A few days ago we witnessed
how a boy of our age was beaten
up because he was wearing tight
trousers called “drainpipes”. (…)
We decided to react although the
attacker was older and stronger.
(…) we helped the boy… We
strongly disliked the fact that our
society proved so indifferent and
intolerant. We tried to solve the
problem with e-tools for civic
engagement activities.
We visited the European Youth
Portal, where we were advised
to turn with this problem to the
municipal authorities, because
such problems could hardly be
solved with e-activity tools. We
went to see the mayor of our
town, who was very pleased with
our visit. We told the mayor
about what had happened a few
days earlier. The mayor was left
concerned about the attitude of
inhabitants in our municipality;
we suggested holding a workshop
with primary school pupils on
whom we pin our hopes.
Right after the meeting we went
to the education inspector in our
municipality. The inspector helped
us to contact directors of nearby
primary schools, with whom we
agreed the date and a venue of
the workshop. The mayor offered
us material assistance: colour
markers, coloured paper blocks
and notebooks were bought. These
supplies were of great help to us.
We prepared a workshop scenario
on our own.
Together with pupils we wrote
down things associated with the
word tolerance, we explained the
meaning of this term. We made
a short test to check whether the
pupils were tolerant. We discussed
what prejudices exist and what
intolerance is. Together we talked
about the reasons for intolerance.
We divided the pupils into
groups so they had to overcome
prejudices together. We played a
film about the lack of tolerance,
drawing the pupils’ attention to
inappropriate behaviour and the
behaviour that should characterize
a tolerant person.
In spite of showing little
enthusiasm at the beginning, the
pupils were very active and treated
the workshop very maturely. At
the end they heard our conclusion:
“It is very hard to evaluate others
because each of us is different,
but it does not mean anyone is
worse, it simply means everyone is
unique”. (…)
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