The Inclusion Impasse

In the final episode of Season 2, Kim shares a unique perspective on the escalating battle over diversity and inclusion education in public schools. Some Rockwood parents really don't want it. The district is committed to providing it. 

The truth is, the stakes couldn't be higher for the kids.

Listen in.

Transcript

Kim Bolourtchi: 0:00

This is Kim Bolourtchi and you're listening to Boldly Stated. Today I'm going to talk about the really nasty dispute happening between some parents and the Rockwood school district over its diversity curriculum. Now, this is a local issue, but it kind of represents a trend that's starting to happen throughout the country, where parents are attempting to stop schools from teaching about race, gender, and diversity. It all blew up recently, when parents were complaining and an email was leaked, that was written by someone handling curriculum at Rockwood that essentially explained to teachers how to hide their curriculum from parents. Now, apparently, this email was not authorized and didn't reflect the district's policy. But it made an already tense situation that much worse. So these parents organized an event to protest the diversity initiatives. And they gathered at a forum on Friday night, primarily maskless, I'll add room packed with people, white people, mostly, and the few minorities that did show up got booed when they tried to express a different view, as did a number of white people who tried to advocate for diversity curriculum. And I think one person even said, this is an echo chamber of white people that was not met well at all by the crowd. Listening to the quotes of the participants in this meeting, listening to the way this all unfolded, I'm struck by the fact that this literally is a textbook example of why diversity and inclusion curriculum is so critically important in our schools, why it must be taught. When these things heat up, there is always a us versus them. Let's look at this from the perspective of Okay, let's assume everybody wants the best for their kids. What does that look like? As someone who teaches at the college level, and who deals with people in the most vulnerable years of their life in some ways, as they're, they're starting to reach independence, I want to share with you what I see, and what I have learned in the hopes that you will gain some different perspective on why this education is so important. And if you're really opposed to it, right. If you're one of those people who was at that forum on Friday night, and you want to turn me off right now, I'm going to ask you give me five minutes, you can disagree with everything I say, you can cuss me out, I don't care. But just listen to a different perspective, you can disregard it, but just hear me out. So the first thing I keep hearing is that we want to focus on the students, right? Parents are saying, I just want to focus on the students at school, meaning we want to teach core curriculum, we don't want to be talking about this other stuff. So when you say this, you're talking about your own kid, you're not really thinking about the fact that the classroom is diverse. And there are other students in there who are not feeling included by that curriculum, right, you're only focusing on your kid. And so you might be thinking, Well, of course, because you know, my kid is the one I care about, but preventing them from learning about the world as it is. and teaching them not to care about each other does not help them, it actually broadens them as humans, to be able to have compassion and empathy and to see each other. And when I get students who are unable to interact with their peers at all, or to have a conversation, or to feel like they're really, really isolated, because they can't be part of the conversation that is happening, this isn't a good thing for them. And for those of you who want to limit what your kids are learning in a world that is so incredibly diverse, that is essentially what's going to happen. They they don't have the perspective to engage in conversation, and this hurts them tremendously. Now I keep hearing people say, you know, they can select to learn about diversity and race and gender and equity in college, if they choose to. I don't think you realize how far behind they will be at that point, if they don't learn about this, this world that we live in the person sitting next to them on either side, and they get to college and have to first start learning about people's perspectives. They've had 18 years of their life where they're missing opportunities to develop an understanding to develop a dialogue to learn how to hear different perspectives and to have meaningful conversations. The thing that is hardest for college students is you know, they're now independent, and they're trying to find their way and they're trying to connect, and if they're missing the tools to have conversations with people who aren't exactly like them. They're disadvantaged not only in in school, but in life. Why would you purposefully set out to deprive your kids have the ability to understand other people to connect with other people to show up in a way that allows them to feel immediately part Have an ongoing conversation, because the conversation is happening. So why not give them the tools to meaningfully contribute? There are a lot of people amongst us who don't feel seen who don't feel valued. And I guarantee if that was your kid, if your kid is the one who is left out, if your kid is the one who is feeling like, you know, they are not valued, you'd be the first one on the fucking phone. Now imagine if someone looked at you and said, your your experience is not real. And your child's experience is not real. And yet, this is not really relevant to me. And so I don't care about it. And I don't want to talk about it. And I actually don't want to hear about it. So go away, that response would be both hurtful and infuriating. This push to eliminate a diversity curriculum is no different. There are children who are not even being seen who don't feel safe in their own school who don't feel like their views, their existence is valued. And you don't care about that. Because it's not your kit, you don't have to acknowledge the reality of that experience, because it's not living in your home. But that doesn't make it less real, or less important. We have to care about each other. And that means being broad minded enough to listen to other people's experiences. You know, at this forum, they showed some footage of a woman getting up and saying, I have been judged for the way that I look my whole life and, and she was an Asian American woman. And there's a white woman sitting there shaking her head saying, No, you haven't. The arrogance, the sheer arrogance of someone trying to tell someone else what they have or have not experienced in their life is mind blowing. But putting that aside for a moment, I have to ask the question, what is so threatening about learning? Why are we so afraid to listen to someone else's perspective? or hear someone else's experience? What about it makes us feel so vulnerable? Is it because you lose control of the narrative? You lose control of the message itself? I don't know the answer. But I do you know, for sure. It benefits our children, when they can say, Well, my experience is really different than yours. That is how we develop empathy. It's how we create humans that can go out into the world with an awareness that they're not the only person that matters, the purpose of education to help us get to the ultimate goal, which is critical thinking, learning about differences does not divide us, it actually brings us together when we're willing to listen with an open heart and mind and try to understand where somebody is coming from pretending that things that have happened, that things that exist don't actually exist, or minimizing their impact or acting as if it's not a big deal. Well, that divides us because essentially, you're devaluing somebody's experience, fighting against a curriculum that increases the perspective of all students that helps them gain tools to have meaningful conversations as they move through life hurts students, it just does. Trying to prevent access to information that is taught through education, when it is reflecting what is existing in the world, it's just never a good idea. At the same time, this information needs to be shared in extremely careful and competent ways. The skills of the educators who are taking on these tough topics need to be honed, and districts need to be investing in training for their teachers, you cannot just say, hey, teach a diversity curriculum, here you go and throw it into the classroom, it's not going to work, I'll tell you right now, it's not going to work. You need to understand how to navigate and hold the feelings that are going to arise from having these discussions. And if parents are fighting at home and they're pushing back, and they're outraged by it, the kids are going to be caught in the middle. And that's not really fair to them either. We have to give them the chance to function in the world. And as a parent, I want nothing more for my children than for them to be amazing, compassionate, loving, empathetic humans. And the more they understand about other people's experiences as compared to their own, the more likely that is going to happen. I'll leave you with this last thought. As an educator, I am known for having tough conversations in my classrooms and in pushing students to challenge what they know what they think they know and to really listen to each other with an open mind and an attempt to understand where someone is coming from. We ask questions before we make assumptions. And I honestly believe that my students walk away, feeling more capable, more confident, more engaged, and more connected. I will continue to teach how to have tough conversations how to process new information, how to absorb what is happening in the world in the most compassionate way that I can. And it would be so cool if students could begin to have these conversations sooner if they were allowed the opportunity to explore different perspectives earlier in their lives. So if there is anything I can do to help with this issue with this topic, to bridge this gap, please reach out to me, You can reach me at Kim at boldly stated.com. This concludes the final episode of season two. And I want to thank you all so so much for being with me for your comments for your thoughtful responses for reaching out and most of all, for listening. We'll be back with season three in the fall. And in the meantime, I wish you an amazing summer filled with all good things. If you want to stay in touch and you're not on my mailing list, hop on over at boldlystated.com. I only mail when I have something important to say but I do have some really really exciting projects in the works. So if you want to be first to know about those, with the show on a break, that is definitely the best way to stay in the know. Take good care and thank you again for being here. This is Kim Bolourtchi and you've been listening to Boldly Stated.