Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Lost Atmosphere When I engaged my 10th graders in discussions about racism and discrimination in society, I was really happy to see the heated debates. Although I did not like the fact that Black students were defending the "Black side" of the issues and the White students were defending the "White side" of the issues, I thought exchanging ideas and perspectives was a move in the right direction. My purpose was to promote a critical view on social issues in my students. What I did not expect was that days and weeks following this lesson, my Black and White students refused to work together. I could not have them cooperate in group assignments. If I let the students choose their own groups, Black students chose Blacks and White students chose Whites. Working together had never been an issue among my students prior to the lesson on racism and discrimination. I do not know how to bring back what was lost because of this lesson. Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) Your students are exhibiting the exact situations that causes rifts between races and promotes discrimination that you referenced in the social issue lesson you taught on racism. Their behavior is separating the classroom community and needs to be stopped. Open communication between the groups of students needs to occur to promote cohesion. Perhaps a lesson about Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech about ending racism is needed.