“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human.” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn
As a teacher and professor of education, prejudice and its reduction through educational intervention was the major research across my professional years, as well as the focus of international fellowships.
Prejudice can be positive or negative, but the term has come to mean the negative.
Prejudice isn’t just racism or sexism or. . .but surfaces continually in the most insidious ways everywhere, every day, across the world, between groups and within groups, right here. Everywhere. An inconvenience or minor change in our everyday encounters can trigger such negative reactions and assumptions.
What have I learned to reduce prejudice?
Come with me to a fellowship in Saudi Arabia.
• • • •
1995 – Saudi Arabia
It was the end of our study in this vast country. So much to learn.
The large panel of princes sat across from our similar number of fellowship participants. The dialogue continued back and forth with varied issues. The lead host asked a final question, “Can anything be done to reduce prejudice?” No one in our group responded. I raised my hand.
“My experience and research indicate there are two things that can reduce prejudice.
First, a person must have a peer relationship with a person in the other group. The peer relationship must be as colleague not co-worker, neighbor not just another person who lives on that street, or maybe someone who loves horses as much as you do. Having such a peer isn’t easy to come by; we tend to be around people just like us.
Second, critical thinking skills must be emphasized and taught and practiced again and again throughout our lives. Observing, questioning, analyzing, comparing and contrasting. Distinguishing between fact and opinion. Identifying bias, cause and effect, propaganda, scape-goating, inconsistencies and errors.”
• • • •
It is so easy to be a bigot today. The temptations are always there for me, for you.
Is there an opportunity for someone to be your peer?
We are overwhelmed with information and bias, more so than ever before. The din is its own chaos.
Are we contributing to it?
Screening information and perspectives and active listening can be exhausting. But is there a cost to NOT controlling what we see and say and hear and read and write?
We can give up or persevere. We need to persevere for humanity’s sake, our own and the world’s.
Blessings.
Judy Harris is well established in Northern Kentucky life, as a longtime elementary and university educator. A graduate of Thomas More, she began her career there in 1980 where she played a key role in teacher education and introduced students to national and international travel experiences. She has traveled and studied extensively abroad. She enjoys retirement yet stays in daily contact with university students.