Dr. Seuss Story Of The Sneetches

Dr. Seuss’ story of the Sneetches is a tale of inequality and class based exclusion. In the story there are two types of sneetches, those with stars on their belly and those without. The star-bellied sneetches used this difference to establish a class differentiation between the two types and maintain a superior foothold in the sneetch society. Exclusion was complete in this society. Star-bellied sneetches would hold parties, events, sports days and other gatherings and actively exclude their non-starred brethren. It even went so far that the star-bellied children would mock and tease the non-starred children when the encountered them in public.

Then one day a chap by the name of McBean arrived with a contraption that would add stars to the bellies of sneetches that were without. Suddenly, the non-starred sneetches were physically indistinguishable from the upper-class sneetches and they felt that this would grant them equality. However, this was not meant to be. The original star-bellied sneetches went to McBean and commissioned a machine that would remove the stars from their bellies. In this way, the original starred sneetches had flipped the dynamic and maintained their hold on the upper-class echelons of society. They attempted to maintain that physical difference to separate them from their supposed lesser because deep down, sneetches are sneetches and stars or no, they’re all essentially the same.

Essentially, all humans are the same with only miniscule physical appearance differences telling us apart, yet we have an ingrained tendency to uphold a belief that some physical attributes make you superior to others. As teachers, this mentality is dangerous and unacceptable in the classroom and it is our responsibility to discourage