A taste of discrimination

A demonstration with chocolate bars teaches Wilson Elementary students a lesson about prejudice in America.Early last week, Daniela Ramos’ fourth-grade students came back into class after recess and got a shocking assignment. The Wilson Elementary School teacher ordered all the children to stand against the wall, then invited the boys to sit in the front rows and enjoy chocolate bars. Once the boys were seated, Ramos told the girls to do 15 push-ups each. Most of the girls stared at her dumbfounded, while a couple tentatively dropped to their knees. However, Jessica Garcilazo, 9, staged a protest.

According to Ramos, she first stammered “Why?” and then declared, “That’s it. I’m standing up for my rights.”

Jessica didn’t know it yet, but she had passed the test. Over the next week, the class would be studying civil rights in preparation for Martin Luther King Jr. Day -- and Ramos had started the unit by showing her students firsthand the pain of discrimination.

“All the other girls said ‘No’ and then Ms. Ramos said ‘Good,’” Jessica recalled. “She said, ‘That’s what Martin Luther King did.’”

Over the last week, Ramos’ students did an extended unit on heroes, talking about presidents, activists and even characters in folk tales. The unit centered, however, on America’s most famous civil rights leader -- and the segregated country that he helped change less than half a century ago.

Students at Wilson -- who watch multiracial sports teams on television, go to school with students of different ethnicities and live in a city without “White Only” signs on restaurants -- said they were amazed to learn how different American society was in their grandparents’ generation.

“Now you don’t have to be separated,” said Cesar Hernandez, 10. “You don’t have to use different bathrooms.”

King was part of the discussion Wednesday morning at Wilson, when 10th-graders from Sage Hill School visited the campus for their monthly Service Learning Day. The Sage Hill students, who have visited Wilson every month of this school year, had the fourth-graders do a project in which they outlined qualities of fictional and real-life heroes, and then created a story with their own protagonist.

Sara Montazami, 15, of Laguna Niguel, led a group in reading “The Legend of the Big Dipper” -- the story of a girl in a drought-ridden town who finds water for her family but ends up giving it away to villagers on her way home. The fourth-graders in her circle were busy concocting a story about a fat caterpillar who blossoms into a butterfly after years of being tormented by his peers.

Even with outlandish tales, the students were able to tie the themes into real-life heroics, with King a common example.

“They talked about how he stood up for his people, for what he believed in,” Sara said.

Ramos said she hoped that last week would teach students the importance of taking a stand and overcoming prejudice -- even if the girls were still waiting on their chocolate.

“I still owe them candy, because I didn’t have enough,” she admitted ruefully.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot education writer Michael Miller visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa area and writes about his experience.