“To gain an understanding of the world we need to make use of stereotypes.”- with reference to two areas of knowledge, to what extent do you agree with this statement.

Stereotypes are a part of nearly everyone’s everyday life. No matter the age, social class and status everybody has encountered them at least once. They often become a part of local knowledge and shape our perception of certain phenomenons or nations and communities as well as specific professions. Scientists tend to call them empirical generalizations, which are made by observation of wide groups. In my essay I want to discuss to what extent can we gain understanding of the world by simply relying on deeply rooted beliefs, which not always have the support in science. I want to consider this claim with reference to two areas of knowledge, the first one being arts, and music in particular and the second one being social sciences.

Music is a field of art that deeply relies on emotion as a way of knowing. Many stereotypes have emerged regarding musicians, usually making them people with their head constantly in the clouds, messy and disorganized, living in their own world of creation and unknown inspiration. I often heard the opinions that relationship with such people is a nightmare. We can see here that, stereotypes tend to be negative usually, at least these seem to be the ones we notice more and take into account. Being a musician myself, with a long experience, I can definitely say that this claim is in most cases not true, as what I see among my musician friends is almost a contrary of the stereotype above. First of all, young musicians have to juggle between two schools, loads of concerts and rehearsals. Without great organization skills and neatness, succeeding in that all would not be possible. Same regards professional musicians, who need to be very responsible, especially while playing in the orchestras or bands, where there is a cumulative responsibility and each member needs to be focused as much as possible and follow conductor’s instructions. It does not leave much space for freedom and creative invention to be honest. Of course we can definitely find entities who are unable to communicate with surrounding world and are definite individualist, but I would not say it is because of their profession, but rather because of their character traits and more psychological reasons. I consider myself very organized, a also realist and I am musician at the same time, so I would definitely not say that this stereotype can give us an insight into our knowledge and understanding of this field of art.

In contrary to the negative stereotype above, it is often said that musicians are sensitive, feel empathy much better than other groups and so on. As I mentioned before, music is a field which mainly relies on emotion as a way of knowing. Especially in the process of creation pieces but also in performing, but a slightly lower scale. Emotions tend to be significantly developed among musicians as it is their everyday’s tool for working. When a musician does not put any emotion it what they are doing, they are not entitled to this title in my opinion. Moreover public tend not to get interested in performances where no personal interest and engagement is evident. From my experience, I notice that indeed, because of constant encounters with wide range of different emotions during musical activities, musicians tend to be more sensitive. Even when it comes to crying or getting mad with no reason, things as simple as that. I see my music school friends moved much more often than friends at regular school. Also, this sensitiveness comes visible on concerts. People who are not involved in music rarely cry due to the perception of musical experiences. Among my musician friends it is nothing rare. We got used to carrying pack of tissues with ourselves. I think that this sensitiveness for

music also applies to regular life, because as I mentioned before emotion is highly developed sense among musicians. In this case we can indeed admit that the stereotype matches the real life and is at least in some part valid.

When it comes to social sciences, many stereotypes regarding specific nations or groups of people came to life ages ago and seem to still be present and considered true. One of them could be that in my culture, eastern European, southern nations are considered lazy, slow and generally not as much productive as northern ones. Of course we can argue this view is considerably harmful, but I find it at least partially true. Coming from a mixed family, where my dad is from Morocco, I can definitely notice the differences in behaviour among him and other citizens of my country. The approach to life is totally different, he seems more relaxed and at ease. Always claiming there is still time to do the chore. It is not only a single person as all my family back in Morocco tends to behave the same way. While being a tourist there, I noticed why it might be so. First of all the climate there is incomparable to ours, as the heat they have to bear exceeds levels that a northern person could withstand. No wonder they are functioning at a lower pace, because simply climatic conditions do not allow them for more. When it comes to productivity, I find it also true, that they are less productive than in most developed northern countries. We need to take into account though, that most public facilities are closed during the day due to the unbearable levels of temperatures, which could even cause health issues as sun strokes, if they remained at work. This stereotype is valid in my opinion, but we should not consider it without further examination of reasons why it is applicable. After careful study we can learn a lot about those nations and the motives behind their behaviour, which are usually determined by external conditions and not person’s character.

On the other hand, another example I want to mention can prove how deceptive our beliefs can be. The stereotype of “smart Asian” has existed since I can remember, and now that I’m in the educational environment I get to encounter it even more often. At our school we do not have international community, but when I talk to people from abroad the first people they mention to copy their homework from are usually Asian “nerds”. I think it is the type of stereotype that although seems positive at the first sight can be tremendously harmful for Asian people. First of all it creates unfair expectations and puts enormous pressure on people who due to their race are expected to reflect certain level of intelligence and keep up constant high performance. For example 54% of Asian teens are bullied in schools for being ‘’too smart”. During my conversations with Asian teenagers, I learnt it is often a problem for them, to try to explain to people that unfortunately they cannot solve their calculus exercises because they are simply awful at math even if they rock at chemistry. In my opinion too many people only consider the thesis that Asian simply equals smart. They usually do not put a greater thought into it and tend to forget to consider the possible cultural reasons behind the results of Asian teenagers indeed somehow seeming to be higher than average results. First of all Asian countries have the lowest number of work leave days. It means they are very hard-working. Sadly, their brilliant performance is usually attributed to the fact of being Asian, which I consider quite ignorant. Moreover in Asian culture the role of parents seems to be different than in European or North American societies, with more strict rules and pressure placed on education. Without knowing the cultural background and simply relying on stereotype, we can make falsified outcomes.

Of course, these are just my personal claims as other person who has visited southern destinations may not have perceived them as lazy or slow, as well as a visual artist can claim that the sensitiveness

among musicians is not valid as it applies to all art domains and is possibly not the result of contact with art itself, but preexisting trait that determined the choice of this profession.

Overall, stereotypes can definitely be a source of understanding and unusual way of exploring the world, but it is crucial not to accept everything we hear right away but give it a careful examination and support it with cultural/environmental/scientific background not to expand unjust opinions. I think it is a good way to engage critical thinking and come up with conclusions ourselves.

Word count: 1426

Sara Abouhilal