Last month, I asked for anonymous input from my class and a couple of students requested more time for discussion and input from the class. Thus, this lesson is built heavily around discussion. Yet, as much as this junior class wants to be involved, it has few outgoing leaders to initiate and move along the discussion for each group. We found that some small groups did better with an adult facilitator (teacher or teacher’s aid) to help bring out the discussion.

 Video Tape with a movie clip that shows intolerance. Ideas: Scene from “Legally Blonde,” where she went to her first class at Harvard. Or, in “Legally Blonde II,” where she entered her Washington office for the first time. By choosing a less explosive type of prejudice, such as “prejudice against fashionable blondes,” students may be able to more objectively observe prejudice in action.

1. Introductory Activities  

Divide and Discuss

Divide into groups of about five by shoe size. Find as much as you can in common with each other (interests, preferred style of music, number of siblings, favorite video games, future goals, school activities, etc.). (After a few minutes, ask them to share with the entire group what they learned that they had in common.) 

Untangle Game

Serve donuts and juice in their groups.  Stay in your group for the session.

Today’s lesson is on tolerance. I know it’s uncomfortable to get with people you don’t know as well. But I believe that one of the keys to breaking through our prejudices is to find out all we have in common with those around us.

How would you define tolerance? (Different students may contribute different elements. Put their resulting definition on the board.)

 Here is how Webster’s Dictionary defines it (put on blackboard): 

 “A willingness to let others have their own beliefs, ways, etc., even though these are not like one’s own.”

Is tolerance always a good thing? Can you give some examples of behaviors that we simply can’t tolerate? (Students who talk loudly in school, interfering with the education of others; Hitler’s actions toward the Jews, people selling illegal drugs.)

Today we want to address areas where we need to be more tolerant. We need all of you to participate so that you don’t have to listen to me lecture!

We tend to think of intolerance over race. But it goes much further than that. Intolerance usually starts with unfairly lumping all students of one social group into a category. So, let’s map the social world of our school.  (Draw an outline, sort of like the border of a state, on the board.) Start calling out social groups that you see on campus. At this time, don’t say any labels (stereotypes) people use for these groups. We’ll get to that next. (As students call out social groups (like “band,” or “cheerleaders”, write the name of the group inside of your outline and draw a border around each.)

Now, tell me how people label or stereotype these groups. Remember, it’s not YOU saying this about the group. It’s just how you see others label them. (This approach keeps students from building animosity.) (As they mention the stereotypes (labels), like “cheerleaders are airheads,” “jocks are conceited,” write these labels next to the name of the group.)

• Because it’s unfair to label (stereotype) people. Nobody wants that. My social group or the way I dress doesn’t totally define me.
• Because it burns us up when people do it to us. In your small groups, share how it felt when other people looked down on you for some reason.) (Give them ideas: It could have been because of your race, your weight, your height, a group you were in, your age, etc. Share times when you, the facilitator, have been looked down on and how you felt.)
• Because intolerant people eventually look stupid; their prejudices eventually come out. (Examples: Hitler looked stupid because he was prejudiced against Jews. Yet Albert Einstein, arguably the most intelligent person of the century, a Jew, was teaching in one of the German Universities when Hitler was in power. A kid in my car said something that slammed Hispanics, then realized too late that his best friend in the car has a Hispanic mom!)
• It can get us fired. (Think of coaches, athletes, etc., who have been fired because of racist remarks.)
• Because we need to be broadened, especially as Americans. Hanging around the same group day after day can lead to a shallow, sheltered life.

Debriefing: How did people show intolerance in this clip? (rolling of the eyes, laughing, unkind words, etc.) What are other ways people show intolerance? How do you feel when people act this way toward you?

• Facial expressions. Who can do that for us?
• Talking behind someone’s back.
• Laughing at someone.
• Threatening.
• Telling jokes about.
• Hitting or bombing.
• Declaring war on.

Imagine that intolerance has escalated to such a point in your school that students seem hopelessly divided by groups, despising each other. The administration has selected your small group to come up with solutions. Brainstorm as many ideas as you can. Choose a leader from your group to present your ideas to the class.  

 (Write ideas on the board. Add some of these if they fail to come up with them…)

• Stress activities to get people out of their group and get to know others.
• Have students “meet a new person” each class period.
• Ask students how it feels when people look down on them.  Help them realize this is how others feel when they look down on them.
• Watch movies that help us feel how bad intolerance is. Here are some to get you started: “Shallow Hal and Nutty Professor” (on intolerance to large people), Schindler’s List (on Jews), Places in the Heart (Afro-Americans), The Breakfast Club (artificial high school divisions). Students might enjoy describing parts of movies where intolerance was either shown or solved.
• Give examples of people who don’t conform to the stereotypes. (Nice jocks, smart cheerleaders, etc.)

It’s so easy to spot prejudice in other’s lives while failing to see it in our own. How can we conquer intolerance in our personal lives? Reflect silently on how you look down on other people for their nationality, race, size, school club, etc. Now look over the list of solutions we came up with and choose one or two to work on this week.  

(Copyright February, 2004 by Legacy Educational Resources. All rights reserved.)