The International Schools Review Forum

fangpiren wrote:
> When does inclusivity become a political platform that should be avoided?
> For example, SEARCH sent out an email recently in support of BLM, which I
> also support. There are others however who are on the All Lives Matter side
> of the line, so its political now and best left out of the classroom. I
> would never, for instance, hand a BLM poster in my classroom and again I
> support their movement.

I don't think you can go wrong by supporting inclusivity.
I wouldn't mind offending fascists by supporting BLM, but I wouldn't advertise which political . I support because I DO mind offending those who support a different .. Saying that black lives matter shouldn't be an issue. You could then explain that you disapprove of the very small minority of protestors that riot, talk about racism, and about what led to George Floyd's death and what it means to be an African American in today's society. But the core message of BLM shouldn't be controversial.

PsyGuy wrote:

> @crypticblu
>
> Weve been here before though. The US had a war over this, diversity and
> equality won, yet here we stand, so many years later still fighting the
> cause and thats a very western cause, many cultures do not have an issue
> with segregation.
> Why is this still an elephant?

Diversity and equality did not win. People would not be in the streets if diversity and equality won. We would not be petitioning international education recruitment agencies such as Search Associates and ISS, the IB, and accreditation bodies to adopt anti-racist standards if diversity and equality won. So, yes, here we are still in pursuit of equity.

Unfortunately, what may have been considered a "very Western cause" decades or centuries ago is very much an international cause due to the infiltration of the "West", by choice or by force, into many cultures.

Why is this still an elephant? The students have done an excellent job of providing a comprehensive answer to this question in the context of their respective learning communities.

PsyGuy wrote:
> @Heliotrope
>
> Well 13.4% of the US population is black so is 1 in every 10 ITs at your IS
> black?
>
> I wouldnt make the claim that ITs are less racist, unless you mean that the
> all white faculty just claims they arent racist.

@PG - that only works if you are an American school trying to represent American ratios of racial heritage. At my school we have several different ethnicities, different skin colors, different passports - and many schools do. We look to hire the best candidate - not based on skin color. And no, to quote your quite offensive comment - it is not just tokenism.

The number of schools that take diversity, equity and inclusivity seriously are far fewer than those which do not. You need a local and global ombudsman, just like they do with environmental issues, to enforce these ideals.

@Heliotrope

You think that, that doesnt mean anything. You dont know that, your just guessing that your the least racist of a group thats racist and patting yourself on the back for it. There are people who think the Minneapolis police are doing a decent job.

You can go horribly wrong supporting diversity, try supporting the Uighurs openly in China and see how that goes.

@SJ

A lot of ISs including the top ISs in IE are American ISs.
That sounds like tokenism.

@fine dude

How would that work? Those environmental ombudsman work because the cultures and societies care about environmental issues. They dont care about diversity or inclusivity and they are very happy with colonialism. They dont share those values.

PsyGuy wrote:
> You think that, that doesnt mean anything. You dont know that, your just
> guessing that your the least racist of a group thats racist and patting
> yourself on the back for it. There are people who think the Minneapolis
> police are doing a decent job.

I'm happy that I'm part of a relatively diverse faculty, and it's not a stretch to see that as more than a coincidence.
I'm not guessing or saying that I'm the least racist of a group, and I'm not patting myself on the back. Not sure what gave you that idea.

@Heliotrope

We disagree.

Yes.