Replying to LO26980 --
Genene,
One of the things to consider is the level of precision of language.
To give an example from your own message
You wrote,
> Appreciation of diversity is an interesting cultural phenomenon. We used
> to think that the United States would be a big "melting pot," but cultures
> in this country have managed to maintain some of their own traditions and
> values, and so now we have learned to "celebrate diversity."
My question,
Who is 'we'? It certainly isn't me.
And you wrote,
> When you look at diversity in this way, it is easy to see that it is what
> made this a great country.
My question,
What country? I myself live in the Netherlands,
It's a kind of language that suggests to me etno-centricity. If I were (and
I am in this discussion) a participant from another country I would feel excluded.
By the way, a whole other issue is the content of your statements. Do you
really believe that the US has learned to celebrate diversity? Or that the
US is a great country?
Another thing to consider.
You wrote,
> One of the things I would do to insure that diversity is respected in the
> classroom is to begin with a teambuilding exercise [...]
And,
> Exercises which require a variety of skills will also contribute to
> teambuilding by encouraging diverse inputs. (These exercises are designed
> so that one person alone would have difficulty or would not be able to
> complete them.)
I guess there are trainigs, courses where people come as an individual and
not necessarily as a team. How respectfull of diversity is it then to
'force' people into team behavior?
Greetings,
René
--René <renepost@wxs.nl>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.