Every few months, University School seeks to remind the student body about the diverse cultures, people, and ideas that characterize the real world. Earlier this year, for example, the school invited Mr. Michael Hingson, a blind survivor of 9/11, to discuss the importance of maintaining an open-minded perspective alongside his dog. On January 24th, students were given another insightful experience on diversity in smaller classroom settings.
For the past several years, the administration has organized special “Diversity Days,” during which various speakers address the student body during assembly. Last year, for example, the school invited Dancing on Wheels, a group of wheelchair dancers, to illustrate the identities shared by individuals with physical disabilities. The administration organizes these unique Diversity Days to teach students about the broad spectrum of perspectives found in the world. These Diversity Days serve to remind students that there is a greater world around them that is very complex.
Recently, students experienced an atypical Diversity Day program. Instead of inviting a guest speaker, the administration asked the faculty to create and lead educational programs for small groups of students to attend. This idea has been reasonably well received by the student body. Freshman Farris Humzah explained that he initially didn’t know what to expect out of it, but he enjoyed the experience after it was over. Freshman Sai Karnati remarked, “I liked this a lot more than the previous diversity day. I enjoyed that we were allowed to pick what speech we wanted to listen too. I went to Mr. Paik’s speech about the Blue Eyes vs Green Eyes Video, and this was a lot of fun.” Mr. Paik’s program illustrated how easily children turned on each other when they were allowed to segregate another part of the class.
While only a small handful of students were able to attend Mr. Paik’s session, all students nonetheless got the opportunity to learn alongside peers from all four grades about a specific topic related to diversity, ranging from the preservation of indigenous languages to the integration of sexes in coeducational schools.
