Society has a huge impact on how people think whether that is conscious or subconscious. The media has a part to play in this but in the past people didn’t have the internet and social media to form opinions or hear different people’s views. In the lecture it was discussed how things like racism used to be so accepted in society which sparked a feeling of disgust from me. It was also said that concepts of race emerged in the late 18th century which was used to justify the social order from ht perspective of the European colonial powers.

It was discussed how white people terrorised, abused and killed nearly 4,000,000 black people with little to no consequences. This made me feel upset and angry as I believe that all people are equal and should be treated equally. There are also sociological perspectives of racism, such as resource allocation which is when one ethnic group is said to be in power above another. There is also group closure which is the process whereby groups have boundaries that separate themselves from others. This acts as exclusion devices between ethnic groups. I don’t agree with these terms and think that as a society we need to break down the barriers that are separating people for no valid reason.

This can relate to classroom experiences as no matter what gender, religion or race the children are, they should all be treated equally with equal rights and equal discipline.

In schools children come from all different backgrounds and circumstances and in this became very real to me during the task. Every group being given different resources wasn’t immediately noticeable to me but after presenting our ideas, for something to make for a first year student, I realised that my group had a lot less to work with. The other groups had different coloured paper and the group I was in only had one white sheet of paper. There was one other group who had similar resources to us and they came up with a similar idea to us. Whereas the groups with more equipment had very creative and ambitious ideas.

I felt a bit disheartened after hearing everyone’s ideas but the group I was in still completed the task and presented our final product. Our mark out of 10 was the lowest in the class and the group that had the most got the highest. I felt like that wasn’t fair as we didn’t’ have the same opportunities.

It became clear to me how some children might feel in a situation where, for example, they are given projects to complete at home but don’t have the same equipment as other children or their parents can’t/won’t help them. This is something that teachers need to be mindful of because if the children come into school and get less praise than someone who has a lot of colour and has had a lot of help on their project, it will be demotivating. It needs to be recognised if they have done the best they can with what they’ve got.