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The
Rewards of Diversity
During an outdoor activity being held in our neighboring convent yard,
Sister Regina invited the kindergarten children into the convent to
make a visit to the chapel and to see the house where she lived. While
there, the children passed through the kitchen where an older African-American
woman was preparing the evening meal. Later that day, the principal
was greeted by a youngster telling her, "We saw your mother!"
The child did not notice the color of the woman’s skin. To the child,
an older woman cooking in the kitchen of your home would be your mother.
Children
are not born with biases. They learn them. It is important, therefore,
that the home and school environments provided for children are free
from any type of prejudice or bias and that the diversity that exists
in these environments is celebrated.
Diversity
in the School
Each year during
Catholic Schools Week, many parents are invited to visit their child’s
school and experience firsthand the spirit and environment that exists
there. Those who have taken advantage of this opportunity have probably
observed children of varying cultures and abilities interacting with
one another. This is wonderful. It is part of the rich heritage of
Catholic education. While this is the norm, it would be unrealistic
to presume that this spirit exists every hour of every day in every
Catholic school.
The
Church has always taught about the need for greater love and respect
for all, regardless of race, color, culture, creed or way of life.
Recent world events confirm the fact that the diversity that harmoniously
exists in Catholic school classrooms is often alien to the real world.
In their 1979 pastoral letter, Brothers and Sisters to Us, the
U.S. Bishops write that: "We have allowed conformity to social
pressures to replace compliance with social justice." (p.8)
Parents
as Role Models
Children imitate
the values that they observe at home. Parents need to make an attempt
to model for their children Christian principles of social justice.
Jesus calls us all to be peacemakers, to respect the dignity of others
and to uphold the sanctity of human life. First and foremost, parents
need to lead their children in prayer both for those who have been
hurt as a result of social injustices as well as for a change of heart
for those who have caused the injustices. This is done best through
the sacramental life of the Church which teaches us to value life
and to love and serve our brothers and sisters. These are the values
which the school encourages. How the children live them is influenced
most by what their parents model.
There
are scriptural resources parents may use. The Epistle to the Colossians
puts the Christian attitude toward diversity well:
"You
have put off your old nature with its practices.
You
have put on a new nature
which
is being renewed in knowledge
in
the image of its Creator.
In
that image there is no room for distinctions
between
Greek and Jew,
circumcised
and uncircumcised,
between
barbarian and Scythian,
slave
and free.
But
Christ is all, Christ is in all." (Col. 3.9-11; cf.
Gal. 3.27-28; 6.15).
This
country is a "melting pot" of culture and peoples. The challenge
for parents is to help their children realize their role in making
our country a real United States where "life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness" is a fact of life for all.
Sr.
Edward William Quinn, IHM, M.A.
Elementary Resource Teacher
Merit
Center
Cardinal Dougherty High School
Philadelphia, PA
TARGET
- TAKE CHARGE OF EDUCATION
Target,
the corporation that sponsors LINK, publishes a newsletter with helpful
tips for parents and educators. Two items from their latest newsletter
(November/December 2002) may be of interest. Start Something, the
youth program from Target and the Tiger Woods Foundation, encourages
children from 8-17 to develop a skill or take on a project that will
ultimately benefit others. The website presents success stories as
well as information about the program and typical questions (http://startsomething.target.com/info/successStories.asp).
The Target newsletter also notes that the National Gallery of Art
(Washington, D.C.) is making its collections available in a variety
of formats (videocassettes, slides, DVD, CD-ROMs). To see a catalogue
of available program titles, go to: http://www.nga.gov/education/ep-main.htm
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