Delving into diversity and just what it is....truly is mind-boggling. First there is the notion of diversity, then there is biocultural diversity, and linguistic diversity, and language diversity, and race diversity, and cultural diversity, and ethnic diversity, social diversity, and a host of other diversities that I just cannot keep tracking. I was getting a headache and thought how on earth am I supposed to get this into a working document? Just what are these philosophers doing? Don't they have anything else to do besides "think?" Oh, My Goodness!
Well, I finally determined in my simple little mind that I needed to just center this diversity question around the issue of race since I am going to be analyzing textbooks for their language of neutrality. As I was looking up several court cases related to race, I realized that race and diversity were used interchangeably and that the longer the document, the less I saw the term "race." You have to admit, it is hard to think about race and not get all 'skirmy in the tummy'...especially for our white friends. There are those few that you know work really hard to make life difficulty for the non KKK folks. But then there are those who really are invested in social justice but really don't know how to show that they are on the side of diversity.
So, as I continue to unpack the nuances of diversity, I am sure to discover the strands of language which are more palatable than the term "race." Yet, there is a constant snag the the neutral language or softer terms that disregard the legitimacy of race. It is in the form of data results reflecting a constant gap in student performance between white versus non-white students.
There are some beautiful pieces of the common core standard and assessments and professional learning communities but they truly need to include multicultural pedagogy with a focus on the shift in impact related to race. One thing I know primary social justice researchers are saying is that we don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water. This just means I have a lot of work to do to keep social justice on the agenda through my contribution of showing how social justice is still a side dish and not part of the main entree in this menu of education.
Oh well, just keeping you up to date. I had breakfast today, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and dessert, and lots of water. Did I tell you the story of a great teacher who was teaching German in his US History class? Yes, that will have to keep for another day.
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