"Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism Reduction in the Schools"
by Ken Bower, Ed.D.
Understanding Ourselves and Others
• "In order to understand others, we must first understand ourselves"
We must be able to understand ourselves before we can begin to understand others who are not like us.
• Some groups are considered to be more acceptable than others
We tend to rank groups on some criterion. In people it can be on the color of the skin or eyes, language or customs.
DISCRIMINATION
• Discrimination - to distinguish one like object from another; to differentiate-discrimination is necessary to distinguish one like object from another.
• Discrimination involves behavior that excludes all members of a group from certain rights, opportunities or privileges.
• Victims of long-term discrimination may experience feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth.
PREJUDICE, STEREOTYPING AND RACISM
• Prejudice is a form of thinking in which conclusions are reached that may be in conflict with the facts because of prejudged conclusions.
• Prejudice from outside groups strengthens affiliations by restricting the choices of its members.
-It emphasizes the negative rather the positive aspects of belonging
-Victims regard their group as a prison that curtails their freedom
rather than a means of serving their individual needs
• Prejudice is a "self-reinforcing" schedule
• Emotional feelings are developed about different groups
-fear, hate, love all tend to be extended to all members of that group
• Because we naturally group to remember, there is a tendency to give characteristics of individuals in that group the same qualities
• Stereotypes lead to poor self-concept only if they are accepted and believed
• Stereotypes are used to reinforce fundamental prejudices and our personal superiority/inferiority beliefs about others
• Racism - is the belief that members of one or more races are inferior to members of other races, it is a form of prejudice.
• We must work toward making a pluralistic society, a place where all racial and cultural groups share equal access to opportunities for quality lives and power over their lives.
• To achieve pluralism, racism must be abolished!
Aspects of Culture:
• Culture is all ideas, objects and ways of doing things by a group of people.
• Culture is a set of rules for behavior by which humans organize and give meaning to the world.
• Cultural characteristics:
-it is acquired by people
-one acquires it as a member of society
-it is a complex whole
• Culture includes language, traditions, technology, beliefs inventions, arts and customs.
PREPARING FOR CHANGE
Communicating with Strangers
• Interacting with people who are different is a novel experience for most of us.
• Our attitudes, prejudices and stereotypes create expectations that cause us to misinterpret messages we receive from people who are different and vice versa.
• Misunderstanding occurs when we misinterpret the symbolic clues of another culture.
• We remember more favorable information about our in-groups and more unfavorable information about out-groups.
• Stereotypes create expectations regarding how members of other groups will behave.
Five principles that are useful in understanding how misinterpretation can occur:
1. We can never know the state of mind-the attitudes, thoughts, and feelings-of other people.
2. We depend on signals, which are frequently ambiguous, to inform us about the attitudes and wishes of other people.
3. We use our own coding system, which may be defective, to decipher these signals.
4. Depending on our own state of mind at a particular time, we may be biased in our method of interpreting other people's behavior, that is, how we decode.
5. The degree to which we believe that we are correct in divining another
person's motives and attitudes is not related to the actual accuracy of
our belief.
(Source: Beck, Aaron, Love is Never Enough, New York: Harper & Row, 1988, p.18. In Gudykunst, William B., Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication, Sage Pub., Newbury Park, CA, 1991. p.31.)
Characteristics of situations necessary for positive attitude changes toward a social group as a result of individual contact:
1. Cooperation within groups should be maximized and competition between groups should be minimized.
2. Members of the in-group and the out-group should be of equal status both within and outside the contact situation.
3. Similarity of group members on non status dimensions (beliefs, values, etc.) appears to be desirable.
4. Differences in competence should be avoided.
5. The outcomes should be positive.
6. Strong normative and institutional support for the contact should be provided.
7. The intergroup contact should have the potential to extend beyond the immediate situation.
8. Individualization of group members should be promoted.
9. Non superficial contact (e.g., mutual disclosure of information) should be encouraged.
10. The contact should be voluntary.
11. Positive effects are likely to correlate with the duration of the contact.
12. The contact should occur in a variety of contexts with a variety of in group and out-group members.
13. Equal numbers of in-group and out-group members should be used.
(Source: Stephan, Walter G., (1985). Intergroup relations. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology (3rd ed. Vol..2. New York: Random House, p.643. In Gudykunst, William B., Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication, Sage Pub., Newbury Park, CA, 1991. p.80.)
Steps in knowing how we are understood by others:
1. Stop and observe what we have experienced with the minimum amount of distortion and without attributing social significance.
2. Look for alternative interpretations.
3. Assess our effectiveness with others by seeking additional information (use the library, ask the other person, ask someone else in the other group, ask someone with experience)
4. Draw conclusions as to how others interpret our communications.
5. Incorporate our conclusions into our understanding of the other person or group.
(Source: Gudykunst, William B., Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication, Sage Pub., Newbury Park, CA, 1991. p.114.)
Community building principles:
1. Be committed.
2. Be mindful.
3. Be unconditionally accepting.
4. Be concerned for both yourself and others.
5. Be understanding.
6. Be ethical.
7. Be peaceful.
(Source: Gudykunst, William B., Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication, Sage Pub., Newbury Park, CA, 1991. pp.147-8.)
System Model of School District Planning for Facing Multiethnic Change
School Functions
Personnel practices (affirmative action) Administration
Curriculum and instruction Adult education
Staff development Community services
Pupil personnel services
Pupil assignment practices-
• Are ethnic issues disregarded when assigning students to classes?
• Are students in special education classes and ESL classes properly placed based upon criteria other than ethnicity?
Curriculum and instruction-
• Is the curriculum culturally biased as to be demeaning to any ethnic group?
• Are all ethnic groups treated with respect in the curriculum?
• Have all standardized tests been analyzed and are not culturally biased?
• Are instructional methodologies based on the concept that "all children can learn?"
Pupil personnel services-
• Are students offered services that will help them deal with problems caused by their ethnic differences?
• Are pupil personnel services available to all students on an equal basis?
Cocurricular/Extracurricular activities-
• Do all students have the opportunity to participate in every school activity regardless of their cultural heritage?
• Are there activities in which students may participate regardless of their ethnic group or language ability?
Administration-
• Are all students treated fairly regardless of their socioeconomic status or ethnicity?
• Are all students treated with respect?
Implementation Procedures for Planning for
Multicultural Education Using a Site-based Model
Campus Level:
A. Planning Phase
1. Create a School-based Campus Multicultural Task Force composed of campus administrators, teachers from various disciplines (including ESL and bilingual if available), counselors, the librarian, students and parents.
2. Determine how the district's goals and objectives can be met through specific needs of the school.
-surveys
-group forums
-examine existing educational programs
-prioritize the needs to be addressed
3. Develop the site-based program
-specify the objectives with the highest priority
-list the specific tasks necessary to accomplish the objectives
-select the resources necessary to meet the objectives that are selected
(personnel, budgets, materials)
-create a comprehensive plan to fulfill the needs of the school
4. Implement and evaluate the program
- plan the schedule and announce the implementation to everyone concerned
-train the staff in the areas indicated as high priority area
-evaluate the program performance against each of the objectives
-report the results of the program to all involved parties (students, staff,
community members)
-propose program or goal changes
-redefine the program and begin the second phase
5. Designate planning and responsibilities of the staff and others
6. Establish a time frame for completing, adopting and implementing a plan.
7. List existing and potential resources of a multicultural program, both human and materials.
B. Assess needs
1. Survey racial, ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic and language differences in the schools and the community.
2. Examine the existing program to determine what it does and does not do to meet the goals of multicultural education.
3. Predict the program changes and other changes in the schools and the district that will affect the multicultural program.
4. Analyze the current and future needs to meet the goals of multicultural education.
5. Select the priority needs and goals.
C. Develop the program
1. Specify the objectives to meet the highest priority goals.
2. Detail the specific tasks to accomplish the objectives in each functional area.
3. Establish the logical sequence of objectives and tasks.
4. Select the human and material resources to meet the objectives.
5. Structure the objectives, tasks and resources in a comprehensive plan.
6. Conduct pilot program(s), try out elements of the plan and revise as indicated.
D. Implement and evaluate the program
1. Plan the schedule and announce the implementation to all concerned.
2. Train the staff for each task and functional modification.
3. Implement, monitor and make adjustments.
4. Assess the program performance against the objectives.
5. Evaluate the performance in each functional area.
6. Report the results to all participants and/or propose program or goal changes.