By Kim Sun-young

In the world, there are a lot of people who are exposed to the threat of stereotypes, like the character of Michael was in the movie, ``Blind Side."

This movie shows how to overcome stereotypes in the portrayal of a real story. As a young black man, Michael comes from an impoverished background, with a drug addict mother. His situation is representative of a good example of a stereotype, with the negative effects of expectations, attitudes and special identity on an individual's performance. No one tries to understand why he can't get great grades on tests and doesn't study like others do.

Moreover, people just also judge him by his appearance. He is really good at ball sports and has high EQ scores in protective instincts. He seems to be a terrible student because he can't satisfy the school standard which measures students' logical-mathematical intelligence.

However, this is not a matter for him. Michael has bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. His intelligence works very well when playing American football. His ability is discovered by a physical education teacher and a rich woman who adopts him.

They help him to improve upon his abilities at school and to play football well. Their beliefs and efforts helped him overcome the stereotype and become a famous football player in the U.S. He didn't know he would be good at playing football because people around him believed he was stupid and ignored him.

By the group or society to which they belong, they can't find their ability because their intelligence can't satisfy the society's standard. In Korea, we can easily see such situations.

At high school, most students learn the same things regardless of their ability. If there is someone who has creative intelligence and he or she is good at making new things or has new thoughts, teachers and schools regard him or her as foolish and not a good student because they just judge all students from their scores in math, English, and other subjects.

Then teachers' negative attitude toward students depending on scores hugely affects students' lives. Students have to follow what their teachers' perceive as right, rather than being allowed to find their own intelligence.

Why do we try to find a person's ability from tests for logical or linguistic intelligence? The reason is a person's score illustrates all of his life. Scores equal a person's ability. Even if they are good at something, they can't realize it if their ability is measured just by exams.

These kinds of situations also happen when people get a job. Many students try to have high scores in TOEIC or TOFEL, do volunteer work and participate in many contests. They don't know what their ability is and are not interested in finding it. They just want to fit in with society's standards in order to survive the competition.

More and more students think like this and more and more students lose their abilities. This condition makes people try to find their own intelligence because if people can't fit the yardstick of society, they become 'losers' and others regard them as someone who is poor. Then their thoughts affect them negatively and they can't work as well because they give up easily from the belief that they are as foolish as the others' think.

Such situations make Korea's future darker. Many youths fear doing something new or choosing another way so as to appear foolish in society. The more they go on in such a manner, they will lose their ability because of society's blind mind, which doesn't try to see the other forms of intelligence.

Unlike the movie's happy ending, the situation in Korea is different and the threat from stereotypes continues. It is time to rid ourselves of this. We need to open up our blind minds!

The writer is a student at Kyung Hee University. She can be reached at flflfl52@naver.com.