- Why is it important to openly discuss issues that are seen as having racial dimensions?
2. What do educators need to do to foster productive examination of issues that are seen by some—or all —as being influenced by the race or ethnicity?
I think looking at these issues in a completely none biased, none racial way. When talking to students about the issue or article you can reword the explanation of it and take out any language that can lead students minds in to a certain stereotype. Like where the person is from or their up bringing. Doing this I think students will be able to look at the issue(hopefully) by what the facts are instead of who is involved.
3. What are some examples of effective strategies for initiating and facilitating conversations about race?
I read awhile ago about a teacher choosing to treat students with blue eyes 'better' and told the other students that people with blue eyes were higher than the others. This exercise brought out emotions of all different kinds. I think this is a really interesting way to show students(especially younger kids) how discriminating can really hurt people. Another way I think would be good(for students at a higher level) would be to start having people talking about the stereotypes forced upon themselves as a race and than lead them in to a discussion on how they could change their way of looking at their own race to hopefully help them cut out stereotypes in general.
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ReplyDeleteKelly Jo,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that people often fear the “unknown”. Simply due to differing looks and varying cultural practices, people often turn away and do not want to get to know people of diverse races. I agree that the only way to try to break down some of these barriers is to engage in constructive conversations concerning racial dimensions.
I like your idea of the teacher trying to re-phrase an article so that it is a more neutral ground for all. But, I also feel that reading writings that portray varying cultural and racial dimensions is a way to spread awareness. Reading works that have racial dimensions is one way to begin constructive conversations.
Your explanation of the teacher choosing to resemble this topic by choosing to treat the students with blue eyes differently than other students is very interesting! This would definitely be an eye opening activity for students of all ages!
Kelly Jo,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you about change. I know for me personally that change does make me feel uncomfortable as it puts me outside of my comfort zone. Just this makes it important to talk about these issues to help people change and make the best society. I also really like your idea about re-wording things to make them more neutral, especially for the younger children. Your idea about treating children with blue eyes differently really made me think and wonder how that would work in a classroom.
Haley