Broken System, Part II: “Diversity Training”

by Guest Contributor CVT, originally published at Choptensils

In the first part of my “Broken System” series, I addressed the need for a landmark Supreme Court decision to be able to adequately affect the inequalities inherent in our public school system. In response, the inevitable debate began: what would actually fix these problems? A lot of great ideas have been suggested. However, at this point, many of the big changes proposed would be hard to push through, even with government backing, due to the mind-set of our general society. This post offers a possible solution to significantly alter our culture’s relationship to race, which could lead to positive change within our education system.

As a teacher and youth worker, I’ve been through my fair share of “diversity trainings.” And let’s just skip to the point and say that most of them are a big waste of time. They’re either too simple and obvious for people with any sort of awareness (or personal experience), or they’re too superficial to get anybody who really needs it to take it to heart. A couple hours of “diversity training” is never going to help a youth worker relate to kids of other races or backgrounds and/or get over their own sub-conscious (or conscious) biases.

The main problem, of course, is that these “trainings” come too late. Way too late. We wait until these folks are grown adults, with decades of experiences and ways of thinking behind them, and then we pretend that we can change their minds with some magical training. It doesn’t work like that. And we know that.

So how are we supposed to change race relations in our schools (and country)? How are we supposed to address volatile situations like the one in South Philadelphia High?

Well – what if we actually got over ourselves enough to talk to youth about it all? What if we directly addressed these issues? What if we taught our kids that talking about race isn’t a bad thing, that it can actually be helpful and positive? What then?

When I was in college, I remember we had a “Race, Culture, and Ethnicity” requirement. To graduate, we all had to have a certain amount of credits (I think amounting to a one-semester course) of classes pertaining to “Race, Culture, and Ethnicity.” The idea was a good one – but the practice wasn’t so hot. I believe “Cultural Anthropology” (i.e. “hey, look at all those ‘backwards’ brown people”) counted towards that requirement. Ironically, I actually argued myself out of having to fulfill it.

Again, though – the requirement was “too little, too late” to make any sort of real difference.

So my question is – what if there was a “Race, Culture, and Ethnicity” requirement throughout the U.S. public school system? What if, every year, as part of the mandatory Social Studies curriculum, all kids had to learn and talk about race? What if every kid in the States, by the age of 10 or so, actually knew the difference between “race” and “ethnicity”? What if kids were taught to have honest conversations about race – up-front and real – so they didn’t end up turning towards race-based affiliations based on ignorance? What if?

We live in a world where talking about race is assumed (by adults) to be painful and uncomfortable. Where a conversation about race or ethnicity or oppression is expected to be frustrating, and turn to anger and high emotion. Where both sides begin the conversation as opponents on the defensive, as opposed to participants in a dialogue.

Why?

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