Recognizing Prejudice and Discrimination
Political Science 120—Assignment
In this assignment, you will analyze an event, opinion, policy, and other political text to show that you can
recognize prejudice and discrimination by assessing whether an event, opinion, policy, and other political text
shows prejudice and discrimination.
You can select a text—a term we're using generally here—from this list, or you can select one on your own:
•
a Michael de Adder political cartoon from March 30, 2021, about the trial of former Minneapolis police officer
Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, shared here with the artist's permission:
•
a student's being misgendered as explained by several non-binary youth.
•
a 2020 ad from sports apparel and sneaker company Nike promoting women's sports called "You Can't Stop
Sport".
•
a 2018 report from Amnesty International called Toxic Twitter: A Toxic Place for Women (Warning: This link
shows descriptions of violence against women. If you want shorter, less triggering examples from Amnesty
International, they have testimonials from women who use Twitter, such as journalist Jessica Valenti or
activist Miski Noor. You can use both of these instead of looking at the full report).
•
a 1995 quote from Jacques Parizeau explaining the Oui-side's loss in the last Québécois referendum during
his concession speech on October 30, 1995: "It's true we've been defeated, but basically by what? By money
and the ethnic vote. Essentially."
•
a March 2021 column from Shree Paradkar in the Toronto Star: "'Random' tax audits of Muslim charities
provide cover for biased terrorism suspicions, report finds"
•
the August 2019 launching of the New York Times's 1619 project marking the 400th anniversary of the arrival
of the first enslaved people to the Virginia colony.
•
a radio program on CBC Radio called Reclaimed, a weekly look at Indigenous music that started in 2017.
•
the 2021 announcement that six Dr. Seuss books will no longer be published.
For the text you choose, you will use the framework for interpreting texts comes from Facing History. (When we
say "text" here, we mean "event, opinion, policy, and other political text"):
1. Identify the text. Who made or wrote it? Where or how was it shared?
2. Describe the text. What does it show or tell you?
3. Interpret the text. What do you think it is trying to say or convey to its audience?
4. Evaluate the text. There are many ways to evaluate a text, but we will focus on whether the text shows
prejudice, discrimination, or both:
a. Evaluate the text for the critical attributes of the "prejudice" and "discrimination." Remember here that we
are often looking at someone's description of something they've noticed. We're looking here at the event,
opinion, or policy they're describing primarily.
b. Summarize your thoughts on whether the text shows prejudice, discrimination, or both. What kind of
prejudice or discrimination is it?
5. Comment intelligently on our critical attributes of the two terms. Could they be revised or improved based on
what you've learned here?
This is metatextual situation: you can comment on the text or the text that comments on a text
2
We are giving you a text that actually comments on another text, event, or situation. We are asking you to
evaluate the original text, event or situation using the information in the text we gave you.
Other formats will be accepted for this assignment, but here are tables you can re-create and complete in a new
Microsoft Word document to complete this assignment.
Identify the Text You Analyzed
Describe the Text You Analyzed
Interpret the Text You Analyzed
Evaluate the Text for Critical Attributes of "Prejudice"
Critical Attribute
Thinks that most members of an identity group are the
same
Ignores or minimizes an individual's own personality,
wishes, and agency because of their group identity
Imposes a hierarchy on identities, such as considering
one race, sexual preference, or religious preference
better than others
Lowers expectations for members of an identity group
just because they belong to that identity
Present
Evidence
3
Overgeneralizes the preferences and abilities of some
members of the identity as the preferences and abilities
of most members of the identity
Does the text show prejudice?
Y or N
Evaluate the Text for Critical Attributes of "Discrimination"
Critical Attribute
Treats most members of an identity group differently
than how other identities are treated
Supports policies that perpetuate or create inequities
and different treatment among different identities
Does the text show discrimination?
Present
Evidence
Y or N
Comment Intelligently on our Critical Attributes of the Two Terms
4
Expectations
1. You will present your answers in a new Microsoft Word document. You can re-create the tables we've given
you to organize your answers. This assignment should be at least one-full page long.
2. You must clearly identify which of our options you've chosen to analyze. If you chose one yourself, you must
include a link to it.
3. You will follow the Grade Twelve Writing Standards in completing your assignment.
4. When necessary, you will cite all of your sources by following CMOS formatting. You do not need to cite the
text you've chosen to analyze. You do need to cite any additional resources you might use to help you to
complete your assignment.
Rubric
Criteria
Describing, identifying, and
interpreting the text
Meets Expectations
Student work effectively
summarizes what the text says,
who made the text, and why the
text is important.
3–4
Exceed Expectations
Student work presents a superior
summary of what the text says,
who made the text, and why the
text is important without being too
long.
A reasonable reader would not
need to view or read the text for
themselves to understand the gist
of the text.
5
Student work accurately considers
both of the critical attributes of the
term "discrimination" and all five
critical attributes of "prejudice"
including evidence.
Assessing whether a text shows
discrimination
Student work accurately considers
at least one of the two critical
attributes of the term
"discrimination" and three of the
five critical attributes of the term
"prejudice".
Student work includes a
reasonable judgment whether the
text shows discrimination,
prejudice, both, or neither.
Student work includes a superior
judgment whether the text shows
discrimination, prejudice, both, or
neither.
When applicable, student work
considers whether the text
demonstrates treating members of
an identity group differently to
increase or to decrease inequities
between identity groups.
When it does show prejudice or
discrimination, student work
accurately identifies which type it
is.
3–4
5
5
Student work evaluates the critical
attributes for one of the terms.
Reflecting on the critical
attributes of the terms
Student work includes at least one
suggestion for adding, changing, or
removing a critical attribute for one
of the terms.
3–4
Communicating Information
Student work evaluates the critical
attributes of both of the terms,
including identifying whether any
can be left out or added.
5
Student work is presented in a
straightforward manner.
Student work is presented in an
engaging manner.
Student work demonstrates the
"Appropriate Achievement" level
for content, organization, word
choice, and sentence structure as
is described in the Grade 12
Writing Standards.
Student work demonstrates the
"Strong Achievement" level for
content, organization, word choice,
and sentence structure as is
described in the Grade 12 Writing
Standards.
3–4
5
6