Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What is a society? How do social systems present opportunities for people? How do they also oppress people? Does your society work for everyone? Why or why not?

Teaching Suggestion: The questions are intended to prime students for reading the sources below. Consider having students write responses or discuss the questions again after reading the sources. Connecting the last two questions directly to the author’s purpose for writing the book may increase student perceptions of relevance and interest. As discussion may become sensitive, reminders of pre-established social and emotional learning strategies and difficult discussion protocols may be beneficial for students before engaging with the materials.

• This article from History provides an overview of the theory of social Darwinism.
• This article from the National Equity Project will help students apply a lens of systemic oppression to their understanding of this book.
• Teachers may find these guidelines from the University of Michigan useful for facilitating sensitive discussions.

Short Activity

Explore the short resources related to Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory of youth development.