There’s a funny line in this book, in the chapter titled Towards a Twenty First Century Definition of
Diversity. The author suggests that with ethnic and economic diversity, we
must also deal with a diversity of ideas. You’re going to have many opinions on
how to define the concept of diversity. Will it be ethnic? Religious? Social?
Racial perhaps? A table is included where you have diversity on social levels
and institutional levels, each one unique to the group. The difference is
simple; identity drives the formation of groups, while the institution sets
goals. Not surprising, when you look at how cliques form in an elementary
school. A group of kids who live within a few blocks of each other and go to
the same place of worship will likely exclude anyone who doesn’t. Athletic kids
who are on the school teams will probably stick together as well. The average
high school clique won’t set a goal of what it wants to accomplish.
Goal-oriented approaches appear to be a major part of Mr.
Williams’ thinking. He uses the analogy of the wolf versus the cheetah to show
why diversity efforts often fails. Cheetahs are small and light, and they rely
on surprise, acting alone. Wolves, on the other hand, are pack animals, and
they will spend days stalking their prey or tiring it out. Diversity plans do
not work, according to the author, if they rely on one-time actions. He uses
the 2005 protests at Harvard as an example of how college administrators must
learn from sudden conflicts, rather than simply addressing them when they
happen.
Gender diversity has been in the news lately, regarding the
lack of women in college science faculties. Some blame it on sexism, others
blame it on hostility from a mostly male industry, others blame the lack of
encouragement women may face in pursuing careers in science. Diversity is
discussed in this book not as a problem, but as an end result. The question is
not the need for diversity, but how the school intends to encourage it in the
long run.
No comments:
Post a Comment