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For Educators
School and other educational environments that reflect the rich diversity of the community, nation and world help to open students' minds and actively engage them in their learning. Research has shown that prejudice is countered when educational environments foster critical thinking, empathy development and positive self-esteem in students. Review a self-assessment checklist for some criteria for creating positive, anti-bias environments where respect for diversity is taught, modeled and experienced firsthand.
Talking with Students about Diversity and Bias
It is important for educators to consider how they can most effectively raise the complex issues of bias, hate, scapegoating and exclusion with their students.
It is important for educators to keep in mind that conversations about understanding and respect should not be limited to a commemorative event, themed month or other special programs, holidays or activities. Instead, those discussions should be a part of everyday business in the classroom. Creating inclusive, respectful classrooms is an ongoing effort and working for social justice is a life-long endeavor. (See Dos and Don’ts with Special Diversity Events.)
To prepare for successfully raising issues of identity, diversity and bias in the classroom, educators can try to use and incorporate the following practices as an integral part of their daily practice:
1. Self-Exploration
Examine personal cultural biases and assumptions. Explore personal perceptions and understanding of situations by developing an awareness of personal cultural "filters."
2. Comprehensive Integration
Integrate culturally diverse information, narratives and perspectives into all aspects of teaching. Consider moving beyond the constraints of a cultural history month by incorporating multiple perspectives into all aspects of the curriculum.
3. Time and Maturation
Allow time for a process to develop. Introduce less complex topics at first, and create time to establish trust. Begin discussions by developing classroom guidelines that allow for honest discussion within a respectful context. Recognize that the long history of mistrust between people in different groups may influence classroom discussions.
4. Accepting Environment
Establish an environment that allows for mistakes. Since most people have been unconsciously conditioned into prejudicial and stereotypical thinking, individuals may not be aware that certain attitudes are hurtful or harmful to others. Acknowledge that stereotypical and biased thinking will surface from time to time in others and ourselves. Educators can model non-defensive responses when they are told that something they said or did was offensive to someone.
5. Intervention
Be prepared to respond to intentional acts of bias. Students will carefully observe how educators intervene when someone is the target of discriminatory or bias-based behavior. Silence in the face of injustice conveys the message that prejudicial behavior is condoned or not worthy of attention. Make it clear to students and their families that name-calling and other harmful language will not be allowed in the classroom. Appropriate and timely intervention is critical in establishing a safe classroom environment where all students can learn and thrive.
6. Life-long Learning
Keep abreast of current anti-bias education issues and discuss them with students. Share relevant resources including articles, videos, blogs, etc. Educators can let students know that they consider themselves life-long learners and that they see themselves as part of the learning process.
7. Discovery Learning
Avoid lecturing students about how they should behave. Research indicates that exhortation is the least effective methodology for changing prejudiced attitudes; in fact, it often produces a result opposite from the desired effect. Provide opportunities for students to resolve conflicts, solve problems, work in diverse teams and think critically about information.
8. Life Experiences
Provide opportunities for students to share their life experiences and choose literature that will help students develop empathy. Make the classroom a place where students' experiences are not marginalized, trivialized or invalidated. Make it a space where lived experiences are accepted and acknowledged. Bias and discrimination have a unique impact on each individual. Students and their families develop a variety of coping strategies based upon the type and frequency of discrimination they have experienced. It is never fruitful to engage in a debate over who has suffered the most. Oppression is harmful to all people in all of its forms.
9. Resources Review
Review materials so that classroom displays and bulletin boards are inclusive of all people. Insure that supplemental books and videos do not reinforce existing societal stereotypes. When such examples in textbooks are observed, point them out to students and encourage students to think about them critically and to challenge them.
10. Home-School-Community Connection
Involve parents, other family members and other community members in the learning process. Understand that families and others in the community provide the context in which students are motivated to learn. It is important not to view the school and the home or school and the community as isolated from one another but rather to examine how they interconnect with each other and with the world.
11. Examine the Classroom Environment
What is present and absent in the school classroom provides young people with important information about who and what is important. Every effort should be made to create a setting that is rich in possibilities for exploring various aspects of the diversity of our community, society and world. Such an environment assists students in developing their ideas about themselves and others, creates the conditions under which children initiate conversations about differences and provides teachers with a setting for introducing activities about diversity. It also fosters children's positive self-concept and attitudes.
Educators should keep in mind that conversations about understanding and respect should not be limited to a commemorative event, or other special programs, holidays or activities but instead, should be a part of everyday business in the classroom.