When was the last time you thought about stereotypes?

During most of my Ask An American sessions, I like to bring up discussion points on culture and stereotypes. Specifically, I ask students if they know what is a stereotype. At first they may not know the meaning in German or in English, but then I give some examples of US and German stereotypes. By that point, the students are able to catch on, find a definition, and more examples come naturally. Throughout the year I have heard many stereotypes. For example, there are many weapons in the US, fast food, poor healthcare, and the image of high school. The German stereotypes have been quite neutral, like beer, schnitzel, German cars, punctuality, and orderly systems. I share a quote from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to connect the importance of seeking to understand the full story beyond the single stereotype.

Stereotypes create a single story. The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, rather, they are incomplete and they can make one story become the only story.

When I visited the students at the Oberschule am Flughafen in Chemnitz, there were 26 sixth grade students, two teachers, and myself circled up in the classroom. After a brief warm up activity, I began to start the conversation of stereotypes. However, the students seemed quite stumped about the stereotypes of Germany and the United States. I realized that the students did not know much about the United States, other than it was a country far away. So we spent the remaining time looking at pictures, scouring the map, and talking about similarities and differences between Germany and the US. After the session, I spoke with the teacher in the classroom, and she told me that over half of the students in class are not originally from Germany. They migrated from other countries about seven years ago. This was an aha moment for me.

The students did not know what stereotypes are because they haven’t been exposed to those generalized labels. Stereotypes often come from the ideas of a homogenous culture and society. However, these students do not identify with just one culture, and they have had to learn how to become members in diverse, multicultural communities. Therefore, singularizing an oversimplified idea of what something could be isn’t something familiar to them. Unfortunately, the students had more knowledge with the definition of prejudice. They have experienced unjustifiable and negative attitudes towards them because of their perceived identity. While this was a sixth grade class that learned about the US, I felt like I experienced a new dimension to what I have been discussing all year.