The Omaha guide., 1946-07-27
OUR
CUES
Column
Edited by Terna p. Harris
SCHOOLS AND PREJUDICE
BY Helen Trager, Director of
Special Services, Bureau
for lntercuIturaI Education
Edited by Verna p. Harris

from all over the country tea.
chers are coming to summer wor,-
shops sponsored by interculturaI !
groups like the Bureau for Inter
cultural Education, 1897 Broadwax,
New York 19, New York. to learn
now children can be taught to
know, understand. and accept peo-
PIE OF different races, religions
and nationalities. These teachers
represent the South and Midwest
as well as the North and East
they are white, Negro. Chinese
American; members of MANY re-
llglons; from cities and small vi
entities and towns They have one
tnlng III common-They are try-
ing TO find out how they can. in
their schools, further the cause
of good human relations.
We know that no child holds ra-
cial or religious prejudice or feels
superior to another child, unless
he is taught to feel that way by
grown-ups. Since the schools SO
strongly influence children's lives
we believe that they can do much
TO help boys and girls avoid pick
ing up prejudice they can teach
that there is no superior race. help
older children understand how peo-
pie develop prejudice, and give
children the experience of work
ing and playing with people who
are different from themselves.
But teaching these things isn't
easy, and many teachers do not
know how to go about it. To help
them find out how, the intercultur-
al workshops have been set up.
Those being sponsored this sum-
mer by the Bureau for Intercul-
tural Education are located at God
dard College in Vermont. Ohio
State University, Columbia Uni
versity, New York University and
Chatauqua, New York, and mem
bers of the Bureau are on the staff
of each. Approximately fifty sch
olarships, which pay the full cost
of tuition have been awarded to
teachers for the summer, 1916.
Teachers and Principals come to
gether for three to eight weeks to
share ideas and experiences, to
talk over their problems and try
to find out how to solve them.
They work on special projects.
Some want to re-write the course
of study, review motion pictures
which might be used in shoots. or
work with groups of children to
try out learning materials of all
kinds. Guest speakers who are ex-
pert in some phase of intercultural
education are invited to talk.
The workshops may also have
an important effect on the teach
ers' own attitudes. Many of them
for the first time meet people Of
different groups; a white south
erner will find herself working on
a committee with a Negro teacher
or having lunch with her. Such
experiences may help her to find
her own hidden prejudices and get
rid of them.
Only a few teachers out Q. the
thousands in America can come
to these workshops; those who do
attend go back to their schools
as leaders to interview and to
interest others.
And what do the teachers them
selves think about the workshops ?
A teachers who attended the one
at Columbia University in the sum-
mer of AS expressed the reaction
of many in a letter to the director:
Il should like to thank you for
all of the help the workshop has
been, not only in matters such as
the materials 1 learned about, but
basic attitudes necessary for any
progress in the fight against pre-
judice. My heart was in the right
place, but l have lot to learn
in bringing about changes.