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 everyones 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 conductors 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 everydays 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 persons
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 Im 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