Ms. Devoto: Good morning. Over the past month I’ve had a number of conversations with adults on campus about the scenarios brought up in last month’s Scruples game. It’s been very interesting to delve deeper into the question, “Would you tell?” I’ve asked some teachers what they’d do if they:
- Had a friend who was cheating on their taxes? Or on their husband or wife?
- I’ve asked what they’d do if they saw someone driving recklessly down their street
- Or throwing litter out of their car, or not picking up after their dog….
I’ve gotten some interesting responses….some even from myself, and I’ve found that there are times that I definitely would “look the other way,” and times I wouldn’t.
To the question about what would you do about a friend stealing, I actually remember grappling with that when I was 20. I ended up deciding that that was not someone I wanted to associate with. But I never said anything to him….
In doing the research for this lesson, I realized that a lot of what we value lies in the answers to these questions. The fact that I have many times approached strangers who I’ve seen litter and given them back the piece of trash they so carelessly threw on the ground saying, “Excuse me sir, I think you dropped this,” always making sure to make it sound like it was an accident, tells me that I value a clean beautiful environment. I have visited many places in the world where this is not the case, and I simply don’t want to live in an environment like that. It’s something I’ll stand up for….
So today’s exercise is one in which we’ll ask you to explore your values….and I realize full well that, like me, you’ll stand up for some of these things, and for some of them you may not.….I think it will tell you quite a bit about what you value. It made me stop and think.
Activity
For What Would You Stand Up and Speak Out?
(either by talking to the person or telling an adult)
- Write “Would Not” on one end of a piece of paper & “Would” at the other end
- Then place the following items on the continuum (just write the BOLD word):
- Teachers, please write the BOLD words on the board during announcements.
- Read all the list before the students write anything, and then go back through the list again as students write the word on their continuum
You see someone litter
A friend tells you he is thinking about committing suicide
You see someone cheating on a social studies test
You’ve heard that there is someone on campus with a gun
You see some kids you know stealing money out of a backpack during PE
You hear there is going to be a fight after school between 2 of your friends
Some kids are calling your friend gay…repeatedly
You see kids you know vandalizing the school on the weekend
Some kids pass around a sexual questionnaire that you find disgusting
Teachers: When students are done ask volunteers to tell you what they put at the extremes, and why…..
“By looking at your chart, what do you value most?”
(Safety? The environment? Friendship? Honesty? Compassion?)
Does knowing how a report will be handled impact whether or not you speak up?
Here are some things that might be interjected:
Emphasize the importance of safety issues (fight/gun/stealing/sexual ?airre)
“It’s better to have a mad friend than a dead friend” (suicide)
The emotional scars of name calling (gay)
The recent school shooting in Cleveland (gun)
And you might explore the whole idea of being a “snitch” (vandalizing/stealing)
· When you choose not to snitch, with whom are you aligning yourself?
