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Lesson ideas

Prejudice

Students explore and understand the concept of prejudice.

These activities encourage students to discuss the danger of generalising about an entire group, often on the basis of very limited experience, and the resulting prejudice.
When asking students to draw on their own experiences it is often helpful if the teacher can lead with a personal example.

Student copies of Nipper

1. Read Nipper.

2. Discuss

• Do you think that Peter's attitude towards dogs is justified? Remember, he was bitten by Nipper.
• If you were Peter's friend, what would you say to him or how would you try to help him?
• Do you think that Nipper or other dogs sense that Peter is afraid of dogs and doesn't like them? (This might lead to a discussion on whether or not people "know" when they're feared, disliked or are the objects of prejudice.)
• Create other stories about prejudice that show the same type of thinking as Peter's.

3. Jointly create a definition of prejudice, including examples, which can serve as a point of reference for subsequent discussions.

4. Ask students to describe negative experiences they have had with people who are different from themselves ie experiences which might lead to over-generalisation and possibly to prejudice. Examples might be drawn from experiences with bus drivers, shop keepers, teachers, old people, as well as people of different racial or ethnic groups.
Ask students to

• Describe their experiences.
• Discuss whether or not the experience affected their attitude towards people of that group.
• Did they find themselves becoming prejudiced?
  If yes, explain how.
  If no,explain why not.
• Discuss whether or not they now harbour any negative feeling toward people of that particular group.

1. Ask students if they can identify any prejudiced attitudes they may have towards other groups.
Encourage students to explore and articulate the origins of their prejudice, to learn all they can about the group and decide whether their prejudice is at all justified.

2. Pose some hypothetical questions for group or class discussion to help students explore the effects of prejudice.
(a) What if you were prejudiced against people with glasses? other races? migrants? people who didn't like sport? teenagers? old people?
How might you act towards these people if you felt prejudiced against them?
(b) What effects might your actions have on these other people? on you?
Through this activity, help students to see that prejudice works both ways. It not only harms those who are treated in a prejudicial way but it can also harm the person who is prejudiced, among other things, by denying the opportunity to learn and grow from others.

3. Ask students to identify a food they like when it is prepared in one fashion but dislike when prepared another way (eg baked potato vs mashed potatoes).In the subsequent discussion, relate the preparation of food to the differences among people.
As with food which we can dislike in one form but like in another, we can also dislike one member of a group without being prejudiced against the group as a whole.

Additional classroom activities related to prejudice:
Shiman David and McLean Barbara, 1991, The Prejudice Book- Activities for the Classroom