Discrimination vs. Prejudice
Overview
This lesson is designed for middle school students (6th-8th grade) to understand the difference between discrimination and prejudice. In this lesson, students will learn the definitions of the two concepts with associated examples as well. Lastly, the lesson has a slide on the actions people need to take to eliminate these concepts from our society.
Lesson Overview
This lesson will highlight the differences between discrimination and prejudice.
Discrimination
What is Discrimination?
Discrimination is the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, or sexual orientation.
Discrimination is present in many societal situations. Sadly, discrimination can be found at schools, organizations, companies, and even at a micro level between friends.
There are laws such as The Fair Housing Act and The Civil Rights Act to protect people from discrimination in housing and employment. However, discrimination still occurs and is a prevalent problem in society.
Examples of Discrimination
Here are some example scenarios where individuals have been discriminated against:
- An individual is requesting time off due to a religious holiday but the company refuses due to their religious affiliation.
- A teacher does not provide the right accomodations to a student with disabilities and forces the student out of their classroom.
- A friend makes fun of your cultural heritage and mocks the clothes you are wearing.
All of these scenarios are capable of occuring everyday. It is important to understand the severity behind discrimination and how it can affect people.
Prejudice
What is Prejudice?
Prejudice is an assumption or an opinion about someone simply based on that person's membership to a particular group.
People can be prejudiced against someone who alligns themselves with a different ethnicity, gender, or religion.
If someone is acting on their prejudices, it means that they are pre-juding that individuals based on certain assumptions before trully getting to know them.
Examples of Prejudice
Here are some popular examples of prejudice occuring in society:
- An individual shows negative attitudies towards people of a specific cultural orientation.
- A company not allowing female workers to achieve full equality at the workforce due to the company's mindset on sexism.
- An individual showing and saying rude things to transgender people.
The common theme between these three examples is that the two individuals and compnay showed partiality and came up with assumptions about those people that were negatively represented.
Moving Forward
How to move forward:
From the examples and definitions, it is evident the need to eliminate discrimination and prejduice mindsets in our society. Even though they are different, they are both still taking place in schools, among friends, and at the work industry.
It is important to treat everyone with respect and to keep an open mind about how someone else may appear and act. Everyone needs to be shown respect and it is important to start taking initiative now instead of in the future.