RESEARCH MODULE FOR THE STUDY OF TOLERANCE AND PREJUDICE ISSUES
Jamey Melcher
Ballenger Creek Middle School, Frederick, MD
We have all heard about racism, prejudice or hateful acts that have occurred in history. The term tolerance is also used to describe how we should handle living in a community that is made up of all different kinds of people. Tolerance means being accepting of everyone's differences. It means that you would give a person in a wheelchair, or a person of a different color, or someone who speaks with a foreign accent the same treatment you would someone who looks exactly the same as you do. Intolerance means not accepting people's differences.
As you work through this research module think about these four questions
1. Are there still problems in our society caused by people being prejudice of others who are different in some way? What sort of problems still exist?
2. Are children more likely to be tolerant of differences in others than adults are?
3. Are there any instances of intolerance or prejudice in your community? In your school?
4. What can be done to stop the problems caused by intolerance? What can you do as an individual?
You will be asked to develop informed answers to these questions after you have completed researching this issue.
Begin your search by looking at any two stories from the following website. Choose stories from the category of your choice, click on it, then choose "Go On" from the bottom of the next page. Look over the pictures and stories. Decide which one interests you, then click "Go to Story" to read it and work through the questions after the story. Do this for two different stories.
Department of Justice Kid's page
Now, look a little further into current issues on this topic by going on to page 2.