Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
How would you teach a lesson on discrimination?
The students in Barbara Ingold's class at Harrison Elementary recently studied the subject in a way they will never forget.
They lived it.
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It looks like a typical classroom: Student-sized desks, essays and drawings on the wall, the alphabet above the chalkboard.
But take a closer look: The electric pencil sharpener is labeled "Blonds Only"; the desks are arranged so the blonds have the choice seats near the front; a dark-haired child raises his hand to answer a question, but somehow Ingold doesn't see it.
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During Black History Month, Ingold's third-graders learn how blacks came to the United States, and they do reports on famous and not-so-famous blacks. This is when Ingold introduces the concept of discrimination.
Ingold's goal for Discrimination Day is for students to experience discrimination first-hand "to help in understanding the daily struggles that many people in this and other societies encounter."
The children are told they will be divided into two groups based on a letter in their name, eye color, hair color or some other arbitrary factory. Each group will face discrimination during the day: the group discriminated against in the morning will be favored in the afternoon.
Ingold doesn't tell the children when Discrimination Day will be - but then, she doesn't have to. It's obvious from the moment they walk in the classroom.
*****
"You have no reason to bring that ball into the classroom," Ingold scolds a dark-haired youngster who walks through the door. A blond following close behind receives an enthusiastic greeting and a hug.
Before class begins, Ingold asks for a volunteer to pass out papers: "somebody that will get to everybody," she says, selecting a blond child.
Ingold commends the blonds during class just for raising their hands. After she calls on a blond child, she gives him a piece of candy for a correct answer; another blond gets his question wrong but still gets some candy ("you were really thinking," she tells him).
Ingold does occasionally call upon a dark-haired child. "Very good," she tells him when he gives the answer. "Did anybody tell you that answer? You didn't hear anybody up here say it, did you?"
The class is dismissed to go to the library, but only the blond children are allowed to go. Dark-haired children with books to return are instructed to give them to a blond so they can stay behind and write the spelling list - four times. "This is for your own good, because you need the practice," Ingold says.
"But I want to get a book," whispers Lacey as tears fill her eyes.
Silent sobs shake her body as she bends over her paper. One hand copies the spelling words, the other brushes away the tears.
Children wait in line at Ingold's desk as she looks over their work. "I'm going to be merciful and not grade the rest until you do it again," she tells one child. "I'm sorry you're that careless, but that's how dark-haired people are."
Lacey, who is next in line, hands Ingold her assignment. Ingold barely glances at it.
"Go back and fix it. If you can't come back with a better attitude, don't come back at all," she tells Lacey.
The child returns to her desk, makes a few changes, and approaches Ingold again. Apparently Ingold finds no fault with the paper this time, but as Lacey reaches for her homework, Ingold stops her.
"I don't like the way you ripped it out of my hand," she berates her. "Now go and put it somewhere safe."
The next child's paper meets with Ingold's approval. "It's almost as good as a blond-haired person," she tells him.
Ingold dismisses the children waiting at her desk when the blonds return from the library. "I don't have time to check these - the beautiful people are back," she says.
As children return to their seats, Ingold asks for volunteers to erase the chalkboard. Later, she asks questions about the story told in class.
Lacey will not raise her hand.
*****
Other children are also intimidated by Ingold's treatment. Laura hesitates briefly after being called on to answer a question, so Ingold tells her she is "wasting our time." Laura will not look at her classmates for several minutes afterward.
Shayla runs to her desk crying after Ingold replaces her with another student in a story being read aloud ("Did you practice?"). She cannot stop crying and eventually is sent to the office until she feels better.
Such treatment is harsh, but Ingold believes it is teaching the children a "life lesson" they will never forget. "Keep in mind that people who are discriminated against face this every day of their lives," she says. "... If children are exposed to discrimination and can feel how unjust it is, they will not discriminate against others."
For proof, just look to Ingold's former students.
Ingold said a parent recently stopped her to thank her for Discrimation Day. The parent said her daughter, who was in Ingold's class last year, was at the mall when she saw some people making fun of a black child. The daughter got tears in her eyes and told her mother she hated the way people discriminate against people of a different skin color. "I know she got that from Discrimination Day," she said to Ingold.
And every year Ingold says she hears directly from a former student, like the one in this letter:
"Thank you for being the best teacher I've had so far in my life. You're one of my most favorite teachers because you helped me realize what it's like in the real world. It was discrimination day in your class. I got an answer wrong and you said, 'That's how those blonde people are, always getting answers wrong,' and I started to cry. That's how you helped me."
