Tolerance and Respect
Senior 3 · History and Citizenship
Tolerance and Respect
Lesson 1 of 3
20 min
Study the pyramid. It shows a model, used by educators around the world, of how small attitudes can grow into terrible actions when no one stops them.
Analysing the model. The top of the pyramid is rare, but it never appears without the levels below. Rwandans know this from history: the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi was prepared by years of prejudice, dehumanising propaganda and discrimination (Senior 2, Unit 9). The lesson of the model is hopeful as well as serious: every level can be stopped, and the base, where attitudes are formed, is where each of us has the most power.
Definition
Bias: a tendency to favour or disfavour a person or group, often without realising it. Example: always picking friends from your own village for a team.
Stereotype: a fixed, oversimplified idea about a whole group. Example: "girls are bad at science".
Prejudice: a negative judgement about a person, made in advance because of the group they belong to, not because of who they are.
Stigma: a mark of shame or disgrace that society attaches to a person because of a condition or difference, such as HIV, disability or mental illness.
Intolerance: unwillingness to accept people whose views, beliefs, appearance or ways of life differ from one's own.
Harassment: repeated unwanted behaviour that offends, frightens or humiliates a person.
Rejection: refusing to accept or include someone, for example in a group, a game or a family.
Bullying: deliberately and repeatedly hurting someone who finds it hard to defend themselves, physically, verbally, socially or online.
| Term | Is it a thought or an action? | Example at school |
|---|---|---|
| Bias | A thought, often unnoticed | A prefect always believes the pupils she knows over the others |
| Stereotype | A thought about a group | "Pupils from that district are lazy" |
| Prejudice | A judgement and a feeling | Disliking a new pupil before meeting him, because of where he comes from |
| Stigma | A label that society attaches | Whispering that a classmate "has HIV" as if it were shameful |
| Intolerance | An attitude that becomes action | Mocking a classmate's religion or accent |
| Rejection | An action | Refusing to sit next to a classmate with a disability |
| Harassment | Repeated actions | Sending insulting messages every day |
| Bullying | Deliberate, repeated actions with a power imbalance | Older pupils taking a younger pupil's food every week |
The opposites are tolerance, accepting that others have the right to be different, and respect, treating every person as having equal dignity and worth. Rwanda's Constitution puts this into law: "All Rwandans are born and remain equal in rights and freedoms" (Article 16), and discrimination of any kind is prohibited and punishable.
Worked example: naming the behaviour
Question: For each situation, name the behaviour and say which level of the pyramid it belongs to. (4 marks)
(a) Keza thinks, without knowing him, that the new boy from the city must be proud. Prejudice, biased attitudes.
(b) A group laughs at a classmate's albinism and will not let him join their game. Rejection and stigma, acts of bias.
(c) The same group posts edited photos of him online every day. Harassment and cyberbullying, discrimination and harassment.
(d) Explain the danger: if no one acts at (a) and (b), behaviour can climb the pyramid to (c) and beyond.
Warning
"It was just a joke" is not an excuse. Jokes that mock a person's ethnicity, disability, HIV status, religion or appearance are acts of bias. They hurt the target and teach others that contempt is acceptable.
Think of a stereotype you have heard about a group of people. Where did it come from? What evidence would show that it is false?
Tip
Thought, label, action. Bias, stereotype and prejudice are thoughts; stigma is a label; rejection, harassment and bullying are actions. Sorting a term into one of these helps you define it in an exam.
Practice
Sources and credits
