“A sign with the inscription “School without racism” (Schule ohne Rassismus – Schule mit Courage) at the entrance to our gymnasium informs that we have the right to be called a school that resolutely and openly rejects racism and any manifestations of discrimination,” says Jule Moss ( Jule Moss). The Johannes-Kepler-Gymnasium gymnasium in the former mining town of Ibbenbüren received the right to call itself that in 2010 by participating in a large-scale project of the same name, which called on students from all schools in Germany, their parents, teachers, educators to take on the obligation to adhere to the position of “caring attitude” to the manifestation of any kind of discrimination: by origin, nationality, gender difference, sexual orientation, because of religious or political beliefs, a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl explains in an interview with DW.
The process of knowing the world and searching for “oneself” for many teenagers turns out to be an unbearable burden … What to do if you feel different from everyone else? How do you learn to truly respect yourself and others? Yule believes that how to prevent unacceptable treatment of those who do not always “fit” into social norms is often discussed, but apparently not enough. The title of “school without racism” obliges to be reminded of this always and everywhere, she explains.
School anti-discrimination project
Everyone knows that it is against the law to discriminate against anyone in Germany, Jule says. But how it happens in reality, who suffers the most from the “claims” of others, as it turned out, not everyone knows, she continues. In German schools, starting from the first grade, various events are regularly held, the purpose of which is to help children, and especially adolescents, to understand in more detail the most diverse manifestations of discrimination.
“In 2022, the tenth graders of our gymnasium launched an anti-discrimination project, in which each working group (two included only girls, two more consisted of boys and one group was mixed) chose one of the topics – about racism, homophobia, transphobia, discrimination against women “, says Julie.
In her group, there were only girls who came to grips with the topic of infringement of women’s rights and the problems of transphobia. “The most surprising thing for me was how little my classmates knew about it. And only after the so-called “ten fingers” test (bending a finger with a positive answer to a question. – Ed.), we were clearly convinced that many of us have already experienced discrimination, “recalls Yule. After all, everything usually starts with trifles: for example, each of us has heard unambiguous remarks or guys whistling at us. ” And all just because you are a girl, that is, different,” the schoolgirl emphasizes. “The other can be foreigners and boys with long hair. “Being different is a provocation, a reason for discrimination,” says Yule. What to do with all this?
It is important to learn to understand each other
According to Yule, a negative and dismissive attitude of many is manifested in response to everything unusual, deviating from the usual standards, familiar way of life, way of life. It is also difficult to deal with common stereotypes. “For example, in a commercial for a well-known chocolate brand, a husband reproaches his wife (blonde!), who bought new shoes (you already have a lot of them!), That she has only one thing on her mind,” the schoolgirl lists. “Or let’s take the traditional idea of a family (mother, father, children), which modern families do not always correspond to,” says Yule.
Participants of the project “School without racism” – students and teachers of the gymnasium in Magdeburg, who strongly and openly reject racism and any manifestations of discrimination
In order to understand, to feel what it means to be different, the schoolchildren decided to voice the heroes invented by them (collective images), leading fictitious-real conversations about sore. Under the guidance of teachers, they prepared multimedia reports. “This form of presentation, which includes various formats (texts, video, photo collage), has become new for us,” Yule says.
“In our class, everyone reacted to this important, as I believe, topic with great enthusiasm and understanding, perhaps also because each of us, as it turned out, had personal experience that we used while working on the project,” stresses the girl.
Everyone has the right to be who they are
“In particular, I worked on dialogues, and for the first time I tried to write a text in the spirit of a poetry slam on behalf of a girl who faced discrimination,” says Yule in an interview with DW. And although she does not really like to interpret lyrics in literature lessons, the schoolgirl, however, was carried away in earnest with the new genre – as an opportunity for creative self-expression. In the poem “From my life” (“out of my life“) talks about fear – doing something wrong, not being liked by someone, fear of getting fat, losing weight, dressing incorrectly, attracting too much attention to yourself or falling in love and shocking everyone with the choice of the chosen one. The schoolgirl ends her poem with the following lines: “Big my request to you: do not judge strictly about my life … “.
Yulia’s lyrical address to those present caused a storm of applause from her classmates and the teacher. The project is not over yet: it is necessary to shoot videos, process photos, prepare texts for publication, the schoolgirl lists. Her future profession (it is not yet known which one) will definitely be creative, Yulia admits. She is one hundred percent sure of one thing: everyone has the right to be who they are and choose their own path. “We need to be reminded of this more often, preferably every day, to ourselves and others. We all need to think about the future, talk about it and do everything so that no one experiences suffering,” emphasizes Yule.
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