Changing statistics to real people: Evaluating the cross-over exercise
By Chris Barone
EDI 17 Psychology & Development of Adolescent Students
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
March 27, 2009
The crossing-over exercise was important to do, I felt. It turned statistics into real people. When Dr. Boyanton would read a sentence, such as “If you have ever been followed in a store because of your race, please cross over,” it wasn’t some anonymous person walking over. It was not just a statistic anymore. It was one of us.
I left the exercise with a lot of negative feelings about it. First, it broke my heart every time someone crossed over. We have spent the past two and a half months building a community, and I found it really upsetting to see that people I care about had been treated like that. Secondly, I felt it would have been more effective if it hadn’t made us feel so helpless against it. For example, the game could ask how many of us have been a victim of racial discrimination and then follow it by asking us how many of us have stood up to it. I would have left the game feeling determined to help fight racism, rather than defeated and helpless to stop it.
The discussion afterward was more valuable. Whereas the activity focused heavily on isolating students, the discussion was able to bring us together. In a room with fifteen people, we had fifteen different opinions. Still, we were able to respect each other’s viewpoints and continue asking questions in a sort of Socratic method. We never reached a finite answer on what it will take to end racism, or if it even can, but simply discussing these things in an open forum provided a great introduction to the next chapter.
Long Island University, C. W. Post
March 27, 2009
The crossing-over exercise was important to do, I felt. It turned statistics into real people. When Dr. Boyanton would read a sentence, such as “If you have ever been followed in a store because of your race, please cross over,” it wasn’t some anonymous person walking over. It was not just a statistic anymore. It was one of us.
I left the exercise with a lot of negative feelings about it. First, it broke my heart every time someone crossed over. We have spent the past two and a half months building a community, and I found it really upsetting to see that people I care about had been treated like that. Secondly, I felt it would have been more effective if it hadn’t made us feel so helpless against it. For example, the game could ask how many of us have been a victim of racial discrimination and then follow it by asking us how many of us have stood up to it. I would have left the game feeling determined to help fight racism, rather than defeated and helpless to stop it.
The discussion afterward was more valuable. Whereas the activity focused heavily on isolating students, the discussion was able to bring us together. In a room with fifteen people, we had fifteen different opinions. Still, we were able to respect each other’s viewpoints and continue asking questions in a sort of Socratic method. We never reached a finite answer on what it will take to end racism, or if it even can, but simply discussing these things in an open forum provided a great introduction to the next chapter.
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