ClumsyMonkey.net

Earlier today I took a corporate class on managing diversity and inclusion. As part of my prework for the course, I had to write about a time when I realized I was different from other people. I chose a different time, but my first thought was about the CM. Over the past year I have discovered that I am significantly different from many of the users here, and similiar to a select few depending on the issue or characteristic at hand. The course was huge eye-opener for me. I like to think of myself as a fairly open-minded person, but I realized just how much I'm not. We studied how we discriminate against other people, even unknowingly, and the negative impact it has on them.

During the morning we watched a DVD of an experiment a teacher conducted in a rural Iowa town in 1968. She created intentional discrimination in her class room. It was a big eye opener for many of us. The class was segregated based on eye color. The students were not allowed to interact with others who had a different eye color. One child, upset, made the most important comment I heard all day long: "It's like our best friends were taken away." I thought to myself, how many times do we miss the opportunity to make a best friend because we knowningly or unknowingly shut them out because of the way they look, what they believe in, how much money they have, their education, marital status, social status, family status, etc? I do it. You all do it too. We need look no further than our own posts here.

What kind of things differentiate you from other users on the CM, or people you encounter day to day? How do you feel and how are you affected when others discriminate against you (consciously or unconsciously) because of those differences here, or in your everyday life? Discuss, share experiences, etc. Oh, and if you want to watch the video of the experiment or read about it and the teacher, follow this link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline ... /view.html

+end lots of talking/typing/stuff narf

We watched that same documentary in my pysch class. It's amazing how easy it was to pit kids against eachother, and how parallel that is to the adult world.

It's also amazing how easy it was for that teacher to get her dumb ass fired. There's a reason kids aren't used for psychological experiements...

Wasn't she hired back though?

Yeah but then she could just go write a book and make money, so I'm sure she's doing fine.

good way to open kids eyes to how discrimination affects people though, i never realised what you said until i read it

The two biggest dividers i've seen on the CM are between new comers and regulars and between people of different political standings.

And people named Taylor!

Republican wrote:Yeah but then she could just go write a book and make money, so I'm sure she's doing fine.

Actually the book we used in our training today was published and made for WalMart by the company she created. She abandoned teaching school and teaches even today to companies, adult groups, and college campuses.

Republican wrote:And people named Taylor!

we watched that same documentary in my pysch class.

I think I'm the only person on the planet who figured this stuff out on her own.

Though, I have heard about that experiment before... I think on TV.

Oh, and what's funny (in a weird sort of way) is that there was a guy at my cousin's 4th of July party who said the same thing Matt said in the first post.