Reference no: EM132185895

Discrimination is the unfair treatment of someone based on a group or class in which they belong. Examples would include age, gender, race, nationality, and religion. Prejudice is an unfair opinion or dislike, one has about another person because of a group or class in which they belong without fair reasoning, Racism is the belief that one race is superior over another. Many people believe that the terms discrimination, prejudice, and racism are interchangeable. While they are closely related they not synonyms of one another and have distinct characteristics that make them different. Prejudice is one's attitude that someone has about a specific group. This is usually a prejudgment and not based on experience. While racism fits this definition, it is stronger and may include practices that give the racial minority a disadvantage. Discrimination is the unfair action one takes against a group of people, based on their age, gender, race, nationality, religion, etc. (Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination).

The critical race theory is based on the theoretical work of understanding the sociopolitical and structural foundation of racism. Four tenets of CRT are 1.) racism is part of our everyday lives, 2.) that some people benefit from it, 3.) that race is a social construct and not biological, and 4.) that people of color can communicate their reality in a way white people cannot. It reveals that we categorize others based on visual and nonvisual traits. In doing so we create stereotypes that may skew the perception of entire groups of people, which may result in racism and discrimination. Examples would include Asians are studious, African-American’s have rhythm, or boys are smarter than girls. (Nieto and Bode). Our book Affirming Diversity gave several examples of categories in which we place others as a stereotype that may or may not be in true. By doing so in the classroom we are teaching prejudice, racism, and discrimination. Even though it may look as though we are making a positive statement, we are actually creating a false idea if a specific group of people. In my classroom, this new information will help me be more aware of the false ideas of different groups of people and not jump on the bandwagon of stereotypes. I will also use this information to teach my students how this type of ideas are hurtful to others and how it can also be hurtful to them. (Nieto and Bode).

I believe each time a new history book is written a little bit of history is lost. New information is added and the older information is dwindled down and sometimes even changed. I think Marisa’s choice to bring true history into the present day was a fantastic idea and proved to be very beneficial. I also believe many teachers today would love to do that kind of teaching but are limited with so much pressure from testing and required material. In my classroom, I have a little more freedom, because I don’t have to teach standards as I teach mostly life skills. So while history may not be an appropriate subject for me to use expeditionary learning, but I look forward to exploring the opportunities.