by Donald Herman

Created on: November 28, 2009

Stereotyped! It is an every day occurrence at all levels of society; any society. It comes in many forms and can be either covert or overt. One can be consciously labeling others or be fully unaware of their actions and the underlying bias. The issue in teaching is usually when those underlying biases surface and are acted upon. It can be a joke about blondes or pointed gender based threats such as anti gay rhetoric. However, these are excellent teaching opportunities and even transformative opportunities.

Clearly the level of classroom disruption dictates appropriate steps and diffusing the situation is the first order. Once the antagonist is subdued and the target reassured however, then meaningful engagement can begin. There is a simple psychological principle that, no one's opinion can be changed when they are subjected to further exposure to concepts that created the original bias. It is important therefore that the teacher not confront the stereotyped discrimination directly with the antagonist but rather, have the antagonist confront his own beliefs.

The process is quite simple and usually effective in the short term. It can not always achieve permanent results since the antagonist will return to the environment that created the original beliefs and behavior. However, it can establish an imbalance in beliefs that will at least, create a higher level of tolerance. The process is a "walk a mile in another's shoes" exercise so that the life experiences of both the antagonist and protagonist are experienced by the other. It is best constructed as a full classroom activity and can be any issue of stereotyped discrimination and not necessarily the instance at hand.

The classroom should be divided in half, dependent on the discrimination being utilized. Male/female roles in Pakistan for example, rather than a gay/straight issue that might have given rise to the exercise. In our example girls would play the role of men and the boys would be the subservient women. The boys would be required to walk behind their "male" counterparts and denied freedoms that men enjoy. It could just as easily be a Christian/Muslim portrayal and viewed from the perspective of a Christian nation or a Muslim one. Each individual would list the things that are "wrong" with the other people which in turn allows them to see others from their point of view. The teacher should edit out overly inflammatory words and phrases, prior to use in the exercise, so that proper classroom respect and control are maintained. (In a collegiate study with students, as either prisoners or jailers, the experiment had to be stopped because the jailers over identified with their power.) The resulting experience is that an anti gay individual might be confronted for "being gay" and their resulting defense of themselves allows them to feel the impact of the insults. Those who detest discrimination are forced to come up with reasons for discrimination and are therefore, better able to understand the issues that create discrimination.

Once the opposing sides of the issue are discussed and causal factors identified, then further exploration can be made of the negativity of discrimination and its impact on society and within the classroom. A prepared teacher can turn a disruptive exchange into a lemons - to - lemonade experience for her students, by simply applying a principle so basic as viewing the world through another's perspective.

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