Over the next few weeks I will be talking with you in great detail about a topic that I have been reflecting over myself. Cultural Proficiency is a mind-set, a worldview, a way a person or organization plans for and deals with diverse environments. I am increasing my awareness of the many different levels of diversity. This week my challenge to you is simple. Think about your knowledge level and experience level in working in diverse groups? Do we have diversity here at Antioch? What types of diversity do we have? Do you have diversity on your grade level or in your departments? Sonia Nieto stated, "Any student who emerges into our culturally diverse society speaking only one language and with a monocultural perspective on the world can legitimately be considered educationally ill-prepared." This is an eye opening statement to me. What are we doing to ensure our students are not only seeing the world from "our" perspective? One battle we face at Antioch is that of entitlement or privilege. Many of our students live in a world of privilege. It is our job to be role models that teach them about unearned, unconscious privilege. Randall Lindsey stated, " Once we acknowledge entitlement, we are better prepared to take a responsible role on the cultural proficiency continuum." It is this type of forward thinking we need to instill in our students. Even among this staff and this student body there is a great deal of diversity. It may not always be visible on the surface, but I will be showing you diversity is everywhere. If our students are going to be successful, they must be able to enter the diverse world with an understanding that we are not all the same. The ability to understand others and to see the world from different points of view is the key to success. This ability is essential for our students and for us. We can not teach something we do not understand and we can not pass something on to the next generation if we don't have it. Look deep into your experiences and ability to work with diversity. We will be focusing on these topics over the next few staff meetings as well as looking at the globalization issues we face as the world continues to flatten.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Are You Culturally Proficient?
Over the next few weeks I will be talking with you in great detail about a topic that I have been reflecting over myself. Cultural Proficiency is a mind-set, a worldview, a way a person or organization plans for and deals with diverse environments. I am increasing my awareness of the many different levels of diversity. This week my challenge to you is simple. Think about your knowledge level and experience level in working in diverse groups? Do we have diversity here at Antioch? What types of diversity do we have? Do you have diversity on your grade level or in your departments? Sonia Nieto stated, "Any student who emerges into our culturally diverse society speaking only one language and with a monocultural perspective on the world can legitimately be considered educationally ill-prepared." This is an eye opening statement to me. What are we doing to ensure our students are not only seeing the world from "our" perspective? One battle we face at Antioch is that of entitlement or privilege. Many of our students live in a world of privilege. It is our job to be role models that teach them about unearned, unconscious privilege. Randall Lindsey stated, " Once we acknowledge entitlement, we are better prepared to take a responsible role on the cultural proficiency continuum." It is this type of forward thinking we need to instill in our students. Even among this staff and this student body there is a great deal of diversity. It may not always be visible on the surface, but I will be showing you diversity is everywhere. If our students are going to be successful, they must be able to enter the diverse world with an understanding that we are not all the same. The ability to understand others and to see the world from different points of view is the key to success. This ability is essential for our students and for us. We can not teach something we do not understand and we can not pass something on to the next generation if we don't have it. Look deep into your experiences and ability to work with diversity. We will be focusing on these topics over the next few staff meetings as well as looking at the globalization issues we face as the world continues to flatten.
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