Teacher To Students: Would You Rather Have A Vegetarian, A Teen Mom, Or A Gay Person As Your Neighbor?
A school in England is under fire after asking students to rank a diverse group of people based on who they'd most like to live next to. According to a BBC report, the list of options included a "gay man" and "a black person."
The exercise was an attempt to teach kids the advantages of living in a diverse and inclusive community, but instead made certain students feel singled out or uncomfortable.
Parent Naomi Davis said she complained to Bristol Free School when her daughter showed her the worksheet, which had kids rate potential neighbors, including a teen parent, someone with a learning disability and a vegetarian, on a scale from one to 14.
Davis told BBC that her daughter didn't understand why a black person would be on that list. The mother added that she understood that the school was trying to do a good thing, but that they were going about it in the wrong way.
"That's why I went back to the school," she said. "Because they are trying to do a positive piece of work but this had the reverse effect."
Davis pointed out that the main problem with the list is that it compares the discrimination that a black or disabled person goes through in life to that of a vegetarian.
She ultimately praised the school for its speedy response to the matter, adding that teachers plan to work with parents from black and Asian families to help make the worksheets more appropriate in the future.