JUDYS wrote that there was much evidence to support her thoughts that people don't like people that are darker and that they will even be treated badly because they are darker.
Yes, JUDYS, we can all find LOTS of proof that we are all treated and thought of differently because of our skin, hair, sex, weight, height, shape, body language, speech, etc. But tell me, is it really proof, or a generalization?
Being a scientist I would think that you would take into account many reasons for a result. Such as "how likely is it that someone who had been stopped for no reason would complain?" I've been stopped many times by the police because "they hadn't seen me around there before" "My type of car had been on the top of the most stolen", "I looked like I was lost" I never thought to question what sex or race the officer was or what kind of neighborhoods I was in. Sometimes perception makes all the difference.
My problem with the some people is not that they can find all kinds of proof that darker people are different and will be treated differently and will have different outcomes. My problem with these people is that their generalizations and convincing others of their beliefs, grooms paranoia and theories and creates self doubt and makes life more intolerable for people because of skin color.
Even if it may be true that Chinese students get a better education than say American Indians. We must ask if perhaps it is because the Chinese students have more support and expectations from family and friends to do well in school than the other students. Maybe it has noting to do with how well they are liked as a people. Perhaps their abilities may be biologically different, such as men and women with respect to language. Or perhaps they were told that they would not be getting a good education in the first place (self fulfilling prophecy)
I do not like that some people want to blame so much on skin color, and I hope for my Grandkids sake that instead of people pointing to their skin when anything goes wrong, people will step up and share their own unfair experiences to teach them that there are good people and bad people out there. I do not want my grandkids to think "why bother" or to be groomed to think that something is wrong with their skin and everything happens due to it.
Teaching people that many of our beliefs should be questioned is one thing, but teaching that a certain group IS different is horrible, and even more, to seek statistics and find examples to prove it is pretty pathetic.
A scientist would do more service to find solutions to a problem than to help perpetuate it. Please consider opening the minds of your student's to find other equal contributors of inequality.