Discrimination is a serious problem in the United States. One of the best ways to solve this is by educating ourselves and others. However, it's hard to change an older person's prejudice views since they can be very closed-minded. Children on the other hand are very open-minded. The next generation will eventually take leadership positions in government, business, and education. If they are educated on all groups of oppressed people, they can use that knowledge and positively change society. 

Some topics that should be added to the curriculum are sexism, racism, ableism, heterosexism, cisgenderism, religious discrimination, classism, colorism, lookism, sizeism, ageism, nativism, colonialism, and xenophobia. Teaching these topics in school will help counter discrimination in the United States.   

Why should this be taught at a young age? 

According to Facing the Denial of American Racism, “studies show that at the age of 5, children express the same degree of empathy when they are shown pictures of people both white and black being pricked by a pin. However, by the age of 7, they begin to believe that the white person feels more pain, and by the age of 10 the bias is ‘pronounced and stable.’” Children should be educated before they begin to form biases. It will also challenge students to question whether they are prejudiced or not and raise awareness. 

Why should this be taught in school? 

Some parents discriminate against groups of people. This leads to their children learning from them and becoming prejudiced as well since they are only exposed to one point of view. If children are taught about oppressed individuals in schools, it will allow them to see things from a new perspective and challenge their parents’ beliefs. 

Who should teach this? 

Some teachers may be prejudiced and not teach the topic correctly. Because of this, a guest speaker from the oppressed group should come and talk with the students instead. For example, an Asian American could visit the class and teach about racism.

There should be multiple teachers (not necessarily at the same time) so the students get as many different perspectives on the topic as possible. Instead of only one Asian American coming to the class to speak, there could be someone who is a Pacific Islander, Hispanic, or an African American. According to Open Mindedness: An Important Part of Your Child’s Education “At International schools, students become accustomed to hearing accents and associating with people who dress, think, or act differently from what they are used to seeing in their society or community. As they assemble relationships and become comfortable with people who have had experiences quite different from their own, they start to see many differences as value-neutral.”

Another way this could be taught is through presentations done by other students in the class. The article Open Mindedness: An Important Part of Your Child’s Education states “The notion of open mindedness grows by leaps and bounds when students converse, interact, and learn collaboratively from ordinary students of another culture.”

A third approach to teaching this topic is reading fiction books like Wonder by R.J. Palacio.  According to Novel Finding: Reading Literary Fiction Improves Empathy “When study participants read non-fiction or nothing, their results were unimpressive. When they read excerpts of genre fiction, such as Danielle Steel’s The Sins of the Mother, their test results were dually insignificant. However, when they read literary fiction, such as The Round House by Louise Erdrich, their test results improved markedly—and, by implication, so did their capacity for empathy.” Students can also play games related to the topic. Games like Spent do an excellent job of putting students in the shoes of someone living in poverty.