Fostering diversity is an ongoing process. We may not have control over who enrolls in our schools,but it is imperative that we make every effort to ensure all families feel welcome in our schools and cultivate a peaceful relationship with all peoples in the world.
Our school is not diverse racially, nor even socioeconomically. Our school is a charter school, so anyone in the state may attend, but if your parents don’t have a car or can’t pack you a lunch, attending our school is not really a choice.
Our school is 95 percent Caucasian, and most of the few children who are not Caucasian are biracial or adopted by white parents. We have three Muslim families (out of almost 300).
At our school, our primary areas of diversity are nurtured through our differing religions, diverse learning styles, and physical abilities. We learn and model respect when the child who we’ve had since he was three, at eleven develops Tourettes and starts hurling epithets loudly, uncontrollably, in a 9-12 studio of forty kids. He is horrified and embarrassed, which makes it worse, but we know and love and respect him, as do the parents of the other children in the room.
We value diversity in the child with Epidermolysis Bullosa, who always has a friend sitting beside her when we go outside, because if she falls on the mulch, she’ll tear her skin; in the child with Down’s Syndrome, who has friends help him open his lunch and wash his hands; in the child with Autism, whose peers know just the right way to calm him; and there are so many more examples. When all of these things happen without prompting, that’s respect and diversity.
On a different level, diversity comes from our respect for differences in races and cultures that we nurture in our lessons, stories, and going-out experiences, as well as in their daily exposure to a multitude of religious and non-religious families’ beliefs.
I see this kind of diversity and respect as fundamental to creating peace on our planet. Think about it: How much violence and war in the world is, at its core, spawned out of ignorance that manifests as religious intolerance and disrespect?
We have Christian and Catholic families; many kinds of Protestants including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, United Church of Christ, Church of Christ, Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Evangelicals; alongside Jews, Pagans, Atheists, Muslim, Buddhists, Wiccans, and Agnostics.
In an environment that appears largely uniform on the surface, a closer look reveals food and dietary differences, an array of holiday celebrations, people who don’t celebrate anything, children who don’t believe in wishing, children who are vegan, vegetarian, Kosher, and any of the hundreds of other considerations that come along with varying religious beliefs. I have a child who is an Atheist, who does not attend the birthday walk, but instead chooses—without coercion —to stay with his friend on the patio because she is a Jehovah’s Witness; he also forgoes the birthday cookie because his friend can’t eat it. That’s the kind of selflessness and multicultural respect we want to see in future generations.
You can’t completely control what kind of diversity you have in your school, of course, even if you market openly and welcome everyone, but modeling respect for others looks the same with all kinds of diversity.
When children learn and live respectfully in an environment that values our differences as humans, the mindset extends to all kinds of diversity.
Students LOVE learning about other cultures. Throughout the year, studios will have fairs like the Asia Fair, or Africa Fair, or one of my favorites, the Peace Maker’s Fair, where families and learners research together, dress, make food, have music and give presentations.
In the course of their research, learners come to see that there are, indeed, differences in what their families believe and the way children or individuals from other areas of the world or different religions believe. For example, in the Peace Maker’s Fair, a child who is a Mormon selected Martin Luther, and a child who is Christian presented Gandhi. Each child learned how these Peace Markers were different from them, yet so valuable to the world. In our end-of-the-year reflection, the children overwhelmingly chose the Peace Maker’s Fair as their favorite event.
Parents are invited. During these fairs, all the kids in the studio will be stationed with their materials and prepared information and share as the entire school walks through, has samples, and listens to presentations. I think the kids who present love everything just as much as the kids who visit. They understand the importance of presenting the information about the person or culture with great reverence and respect, just as they would like someone to represent them and their beliefs. Experiencing this kind of sincere respect is powerful and humbling.
While special events and activities are great, it’s truly the day-to-day work we all do that creates a genuine, lasting environment of respect and appreciation for diversity, and it is that same daily work that helps us see how much we are all actually the same.
Here is a link for books that teach about diversity. My all-time favorite is Mem Fox’s Whoever You Are, Where You Are. Link: http://familysponge.com/shop/childrens-picture-books-celebrate-diversity/.
Montessori Leadership / December 2013/ p 18
