Intent vs. Impact

A Wisconsin School’s Privilege Controversy Shows How “Diversity” Fails Us by Rachelle Hampton
Slate, March 14, 2018

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To highlight the limits of promoting “diversity” within schools, this article uses a recent news story about a decision by a public school district in rural Wisconsin to limit “discussions about social privilege.” The author then calls for a more robust, more expansive discussion of inclusivity and privilege to replace the restrictive, amorphous concept of “diversity.” Although the incident in question is unfolding in a public school, similar stories have emerged across the education landscape, and the activities that were criticized by the parents are common in independent schools. Hampton's analysis can help independent schools both better imagine their inclusivity and awareness efforts and strategize for parent push-back on “diversity” programming. In making their decision, the Wisconsin school district leaders referred to the need to be “prudent and mindful of the context in which we live and work;" this same context applies to independent schools, that, in the current moment, need to be better prepared to explain and defend programming around white privilege, classism, and social justice. Hampton's critique of "diversity" as a concept – that it allows us “to feel complacent with our good intentions rather than pushing us to actually work to correct real injustice in the world” – should also inspire independent school educators to continue working towards more robust, better-conceived inclusivity programming.