Today the students are writing about their experience with Prejudice, if they have a prejudice, or if they have had some one be prejudice against them. I have read a few of the papers and am surprised. Not by the topics, but by the honesty.
One student (Hispanic,) wrote about riding his bike with one of his friends in a store parking lot. He told of a group of African Americans who told him to "get off their turf."
He spoke to his friend and said they shouldn't leave. The friend said they should just go somewhere else.
They left and went somewhere else and planned "how to get revenge on the group of niggers" (His words, not mine.) He said his friend told him they should just drop it, but he wanted revenge, so they went to his house and got their Air Soft guns and ammunition. (He listed the model of gun and kind of ammunition. I don't remember what they were.)
He wrote, "We rode our bikes back to the parking lot and pointed the guns at the niggers and they took off running."
I was surprised he would write this on a paper and turn it in to the teacher.
Another student wrote about his own prejudice against Hispanics. He wrote that he hated them, and felt angry every time he saw one, even if he didn't know them. He wrote about being angry when he heard them speak in Spanish because they should speak English since they are in America.
The school I work at is very diverse both in race and religion. Surprisingly, I didn't see any of the students write about prejudice concerning religion. I don't notice that as much myself at this school as I did at the last school I worked at, or in the town I live in 10 miles away.
I thought the assignment was good, making the kids think about prejudice and how it affects them. The assigment was in response to the book they just finsished reading, "To Kill A Mockingbird."
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2 comments:
nice assignment, teacher! i think we all have prejudices, especially growing up without knowing someone from another race/religion/sexual preference etc. your students are lucky to have you as their teacher.
Thank you Mark, for your comment. School got out and I forgot about my blog. It is that time of year again, and I will probably resume periodic posts.
As far as the post about Prejudices, It is something I think a lot about and try to talk to my own children about. I grew up in a very predjudice household, and now live in a town/neighborhood filled with predudice people.
From time to time, I find myself thiking badly about peoople and generalizing just because they are of the dominant religion. I understand that often predjudeces come from feeling of hurt or fear. Sometimes it helps understaning where a feeling is coming from so you can know where to go with it.
Good luck to you on your personal Journey.
Julie
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