Equal Status Contact
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Equal Status Contact, Textbook p.501
A fourth grade teacher in one of the schools in the town I lived in was having problems dealing with a group of boys in her class. There were two conflicting groups; one calling it “rich” and the other referred to “poor” by the other. Each group consisted of four boys. They were always fighting since the “rich” group felt superior to the “poor” group. The “poor” group came from not well to do families while the “rich” group came from a relatively well to do families. The cause of the fights was what each of the groups could do.
To deal with their fights, the teacher decided to put them on detention where all of them were to do similar tasks together for five hours. At the beginning of the detention, there was tension and profound silence. The teacher had organized the tasks such that the boys were paired from each of the conflicting groups. As they progressed with the tasks, the boys discovered that they shared a lot. At the end, they became friends and that was the end of their fights. The groups disintegrated and the boys became the best of friends. The shared responsibilities brought the two warring groups together (Myer, 2012).