As I watched the video called, "Culturally Divided," I realized how important it is for us as teachers to teach our students about diversity. Everyone is different and students need to realize that it is okay to be different. I was so interested in this video because it made 3rd graders think critically about cultural diversity. All the teacher had to do was tell the students that a certain eye color was stupid and were not as good as another eye color. I thought this was a really cool experiment and when the students starting turning on each other because they thought that was what they were supposed to do, it made me think that was how the students were told to act towards black people. Their parents have probably told them some black stereotypes and the kids believed them just like they believed the teacher after she told them that another eye color was stupid. The students really got caught up in this experiment because when they showed the reunion the one girl said she went home hating the teacher for doing this to her. The students still remember how she felt back then because of how strongly she felt.
I thought at first watching the video was going to just be about students doing this kind of activity. I was suprised when she did the same thing with adults. The adults acted just like the kids. I thought this was interesting how the adults got really into this stereotype and even started to get upset.
When I am a teacher, I would like to incorporate this into my classroom but I am not sure how students today when handle it. I do think that I want to try it at least once to see how they would react. It would be really interesting to see their reactions.
In the article, they talked about The Lion King right away. I loved that movie as a kid and when he was talking about how women are discriminated against in the movie, I was thinking, "What?!" I never caught that when I watched it. I always assumed that the lionesses in the movie were helpless against Scar. I actually told my fiance about what the article said and he said that is completely wrong because that is how things are in the wild and the lionesses had no power to take Scar over because a male is normally in charge in the wild. I disagreed. This was before the first couple pages and I said that the movie is unrealistic to the wild because animals talk and sing. When I continued to read, I realized the article mentioned our disagreement in it. I laughed and told my fiance about it, to show I was right of courses!
The article talks a lot about discrimination of gender and race. The gender was talked about with the Lion King and the race part was talked about a lot more. The part that stuck out to me was that white authors were writing stories about blacks and other cultures. This was something I was used to hearing but I realized that it is kind of odd if they do not know a lot about that race. The one author illustrated a tribe wrong and this gave them bad credit. I think that unless author's have a lot of information about different race then they shouldn't write about the other culture.
Reading this article and watching the video made me realize that we are all still learning about other cultures that are not our own. There will always be someone different and there will always be discrimination. How as teachers do we help this situations be less in the classroom? I say we try to do what the teacher in the video did. Having students see how it is being a minority can help the situations in class. Then if this is taught in class, then as adults these students can teach their kids how to be with people of another race or culture.
I love that the reading you do for this class is becoming a part of your "home discourse"! :)
ReplyDeleteI also was really shocked by the analysis given of “The Lion King”. I never once thought about that message behind the movie and I thought it was really interesting to hear. Now I want to look back at other Disney movies and see what underlying messages can be seen there! It’s really funny because when I told my mom about this article, she also did not believe that this underlying message could be seen in the Disney movies. She said it was just about how lions really are in the wild until I explained to her the argument Hade makes in the article about that point as well and she was taken aback.
ReplyDeleteI found the part when the article talked about white authors writing stories about blacks and other cultures interesting also. I never really gave any thought to this, but after reading the article I do see how many of the stories about other races and cultures written from a white perspective tend to be biased. I think that this helps reinforce the stereotypes and beliefs that are seen in the world today because children are brought up reading things from this specific perspective and they believe they are true. If I never read this article, I probably would have never really thought about the fact that many of the things we were reading growing up and now were biased towards other cultures.
Not sure if this is what you were trying to say, but your post introduced a new thought in my head. Usually, encouraging students that it is okay to be different is meant for the individual. However, what if we begin to shift student perspective with that idea to not only mean that they should accept themselves but that they should also accept that others are different? [I have never thought about that particular phrase through that perspective.]
ReplyDeleteI had similar thoughts. People are so quick to criticize others without fully understanding the power of a culture that conditions those people "that was what they [are] supposed to do." (For example, white attitudes toward blacks in the South during the late 19th/early 20th century.) It's unfortunate and condemning.
I agree that the video was very interesting to watch. Jane Elliot took a lot of risks to do this experiment with her classroom. What kinds of ways would you prepare yourself to do an activity like this in your classroom? Jane Elliot even said herself that anyone who uses this in the classroom will need extensive training and be well prepared to make sure the kids are not traumatized.
ReplyDeleteI did not realize she was going to do the experiment on adults either. It was so intense even with them. They took on the roles just like the kids did.
I was shocked by The Lion King gender roles too! I have never thought about the Disney movies with race, class, and gender roles of our society in mind. The gender role in The Giving Tree was interesting too.
Although it may not necessarily be with the books mentioned in the article, we should invite kids to learn about the class and gender roles.
To Kill a Mockingbird was a great book to use with the article and video because the race and gender roles compare so well. How could you use To Kill a Mockingbird or another book with similar issues to teach in your classroom?
Like you, I really enjoyed watching the video. Elliot did a great job with the lesson and it was crucial for the students to learn. There is no better way of learning than experiencing it first hand. Elliot is one of the few teachers that actually knows how to teach the subject of multiculturalism correctly. Some teachers impose their opinions upon their students and it just makes the lesson ineffective. Students have the right to form their own opinions and find their own views about a topic. That's the best way of learning the topic all together.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read about "The Lion King" I was also shocked. This made me remember when my friend did a project on the underlying messages behind all Disney movies, so I actually googled it and started getting pretty upset. Even though what Hade talked about with "The Lion King" is true, I'm one of those people who doesn't want to admit it and I just want to watch it for enjoyment.
I like that you brought up the students' parents because parents have a big impact on students' thoughts. How, as teachers, are we going to possibl change or impact the thoughts of these students when possibly their parents are telling them otherwise?
ReplyDeleteHade encourages us to aid students in creating their own meaning, so hopefully that's what we can do. Encourage them to create their OWN thought and meaning.
I also think that it is really important to teach students about cultural diversity. It was interesting how in class we watched Dumbo and saw all the social aspects that we had ignored as children. Have you ever watched a movie that was once a childhood favorite and actually understood what was happening? It is a whole new side to see what you didn't "understand" as a child. After watching the classroom experiments, I have also concluded that we need to encourage students to think about diversity. Maybe not put them in a direct scenario, but have them understand what it is those aspects in books and media that are truly important.
ReplyDelete