This program will obviously be geared towards high school students. From personal experience within a classroom, I have heard how often phrases like "that's so gay" is used. I would like to show these students how it feels to be called out for being different. People are using these terms in negative ways, further portraying the words as bad.
The first part of this program would be to ask for volunteers to come to the front of the group and have them leave the room. The students left would then write down negative comments on each of the person that left. When they come back to the room, the comments will be read out loud, not identifying who is being spoken about. This will show everyone that being called out for something is not fair.
Another point that needs to be brought up is that some people feel it is okay to use that type of language because they are only talking about an object and not a person. This could be a great time to bring up others words that started off with describing people but turned into something negative. No one wants something they can relate with to be something bad.
A lot of reports and research can be used to raise awareness. There was a time where there were psa's were used to promote the change. Many of those can be used and people can create their own. Statistics can be used to show how prevalent the gay community is within high schools and then people who can be affected by the language are all around.
Overall, a change needs to be made and the first and best place to start would be in high schools. Students are about to enter into the real world and need to learn that they should be tolerant of others and their language should be appropriate as well.
Sam, I think this is a great idea for a final project. I hear phrases like this constantly in the schools except it starts at a much younger age than high school. We see A LOT of this starting in the elementary schools now. Maybe eventually a 3 stage program would be a possibility gearing the 1st stage toward elementary age, focus the next on middle school and ultimately high school. Each age group is so different and learns this “language” from different sources and they all need to be addressed.
ReplyDeleteYou talked in class the other night about the power of words. It seems that so many young kids aren’t aware of the power they have to raise and lower another persons self esteem with just a few words. I don’t know if it comes from lack of respect or if something is missing in the curriculum at the school level. I believe many words have lost their “shock” value and are used, in error, in everyday language because the kids either find it cool or have just never been taught differently. What one person or group finds offensive may or may not be offensive to others so I guess it all boils down to learning to be aware and respectful of our surroundings and those people that we are sharing them with.