Teaching Tolerance in America

Dudley Erksine Devlin’s essay “Teaching Tolerance in America” discusses the

problems with racial and social divisions in high schools today. Devlin states, “the social

clique is based on the notion that one group imagines that it is superior to another, and

thus can ridicule, taunt, or even bully another group”(189). He suggests class divisions

originate from three sources: racial, gender, and social differences.


Regarding the racial issue, Devlin describes a reporter’s visit to a typical suburban

high school. Each ethnic group had its own little area where they would congregate with

each other. The groups all thought that they were better than the others, and would make

insulting comments to each other, “creating tension and conflict in the school”(190).

Devlin describes the gender problems by referring to a sexual harassment case in

which fifteen boys verbally abused a girl on a regular basis. Teachers would tel...