Children give insights into why discrimination hurts

The end of Discrimination Day is a relief to most children in Barbara Ingold's class.

"Were you treated unfairly?" Ingold asks. "Definitely YES!" is one answer.

And, when she asks if they should do it again, the answer is a resounding "No, No, No!"

No one seems to bear any hard feelings to Ingold for their unfair treatment. One little girl who was obviously upset earlier in the day approaches Ingold and gives her a hug; another child, given the opportunity to just observe after becoming so upset, decides to keep participating.

The last exercise for the children is to answer questions about Discrimination Day and how it made them feel:

Why do people discriminate against others?

• Because it makes them feel good and they get to boss you around and you do everything they want you to do, not what you want to do.

• Because they don't like the person and they don't want to have a part of them.

• Like the KKK. They want just one kind of people in America.

• To be mean.

• Because they think they're better than us.

How did you feel when you were part of the group doing the discriminating?

• I felt higher than anyone!

• I felt happy and a little bit rude and mean.

• I felt kind of bad for the group that was discriminated against.

• I think it was fantastic.

• I felt proud of myself.

• I felt like I was a really rich girl of royalty.

How did you feel when you were part of the group being discriminated against?

• I felt furious at Mrs. Ingold and also sad.

• I felt mad, sad, scared, bored, unfair and like someone that's a loser.

• Mad, about to cry, and very mad.

• I don't like it. I even cried.

• I almost gave up.

• I felt as if I was begin whipped when Mrs. Ingold spoke to me.

What did you learn from our class doing this Discrimination Day?

• You are not better than anybody. Everybody is the same.

• It's frustrating to be discriminated against! And we should not judge people by sex, etc.

• That some people are discriminated (against) every day in an unfair way and can have a very miserable life.

• I learned that everybody should be treated fairly.

• That you aren't better than anybody and you should be kind to everybody else.

• That this is how other people that are black get treated every day of their lives. We should treat people better.