Diversity and Privilege Watch the PBS Documentary, “A Class Divided” (Links to an external site.). Answer the following questions in a narrative format. Each question should have a minimum of a six sentence paragraph answer. Note: Please do not number or type out the question in your response. You should use transition words or phrases to move to the next point.
1. What scene had the strongest impact on you? Why did that stick with you?
2. What did you learn about discrimination and segregation?
3. How was the exercise that Elliott designed a response to the children's question, "Why would anyone want to murder Martin Luther King?" Did the film provide an answer to the question? How would you answer the question?
4. How did the negative and positive labels placed on a group become self-fulfilling prophecies?
5. In the prison seminar, one of the white women asserts that all people face some kind of discrimination. Another woman challenges her, claiming that whites can't really know what it's like to face discrimination every minute of every day. What do you think?
6. How did Elliott's discrimination create no-win situations for those placed in the inferior group? How did she selectively interpret behavior to confirm the stereotypes she had assigned?
7. It's easy to understand why third-graders might not refuse to obey their teacher, but when the exercise is done with the prison guards, why don't any of the adults object?
8. Consider the kinds of privileges that Jane Elliott created for her third-graders, such as extra recess time, getting to go back for seconds at lunch, and being first in line. (While these were appropriate rewards for her 8-year-olds, look at what kinds of privileges exist in the adult world by reading the classic article "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack," by Peggy McIntosh. Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. pdf)
9. Use the checklist as self-reflection, asking "Can you count on this?" A "yes" answer scores 1 point. For a "no," subtract 1 point. Score nothing for "does not apply to me." The higher the score, the greater the degree of privilege one has in the context of living in the United States today. What is your score? Were you surprised by your score, or did it confirm what you already knew?
10. Why is privilege normally invisible and what does it feel like to make it visible?
11. Discuss McIntosh's argument that the word "privilege" is misleading. Do you agree or disagree, and why?