While I was in my 'Teaching Special Education Students in the General Education Classroom' class last night, my professor brought up a really good point. We are all taught to discriminate - and whether we know it or not, we all discriminate - and the more we discriminate, the more we are praised. Here is an example.
According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, discriminate means "to distinguish by discerning or exposing differences." So this does not just apply to race or sex. I want this to be kept in mind.
So mom has a baby, and she thinks that she has the smartest baby in the whole entire world. (As most parents do). So, baby turns 9 months and hasn't started talking yet and the mom is sad since she has the 'smartest baby in the world.' Well one day, baby is sitting in the living room and a small, black thing walks in front of baby. Baby yells, "Kitty! Kitty!" The mom, being so proud of her "smart little baby" smiles and says, "Yes! What is it? Kitty? Keep going and saying its name!" The mom then goes into a basket and grabs a small ball. She holds it up in front of the baby and says, "Ball. Ball." After about 20 minutes of constent repetition, Mom's "smart litte baby" says ball. The mom is thrilled with how talented her child is.
Mom takes the baby to grandparents house. While at grandparent's house the baby is sitting in the living room and sees something small and black walk in front of him. The baby exclaims, "Kitty! Kitty!" Mom looks down at her child and shows a look of mortification on her face. Mom mis mortified. She runs over to baby and says, "Now smart baby, that's not a kitty. That's a doggy. Doggy." The baby looks at his mom and has a look of uncertainty on his face. He ponders how something that is small and black can have two different names. "Okay then, baby thinks. At mom's house it's called a kitty and at Grandma's house it's called a doggy."
Mom then takes her "smart little baby" for a ride in the car with the grandparents. When looking out the window, baby sees something that is small and black and yells, "Doggy! Doggy!" Again, mom is mortified that her "smart baby" said the wrong name for the animal. "No, baby! That's not a doggy. It's a cow." "Sheesh, thinks the baby. So small black animals have three different names for different places. At mom's it's a 'kitty,' at grandma's it's a 'doggy,' and in the car it's a 'cow.'
Point of this story - when we are growing up, we are taught the differences about objects, not the sameness of objects. When we read, p and d are essentially the same, we just have to switch it around, but as we teach our children to read we teach them the difference between the letters. Growing up, to learn, we must learn the differences between things. And that is the way human beings learn.
Now, I am not saying that we cannot help this because in fact, to learn, we must know the difference between objects. It would be hard to teach a child a pen and pencil by saying, "They both write." We need to know those differentiations to help us learn. However, because of this need to know differences in order to learn, we focus too much on the differences of people and things than sharing what we all have in common. As a society, we should also focus on what makes things the same.
A study done on college age students showed that on compare/contrast questions, students were likely to do significantly better on contrasting two or more objects than comparing them. To me, this is slightly frightening.
I guess this is important to me because of my dream to be a teacher. In the classroom, children benefit from learning about the sameness of people - seeing what students have in common with other students and their entire class. Sameness brings a class together, not differences. Yes, we all are different and we all recognize this; yet, finding out and celebrating what people have in common is what is truly amazing.
I think if more of the world used less discrimination in their lives and tried to find the commonality of people, places, and things - the world would probably be a better and safer place. Think of the things that people fight over: difference of religion, difference of government, difference of parenting styles, political parties, etc. People who usually share some sort of commonalities are less likely to fight. What is interesting is that most people do not spend the time to do this. People automatically look for the differences in other people and base decisions off of that.
Now, I am not saying that we should all be the same drones and everyone should have the same beliefs and values. I am saying that people should all accept and celebrate their differences, but celebrate the commonalities between people also. Look for something that you have in common with someone else. Chances are, if you try, you will find something in common. We all have something in common with everyone. It's just easier to see and accept the differences.
So, although the next time you meet someone you may be a different religion and different family life - remember that you both may love mint chocolate chip ice cream and going out dancing.
