Life as a minority in nursing

[cookie91]

hi everyone this has been in my head for quite some time. I attend a college where 95% of the students are recognized as minorities. I am a hispanic female and i feel that there are not allot of us who attend college after high school. There are the ones that strive hard to accomplish there goals, but i feel they have to work extra hard. Do you feel the same way? Do you think that it is harder for a minority to make it in the industry. Especially in health care, I feel that diversity is important because we represent our race, our strong work of ethics. What do you think? Correct me if I am wrong but how important should diversity be in heath care. Despite the strong belief in the value of a college diploma; I feel minorities more often than not fall short to reach that goal. Feel free to express your thoughts and opinions.

[Highschoolfuturenurs]

We have to accept the fact that both economic and racial status is important ,and can make a difference in the hiring process.

yeah it is important but if anything they want to be more diverse or want someone who knows two languages so a minority would have the upperhand in the hiring process.

[TheChair1]

thecommuter- i couldn't agree with you more. i was shocked at the amount of students (and this is a middle class area) in my son's kinder class last year that didn't even know the alphabet. sure, they could sing the song but when asked to identify a letter they were clueless.. let alone knowing the difference between upper and lowercase. how are kids supposed to succeed when so many parents don't even both teaching them the freaking alphabet? it's not hard.. heck, sesame street will teach them if you just shut of the sponge bob!

great post! many parents do not really think about how serious of an issue this is. i feel so bad for these kids. i think that this has to do with american ideology also ... i will elaborate. my parents are both from third world countries and i was also born in a third world country. my parents grew up dirt poor and to be honest, american rural life and even urban projects and section 8 neighborhood could look like the hamptons compared to any typical third world village. these poor parents with no education and menial jobs are working hard and saving money to send their kids to schools so that they can have a brighter future. poor people outside of this country are working hard and succeeding in huge numbers. just look at what the chinese and indian kids are accomplishing. we are in a global economy and people like to complain that we are shipping all of our jobs overseas but let me play devil's advocate .... why would someone not want to pay less for a better product. other countries consistently outpace american kids in math and science. let's face it .... our children are not competing because they are not being groomed for success. i too blame the parents. it's as though they expect teachers to do their job. there is no accountability and no drive.

[Trilldayz,RN BSN]

TheChair1- I completely agree! Children of immigrants tend to surpass their American peers. As a Nigerian, education is HUGE! I remember when our non immigrant friends would get big high school graduation parties. My immigrant friends and I would laugh and say things like "we dont celebrate high school graduations because while its a good occasion, its EXPECTED to graduate." Its not made a huge deal. Parties happen after the bachelors. Even then, graduate and doctorate degrees are considered "standard".

[heelhook80]

I think minorities have an advantage if anything. If an employer has to make a decision between a white and a minority candidate for a position the minority wins everytime. Special scholarships for minorities are a huge plus also. Your only a victim if you choose to be and this truly the land of opportunity. Good luck to you!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I think minorities have an advantage if anything. If an employer has to make a decision between a white and a minority candidate for a position the minority wins everytime.

Actually, studies have proven that resumes and job applications with black-sounding names receive 50 percent fewer callbacks than resumes with white-sounding names, even when the applicant has the same educational level and similar experience. A black-sounding name can still be an impediment to landing an interview, even in the present day.

'Black' Names A Resume Burden? - CBS News

[Saysfaa]

The Commuter,

"Actually, studies have proven that resumes and job applications with black-sounding names receive 50 percent fewer callbacks than resumes with white-sounding names"

I believe that but I don't think it has anything to do with race. It has to do with having a unique name, or an unusual name or a nonstandard name or a nonstandard spelliing of a name. I can probably dig up some of the actual studies if you want, they are quite commonly referenced in baby name books/websites. There is a strong correlation almost no matter what the parameters of the study. The exceptions are certain narrow niches that I don't remember specifically - among the uber famous celebrities, I think, or certain performance or fashion careers. Some studies have tried to find the reasons on this phenomenon (like whether people were associating the name to a particular race or socioeconomic status) but it is just as true when the parameters of the studies preclude that.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I believe that but I don't think it has anything to do with race.

Although I respect your opinion, I happen to believe that it has plenty to do with race. Sorry, but we don't encounter many Caucasian people who are named Tameka, LaToya, Jaquala, Jamal, or Malik. Hiring managers look at the name on the resume, make presumptions about the person before meeting them, and decide to not call back for an interview.

[Saysfaa]

They compared an 800-and-something most common girl's name to Emily.

Another 800-something most common girls name, like Norma or Shirley, would not have faired well against Emily either, even though there is no particular racial association.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Another 800-something most common girls name, like Norma or Shirley, would not have faired well against Emily either, even though there is no particular racial association.

It is true that other common names do not fare well, but I suspect that this is due to other factors.

You can often guess a person's age by seeing their name on a job application. I was born in the early 1980s and will turn 30 years old next month. Girls who were born during that time period were frequently named Nicole, Jennifer, Jessica, Kristen, Amanda, Monique, etc. Therefore, a hiring manager with bias against significantly older employees would look for these names on resumes and job applications because they could almost be assured that the applicant is in their twenties or thirties (read: a younger candidate).

Women who were born during the baby-boom period of 1946 to 1964 tend to be named Linda, Judy, Shirley, Deborah, Pamela, Norma, Margaret, Nancy, etc. Elderly women generally have names such as Lucille, Edna, Pauline, Betty, Agnes, Frances, Marcia, Martha, Freida, and so forth. These names are common, but might not receive favorable responses from hiring managers since they are associated with an older employee.

This is not set in stone, since a younger person could have a name associated with a previous generation. Personally, I have a very common name that is associated with the Baby Boom period.

[nursel56]

I am a hispanic male, which in nursing kind of makes you Strom Thurmond compared to me.

Try as I might, I can't figure out what you meant by that. Help?

"Conservative" (or Neo-Conservatives, or Tea Party or Palin/Bachmann types) Americans love to pretend it doesn't exist. More accurately, they deny that it exists.

They do this because it goes against their utopian ideal that "Every American has the exact same opportunities as every other American!" In their view, to contradict this makes you Anti-American, Socialist, Communist, and probably a child molester.

I'm not in agreement with most of what the Teapartiers say, but the sentiment expressed above has actually been woven into the fabric of our society from the beginning. Why? Because many of our forebears came from countries with rigid class systems, which meant that an individual from a lower strata could not possibly break out of it even if he was Horatio Alger incarnate. Just as sort of a mental exercise, look at the life stories of our 43 presidents. Forget about which party elected them. Then read their acceptance speeches. Note that those who came from humble backgrounds - such as Truman, Eisenhower,Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Ford, Reagan, Clinton and Obama marvel at the country that made it possible to succeed. It's not a utopian ideal - a utopia is a communal state, pretty much what the Teapartiers actually hate.

It doesn't mean nor did it ever mean that every citizen has the exact same starting line or the exact same finish line. It means in the purest form that the potential for upward mobility that doesn't have the built-in hindrance of occupying the lowest spot on the peerage totem pole.

However, I agree competely with the Commuter's posts detailing the differences you think will come as a shock to some people, good people of both parties have tried to level out the differences with some success. Despite some flaws and abuses, it's the right thing to do.

I totally agree with this. Joesph McCarthy, eat your heart out. Who would have thunk that so many years later, this party is no more enlightened than they were in the midst of the Cold War. If you disagree you're a socialist, or totalitarian, or a Marxist, or gasp, even a terrorist.

While the only person who actually wrote a book calling the other side terrorists was Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos. Go figure. It's called American Taliban.

A "party" is not a static entity that moves through time. If by "party" you mean Republican, it was organized for the express purpose of abolishing slavery. I think that's an enlightened view. Why would you say they are no more enlightened than "they" were in the Cold War era? Eisenhower sent troops to Little Rock in 1957. Eisenhower warned of the danger of the "military industrial complex".

Nixon reached out to the Chinese. Nixon initiated "detente" with the Soviet Union. Reagan and Gorbachev met over the first START treaty and connected with the Soviets perestroika. George Bush 41 brought the changes Reagan initiated and brought the whole mess down for a smooth landing when you think of how all of that chaos could have played out. When Helmut Kohl made is first speech to a reunified Germany he thanked Bush 41 over and over again.

Not sure what your point was supposed to be with that but the one thing scholars agree on is that winning the Cold War was an American achievement, not a Republican or Democrat achievement.

"Actually, studies have proven that resumes and job applications with black-sounding names receive 50 percent fewer callbacks than resumes with white-sounding names"

I believe that but I don't think it has anything to do with race. It has to do with having a unique name, or an unusual name or a nonstandard name or a nonstandard spelliing of a name.

I don't think so. Two entirely different things. If you have those studies, bring 'em on!

[Saysfaa]

I did not mean to pick two that were both associated with age or any other particular reason that they might rank where they do.

Meadow, Presley, Niamh, Rebeca, Sade...

all of which are also ranked near LaKisha on the list of most to least common names also won't fare well against Emily.

It doesn't matter why the name might be unusual.

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

I think minorities have an advantage if anything. If an employer has to make a decision between a white and a minority candidate for a position the minority wins everytime. Special scholarships for minorities are a huge plus also.

Do you have any research to back that up? With AA, that certainly can be the case in some instances.. but the minority winning every time? I don't think so. And it's this attitude that perpetuates the myth that this country no longer needs to back civil rights legislation on the books.