Why Focus on Diversity?

At Old Trail School, we want our students to appreciate diversity.

By encouraging our students to learn about differences and to respect differences, we are acting on two of Old Trail’s core values: goodness and respect. We are also fostering “cultural competence” in our students and in our institution, which is the ability to be knowledgeable about and interact respectfully with the myriad people, practices, belief systems and traditions that exist in our increasingly global world.

People with a high degree of cultural competence operate effectively in a variety of settings because they have part of what has commonly been referred to as“emotional intelligence,” or the ability to truly understand the perspective of another. Institutions that are culturally competent are welcoming to all people – a goal we strive for daily at Old Trail.

How can we help students appreciate diversity?
We employ multiple strategies at Old Trail to teach about and foster respect for differences and strive to ensure our curriculum affords “air time” in the classroom to the study of underrepresented groups. We also promote diversity in our display cases and on our bulletin boards. Topics at assemblies and visiting speakers/performers also underscore this commitment to become educated about life’s rich variety.

Our faculty attempts to seize teachable moments and is aware there is a developmental cycle associated with the development of cultural competence. Young children must be taught to respect differences when they begin to become aware of differences. For instance, a very young child may ask why a classmate “looks different” from her or why a classmate engages in a practice that is foreign to her. The question represents cognitive curiosity. Very young children constantly attempt to fit what they know into existing categories or attempt to create new categories for information they learn. Developmental psychologists call this“assimilation or accommodation.”

How the adults answer these questions determines if cultural competence will be fostered or not. For example, if a young child asks why his classmate is worried about eating meat on a Friday, it can be a time to teach about the role that diet plays in various religious observances. Or, if a young child asks about why her friend’s mother “talks different,” it can be a time to teach about world languages and dialects.

After children develop an awareness of how they are like and different from others, as well as the ways people CAN be different, they need to learn to appreciate these differences. This is where the modeling provided by the adults in our community becomes so critical. At Old Trail, we showcase various cultural celebrations through visiting speakers and presentations to our students to engender respect for others. Students learn a lot about tolerance and authentic respect for difference by observing the verbal and nonverbal behavior of the adults around them. Adults who are enthusiastic about exploring different cultures have a potent influence on student behavior and attitudes.

How do we know it’s working?
We know we are successful when our students refrain from using insults based on perceived differences between them and a peer or group of people; when they refrain from ridiculing groups of underrepresented people; and when they are moved to actively promote, by example, an appreciation for the rich diversity in our world.

Our students will, from time to time, behave in ways that are insensitive to others. At these times, we employ conflict resolution techniques or have conversations with them to increase their empathic awareness. We may also ask students to evaluate whether the media is reinforcing prejudice and stereotypes (something we call media literacy). For  example, we want our students to ask themselves if a person with a mental illness should ever be humorously portrayed in a commercial or if a cartoon made in the 1950’s that is replete with racial stereotypes should be shown to young children.

Can teaching diversity reinforce stereotypes?
We ultimately want Old Trail students to appreciate that, everyone is unique and complex. While we teach about different groups of people and their cultural experience collectively, we also remind our students that even within groups of people there is great individuality and personal experience.

Our ultimate goal is to have students who can appreciate and welcome what is different from them, who can be knowledgeable about sub-cultural norms and histories, who can imagine what someone else’s world view might be and who can always excel enough at critical thinking to realize that any given individual is a unique, complex constellation of experiences and abilities.