Recently, during a backwards-design consultation, I recommended this exercise to a health-professions prof whose desired outcome for the students is increased ethno-cultural empathy. To do her justice, she was open to the idea, but told me she had trouble seeing the connection.  So, here's the benefit of my experience: often when asking students to discuss difference or to reflect on their encounters with difference, they are afraid of giving offense. Here's what I said to her: at some point during this course, it will be beneficial to your students to have a discussion about the difference between stereotyping and generalizations. This exercise will help them to learn that generalizations are an important part of the scientific method, even when talking about groups of people.  Learning, in a non-threatening way, how to move from stereotype to generalization to theory of action, will help them become less judgmental of themselves, and thus more empathetic & better health professionals.

On a related note:

Here is a pretty good general audiences definition of the difference between stereotypes & generalizations.

And, here is the more scholarly definition of that difference, from Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia.