Volume 4, Issue 4: October 2010

Theme of the Month: Prejudice

Many of us want to believe that prejudice, intolerance and plain old meanness are things of the past. However, the news and daily interactions on campuses nationwide tell us the truth that prejudice is still around. With the economic downturn, minority cultures often are blamed for all kinds of social problems. Politicians get attention for attacking the so-called “Gay Agenda.” Latinos take the heat for taking jobs. Muslims for the few Islamic extremists. Unfortunately minorities and the poor are too often very easy targets. Prejudice stems from the ignorance of not knowing about “the other.” The following resources will help you and your students identify and combat prejudice both in the classroom and on the campus.

Daily Dilemma

Katy cringes every time she hears her friends use words like "retarded" or "gay" in a derogatory manner. Should she object when it happens, or should she let it pass so people won't think she's weird?

What should Katy do? Here's a hypothetical dilemma from our website, GoodCharacter.com, to discuss with your class.

Lesson Plans and Activities

Elementary School

Here at GoodCharacter.com we have a quick lesson plan called "Groark Learns About Prejudice" that has an excellent discussion guide, and activities.

In this "Boundary Crossing" lesson plan, younger elementary students learn about differences in people, while the latter half of the lesson plan challenges older elementary students to think critically about the kind of segregation that still goes on in school. The monarch butterfly story mentioned in the first half of the lesson plan can be found here.

This lesson plan looks at the story of Ruby Bridges, who helped desegregate her elementary school in 1960's New Orleans. Students are encouraged to look at their own differences and similarities and to discuss what they would have done in Ruby's position. The book "The Story of Ruby Bridges" can easily be obtained from your local library.

This ten session, 45 minute lesson plan entitled "America: A Home for Every Culture" looks at how the English language, American music and food all have origins in countries from around the world.

Middle School

This lesson plan looks at hate crimes and hate crime legislation. Although the links in the plan are dead, the news article is included at the end of the lesson plan. (PDF)

This multi-step lesson plan explains the various types of racism and then has students look at how America has changed in its attitudes towards racism.

This lesson plan, "Tracking Prejudice Speech" has students quietly look and record the speech they hear in school and look at how speech can have plenty of 'isms. (PDF)

High School

The lesson plan "Understanding Stereotypes" has high school students look and analyze stereotypes both in the school and at the community at large. The free PDF version includes the handout for the lesson plan.

The "Human Rights Temperature" lesson plan has students look at the human rights on their campus.

Many students don't think they would join an organization like the Ku Klux Klan, but this lesson plan shows students just how easy it is to join a prejudiced or discrimintory organization.

A young man recently committed suicide after being cyberbullied as a "joke". Use this article to explain to students that even if you're using prejudice as a joke, it still hurts everyone involved.

In this article, a reporter points out how Park 51, also known as the 9/11 mosque, shows that Americans can be prejudiced against both race and religion and what stereotypes are used to perpetrate this prejudice. You can use this article to talk about stereotypes and how they can relate to prejudice, and how prejudice often stems from lack of knowledge about the known.

Attacks against Roma (Gypsies) are widespread in Europe, and have recently become inflamed due to France’s expulsions. Use this article to show students that prejudice and discrimination are not just found in America, but worldwide, and that in the case of the Roma, has lasted for a millienia.

Tips and Resources

This website has 40 tips for kids on how to promote tolerance at school, at home and at the world at large.

This article has tips and resources for parents, teachers and schools on how to promote a peaceful, tolerant campus.

When students have some common questions on differences and other peoples intolerance, this article has the answers to those questions.

This website has information on how to start a Gay-Straight Alliance at your school, and how to defend that these clubs are legal on campus.

Tolerance.org has free resources, lesson plans, activities and articles on how to promote peace and tolerance at your school and around the world.

If you're looking for local resources, education information or suicide resources, The Trevor Project can help you in helping the GLBT youth at your school. The link provided will take you to the Educators section of their website.

The Southern Poverty Law Center makes sure that the laws from the Civil Rights Movement become a reality for all. They provide free resources for teachers to learn about tolerance, but also have blogs and information regarding current discrimination and hate that currently exist in the United States. The link will take you to their history section. Use the link to create a lesson plan for students to research and write about how the SPLC is making a difference.

Character Education Conference

Character Education Partnership is holding its 17th National Forum on Character Education October 28-30, 2010 in San Francisco at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Hotel. The theme this year is Service and Leadership: Profiles in Character. A limited number of scholarships are available, with 100 reserved for educators in the Bay Area.   

Register now for Character Education Partnership's national conference. Be sure to visit the Live Wire Media and GoodCharacter.com booth while you're there!

Go to www.character.org for more information.