Teaching article
Personal preference is not a rule about a culture
Keep an individual's choice distinct from a whole group's practice.
This person enjoys this meal describes an individual account. Ask children to compare its scope with a statement about everyone in a group, showing how a small wording change can create an unsupported generalisation.
Check the grammatical scope of each statement. One person's preference does not establish a rule about every member of a cultural group.
Keep the claim attached to its speaker
Identify the speaker. Compare statement scope. Rewrite overgeneralisation.
'This person enjoys this meal' does not mean everyone in a culture does.
Avoid food-only representations of culture. Who does the claim describe?
Use scope cards.
Resources
- Reflection Journal Template — Record the creator, source, permission questions and planning decision before selecting classroom material.
Further reading
- AIATSIS — evaluating and selecting education resources
- Harmony Week — official organiser information
Read next
- A festival activity should connect accurately to its context
- Then and now does not have to become worse and better
- An oral-history interview begins with choice and permission
Explore Respectful cultural and historical inquiry. Browse all teaching articles.