Diversity at LCHS

Sarah and I came up with a few Essential Questions concerning diversity. Here they are:

1. How do you make sure all diverse groups are represented and respected in your classroom?

2. How can you embrace and learn about another culture without disrespecting or misrepresenting it?

3. Can we expect our students of differing cultures to want to talk about their lives?

4. Is it okay to criticize/be critical of other cultures? Or does that inherently disrespect them?

5. What is disrespect in regards to diversity?


I feel like as we formed these questions, we continued to narrow our focus with each one. Question one cannot be answered without first answering question two. Questions two is dependent on question five.
I believe I must first start here: What IS disrespect?

Disrespect is sometimes easy to point out. Segregation, blatant racism, harmful remarks, or stereotypical epithets are all obvious forms of disrespect. These are all clearly unfair, uncool, and just wrong. However, it is the more subtle disrespect that we must draw our attention to. Maybe disrespect comes from what a teacher is NOT doing more often in the schoolroom than it does from what the teacher or students are doing.

I observed neglectful disrespect this week (what may also be considered a missed opportunity) when my co-op was explaining to a student that she should look up the Spanish translation of a sentence on her device. Anna, a struggling, disconnected student three rows over is from Spain and has spoken Spanish for her entire life. Anna is often neglected and under-represented. My co-op doesn't look for opportunities to use the skills that Anna does have; she frequently makes assignments easier for her and places her in groups with more than one other student when the class is asked to pair up. Anna's learning of ESL is seen as a handicap, while her special skills of her first language are ignored. Anna is consistently reminded that my Co-op's class is an English Only zone. This is disrespect.

I plan to look for more forms of what I will currently label "subtle" disrespect as my placement continues. Although this form of disrespect is not blatantly hateful or intentional,  I get the feeling that these "disrespectful subtleties" are much more damaging than they may seem.

-Tyler