controversial figure skating dance

[shootingstar]

Well we discussed it. . . .

I was rather disappointed in my students lack of depth. (They are 11th and 12th grade)
Only 1 student who is a little more mature looked at the whole picture on how a culture is being portrayed to the entire world in a stereotypical fashion.

So of course that brought us to stereotypes. I was astounded to find out that most of the students thought stereotypes were just part of the scheme of things, natural and don't hurt anything and everyone knows they are stereotypes so you don't believe them

Luckily I have one girl who is a USAF kid and just got back stateside from Turkey. She said it was hard in Turkey because they had all the American girls stereotyped from what they saw on TV (sexually promiscuous, shallow, and rich).

It may well be there were some shy students who just didn't want to speak up. You might have reached those quieter, bright students. I was a bright, quiet student but found it difficult to provide in a group classroom situation, my opinion at length.

It took me a long time to get over my inability to speak up off-the cuff and unrehearsed opinions in such group situations no matter how strongly I felt about something.

I commend you to even teach the topic of stereotyping, media images and problems with lack of seeking a broad range of reliable information sources. You probably did reach a few students who were feeling unsure how to articulate a complicated subject. Because it can be.