Rationale
Ostracism gets to the heart of the matter when it comes to why this unit is valid for my students. At Independence High School, our 2011-student body count was at 3,409 students. Our diverse student population consists of: 37.6% Asian, 34.6% Hispanic/Latino, 19.6% Filipino, 3.5% Black/African-American, 3.4% White, .7% native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and .3% American Indian/Alaskan native, and .1% biracial 1. Our students speak a range of languages from Spanish and Filipino to Vietnamese and Mandarin. Our school has the luxury of being one of the most culturally, linguistically, demographically diverse schools in the state, if not the nation. Yet, this luxury can also be a detriment. After maneuvering through nine years of schooling, it comes as no surprise that by the time a child reaches high school he wants nothing more than to mix in, be accepted, assimilate, and be "like" everyone else. What does this "fitting in" look like? The same clothes, the same taste in music, food, and language? These are the daily markers of normalcy to a teenager, but the inevitable questions soon arise: "What if I don't fit in? What if I can't fit in? Why am I being singled out? Am I a loner? What do I have to do to be a part of this gigantic puzzle known as adolescence?" In our Frankenstein unit, this question of acceptance will be our focus as we delve into the parallel experience of the creature wanting to be accepted, to gain the trust of others, and to do everything in his power not to be alone.
More importantly, we will also face the reality of how prejudice, racism, and ostracism impact an individual who is already struggling with his or her place in society. Much like the creature, our students are often seen as "different," outsiders, loners, and creatures to disassociate with. Why do we prejudge someone who looks, speaks, and acts, in a way different than we do? What assumptions are made based on someone's outer appearance? We will explore the ways in which society impacts an individual using the creature's interactions with his "society": the Delacey's, the villagers, Victor, and numerous other characters.
As my students consider this idea of prejudice, especially in their own environment, I ask the students if prejudice is the same today as it was in the past. Most of my students will respond with the typical "We've come a long way since the days of segregation", a sign of progress that I do acknowledge. However, I ask them to think deeper into how different the forms of prejudice and intolerance have truly gotten. I ask my students to join in completing my sentence: "sticks and stones may break my bones but ...names will never hurt me". This adage has always proven to be a faulty concept. As we know through various psychological studies, while a physical bruise may heal in time, an emotional scar is lasting. The same lasting impact can be seen with social media outlets as the instantaneous yet permanent power of technology allows these emotional words to spread quickly and to reach a wider audience. Such technological social outlets as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, and YouTube are perfect examples of the far-reaching and immediate impact of our words and attitudes. While the social media might have been a lightning rod for the Egyptian revolution, it takes on a different purpose when used as a form of bullying and hatred. Twitter and Facebook may have been the catalysts for freedom and social protest, but with cyber-bullying what is created is social oppression.
Cyber-bullying has become a vital issue in regards to the kinds of cruelty and discrimination our young people face today. Whereas in the past a student might verbally spew hateful attitudes by word of mouth, today those words are released into the world with the swift touch of a button. Students have their personal accounts hacked, being the victims of "identity theft" as others publicly release embarrassing, shameful, harmful pictures and/or messages. There have also been accounts of young people who have been victims of hateful on-line campaigns to ostracize and shun them all in the name of cruel fun and hatred. Some examples of the fatal impact of cyber-bullying include: the suicide of fifteen year old Phoebe Prince of Massachusetts who was taunted as the new girl from Ireland and the suicide of seventeen year old Alexis Pilkington from Long Island, New York who endured relentless taunts on the internet which continued after her death. 2 Another extreme example that is brought to mind is that of Rutgers University freshmen John Clementi whose gay tryst was secretly videotaped by a fellow classmate Dhrun Rhavi. This violation of privacy is compounded when the facts were revealed that the "videographer" invited fellow classmates to secretly join in on the filming of these encounters, as if being treated to an entertaining show. Even more disturbing is that Dhrun Rhavi publicly urged his friends and Twitter followers to watch an upcoming encounter via his webcam. The result: eighteen-year-old Tyler jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge. 3
Our unit's emphasis on ostracism and how we recognize our own prejudices and assumptions will benefit my students in various ways. The most obvious benefit will come in the form of students recognizing how human beings form their own prejudices based on race, language, appearance, or any outside, superficial category. Students will become aware of how these prejudices impact others, specifically noting the power of words and labels and stereotypes. In addition, this unit will help students from the other end of the spectrum of prejudice, as individuals who have been or might be prejudged, and to reflect on how those experiences of humiliation or ostracism have impacted their lives.
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