Adolescents' and children's expectations of fairness and bias in the classroom

This study examined U.S. youth (N = 303, 51% female, 47.5% Black/African American, 36.9% White/European American, 15.5% Asian American/Pacific Islander) expectations of racial bias in an academic context. Children (n = 172, ages 8-11, M_age = 10.34) and adolescents (n = 131, ages 12-14, M_age = 13.09) viewed vignettes in which a teacher or peer preferred one racial group (Asian, Black, or White) for academic recognition. Participants provided their predictions about the future biased behavior of the teacher and peer characters before and after the characters received a message promoting fairness. Findings indicated that adolescents, more so than children, viewed both teacher and peer racial bias as likely to persist. On average, participants expected teacher racial bias to persist regardless of which racial group they saw the teacher prefer. When predicting a peer's racial bias, youth predicted continued preferential treatment for Asian students to be less likely than preferential treatment for Black or White students. Participants who reported being in the racial-ethnic minority at their own school expected that after the biased teacher or peer received a message promoting fairness, the characters would be less likely to show the same bias. Advancing knowledge about youth's expectations of whether a classroom racial bias is likely to continue or to change has important implications for understanding young people's motivations for challenging and resisting bias and social inequalities at school.