Don’t Miss a Chance to Shift Hate Rhetoric

“I hate Jews.”

That was the sentence, uttered coldly and dripping with vile undertones, from the mouth of a sixth-grader that nearly caused me to let a very powerful teachable moment slip through my fingers. 

Almost.

When Jason said that, I had barely begun the introduction to my lesson and I was completely caught off guard. I asked, “Why?” He let go of a barrage of hateful stereotypes and conspiracies. I was stung by the venom of his words and reacted. I sent him out of class. I sent him to the office where I expected him to be disciplined and punished. 

After he was gone, I took a deep breath and faced the rest of my class ready to begin my lesson. I looked at the giant “Pyramid of Hate [2]” on my bulletin board. It illustrates how hate can progress from prejudiced attitudes all the way to genocide. And suddenly I thought, “What have you done?" 

I realized that, more than anything else, Jason needed to be in my classroom, present and participating in this particular lesson. I called the office and  asked that Jason be sent back to my class.

Jason returned with his armor on: scowl in place, arms crossed against his chest in defensive mode, eyes expectant and waiting. I said, “I’m sorry. I am glad you came back.” And I proceeded with the lesson.

We named and discussed the levels of hate on the pyramid. My students offered examples and actions from history or their own experiences, and I placed them into the appropriate level. 

Next, I showed an episode of the television show [3]Seventh Heaven [3] that depicts several levels of the pyramid of hate. This episode explores the effects of hateful words, discriminatory behaviors, prejudicial attitudes and even genocide. A young girl shouts, “I hate you” to her mother in a moment of anger. Two high school girls mock  another girl for being too perfect. A Holocaust survivor speaks to a class that includes a student whose father is a Holocaust denier. This one-hour program does an excellent job of illustrating the ways in which acts of hate can hurt people.

After we watched the video I asked my students to write a response that used the pyramid of hate to explain the layers or levels of hate in the video. They sat furiously writing, explaining how Ruthie had a prejudiced attitude towards her mother, and how Lucy and Mary had committed acts of prejudice against Joanne, and how Mrs. Kerjesz described genocide when she recounted her experiences of the Holocaust. 

Jason handed me his paper without making eye contact or uttering a word. Reading it, I saw that he had been paying attention and had achieved the objectives of the lesson. He was able to explain the pyramid and provide examples from the video. However, it was at the very bottom of the paper in very tiny writing where I found the evidence of the greatest lesson learned. There he had written, “I’m sorry. I don’t even know any Jews.”

I am very grateful for having had the opportunity to correct a mistake that I had made because if I hadn’t, both Jason and I would have missed out on a valuable lesson that day.

Spain is a middle school language arts teacher in New Jersey.