Diversity Training--Has it Backfired?

When my kids were in school, there was a new social program afoot called “pluralism.” In effect, it was the same wolf in sheep’s clothing called in the past by many other names: Cultural Studies; Cross-Cultural Studies; International Friendship Day, and so forth.

While the goals were admirable, namely the learning about other cultures to better understand and appreciate all peoples, from what I have seen, it has not worked.

Instead of getting people to see each other as humans first, all members of ONE race--the human race, it has actually served the opposite, by focusing on all the differences, and that has driven people further apart.

Sure, there are benefits of broadening peoples’ palates in appreciation of different foods, appreciation of natural beauty in other parts of the world, but in the end, the focus remains on differences.

For example, the Asians may celebrate a given holiday with this celebration and these items of clothing and that ritual; the Italians have different foods and dress; the Blacks have their own culture passed down through millennia; Mexicans have yet other traditions; the Whites are a mish-mash of whatever their individual heritages may be…and so on.

Seen through the perspective of time, these wildly mismatched sets of traditions, (to which each cling firmly), are exactly the root of the problem called racism. In countries such as the United States, often referred to as a “melting pot.” there seems to be a great deal of racist undercurrent. Despite the gains of the civil rights movement, and surface changes, many made by laws and not the will of those most prejudiced, there is still a problem, and I see that problem as the continued emphasis on all the differences between the races and their respective traditions.

Don’t get me wrong--racism flows both ways--it’s not only white against black, as is the common perception, but many other races against each other as well.

Were we to instead focus on the reality of our common humanity, I believe we’d see genuine change. Never mind the divisive traditions--look instead to the fact that we all are mammals; we all love, we all can be hurt; we all bleed red blood and share the same blood types; we all need food to eat, shelter to live, and a means to provide for our families. .

Instead of a melting pot, we have instead a collection of sub-societies, who tend to group together and live in areas with those like them. Hence, you have large metropolitan cities that have a “Chinatown,” a “black neighborhood,” an “Italian section,” and so forth. They all cling to what makes them different from each other, and this does not bode well for getting along with others.

I have a perfect example of how this happens. When I was in high school, there were numerous fights the first week of school--mostly among the boys. Why did this happen? Well, it was because numerous groups were thrown together when they did not want to be there. The school that year was brand new. My class was the first to go all the way through. The upperclassmen were pulled from other schools to satisfy the new school’s district. Those kids were unhappy that they were not going to graduate from their original school. In addition, within this school’s district was a heavily black area where poverty was common and this was not a good mix with the kids from the other side of the district where families were much better off.

In my journalism class was a boy who was present at the mandatory meeting called by the dean of boys. Many things were pointed out, and rules and expectations established at that meeting. But the point most important to the theme I am addressing is this summary of the underlying problem as reported in the school paper by my classmate.

When the dean took the stage, he said, "If I got up here and pointed out sections of this auditorium and said, 'all the Black kids sit over there; all the White kids sit there; and all the Hispanic kids sit there; all the Asian kids sit there,' you'd all be mad, right?" A chorus of "Yeah, yeah," "right" "F* yeah" and so on rose up. The dean paused, then said, "Well, look at yourselves--that's exactly how you ARE sitting!!

We are, therefore, not a ‘melting pot,’ but a simmering brew of volatile chemicals, which when mixed become explosive. We can change this by changing our expectations and our teaching. Stop the focus on ‘diversity,’ it serves only to divide.

Teach commonalities instead. Racism is learned, not inherent in our genetic structure. It is taught. We see young children of various races and mixed races playing happily together. It is not until the parents intervene and find some ridiculous excuse why the child should not socialize with “that kind” of person that the problems begin.

This is what must stop. And it stops with teaching commonality, not diversity.