical deterioration (which it is in a physical sense, but not otherwise). they're pointing out that older people are suffering by making a concrete rule not to portray any elderly people as anything but healthy.

i think getting rid of stereotypes is nearly impossible, honestly. they've been around forever and will probably always exist. i think that personal decisions are the only things that will affect stereotypes, government interference will only cause problems