Chapter 5
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Diversity is about all of us, and about us having to figure out how to walk through this world together.
—Jacqueline Woodson, author
René is a member of her school's Gay-Straight Alliance and spends a few hours each week volunteering to teach low-income students how to read. She deliberately seeks experiences with people from other cultures and friendships with people of other hues. It's clear that she accepts and appreciates others who are different than she is. René has held many leadership positions in student government because she has befriended so many students, representing a range of different identities and groups.
Lana sticks to her "own kind," as she would phrase it, with a sense of awareness and pride. She is uncomfortable with others who are not of her race or socioeconomic status. Lana leads a very tight and homogenous clique. She tends to ridicule those who are different than she is and exhibits a sense of superiority toward just about everybody. Her band of friends is as narrow as her taste in music. She shows little curiosity about other countries and cultures.
Figure 5.1 shows the self-assessment survey for embracing diversity. Take a moment to answer the questions before continuing with this chapter.
Note: The following survey is designed to provide a sense of your feelings about embracing diversity. It is a tool to elicit reflection and discussion, not a scientifically valid instrument. Directions: Place a 1 (strongly disagree), 2 (disagree), 3 (not sure), 4 (agree), or 5 (strongly agree) after each item.
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Scoring:
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If you scored
Note: You can find an embracing diversity self-assessment survey for students in Appendix A. |
Embracing diversity means understanding that we should recognize and appreciate the differences among us. This attitude acknowledges our history of differences while empowering every person to succeed and enables all of us to come together in a caring, respectful, and productive way.
As I note in the Introduction, embracing diversity is the only one of the Formative Five success skills that includes a verb. This is because I believe we need to be particularly enthusiastic about accepting the legitimacy of this skill because it too often elicits discomfort or even opposition. After all, who could be against empathy, self-control, integrity, or grit? These qualities are universally esteemed, and we all know that our students will be better prepared for the real world if they possess them. Diversity is not as universally—well, embraced; we may appreciate many people, but we tend to embrace only those who are close to us.
I strongly believe that we need to embrace diversity enthusiastically, particularly in a country like the United States, which has a long history of discrimination at odds with our values of freedom and tolerance. Consider that 12 U.S. presidents owned slaves at one time in their lives. Even today, though we've made remarkable progress toward a society where children and adults are judged by the content of their character rather than their skin, more progress is needed.
Anna Holmes (2015) channels the hesitation and discomfort that many feel about the term diversity when she asks, "How does a word become so muddled that it loses much of its meaning? How does it go from communicating something idealistic to something cynical and suspect? If that word is ‘diversity,’ the answer is: through a combination of overuse, imprecision, inertia, and self-serving intentions" (p. 21). She further notes that the word "has become both euphemism and cliché, convenient shorthand that gestures at inclusivity and representation without taking them seriously" (p. 22). It's because of the reactions Holmes points to that we must include embracing in our term for this critical skill.
Dictionary.com defines embrace as "to take or clasp in the arms; press to the bosom; hug" and "to take or receive gladly or eagerly; accept willingly." Embrace conveys that tolerance or acceptance of those who are different than we are is necessary, but not sufficient; beyond accepting, we must learn to value, appreciate, and hold close others who are different than we are. The phrase embracing diversity makes this clear.
It's particularly important for us as educators to be clear about our values—what we believe and why it is important. This is especially true for values that not everyone might hold. The New City School in St. Louis, Missouri, where I served as principal for many years, proclaims diversity as one of its four bedrock principles (the others are academics, personal intelligences, and joyful learning). We promote these principles on our website and at virtually every parent and faculty meeting. In my weekly e-letter to parents, I often cite examples of how we were pursuing these principles. Diversity, I point out, is one of the key values upon which our school was based.
But even at New City School, an institution known for its commitment to these principles, the word diversity alone isn't sufficient. Consequently, we regularly use the phrase diversity beyond the numbers to convey the fact that mere numbers can't reflect all of what is important or determines success. The fact that 42 percent of our students are of color, for example, is certainly important and helpful in our pursuit of diversity, understanding, and acceptance, but that number is just a beginning. What matters most is what happens each day when our students come to school. This attitude speaks to the way that embracing diversity—understanding and appreciating others—is embedded throughout our curriculum. Adding beyond the numbers to diversity conveys our school's values and expectations the same way embracing does in the context of success skills. At my school we appreciate a diversity of diversities—racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, religious, age, sexual orientation, ability, and political. Our use of multiple intelligences theory in designing curriculum adds even more diversity.
The viewpoint that numbers are not sufficient and we should embrace diversity leads us to look beyond our students and work to increase the diversity awareness and comfort of all adults in our community. Several distinct parent affinity groups meet regularly to talk about diversity issues (including parents of adopted children, parents from families of color, and GLBT parents). Because we at the New City School believe strongly in facilitating dialogue about diversity and bringing people together, we held a community forum in response to the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and subsequent community protests and disruptions. (You can read an account of our Ferguson Forum in my March 2015 Educational Leadership column.)
Historically, the human experience has been one of focusing on how others—regardless of how others are defined—are different than we are. This is a vestige from prehistory, when many of our ancestors lived in jungles, forests, or caves, and survival depended on their vigilance and ability to quickly discern differences (what Gardner terms the "naturalist intelligence"). Given the lack of societal regulations or laws, people who didn't dress like us or share our traditions were automatically suspect—and at the time, this was appropriate! Referring to life in the Pleistocene era over 11,000 years ago, Boehm (2012) notes that "it's likely that foragers of one language or diversity group would have been prone to aggressively push aside foragers of another" (p. 77). As Goleman (2006) says, "Evolutionary theory holds that our ability to sense when we should be suspicious has been every bit as essential for human survival as our capacity for trust and cooperation" (p. 22). Simply put, recognizing and being alert to differences among people was once a vital survival skill.
Today, even though most of us are long past guarding ourselves from hungry strangers or warring tribes, we sometimes continue to harbor suspicions or buy into negative stereotypes about people because they don't look or act like us. The instinct to immediately notice our differences and judge them negatively is quick and simple, but a barrier to understanding and collaboration. "Stereotypes are a real timesaver," says Stanley McChrystal, quoting from the satirical website The Onion, in his book, Team of Teams (2015, p. 239).
Says Boehm,
One of the remarkable things about xenophobic tendencies in contemporary hunter-gatherers, and for that matter in all humans, is that our moral codes apply fully only to within the group, be it a language group, a non-literate population that shares the same piece of real estate or the same ethnic identity, or a nation. There seems to be a special, pejorative moral ‘discount’ applied to cultural strangers—who are often not even considered to be fully human and therefore may be killed with little compunction. (2012, p. 135)
The racism integral to the founding and development of the United States—as I mention earlier, 12 U.S. presidents owned black slaves—remains alive today. It has vitiated and conditions have improved, but it would be naïve to think that our historical struggles are no longer with us. As Coates (2015) says of black Americans, "Never forget that we were enslaved in this country longer than we have been free. Never forget that for 250 years black people were born into chains—whole generations followed by more generations who knew nothing but chains" (p. 70). Likewise, Steele (2010) points out that when it comes to race and gender—indeed, to every variable that yields stereotypes—we are all prisoners of our history: "Our social identities can strongly affect things as important as our performances in the classroom and on standardized tests, our memory capacity, our athletic performance, the pressure we feel to improve ourselves, even the comfort we have with people of different groups—all things we typically think of as being determined by individual talents, motivations, and preferences" (p. 4).
Sadly, despite our progress, it sometimes feels as though racism is more evident in the United States today than in the recent past. According to a CNN and Kaiser Family Foundation poll in 2015, "Almost two-thirds of the public (64%) say racial tensions have increased in the country over the past decade. This includes majorities of Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites alike."
Another survey, by Teaching Tolerance, the National Education Association, and the Civil Rights Project, found that "the vast majority of teachers say their schools are free of racial and ethnic tensions" despite the fact that "federal reports show that one in four students is victimized in racial or ethnic incidents in the course of a typical school year" (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2016). And the victims aren't all students of color: "Nearly 70 percent of girls say they've been sexually harassed, 75 percent of gay students report hearing anti-gay slurs at school, and more than a third of gay students say they've been physically harassed." You can read more about this, including a school climate questionnaire.
We must recognize that teaching children to embrace diversity will be an uphill struggle because we are running counter to centuries of prejudice; we aren't starting from zero. This means both embedding diversity in lessons and creating new experiences that highlight diversity. Embedding diversity into the existing curriculum means looking for opportunities to include and highlight people who reflect a range of differences—by choosing literature that features a diversity of diversities, for example, and ensuring diverse representation at assemblies, in the art on the walls, and in guest speakers. (And of course, discussions of diversity and a diversity of representation should not be limited to Black History Month—or, for that matter, to black people.)
To highlight diversity, New City School once held a "Who's What?" assembly. We invited five adults from the community, all of whom were sitting on the stage as the students entered the auditorium. They included a white male, two white females, one black female, and one black male. Our moderator, a teacher who also served as our director of diversity, read occupational characteristics about the five people without identifying who played what role. The roles they held were a nurse, a firefighter, an accountant, a salesperson, and a university professor.
When she was done, we asked our students raise their hands and vote on who they thought played what role. Of course, we had intentionally invited adults who did not conform to traditional roles. Disappointingly—but not surprisingly—many of our kids fell into the stereotype trap, deeming that the white female was the nurse and the fireperson was a male. In fact, the nurse was a white male and the firefighter was the black female. After the voting, our guests talked a bit about their careers, all of them emphasizing the importance of doing well in school. Then our director of diversity discussed stereotypes and how we have to work against falling prey to them. Our teachers were prepared for the assembly (it had been suggested by our faculty's Diversity Committee), so they were ready to reinforce what was learned afterwards in their classrooms.
Both our history and our current conditions mean that it's not enough to teach students to understand that a diversity of diversities exists. Our world is becoming more diverse by the day, and those who succeed in life will be those who appreciate and embrace the differences among us, creating a base for understanding and trust. Working with others who are different will not be an option, but rather the norm. Increasingly, we will be collaborating with others who live in foreign countries or on distant continents and who represent different races, ethnicities, and cultures. And the United States itself is becoming more diverse: as the New York Times notes, "According to Pew projections, based on current trends, by 2025, no ethnic or racial group will be a majority of the population" (Preston, 2015). Indeed, according to current projections, by 2050 the largest racial group in the country will be Asian.
Barbara Thomson, author of Words Can Hurt You (1993) and the first director of diversity at New City School, notes that "if we fail to appreciate the diversities among us, we will fail as a nation to use ALL our human resources and that failure makes us less than our best as individuals and as a country at a time in history when surely we need ‘all hands on deck’ to deal with the challenges ahead" (personal communication, October 1, 2015). To once more quote Steele (1999), "you have to learn from people who part of yourself tells you are difficult to trust."
It's important to appreciate the many different types of diversity: race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, income, ability—all of these factors contribute to our personal identities, framing our perceptions both of ourselves and of others. We see the world and others differently because of who we are, and others see us through our identity. And these perceptions are reciprocal: how we see and interact with others affects how they see and interact with us, and vice versa.
Examples of how these perceptions affect us are captured in Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us (2010) by Claude Steele. He uses research to present how diminished performance occurs when individuals are anxious that they will be judged according to a stereotype. Researchers found that individuals' performance on tests suffered when they were reminded that according to their stereotype, they were not expected to perform well on tests. In experiments, students of color who were asked to identify their race underperformed on standardized intelligence tests, and women underperformed on mathematics tests when reminded that men typically score higher on such tests. These results speak to the power of stereotypes and self-expectations.
In our schools (and in life), students' perceptions of the ways that others see them become a reality for them, which, in turn, influences how they are seen by others—and the cycle continues. To negate stereotype threats, we must confront how we see ourselves and how others see us. (A similar but converse effect is "stereotype promise." This is when the test taker is reminded that the group in which she is a member typically does better than the norm on a test. Living up to the expectation results in increased performance in this case.)
At my school, Stephanie Teachout, our director of diversity, helps educate students about stereotypes by having them create identity masks. The students use transparent paper to make a simple mask (e.g., with holes for mouth and eyes) and construction paper to create symbols depicting their personal identities. They use different shapes and colors to represent age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, ability, and so on. Although the shape and color of the symbols should be consistent, they should vary in size and where they're placed on each mask to indicate their relative significance to each student. Students are then asked to talk to one another wearing their masks, visibly demonstrating that our identities are filters through which all communication must pass. The symbols distract both the speaker and the person listening, and often they frame the discussion. Sometimes the size and location of a symbol are so prominent that it actually gets in the way of communication. Occasionally, the symbol isn't relevant to the discussion, though both parties can still see it. Afterward, the teacher leads the students in a discussion of how the masks influenced what they said and how this happens in real life, even without actual symbols on our cheeks or foreheads. Through this valid, experiential activity, students begin to understand how their identities affect how they see others and how they are seen.
There are many permutations to this activity. Older students might create several masks, showing the differences in how they view their identities now versus when they were younger. Was their socioeconomic status less important in elementary school? Has gender always been the major theme through which they self-identified? Perhaps they make several masks to indicate how they and others perceive these aspects of their identities in different social or geographic situations today. Or they can create different masks to indicate how they see others who are similar to and different than themselves. In the latter activity, students usually notice that the symbols masks have in common with others become much smaller (i.e., less significant) than the others.
Although identity is typically thought to be person-centric (a reflection of who we are) or perhaps group-centric (a reflection of a group to which we belong), we need to remember that not all of our perspectives stem from who we are today. Our history and individual experiences also affect how we see things, just as do our roles in a community or an organization.
Our occupations can contribute significantly to our identities as well. For my doctoral dissertation, for example, I studied the role-based perspectives held by many employees in a huge school system (the St. Louis Public Schools) as a court-mandated metropolitan area desegregation plan was being created. Not surprisingly, teachers, principals, and central office administrators looked at educational issues quite differently due to the roles that they played in their schools and in the organization. This was a good illustration of the fact that in addition to personal demographics and group membership, people's perspectives are also shaped by the positions they occupy.
Sometimes, often with good motives, we want to deemphasize or ignore our differences. Personally, I believe that it's neither realistic nor healthy to assume that the differences among us aren't noticed. Saying "I don't see race" to those who live and feel the effects of their skin color every single day is tantamount to, in effect, erasing them by denying their identity. It is disingenuous and dishonest to ourselves and to others. Even if race doesn't alter our behaviors toward others, it is impossible that we don't notice it. Better to say, "I see race, but that doesn't mean I judge people or treat them differently." Better yet: "I see race and I have my biases, but I try to be aware of them and not let them factor into my actions or decisions." This perspective reflects the embracing of diversity that we seek. It conveys maturity, intrapersonal intelligence, candor, and a desire to treat everyone fairly. That is a good goal for our students—and for ourselves. Ignoring or discounting aspects of our diversity can be offensive, counterproductive, and even illegal. What's important is that we help one another become aware of the biases and perspectives that we have and that are all around us so that we can see one another clearly and work well together regardless of our differences.
Embracing diversity means playing an active role in supporting the safety and dignity of others and ensuring that they are respected, and making sure that we teach our children to do the same. Regardless of age, we can all be champions for diversity by being aware of the biases that we and others hold and that are ingrained in our schools. Indeed, we have an obligation to speak out when we see or hear comments that are disrespectful to others. (That's an example of the integrity discussed in the previous chapter.)
Consider a student who hears a friend call something "gay" as a put-down. The student has an obligation to respond by telling his or her friend that the terminology is not appropriate. Whether phrased as "That wording is unkind and makes me feel uncomfortable" or "It's not right to put down others," the message to the speaker must be clear. Initiating this kind of "courageous conversation" (Singleton, 2015) isn't easy, but it must be done. This can be a hard lesson to teach because we often say that it's not polite to interrupt others. (The Anti-Defamation League refers to calling out disrespectful talk as "interrupting prejudice.") However, the reality—and this is a message that both children and adults need to learn—is that to hear disrespectful comments without responding is really to affirm their use.
Feedback of this sort is particularly powerful coming from a colleague. Years ago, while standing in the main office at my school, one of my teachers used a highly inappropriate derogatory phrase—"He tried to Jew me down"—in reference to a negotiation she'd had with a salesperson. Before I had a chance to respond, the office secretary did.
"That's not a fair or kind comment, and I find it offensive," she said firmly. "That is not the way we should think or talk about others!"
The teacher was surprised by the reaction and clearly felt chastised, quickly issuing an apology. I'd like to think that the interaction changed the teacher's mind and heart, but I can't know that. What I do know is neither the secretary nor I ever heard the teacher make a similar comment again. I was very pleased with the secretary's response and told her so. Creating a milieu in which people feel comfortable confronting the biases and bigotry displayed by others is an important step in teaching how to embrace diversity.
There are five steps for teaching students the success skill of embracing diversity:
Too often educators don't pursue embracing diversity because they see it as beyond their scope, something that is static and not likely to change. In fact, understanding others—embracing diversity—is a success skill that can be developed.
Students of all ages should begin the process of embracing diversity by reflecting inward. They must learn to understand themselves, starting with their identity (race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religion) and progressing to the biases and perspectives that they and their families hold. This sort of reflection provides rich opportunities for students to interview their parents and grandparents, as well as to do some research on their family history. (Note: Biases is intentionally used here because we all have biases. Starting with that position and then identifying the biases and speculating on what may have caused them is much healthier and more productive than denying that they exist.)
As noted earlier, our evolutionary instinct has always been to focus on differences, so recognizing others is going beyond that, and also identifying what we have in common. In doing this, it is both fair and helpful for us to consider the contexts of others—their culture, background, and history as a step in appreciation. Of course, considering context doesn't mean validating behavior that is uncaring or cruel, but many of our differences are no better or worse—just that, different.
When we recognize others, we must consider the many aspects of diversity that we all possess. Race is a natural aspect of diversity for us to note because it is so visible, yet there are other aspects of diversity that are just as powerful, although not nearly as salient. The theory of multiple intelligences can be a good tool for helping children appreciate one aspect of the diversity of diversities that we all have. People learn and engage in tasks differently depending on their type of intelligence—a fact that resonates with students. We also need to be sure that students go beyond the superficial and realize that each person contains a diversity of diversities; we are all different in different ways.
Appreciating others can be difficult due to our tendency to judge everyone through a prism; it also requires time and empathy (see Chapter 2). To begin, we need to focus on the strengths of people who are different from us—those who look different than we do, those from different cultures, and those with different attitudes. Setting aside our contexts and biases, we need to seek to understand how these people are appreciated by the others around them. It is during this step that embracing becomes a reality. Hopefully students learn not only to understand and respect the differences among us but to appreciate and embrace them, too. After all, group outings, parties, and sports teams are more fun and more productive when the participants represent a diversity of diversities (true for adults too!). Bringing this reality to life in our schools, making it more than just something we read and talk about, is the best way to help children understand and appreciate the differences among us.
Like the steps for the similarly intrapersonal formative skill of empathy, those for embracing diversity require us to thoughtfully—with intent—interact with others. The final two steps in teaching for the embracing of diversity, planning and implementing, are designed to enable students to act upon the understanding and respect they have for one another—first in the classroom, then schoolwide, and finally in the greater community. We want students to see themselves as active participants in embracing diversity, people who have an opportunity—an obligation—to make the world better by how they understand and relate to others. Class discussions and projects can focus on this, individually and collectively, and then students get to work by implementing. Though this may sound like a tall order—and it is!—it's only natural that as students learn to embrace diversity themselves, they'll want to help others do the same. (For more information, consult the Southern Poverty Law Center's "Teaching Tolerance" website. Particularly helpful is their Anti-Bias Framework, a set of anchor standards and age-appropriate learning outcomes divided into four domains: identity, diversity, justice, and action).
Pursuing diversity isn't easy. As Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, stated: "Diversity is not just about the differences you like." Embracing diversity means getting out of our comfort zones and offering respect and appreciation for diversities that may run counter to our beliefs. For example, I have heard many times recently about people who were once unalterably opposed to GLBT rights doing a complete turnaround once a family member of theirs was coming out. While it is good that they changed their position, embracing diversity doesn't require that someone we care about belongs to a subjugated minority.
As we think about turning embracing diversity into a norm, we need to consider both the formal and informal curriculum. To some degree, if our students are going to learn and practice embracing diversity, this needs to be a planned part of formal lessons, classroom activities, and school experiences. Whether it's a lesson about the U.S. internment camps for those of Japanese ancestry during World War II or examining Westward Expansion from the perspective of Native Americans, we need to consider how aspects of diversity can be uncovered, included, and embraced in the classroom.
At the same time, we cannot overlook the informal curriculum—the ethos and attitudes found in a school. As I note in The Art of School Leadership:
The informal curriculum consists of the routines, the practices, the policies, and the cultures that guide our behavior; it is what we do. We may teach that the U.S. Constitution says that all men are created equal, but what do our actions say about how we value individuals who are gay or lesbian? We may say that the Holocaust was a terrible event, but does our school accept and support a range of religious beliefs, and is this respect evident when looking at events and holidays in the school calendar? We might say that we value human diversity, but what do the papers and work samples on the bulletin boards and walls say about which kinds of students and behaviors are esteemed? We may say that all individuals warrant respect, but are all the members of our staff treated with equal dignity? These kinds of examples represent the informal curriculum. Although it isn't written anywhere, the informal curriculum guides attitudes and behavior. The messages sent by the informal curriculum are very obvious, and regardless of their age, students are savvy at watching what we say and comparing it to what we do. (Hoerr 2005, p. 143)
It is certainly important to consider the informal curriculum for each of the Formative Five skills. We need to be aware of how everything we say and do reinforces our formal efforts to support and develop empathy, self-control, integrity, and grit. But because of the unique position of embracing diversity as an undervalued skill and because of our history and our biases, we need to be particularly vigilant to ensure that we aggressively support diversity with our words and actions.
Finally, while pursuing each of the Formative Five requires communication, inclusion, and informing students' parents and colleagues about what we are doing, it is even more important when working to embrace diversity. The sometimes tepid responses or even opposition that this success skill may elicit make it critical to explain, explain again, and explain once more why this skill is important for our students.
For all teachers:
For elementary teachers:
For middle and high school teachers:
As Gold (2016) says, "We naturally sort people and experiences into familiar categories that fit past experiences. Acknowledging this human tendency with students can open up a conversation about how stereotypes are used in society. Building on the idea of how power factors into stereotyping, students can see then how certain stereotypes have been used to harm or limit groups while others have had little effect or are even deemed positive."
For principals:
These discussions can be difficult, perhaps even painful, so the principals need to explain their value—"We are going to reflect on our identities so that we can work from there to help our students"—and ensure respect for all participants. Particularly when interactions can be hard, it's worthwhile to end the meeting with a positive focus by asking people to reflect for a minute on what they learned, and then share in a small group.
Please look me in the eye
Crossing streets define this Missouri city
You are not like the others
Chips on shoulders weigh a lot
Not white enough, not black enough
More information about the project, including samples of many adults' race cards and an opportunity to submit your own, is available here.
Picture books:
Chapter books:
Because this success skill may require additional focus, here are suggestions of books for and faculty discussion groups.