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Lessons from COVID-19: The Privilege to Harm Us All
This series will encompass lessons drawn from current events and circumstances which teachers can incorporate in their writing and reading curriculum. These lessons are tested in my own classroom and will sometimes include some stories from my own teaching adventures.
Privilege is not an easy topic to teach. First, as a teacher, you must come to terms with your own ideas of privilege, trying them out to be sure they are accurate. I say this because so many people have the wrong idea of what privilege truly is. Others have a tough time conceiving of it outside of a racial context. The thing is, privilege is not entirely a race thing.
Part I: What is Privilege?
“Everyday Feminism” offers a very clear definition of what privilege is.
We can define privilege as a set of unearned benefits given to people who fit into a specific social group. Society grants privilege to people because of certain aspects of their identity. Aspects of a person’s identity can include race, class, gender, sexual orientation, language, geographical location, ability, and religion, to name a few.
The thing that catches us all up when it comes to privilege is that the unearned advantages come from more than the racial group one belongs to. There is a privilege in social status…
