Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Politically or Racially-Aware I believe in democracy. As a high school social sciences teacher, I strongly believe in democratic education and political awareness. I want my students to be aware of what is going on around them locally, nationally, and internationally. I require my students to keep up with news. Everything they learn from newspapers, magazines, and television becomes substance to use in my lessons. Before the presidential elections, I asked my students to watch all the debates, try to see the different perspectives, and how those perspectives may lead to different courses of action and to different implications for people. As part of this effort, I gave students a "persuasive writing" assignment. I gave them a list of topics from the debates, such as abortion, healthcare, affirmative action, and foreign policy. Students were to take a position on one of these issues and write a persuasive essay. When it was time for students to share their writings in class, things got out of hand. Every single topic we discussed along with the essays turned into a discussion of race. My Black and White students took opposite perspectives on every issue and during the discussions, they were not civil. I felt like my efforts for democratic education were not producing anything good. Should I change my activities? How come the political awareness I wanted develop in my students actually turned out to be racial awareness? Some guidance please! Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I do not believe you should change your activities. Instead, I would ask the students who were in disagreement to regroup and share their thoughts regarding the issue with the mindset that we are all people, skin color aside. I believe that the political awareness turned into "racial awareness" because, unfortunately, people want an "easy way out." They would rather blame "it" on "race/ or our apparent differences" than actually facing the "real issues" at hand. In order to help your students face the real issues, I would have them expand on their initial thoughts and do research as to the possible pros and cons of each issue and report on them. They could even interview those who approve and oppose each issue, both black and white people. The ultimate goal should be that the students learn how to vocalize their thoughts and ideas without engaging in an all out war with others. Within this process, students may open their own eyes and in the process may learn how to persuade people to think like them.