Well MA, that could be the million dollar question…without over simplifying, I would trust that people would not exclude or that would try to include as much as possible, rather than relying on the system to do it for you…again the words don’t really matter at the end, but how you act

I would argue that we are starting to see movements in social justice, education and general communication that do take both conditions into account: thinking/talking about deep issues and the variety of perspectives that surround them, and then taking action to ‘make them right’ within the context of what is best practices at addressing the identified issues. It is messy, and even ugly at times, but the conversations I hear going on are richer and more reflective of varying perspectives than any time I can recall in the last 50 years. Here’s a sample of what I’m thinking of:

Identity focused on individual’s perceptions of ‘self’ rather than a focus on gender, race, geographic origin

The biases and prejudices that have oppressed people of color in the US – particularly the Black Lives Matter movement and it’s

The endemic issue of sexual harassment

The significance of the status of women and girls and the stability of societies/economies.

Hi Brandon, I did not have any driving experience before I came to US because I only use public transportation or a bike. It is really dependent on how the society is built. Just like I heard a girl asking in class “why does anybody live in concrete built homes”? But in my country, actually, we do not use the wood as building structures as in the US. We use concrete brick and concrete more often. I am very open to the differences. Actually, I enjoy all the inspirations from these differences.

Hi Alex, I am currently on computational work as well. It does feel easier. For the more difficult topics, I agree that we need more practical guidelines and practice of control, leadership, communication, and maybe some counseling skills as well. At the same time, I believe it also helps that we as the educator has some level of flexibility and maybe more confidence by setting a very inclusive culture of not taking things personally. Even if we said something wrong/improper, we can make reflections, corrections, and explanations. Sometimes being authentic and trusting people might sound abstract, but people react much more inclusively to authenticity and trust. I once said something really wrong in a group activity. It sounded very wrong although it was just a language translation problem. But it was not taken badly at the end by the other. That gave me some relief to not to be too sensitive and vulnerable. Maybe being too sensitive could hurt people more, while being natural, authentic, open, relax, and flexible will change the culture in a soft way.

Thanks Carlos for the post! I like how you said about redifining the ideals of one whole made of people won differences rather than the terms INCLUSION or DIVERSITY! But, how would you apply diversity without talking about EXclusion?

I loved your post! But one thing brought my attention, when in the classroom, how would you promote inclusion with students from opposite cultural backgrounds? Cultures play an important role I. Interaction and in manners, that’s why my question! ?

Excellent idea, Bethany! And that’s fantastic that the introverts in your class responded to the open-ended questions. I’m going to have to keep that in mind as I work with teachers on developing effective communication techniques.

Forgive me for being in a hurry, but I want to type this before I lose track: first of all, I love everything about this post. Second – I wonder if thinking about the distinctions (and similarities) between heuristics and stereotypes might be important here?

LikeLike

wouldn’t it be great if students could provide informal feedback to instructors/professors on practices, such as the one Dianna described (irrelevant trivia polls) prior to the end of the semester? It seems to me that would go a very long way to fostering a community of inclusion and acceptance while engaged in the class. There isn’t much that can be done to improve the present relationship(s) if the only way to address the issues is after the fact.
It’s not like there aren’t ways to easily do this – especially at a large R-1 institution with a robust tech. communication infrastructure.