Seeing our Prejudices

1. Ask your students to write a paper on one of their own prejudices. Their paper should describe what the prejudice is, what it is based on, and where and how they think they learned it.

2. When students turn in their papers, engage them in a discussion about the project. Was it difficult to come up with something? Why or why not? How did they feel writing about it? Why? What did they learn from the assignment? What other ways can we help others become aware of their prejudices?

3. Have students choose from one of the following two options and present their findings to the class: a) conduct interviews with two members of a group against whom they have felt prejudiced and arrange for at least one of them to make a presentation to the class. b) write a research paper on three members of this group who have contributed positively to society and make a presentation to the class about their contributions. Each of these options should include a component that: 1) has students address the ways in which these individuals support or refute the prejudice they have about the group. 2) describes in detail what they learned from this assignment.

Some students may resist because they do not believe that they are prejudiced. Explain that prejudice is something that we have all learned. By becoming aware of our prejudices we begin to unlearn them.