Harrison Bergeron

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 might be the benefits and harms of living in a society where everyone was equal in all things (rights, talents, abilities, accomplishments, grades, economy, workload, etc.)?

Teaching Suggestion: You might begin with a discussion of utopia (various ideas for a perfect society) and what might need to change for our current community/society to achieve utopia. Then, you could lead students to consider how what seems to be a good idea might have unintended consequences. Mention that “Harrison Bergeron” envisions a utopia where everyone is literally equal in all things. After students reflect on the question above, you could ask them to share their responses (if they are willing) to promote discussion.

• “Equity vs. Equality: What’s the Difference?” by Stephen Menendian, Director of Research at the Othering & Belonging Institute, explains these two often-confused terms.
• “Time to Pull the Plug on Traditional Grading?” by Patricia Alex at Education Next discusses the ongoing debate for equity in grading—eliminating the traditional 100-point grading scale for mastery-based scoring.