How do you respond to religious intolerance among students?

Teach Diversity

Illustration: Ted Pitts

Intolerance usually starts from ignorance. One way to fight this is to educate the children about the different customs some people have. When I taught early childhood special ed, I would do a unit in December about the customs and traditions of other people. We talked about Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Hanukkah and the different ways people in Sweden, Germany, England, and Mexico celebrated Christmas. We read stories, did crafts, researched them on the Internet and invited people in to talk to us about their customs. We also made snacks from each country or people we were studying. This was a great way to teach tolerance for others.

Julie Evans
High School EBD, Springfield, Illinois

Challenge the Stereotype

Years, ago, when a group of boys in my classroom were making derogatory remarks about another student's religion, I said to them, "You know, that football player you're always praising, [so-and-so], is that same race and religion. Would you say those things to him?"

By showing them that there are many different religions and creeds in our great melting pot world, we can help many children see the stupidity and cruelty in prejudice.

Weda M. Mosellie
Retired language arts/English teacher, Phillipsburg, New Jersey

One Family

I'm an ESL teacher currently in southeast Asia who has a variety of mixed religions in the class. Simply state that this is "a classroom of study" and that religion does not apply. "We are one family unit working together." That's all it takes.

Sharon Ham
AUA Language Center, Bangkok, Thailand

Whose Prayers?

Many years ago when I taught high school social studies in Los Angeles, I had a number of my students come into class after the first Bush won the presidency. They were excited about his pledge to return prayer to the classroom.

So I told them (tongue-in-cheek, of course) that we should practice praying if it was to become the law of the land. They excitedly asked if that was possible. I said to them, "Sure. We can close the door and no one would know." I then proceeded to say a prayer in Hebrew and asked them to repeat after me. Confused, they asked what that was about. I told them that if we were to pray in school we would do it my way, and I asked them what they had in mind?

Fortunately they got the point right away and we then had a discussion about diversity and religion in school and other government places.

Ira Erbs
Ft. Vancouver High School, Vancouver, Washington

Respect—Siempre

Our student population comes from many different cultures. We have incorporated a program into the curriculum called ROPES: Respect Other People Equally Siempre. (Siempre is the Spanish word for "always.")

Our students are trained as peer teachers to present lessons on accepting differences in their classmates. Part of the program helps students practice appropriate responses—and respond to inappropriate responses. We are looking at this program as one way to educate our students and to help bring about an understanding and tolerance of cultural differences.

Linda James
Guidance counselor, Framingham, Massachusetts

Got An Answer? When you work with a small group, how do you keep the rest of your class engaged? E-mail your answer to dilemma2@list.nea.org. Or send by regular mail, or fax to 202-822-7206. Include your name, city, state, and job. If published, you will receive an NEA Today mug!