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PREJUDICE-ENFORCING
EXPERIENCE
Michelle
BACKGROUND
Sex: female
Ethnicity:
European-American
Born in:
California, USA
Parents born in: Mother
- U.S.A.
Father - Netherlands
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 When
I was in elementary school, about fifth or sixth grade, I
developed a prejudice towards people on welfare. In my
neighborhood, a family with two children lived in the
apartment complex next to my house. The daughter was two
years younger than I and their son was about one year. The
family lived there for several years and I had played with
the daughter before the son was born. We would go to each
other's house an spend the night. Unfortunately, as young
children who don't know any better do, we would some times
fight and be friends on and off again. During the times we
were not friend, my other friends and I would pick on her
and her family. The mom did not work and the father did part
time work for a mechanic. They were on welfare and shopped
at thrift stores a lot, but sometimes the mom would also go
through dumpsters looking for reusable items like
clothes.
I remember when the mom was pregnant, she would lock the
daughter out of the house so she could sleep. When the son
was born and old enough to walk she would lock both of them
out so she could rest, forcing her 8 or 9 year old daughter
to take care of her baby brother. I didn’t realize it
then, but she and her brother were terribly neglected. My
mother felt sorry for them and would invite them over for
juice and a friendly moods. Not until I was in fifth or
sixth grade did I realize how wrong I was to mistreat her
when we didn’t get along, and I disliked her fact their
family was on welfare, and that the parents were lazy and
neglectful. I know it does not make a lot of sense and I
also know that not all people on welfare are lazy and
neglectful of their children, but it is a prejudice that I
have. I think I remember this experience so clearly because
I still feel guilty about how I mistreated that little
girls.
This experience did not involve a teacher but teachers can
expose children to the fact that families and people are
different and that the will behave differently. It does not
make them bad people, just different. Teachers should also
always be on the look out for children who are being
neglected. Children may say something in a conversation or
in a story that may alert an adult to the fact that they are
being mistreated.
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