Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Your Dad Looks Like Osama. Cultural awareness is important because we live in such a diverse country. As a teacher, I feel it is my responsibility to promote as much cultural awareness as possible in my 5th graders. As part my efforts, I invite people from diverse backgrounds to my classroom as guest speakers. I start with parents of my current students from various cultural backgrounds. Two weeks ago, I sent an invitation to the parents of my Arab-American student Mahmoud. Mahmoud's parents moved from Saudi Arabia to the US before he was born. His father works as an engineer in a large company and his mother is a nurse. I received an answer to my invitation the next day. Mahmoud's father agreed to come and talk to my class about his cultural and religious background. His guest talk was very informative and interesting. My students seemed to enjoy the session also. However, the next day I started hearing some of my students tease Mahmoud about his father's beard. They called Mahmoud's father "Osama." They asked him if his father was a "terrorist." I was shocked that despite my efforts to raise cultural awareness, my students gave into stereotypes so easily. Where did I go wrong? How should I respond to this situation? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I don't think that you did anything wrong at all. You made an effort to broaden he students' horizons and they turned it into something hateful. I think that disciplinary action should be taken against these students. By 5th grade, students know what bullying is and they know that something like that is not okay to say. These comments could potentially stay with Mahmoud forever and really make him feel ashamed, when in reality, his father was doing something very nice by even coming in. I would contact the students' parents and have a serious talk with them about their behavior. In 5th grade, most of those students probably don't even realize who Osama really is and are likely just regurgitating hatefulness they learned from their parents at home. I would start from the source, the parents and correct this problem. I would also probably pull Mahmoud aside and apologize to him and make sure that he was okay.                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: I agree kids in 5th grade know when they are being bullies or saying something mean. Rated On: October 21, 2014 4:59 am Rated By: Thomas Anderson                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: I agree with this solution. Rated On: October 18, 2020 7:57 pm Rated By: Jennifer Overbey