Abstract
“Implicit bias” describes the unconscious stereotypes and attitudes that all humans have hard wired in their brains. It can go awry when we have implicit biases based on race or ethnicity that are unrealized and unfair. Gen Z students are famously diverse, and they are proud of their diversity, but they are also uncomfortable talking about sensitive topics, including implicit bias. Legal Practice professors are in a unique position to work with their Gen Z students to identify and eliminate implicit bias because of our year-long course and the interactive nature of our class. This article discusses how implicit bias is innate in humans, how even our diverse Gen Z students are not immune to it, and how to address implicit bias in our Legal Practice class. We know from the research that Gen Z likes to work independently but also together, first coming up with their thoughts before sharing with others. To make discussions of implicit bias work with this cohort, various exercises can be done giving students the opportunity to work alone and then sharing their thoughts with the larger class. Once students have identified their own implicit biases, students can discuss them constructively with one another in a “Brave Space.” Brave Spaces ask students to be vulnerable with each other while relying on certain ground rules like engaging in civil dialogue, owning one’s intentions and impact on their classmates, and differentiating between a personal attack and an attack on a person’s idea. Coming to discussions of implicit bias from this perspective and with these guardrails can help students understand their classmates’ and their own implicit biases and work to correct them.
Recommended Citation
Anupama C. Connor,
Teaching and Learning About Implicit Bias in the Legal Practice Classroom: The Lesson of Sandy Jordan,
68
St. Louis U. L.J.
(2024).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lj/vol68/iss3/11