Bias, Prejudice and Oppression - Week - 6

This assignment is interesting to me because it made me think of a social experiment my middle school teachers conducted using my seventh grade class over twenty years ago.  We had been learning about discrimination and the teachers wanted to give us a small look at how it felt to be in the middle of a real situation where people were being discriminated against.  Now, keep in mind I went to a very small school with an average class size of about 15 students per grade and I was able to have a very unique schooling experience.  That being said, I have not even thought of this particular instance in many years but it definitely made a mark on me personally.

So one day when I went to school, something was very different than the day before.  As our morning began, certain kids were made to sit in the back of the classroom.  We found this odd but did not say anything as we were not suspecting anything strange was going on...yet.  As the day continued, the different treatment of those same students continued and escalated.  They went from being made to sit in the back of the classroom, to being made to stand.  From being asked to sit by themselves, away from the other students, to being asked to sit alone and not talk to anyone.  One of the students being discriminated against was a good friend of mine and I remember feeling so mad at the teachers for treating him unfairly.

By the end of the experiment, I was starting to just join my friend in whatever the alternate activity was, like I remember refusing the chair if my friend was denied a chair and refusing to speak if my friend was forbidden to speak.  I was so mad by the end of the experiment, as many of my classmates were, that they actually ended it early.  Apparently we were not being cooperative enough.  One of the best results from this activity was that we were able to have a very honest discussion about oppression and what we would do if we saw oppression in action, or what we would not do.

Obviously this experiment had a big impact on me.  I think the greatest outcome for me was it made me realize that even though I may have gotten in trouble for disobeying a teacher, I cared less about getting in trouble than I did about the poor treatment of my friends.  This is true for me to this day.  I would rather face consequences for standing up for what I know is right, than see someone being oppressed and not do anything about it.