After almost a month-long hiatus due to end of school year stuff (grading, exams, papers…) and family issues, ready to resume my blog.
Initially, I raised the question, “What background, qualifications, and experiences prepare us to speak with authority on this difficult and complex subject? Unfortunately, there are many who people refer to as experts or authorities on diversity but don’t have a clue.
Last time, I discussed part II of speaking with authority on diversity – the role of education. This blog focuses on life experiences. If you were looking for someone with relevant and salient life experiences, what would they be? Let me suggest a few:
Life experiences that are:
1. of long duration
2. intense
3. characterized by minimal social distance with “others”
4. built on equal-status relationships
A life experience that lasts for years, rather than hours and days, tends to be more life-changing. If you are a sister to a brother with a disability and that brother is a big part of your life, that experience is likely to change you and your thinking much more than if you volunteer for Special Olympics each year. This is why I am a bit “put off” by diversity training that essentially puts you in somebody else’s shoes for a short period of time, with little follow-up and reinforcement.
Intensity cannot be manufactured, and it comes in all forms. At times, the intensity of a single experience can only be appreciated if we put it in a larger context. According to some of my students, not a day goes by when they don’t think about race, gender, language, or simply being an outsider. The cumulative psychological, physical, and social toll of that 24/7 experience is intense, and certainly life changing.
One corporation asks its CEO’s to join an organization in which they are a “minority.” While this might be worthwhile, how much social and emotional distance separates the CEO from others in this group? Is the CEO able to get “up close and personal” for an extended period of time? If not, the value of this experience is limited I think.
And lastly, are the life experiences in question built on hierarchal or equal-status relationships? I can learn so much more from others, and be transformed by them, when I relate to them as equals. I think of my own experiences with students, community members, and employees. When we throw away the titles and the labels, there is so much more room for personal growth.
What are your thoughts?