At a Long Island Middle School, a Course in What Unites and Divides

New York City ^ | October 22, 2010 | Winnie Hu

[reaganaut1]

JERICHO, N.Y. — Fifteen eighth graders at Jericho Middle School were considering a fictional case of stereotyping by hair color the other day, or how a boy came to be prejudiced against people with green hair, or “greenies.” From there, they extrapolated to the stereotypes in their own lives: dumb football players, Asian math whizzes, boring bankers.

“We can feel stronger going back to our hallways,” the teacher, Elisa Weidenbaum Waters, said, “going back to our homes, going back to our society, and saying: ‘You know what? What you said is a stereotype, and that’s not cool.’ ”

This year, Jericho, a high-performing district, is offering an unusual elective for its middle-school students that channels the soul-searching and team-building activities of a diversity workshop into a yearlong class for credit. The course, which focuses on diversity, “will have you actively thinking about everything from food through language in a way you may never have before as we learn about what unites and divides all of us, and why,” a description said.

“What I’m looking to do,” said Ms. Waters, 40, who has long been active in social causes, “is build acceptance, awareness and appreciation that people may be different than you.”

There are no quizzes or tests in the class, and homework is assigned only occasionally. Instead, there are free-flowing discussions about privilege, discrimination and oppression, and readings, like the recent one about people with green hair from “Prejudiced — How Do People Get That Way?” — a book published by the Anti-Defamation League.

Jericho’s new class comes amid a renewed focus on diversity and antibullying programs in schools, heightened by the suicide of Tyler Clementi

[reaganaut1]

I wonder how many school activities could be cut without hurting (maybe helping) the education students receive. This "diversity" class looks like one.

Many "stereotypes" are TRUE when regarded as statistical generalizations.

[Old North State]

Just what self absorbed teenagers need, another class about ‘feelings’ with no no content except their ‘feelings’. Hard to image why that might be popular.

[Jim Scott]

There are no quizzes or tests in the class, and homework is assigned only occasionally.

I'm sure it's packed. Where were these kinds of classes when I was in high school? Oh, right, we had to actually learn something useful. Silly me.

[aruanan]

“We can feel stronger going back to our hallways,” the teacher, Elisa Weidenbaum Waters, said, “going back to our homes, going back to our society, and saying: ‘You know what? What you said is a stereotype, and that’s not cool.’ ”

Would it be a stereotype to say that teachers like her are stupid? A stereotype is a characteristic applied to every member of a group that is true about enough members of that group to have become noteworthy. Idiocy seems to have become a noteworthy characteristic of many in lower education. Elisa is one such idiot.

[aruanan]

“What I’m looking to do,” said Ms. Waters, 40, who has long been active in social causes, “is build acceptance, awareness and appreciation that people may be different than you.”

May be different? Most kids have discovered (and learned to exploit) this by the time they are old enough to talk. You want them to go to sleep. They want to stay awake. You want them to eat their green vegetables. They want to eat only corn, potatoes, and meat. You want them to obey you. They say no. The accept the fact that you want something they do not. They are quite aware of it. They appreciate it in their system of values that says what they want is good and what you want sucks. Sort of like Ms. Waters's class.

[benewton]

I concur.

All the way through my master’s, I have not ever heard the word “cool” in the classroom.

That said, the ed students were the least bright in the schools I attended. So, it figures that they do feelings since arithmetic is beyond them.

[Excellence]

So they let down their guard and they get mugged...

[starvosan]

Here is a poignant comment following this article about how the British school system is being dumbed down even more. It shows the real damage down by the subversive agenda behind much of today’s school curriculum.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1024031/Drop-middle-class-academic-subjects-says-schools-adviser.html

“It may not be the nation I’m living in, but I grieve for the education that these children will be cheated out of ..... . My public school education here in the States still leaves me bitter to this day. Had we spent more time on the “traditional” subjects I would not be left trying to educate myself on fundamentals today. Rather than teach us history or maths or proper grammar we spent the vast majority of our time discussing race and acceptance of different sexual orientations. Important topics they may be, but upon graduating after spending my entire life at school I was left feeling a bit empty handed.
- Vantz, Seattle, US, 3/6/2008”

[kevslisababy]

That is what I am always telling my kids: stereotypes are based on the truth somewhere.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

When I was in my early 20s, I worked out of the US for a couple of years. I discovered that Mexicans indeed eat tacos and beans, Chinese ate a lot of rice, and Italians ate lots of pasta. At that point I figured out that stereotypes indeed were based on truths.

[PapaBear3625]

Would it be a stereotype to say that teachers like her are stupid? A stereotype is a characteristic applied to every member of a group that is true about enough members of that group to have become noteworthy. Idiocy seems to have become a noteworthy characteristic of many in lower education. Elisa is one such idiot.

Try creating a stereotype about Japanese being lazy and shiftless, or Amish being violent thugs.

[fr_freak]

All of this crap is Orwellian mind control. First, you review which stereotypes fit which groups of people. Then, you drill into people's heads that stereotypes are wrong, and must NEVER be used, and if you apply a stereotype to someone, you are the most horrible person imaginable. That way, when a member of a particular commits a heinous act which fits the stereotype of the group he's in, you automatically prevent yourself from condemning him or his act, and instead, you roll over like a good slave and let him have his way. Of course, the Marxists in charge of these diversity and tolerance programs only condemn the stereotypes that are applied to preferred groups. If you want to stereotype a white male Christian, for example, you can do so all day long, and you'll get a cookie afterward.

All of this is merely mind control to turn people into slaves and give the Marxists the ability to determine the cultural and ideological direction of the country.

[wtc911]

Jericho SD is over-whelmingly Jewish with a strong Asian influx. The area liberal beyond belief and fairly wealthy (avg house - $800k with $20k plus in taxes).

How they will build a "diversity" program is beyond me unless they swap Koreans for Spanish and Hindians for Blacks.

btw...their HS just dropped the football program...lack of interest.

[DPMD]

“...dumb football players, Asian math whizzes, boring bankers,”

...Smart Democrats, tolerant liberals, racially sensitive progressives...

[goldi]

I was watching a news program called “In Our Schools” which features various schools in the state and what they are up to. What an eye opener. The kids in one particular class (they looked like freshmen in high school) were actually sitting at tables and making posters, drawings, etc., on the virtues of multiculturism, acceptance, and respect for all. They actually got credit for it. I believe it was an English class. It was appalling.

[HiTech RedNeck]

What, no English literature? No natural science?

[ronnie raygun]

Schools are doing more to educate our children into a straitjacket while allowing the diverse to run buckshot over them with no repercushions. So glad my kids are out of it, Parents get invovled, if you don’t like something pay them a visit, it’s your tax dollars that they use to indoctrinate

[Cacique]

Students would be helped by having baseball bats handed out and having a rumble in the schoolyard. It would determine the “diversity” between the whimps and who gets their lunch money taken and who gets to keep it. It would give them character, backbone and would teach them how the real world works. It runs by schoolyard rules.