Welcome to the Teaching Tolerance blog, a place where educators who care about diversity, equity and justice can find news, suggestions, conversation and support.
Tim Wise is among the nation’s most prominent anti-racist essayists and educators. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1000 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the nation. He has also lectured internationally in Canada and Bermuda, and has trained corporate, government, law enforcement and medical industry professionals on methods for dismantling racism in their institutions.
Project Implicit is a non-profit organization and international collaboration between researchers who are interested in implicit social cognition – thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control. The goal of the organization is to educate the public about hidden biases and to provide a “virtual laboratory” for collecting data on the Internet.
The Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures attitudes and beliefs that people may be unwilling or unable to report. The IAT may be especially interesting if it shows that you have an implicit attitude that you did not know about.
The Student Teachers Anti-Racism Society (STARS) promotes anti-racism education at the College of Education, University of Saskatchewan through the support of the College. They work collaboratively to understand, identify, and address individual and systemic racism and its interlocking forms of oppression based on gender, sexuality, ability, class, religion and other socially constructed categories. STARS developed a resource blog because they recognize that although the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education has mandated the inclusion of Treaty education and First Nations and Métis content across grade levels and subject areas, not all teachers have access to the resources and knowledge needed to make this mandate a reality.
For McIntosh, racism is taught as something which puts another at a disadvantage. In light of the preceding, she realized an erroneous omission in the teaching of racism: if some are disadvantaged, a significant corollary must be that another is placed in a position of advantage. Specifically, white privilege must be the translated position of advantage. McIntosh describes white privilege vividly and powerfully as the idea of an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions and more. In other words, a white person in the United States has on his or her back an invisible weightless knapsack granting favored positions, status, acceptance, and more.
Read Peggy McIntosh’s article here: Unpacking the Knapsack of White Privilege
The Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan (MCoS) offers an opportunity for high school students to participate in an anti-racism leadership workshop. Students engage with peers from throughout the province as they participate in activities to explore identity, intercultural relationships, power, privilege, racism and discrimination. They learn to facilitate these activities for use in the local school and community. These are appropriate at any time of year and it is important to remember issues of social justice every day. The facilitation guide used to train these students to lead the anti-racism workshops contains invaluable information and exercises.
To request the facilitation guide, please contact Yordanos Tesfamariam at education@mcos.ca
Jane Elliott, internationally known teacher, lecturer, diversity trainer, and recipient of the National Mental Health Association Award for Excellence in Education, exposes prejudice and bigotry for what it is, an irrational class system based upon purely arbitrary factors. And if you think this does not apply to you… you are in for a rude awakening.
This course offers an introductory understanding of the rights of refugees and the concept of international protection. It looks at the reasons people flee their homes and the extreme conditions refugees face. It reviews the role of government in protecting the rights of refugees and how to play your part in ensuring those rights are respected. You will also be able to claim your certificate at the end of the course.
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MCoS’ work and support reaches lands covered by Treaties 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 & 10 traditional lands of the Nehiyaw/Nehithaw/Nehinaw/Cree, Nahkawe/Saulteaux, Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, and Dene peoples and Homeland of the Métis/Michif.
