Treating Others as Persons

Notes About Lesson Plan

• This lesson primarily explores a general ethical principle about power, hierarchy, and the ways we treat others. 
• There are two ways this lesson might be used:
  1. This lesson can stand alone as a powerful lesson on responsibility in interpersonal relationships, especially those involving power imbalances.  
  2. This lesson can be used to supplement classroom discussions about the harms of historical injustices (such as slavery, genocide, labor malpractice, etc.).
     • However, this must be implemented carefully because we are asking students to apply a general ethical principle to everyday interactions. The hazard here is that students will equate the historical injustice with harms in these relational contexts.  
     • Bottom line: If you are using the lesson to supplement historical learning about major injustices, be clear that we can learn from our past about how we can live better today. 
     • In the lesson, we provide options to incorporate this lesson into historical discussions about slavery. 

Warm-Up Question 

What is the difference between treating someone like a person versus treating something like an object? 

• Recommended facilitation: Have students turn and talk to a partner or small group about this question. Then, turn back to the whole class and create a t-chart on the board with two sides: (1) treating like a person and (2) treating like an object. Have students share their own ideas from their groups to populate the table. 

(Optional Historical Background, if using to supplement discussions of slavery) In the United States of America and in other places in the world, there have been institutions that failed to treat people like persons and instead treated them as objects. American slavery of black people is one extreme example of this. 

• Show this video to remind or teach students about the conditions of slavery. 
• After watching the video, invite students to reflect on what they just heard and watched. 

You may use these guiding questions: 

• What does learning about this period in American history make you think about or feel like? 
• How does the master and slave relationship connect to our chart about treating someone like a person versus an object? 

Applying a General Ethical Principle

(from slavery, or another historical moment) 

• Frame: Throughout history, we have witnessed the harms of failing to treat others as persons instead of as objects. (For instance, the master and slave relationship was determined by race, and the white master owned the black slave as if they were an object, not a person.)  
• The general ethical principle we explore in this activity is: We must always treat others as persons, not as objects. 
• In this part, students will apply this lesson to other interpersonal contexts and relationships. There are multiple ways you (as the teacher) can facilitate these applications. Here are two options (see ‘e’ below), although you are encouraged to make this lesson your own using the resources provided. 
• Here are some different relationships that you can pull from, regardless of how you facilitate. Choose the ones you are most interested in or comfortable discussing with your class.
  • Relationships:
    1. Customer and Waitor 
    2. Boss and Worker 
    3. Teacher and Student 
    4. Friend and Friend 
    5. Doctor and Patient 
    6. Coach and Player 
    7. Older and Younger Sibling 
    8. Police Officer and Citizen 
    9. Bystander and Someone Being Bullied 
• Useful guiding questions for these relationships (some are more applicable to different examples): 
  1. What does it mean to really see someone as a person in this kind of relationship? 
  2. What actions can someone take to treat the other like a person in this kind of relationship? What actions would make them feel like they are used like an object? 
  3. Can a person be in charge of someone else and still treat them like a person? How? 
  4. Can a person treat someone who is in charge of them like an object? How? 
  5. Why might someone not treat the other like a person in this relationship? What can be done to solve these problems? 
  6. Does having a defined role in the relationship make it easier or harder to treat the other like a person? 

Two Options for Facilitation 

1. Community of Inquiry: A whole class, teacher led discussion about each relationship, one at a time. The teacher should use the guiding questions above as anchors, but allow the conversation and questions to evolve as the students share their own ideas on the topic. Encourage students to use respectful habits of discussion.
   • Recommendation: Track the key student ideas in a t-chart for each relationship, adding points about “treating as a person” on one side, and “treating as an object” on the other, just like the warm-up question. 

2. Stations: Place placards around the room with the different relationships. In groups of 3-4, students will rotate from relationship to relationship, with 3-5 minutes to discuss how to treat others as persons or objects in this context with their group. For the students to reference in their discussions, post these general prompts on the board: 
   • How might someone treat the other as a person in this relationship? An object? 
   • Talk about: words they might say, actions they might take, things they might think, ways they might feel, etc. 
   • Recommendation #1: Model an effective discussion with 3-4 trusted students in the front of the class. After the model, discuss as a class what went well and what could be improved about the discussion in order to uphold respectful habits of discussion. 
   • Recommendation #2: While students are in their small groups, post a timer for their discussion to keep them on track. Feel free to use positive narration about what students are doing well in their discussion, as long as you are not interrupting good philosophical inquiry! 

Whole-Class Reflection

We still do not always treat each other as people. We still have a lot of progress to be made. To wrap-up, have the students reflect on this question:  

• What would a world look like where everyone was always treated like a person? What in our society would need to change? 

Additional Discussion Questions

Warm-up 

What is the difference between treating someone like a person versus treating something like an object?

Learning about Slavery (Optional) 

• What does learning about this period in American history make you think about or feel like? 
• How does the master and slave relationship connect to our chart about treating someone like a person versus an object?