What Do You Say? | Not in Our Town

What Do You Say?

This unique web feature is created for educators to use with their students. Each month we will feature a new question. It is simple to use.

Have your students view the very short clips and do a writing assignment to respond to the question. Follow the write-ups with a class discussion. Students can edit their comments and post answers here, sharing their insights with others.

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Featured Question

  •  How can you lose your label? What do you say?

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What Do You Say?

  •   If we learn how to look beyond what a person looks like we can see that there is far more beyond their appearence and learn how to respect somebody for their distinctions. For many reasons our society is accostumed to judge people and automatically, from the time they see someone, to fit them in a specific stereotype or group. I think when we learn to be more open minded and don't pay attention to labels we can all make our society  better and more inclusive place.
  • Anonymous (not verified)
     How can we really break down the stereotypes that divide us? What do you say? We can gather together and try to stick together and make people see the other side. We need to fight the problems and stand up to spread the truth. We need to stop letting people bringing us down by our race, or nationality. We are all equal and should be treat with respect. An nation get judge by what the people do. We should stand up, its not because that person did something terrible that people have to think that i am that way too. This is unfair.
    Newcomers HS
    United States
    US
  • I think to break down the stereotypes should be little by little through a period, Because stereotype formed through a long time, It is like a bad habbit, we cannot easily change it, but, we still can change it day by day. Also, I think environment can affect stereotypes a lot, peer pressure, self-esteem, these all can affect us to form stereotype, i think to change into a different environment may easier for us to break down stereotypes, but,it depends, because some people cannot easily fit into a new environment. 
  • Anonymous (not verified)
    I think to break down the stereotypes should be little by little through a period, Because stereotype formed through a long time, It is like a bad habbit, we cannot easily change it, but, we still can change it day by day. Also, I think environment can affect stereotypes a lot, peer pressure, self-esteem, these all can affect us to form stereotype, i think to change into a different environment may easier for us to break down stereotypes, but,it depends, because some people cannot easily fit into a new environment. 
  • Anonymous (not verified)
     Is hard to break the stereotypes, but if we want to change something in our world we should do it. Breaking down the stereotypes is a long, but workful process. People don’t realize that many times stereotypes are simply bullying. By making them we discriminated someone. We should make a group and teach people about stereotypes. We should show to people that by them we can hurt somebody.
  •  Stereotypes have never been good since this is the root of racism and bullying. Some people just let their friends stereotyping others as long as they don’t get affected. This is the point where we all should start eliminating the root of any kinds of stereotypes. If we see our friends doing something that is just not right towards the others, we should warn and stop them by explaining what they are actually causing.
  • Anonymous (not verified)
     Stereotypes have never been good since this is the root of racism and bullying. Some people just let their friends stereotyping others as long as they don’t get affected. This is the point where we all should start eliminating the root of any kinds of stereotypes. If we see our friends doing something that is just not right towards the others, we should warn and stop them by explaining what they are actually causing.
  • Anonymous (not verified)
    I think we could break down the stereotypes little by little and try our best to do it, even though it is complicated and difficult to break the inrooted stereotypes. Some of them maybe are about the relief and custom that hide inside the bottom of the people’s hearts. We could maybe change their mind patiently or persuade them in other ways. What we could merely is to try. 
  • Anonymous (not verified)
    What the boy in the video says is so true. I find myself feeling confident and assured after someone praises me. I remember one time, my teacher made a joke to a student she was really friendly with but the girl really took it personally and transferred out of the class. It was good because teachers probably shouldn't be crossing that line. It really affected this girl and our whole class. We also didn't want adults were judging us.
  •  I think we can work together to break the stereotypes from others. Show our challenge and hardworking to change the thinking of them. And we have to vote the rights for ourselves and together to creat a comfortable study environment.
  • A lot of times people call me shy and make fun of me for not talking much. I'm not this way at home or around my best friends, but at school everyone constantly calls me quiet and shy. A lot of times, I don't raise my hand in class even when I have the answer, and I think it could be because I'm starting to believe inside that I really am this quiet and shy person, and I can't be outspoken.
  • Anonymous (not verified)
     Is hard to break the stereotypes, but if we want to change something in our world we should do it. Breaking down the stereotypes is a long, but workful process. People don’t realize that many times stereotypes are simply bullying. By making them we discriminated someone. We should make a group and teach people about stereotypes. We should show to people that by them we can hurt somebody.
  •  I think we can work together to break the stereotypes from others. Show our challenge and hardworking to change the thinking of them. And we have to vote the rights for ourselves and together to creat a comfortable study environment.
  •   If we learn how to look beyond what a person looks like we can see that there is far more beyond their appearence and learn how to respect somebody for their distinctions. For many reasons our society is accostumed to judge people and automatically, from the time they see someone, to fit them in a specific stereotype or group. I think when we learn to be more open minded and don't pay attention to labels we can all make our society  better and more inclusive place.
  • Anonymous (not verified)
    I think this boy is right, people can really take things the people say to heart. My friend was teased a lot when we were in elementary school. It wasn't like the names in the video (she was teased for her acne or they called her slow cause she had to go to special classes), but she also never really had the confidence even though I think she's really smart and talented. She always talks herself down.  
  •  Stereotypes have never been good since this is the root of racism and bullying. Some people just let their friends stereotyping others as long as they don’t get affected. This is the point where we all should start eliminating the root of any kinds of stereotypes. If we see our friends doing something that is just not right towards the others, we should warn and stop them by explaining what they are actually causing.
  • Anonymous (not verified)
     People can be jerks, but to get back at them, laugh at what they say, if they get mad then keep laughing if they hit you then keep laughing
  • Anonymous (not verified)
     How can we really break down the stereotypes that divide us? What do you say? We can gather together and try to stick together and make people see the other side. We need to fight the problems and stand up to spread the truth. We need to stop letting people bringing us down by our race, or nationality. We are all equal and should be treat with respect. An nation get judge by what the people do. We should stand up, its not because that person did something terrible that people have to think that i am that way too. This is unfair.
    Newcomers HS
    United States
    US
  • Anonymous (not verified)
     The way other people talk about you can totally affect the way you look at yourself. I remember one time, my teacher made a joke to a student she was really friendly with but the girl really took it personally and transferred out of the class. It was good because teachers probably shouldn't be crossing that line—making personal jokes about students—but it really affected this girl and our whole class. It went from being a fun class to one where everyone was tense. We also didn't want to feel like adults were judging us. 
  • Anonymous (not verified)
     Stereotypes have never been good since this is the root of racism and bullying. Some people just let their friends stereotyping others as long as they don’t get affected. This is the point where we all should start eliminating the root of any kinds of stereotypes. If we see our friends doing something that is just not right towards the others, we should warn and stop them by explaining what they are actually causing.
  • This unique web feature is created for educators to use with their students. Each month we will feature a new question. It is simple to use. Have your students view the very short clips and do a writing assignment to respond to the question. Follow the write-ups with a class discussion. Students can edit their comments and post answers here, sharing their insights with others.
  • A lot of times people call me shy and make fun of me for not talking much. I'm not this way at home or around my best friends, but at school everyone constantly calls me quiet and shy. A lot of times, I don't raise my hand in class even when I have the answer, and I think it could be because I'm starting to believe inside that I really am this quiet and shy person, and I can't be outspoken.
  • Anonymous (not verified)
     Is hard to break the stereotypes, but if we want to change something in our world we should do it. Breaking down the stereotypes is a long, but workful process. People don’t realize that many times stereotypes are simply bullying. By making them we discriminated someone. We should make a group and teach people about stereotypes. We should show to people that by them we can hurt somebody.
  •  I think we can work together to break the stereotypes from others. Show our challenge and hardworking to change the thinking of them. And we have to vote the rights for ourselves and together to creat a comfortable study environment.
  •   If we learn how to look beyond what a person looks like we can see that there is far more beyond their appearence and learn how to respect somebody for their distinctions. For many reasons our society is accostumed to judge people and automatically, from the time they see someone, to fit them in a specific stereotype or group. I think when we learn to be more open minded and don't pay attention to labels we can all make our society  better and more inclusive place.
  • Anonymous (not verified)
    I think this boy is right, people can really take things the people say to heart. My friend was teased a lot when we were in elementary school. It wasn't like the names in the video (she was teased for her acne or they called her slow cause she had to go to special classes), but she also never really had the confidence even though I think she's really smart and talented. She always talks herself down.  
  •  Stereotypes have never been good since this is the root of racism and bullying. Some people just let their friends stereotyping others as long as they don’t get affected. This is the point where we all should start eliminating the root of any kinds of stereotypes. If we see our friends doing something that is just not right towards the others, we should warn and stop them by explaining what they are actually causing.
  • Anonymous (not verified)
     People can be jerks, but to get back at them, laugh at what they say, if they get mad then keep laughing if they hit you then keep laughing
  • Anonymous (not verified)
     How can we really break down the stereotypes that divide us? What do you say? We can gather together and try to stick together and make people see the other side. We need to fight the problems and stand up to spread the truth. We need to stop letting people bringing us down by our race, or nationality. We are all equal and should be treat with respect. An nation get judge by what the people do. We should stand up, its not because that person did something terrible that people have to think that i am that way too. This is unfair.
    Newcomers HS
    United States
    US
  • Anonymous (not verified)
     The way other people talk about you can totally affect the way you look at yourself. I remember one time, my teacher made a joke to a student she was really friendly with but the girl really took it personally and transferred out of the class. It was good because teachers probably shouldn't be crossing that line—making personal jokes about students—but it really affected this girl and our whole class. It went from being a fun class to one where everyone was tense. We also didn't want to feel like adults were judging us.