Decoding of Quote Correct?

College Essays
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<p>"Stereotyped beliefs have the power to become self-fulfilling prophesies for behavior"</p>

<p>This quote is from Amherst College and the assignment asks me to respond to this quote. It should not simply be argumentative but personal.</p>

<p>I am just making sure I did not misinterpret this quote wrong. If I am incorrect please let me know. My understanding of this quote is stereotypes have the power to make ppl actually fall into a stereotype. For example, not to be racist, there is a stereotype that blacks are violent. If a black person is consistentyl exposed to this stereotype, he may become violent.</p>

<p>I am going to argue against this quote. I will write about how the stereotypes put on me does not make me into that stereotype but instead, i prove the ppl who call me certain things wrong. Is this a misinterpretation of the quote?</p>

<p>I don't want to write to know that I did it wrong</p>

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<p>Aw dang lol, I went with the JFK quote since I had a personal experience that superbly reflected the need to give back to society. I think that that quote was the easiest one haha.</p>

<p>Anyways, in my judgment, your interpretation of the quote is mostly valid, although I personally believe that in your example, not only do blacks have to be consistently exposed to “violence” to become violent, they also need to believe that they are inherently violent. In other words, people need to buy into the stereotype in order for the prophecy to become self-fulfilling. Of course, there’s no right or wrong way to approach this prompt and arguing against it could definitely work. Good luck!</p>