The Spectrum Aaron, Bob, Chuck, David, Ernie, and Fred all attend the same school and are enrolled in the same math class. Aaron has always been an excellent student: conscientious, smart, and hard working. Bob and Chuck are buddies, and they have a bit of a reputation as jokers. One day, the teacher passed back graded tests. As the students started to look at their papers, there were many reactions. It was a particularly tough test, and there were several students who performed poorly. Bob noticed Aaron’s pleased look, and he snatched the test out of his hand. The test was an impressive 98%. “Check it out – Aaron over here aced it. The Wonder Asian Math Nerd does it again!” Bob announced, waving Aaron’s test for everyone to see. Chuck laughed heartily, slapping his knee gleefully. David smiled a little but turned his face away from Aaron. Ernie shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Fred interjected, “Hey, the guy worked hard, you know that as well as anyone. You don’t need to call him names or bring his race into it, alright?” Bob mumbled under his breath that Fred should mind his own business. Chuck huffed, “What do YOU care?” At this time, the teacher intervened. Discussion Questions: 1. Rank the boys on a scale of -5 to 5 (-5 being a large negative contribution to the incident, 0 being no contribution to the incident, and 5 being a large positive contribution to the incident). Why did you rank them the way you did? 2. Consider the following terms, and think about which individual(s) fall under each category. a. Agent – someone who is taking actions targeting another b. Target – someone who is at the receiving end of targeting actions c. Secondary Agent – someone whose actions support or even encourage the agent d. Bystander – someone who witnesses targeting actions and says or does nothing e. Ally – someone who takes action against targeting behaviors even though he/she is not being targeted 3. What might YOU do if you were witness to this incident? Why would you choose this action? 4. What, if anything, would you want the teacher to do to intervene? Why would you want this intervention or inaction? Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee

Bullying and Bias Workshop