Prejudice and discrimination
Introduction
Discrimination is still around us. Discrimination is present in many forms, like words or sentences.
What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination? Everybody at one point had to deal with prejudice, like: Girls can't play soccer. Boys only want to fight. Dutch people ar stingy. You are a nerd when you wear glasses.
But when is something a prejudice and when does it become discrimination?
That is the difference you'll be investigating.
Assignment
You will now try to investigate what the difference between prejudice and discrimination is. Is there a difference?
When you write down your answers, please try to explain why you think it.
Let's start with a little history. A great example is Germany from the 1930's, at that moment in time there was a lot of prejudice against jews.
You can find all the information on the internet and you can use the resources tab for the links.
Assignment 1.
What prejudices were there against the jews? Where there more groups excluded?
Assignement 2. It went a bit further than just prejudice. At a certain pont there were different rules for Jewish people. What were some of the rules? Discuss them in your group.
Assigment 3. Prejudice was also a big problem in America. 
There used to be all these different rules for black people. They weren't allowed to go to the same hairdresser as whit people, or use the same entrance in a shop. They also had to go to different schools because the colour of their skin. This is called racial segregation or apartheid.
What do you think of this? Is this just prejudice or is this discrimination?
Prejudice is not nice and can really hurt, but discrimination is taking these a step further. With discrimination there is an action after the prejudice. The person that discriminates feels that he or she is better than the other and uses words or takes actions to show this (like excluding someone in a game).
Discrimination can take many forms en can be directed at different groups of people, because they are labeled 'different'. This can be because of faith, gender, enticity or sexuality.
Assigment 4. Did you ever experience prejudice? And with discrimination? How dit it make you feel?
Assignment 5. Some people say: Be the change you want see in the world. What could you do against discrimination? Is there one solution?
Processing assignment
Prejudice and discrimination is still a big problem. And you are now already well informed. So know it's time to share your knowledge. How? That is up to you! You can make an infographic for your school, a cartoon or a story for instance. It must contain the following:
- Who is facing the discrimination?
- What lead up to it?
- Why is this discrimination?
- What is the solution?
Sources
Assessment criteria
You can receive 30 points for the assigments and 70 for the processing assignment.
For the assessment of the assignments we will look at the following topics:
- You answered all the questions (10 points)
- You wrote down all the answers nicely (10 points)
- You also wrote down the arguments to your answer (10 points)
For the processing assignment the following points can be given:
- Creativity and originality (10 points)
- All the given topics are included in the en product (40 points)
- The end result (20 point)
Add all point together and divide them by 10, this is your final mark. Your end credit is sufficient starting from a 5.5.
Conclusion
In these lessons you have learned a lot about prejudice and discrimination and what this can do to a person.
It is and remains a difficult subject, but know that it helps to keep talking about it.
Change starts with yourself and you are the future.
For the teacher
For the teacher:
Subject: Prejudice and discrimination
Schooltype: Primary school (Grade 4 to 6)
Discipline: Social and environmental studies
Execution: In small groups
Total lessons: 2 (2x 45 min), the assigments and the processing are done in two seperate lessons.
End product: Chosen by the student
Materials: For the assignments themselves only pencil and paper, for the processing the students can choose the material themselves.
Maker: Marcella Plaatje
Prejudice and discrimination occur in all layers of our society, but it is and remains a sensitive subject. Be aware of this and as a teacher try to guide the children in their own journey of discovery instead of steering them too much.
