"peo ples" © 1997 Zoe Levenglick-Volpe (age 11)

Intolerance in America

S. J. Rodney Williams

Christopher Columbus High School

Introduction

Let’s Read a Short Story:

A Story about Intolerance

http://coe.west.asu.edu/students/hlynch/ToleranceWebQuest/intolerancestory.htm

Like Mr. and Mrs. Stanford many students in our institutions and around the United States are faced with rejection because they are different. Most times it is because of the color of their skin, the clothes they are wearing, the place of birth, the language spoken, their religion, disabilities, because they are too thin or too fat, and because they are considered to be too smart or not smart enough. Prejudice can be overt or insidious. It can be seen in student cafeterias, classrooms, course selection and social life. This is a major social problem in America today, even after the major civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties. Government programs have been formulated to address this problem in the form of Affirmative Action and Title # 9. However, the social problem is far from solved. Prejudice denies the basic rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. But, more importantly, prejudice prevents diversity, limits job opportunities and does not allow the talented youth from reaching their potential.

You are about to research a very important and necessary subject. You will be an investigator. You will examine prejudice and discrimination in America past and present. You are appointed by the Governor of your State, as a member of the Intolerance committee. Your job is to investigate intolerance in many areas to American. Provide evidence in the research of those who fought for justice, peace and equality for all people. You will also develop ways to prevent intolerance. You will then make your report to the Committee on Tolerance and Prejudice.

How tolerant are you?

How tolerant are you of people who are different?

TASK

You are a member of this special committee. Your task is to

1. Create a power point presentation of 12 slides for the class to explain your findings. On your slides you should include graphics, pictures, and charts.

2. In addition you will use the Six Step Public Policy Analyst to gather information to complete your Power-point.

3: Your power-point should have a minimum of 2 slides per PPA STEP

4: You will use the Power Point to present your ORAL REPORT

5: Your ORAL REPORT will be a five minute presentation.

6: You will present to the Governor’s Committee on Intolerance.

You will be persuasive and present solutions to the problems of Prejudice.

1. You will go into groups of two. Your groups will use the PPA to address the policy of the time, and address the social policy in America.

2. Each team is expected to discuss the issues of tolerance as you complete the worksheets.

3. You will use the SIX-STEP PUBLIC POLICY ANALYST to analyze and complete the TIPS WORKSHEETS.

4. These worksheets will be used to complete your Power Point and your Oral Report.

Remember use a minimum of 2 slides per step in your Power point. All slides should contain:

• Navigable buttons, appropriate backgrounds, graphics, and readable, edited text.
• Title slide which contains name of slide show.
• Three to five content slides that describe the aspects of intolerance your group is studying. These slides will contain:

Click on the links below. Read the site then complete the worksheets on the links at the bottom of each page

STEP # 1: IDENTIFY THE SOCIAL PROBLEM

STEP # 2: GATHER THE EVIDENCE FOR THE PROBLEM

STEP # 3: IDENTIFY THE CAUSES

STEP #4: EVALUATE THE EXISTING PUBLIC POLICY

STEP #5: DEVELOP SOLUTIONS

STEP #6: SELECT THE BEST SOLUTION

These worksheets will be used as resource material to complete your tasks.

RUBRIC # 1: EVALUATION OF THE POWERPOINT

Circle Appropriate Number	Excellent	Very Good	Good	Fair
Completed all work on time	4	3	2	1
Worked cooperatively	4	3	2	1
Stayed on task	4	3	2	1
Used computer and books as resources	4	3	2	1
Documented sources	4	3	2	1
Wrote clear, coherent, and detailed information	4	3	2	1
Presented to the class	4	3	2	1
Organized information and artifacts.	4	3	2	1

Rubric # 2: EVALUATION OF THE ORAL REPORT

Student Name:     ________________________________________

CATEGORY	4 EXCELLENT	3 VERY GOOD	2 SATISFACTORY	1 NOT ACCEPTABLE
Information	All information presented in the debate was clear, accurate and thorough.	Most information presented in the debate was clear, accurate and thorough.	Most information presented in the debate was clear and accurate, but was not usually thorough.	Information had several inaccuracies OR was usually not clear.
Presentation Style	Team consistently used gestures, eye contact, tone of voice and a level of enthusiasm in a way that kept the attention of the audience.	Team usually used gestures, eye contact, tone of voice and a level of enthusiasm in a way that kept the attention of the audience.	Team sometimes used gestures, eye contact, and tone of voice and a level of enthusiasm in a way that kept the attention of the audience.	One or more members of the team had a presentation style that did not keep the attention of the audience.
Organization	All arguments were clearly tied to an idea (premise) and organized in a tight, logical fashion.	Most arguments were clearly tied to an idea (premise) and organized in a tight, logical fashion.	All arguments were clearly tied to an idea (premise) but the organization was sometimes not clear or logical.	Arguments were not clearly tied to an idea (premise).
Understanding of Topic	The team clearly understood the topic in-depth and presented their information forcefully and convincingly.	The team clearly understood the topic in-depth and presented their information with ease.	The team seemed to understand the main points of the topic and presented those with ease.	The team did not show an adequate understanding of the topic.

The highest result of education is tolerance. - Helen Keller

English Language Arts:

Standard 1

· Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

Standard 4

· Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction

Social Studies Standards

Standard 2

The student will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments and turning points in world history, and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

Social Studies: Standard 3

The student will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live- local, national, and global- including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.

Resources

Search Engines:

1 www.Dogpile.com

2. www.Google.com

3. www.AltaVista.com

4. www.Tolerance.org

· Affirmative Action and Diversity page, and Cases; http://aad.english.ucsb.edu/

· Title #9 : Amendment (Sexual discrimination) http://www.ncpa.org/pi/edu/pd080999b.html

· Promoting tolerance and Peace in Children; http://www.nasponline.org/NEAT/tolerance_general.html

· Dr martin Luther king Jnr ; http://everystudent.com/features/dream.html

· Definitions: http://www.fortunedty.com/?sid=fcfo

· Preventative measures of intolerance:

http://www.parentsassociation.com/education/social_competence.html

· Definition of intolerance: http://www.wordreference.com/definition/intolerance

· Planet Tolerance ;Civil Rights Memorial Evidence: http://www.tolerance.org/pt/

· End Zero Tolerance. Evidence:

http://endzerotolerance.com/

· Evidence: Gandhi’s Tolerance compared: http://sguthrie.net/tolerance.htm

· Immigration:

http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/thismonth/mar04/index1.shtm

· Graph on Age and Gender on tolerance:

http://users.net2000.com.au/~bosco/PI-631_tolerance.htm

· How to fight hate and practice tolerance: http://www.tolerance.org/hidden_bias/tutorials/

http://www.tolerance.org/hidden_bias/tutorials/04.html

· Charter schools solution:

http://www.newcenturycharter.com/century.cfm?pageID=2

· Indigenous peoples:

http://www.atsic.gov.au/issues/law_and_justice/zero_tolerance_policing/report/1ztp.asp

· Clues to understanding racial tolerance:

http://uninews.unimelb.edu.au/articleid_196.html#top

·Rights, Equality and Tolerance: http://l.webring.com/hub?ring=hrmemorials

· American Muslim finds tolerance better than fear http://www.wfn.org/2002/09/msg00096.html:

'We shall be intolerant of prejudice and bigotry.' Tony Blair

The Highest Results of Education is Tolerance.

You should have learned from this web quest that one should not judge a whole group of people by how they are depicted in the media, or your assumptions. We need to accept each others differences in physical characteristics and ethnic backgrounds. Understand that it is O.K. to be different. There are many complexities involved, especially dealing with the diverse populations in our schools. It is hoped that this web-quest has taught you that effective public policies are needed to implement programs that will prevent, or sensitize people to diversity. Until we are able to achieve such goals, the efforts of reformers like Martin Luther King Jr. who envision a world more tolerant than the one he lived in, would have been in vain. Consider the quotations below as you learn to tolerate others in spite of their differences.

"Your life and my life flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and unless there is peace and joy and freedom for you, there can be no real peace or joy or freedom for me."
- (Carl) Frederick Buechner