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White privilege quiz earns SDSU students extra credit

Posted at 3:29 PM, Sep 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-19 22:17:44-04

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - San Diego State University students can earn extra credit in a sociology class if they take a quiz calculating their "white privilege."

Professor Dae Elliott is the purveyor of the 20-question quiz that urges students to evaluate situations and determine if their skin color has benefitted them in some way.

Featuring scenarios like: “I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race,” and, “I can choose blemish or bandages in flesh color and have them more or less match my skin,” the quiz ranks a person’s privilege by tallying up the points they get for each question.

In short, the higher one’s score, the higher their privilege.

“I basically made it clear there’s a variety of privileges,” said Elliott, “we all have certain privileges.”

Students of all ethnicities can take the quiz and can earn the same extra credit regardless of their white privilege score, according to Elliott.

SDSU College Republicans president Brandon Jones says the quiz is racially divisive and his friends in Elliott’s class feel like they are being singled out.

“I think what she was trying to do is racially bring people together,” said Jones, “but instead she’s excluding a whole group of people on campus.”

Elliott says the evaluation is not about color, but a way in which everyone can understand each other better.

“We need to listen to each other,” said Elliott, “give each other the same respect we give our own subjectivity.”

Click here to see the quiz 10News obtained from a student in the class.