The Responsibilities of European American Men in Independent Schools

I have come to the unsettling realization that much of the work being done in our schools concerning issues of diversity is being suggested, discussed and accomplished without the active, daily participation of "white" male faculty and administrators. Oftentimes workshops, seminars and conferences devoted to diversity, either for students or faculty unfortunately reveals that only a handful of "white" male teachers view diversity as a major priority of their responsibilities and as an important source of their professional rewards. We, "white" male teachers and administrators represent the dominant majority in Independent Schools, the group that still maintains the power in most schools and the sect that these schools were created to educate and to prepare. Yet, we have relinquished the responsibilities and rewards of making our schools more inclusive to those colleagues (usually women and folks of color) who represent change and progress but who, too often, do not possess the experiences, traditions and titles of Independent School culture and power.

Discourse and action promoting diversity in most Independent Schools is still being confined by the expectations, priorities and comfort levels of European-American men; whether it is the board of trustees, the Head of School, administrators or individual department chairs. In Independent Schools, it is still diversity by “white” rules. My fear is that while we, as "white" men, have recognized the necessity and advantage of rhetoric, we often lack the resolve and courage to address and to correct the inequities of race, religion, gender, class and sexual orientation in our schools’ curricula, hirings, admissions and cultures. By failing to actively pursue more inclusive policies and philosophies, some Independent Schools are satisfying themselves with a status quo of traditional prejudices and practices that are contrary to the stated goals and mission statements of our schools, and so we sentence all of our students, as well as ourselves, to an education that is narrow, privileged and false.

However there is some immediate action available to "white" men in Independent Schools and taking action can provide opportunity and hope for greater inclusion, diversity and growth for our schools. Here are some possibilities:

1. We need to become increasingly aware of the culture of our school and whom it includes and excludes.

Race, religion, gender, class and sexual orientation are social and political realities not merely biological or cultural differences; this is as true at Independent Schools as it is in the outside world. This reality is complicated in Independent Schools by the powerful effect of legacy and tradition that can continue the "white," male hierarchy of a school's past into its present. Most of us who are "white" men are comfortable with that culture that is represented in many of our schools by photographs, traditions, prizes and buildings named after distinguished alumni etc. since it is our own culture that is being revered and celebrated. Because of this, we often fail to question if the value of honoring the school’s past is worth the cost of its impact. I am not advocating a wholesale abandonment of schools’ traditions and legends but instead I am asking if the school culture that is presented and preserved in myriad ways at our schools is consistent with the rhetoric and intent of our present view books, catalogs, curricula, communities and mission statements.

The challenge is finding ways to preserve the traditions that benefit a school while we identify and change those that make the school appear exclusive regarding race, gender, religion, sexual orientation and class. Some traditions are difficult to change because they are both beneficial and troubling to the school. But if "white" male faculty members do not allow institutional racism or sexism or homophobia, whether it is explicit or implicit, to be raised for discussion by people of color or women or Gay and lesbian teachers then we contribute to the problem by our silence and by our ability to silence others. Likewise, reluctance to learn about Multiculturalism is a form of racism; it is not merely an admission of a lack of knowledge but a refusal to become engaged in another culture.

In my junior English class, while reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, we discuss the invisible racism at work in our nation, our school and in individuals who are well intentioned but oblivious to its presence and power. We examine Twain’s and Huck’s racism as well as the potential for racism in our school and in ourselves. To do this we walk the main corridor of the “schoolhouse” to really look at the photographs of the school’s past traditions and heroes, its faculty and alumni. Afterwards when we discuss what the students had seen, we are able to discuss the history of the school as an institution of and for "white" Christian men. It is no longer such an institution and yet there are messages, unspoken and undiscussed but powerful sent by those photographs.

Independent Schools must deal honestly and openly with matters of race, gender, religion and sexual orientation because even if these issues are not discussed they are still present in Independent School culture and can create through indifference and inaction a perpetual and palpable atmosphere of exclusion. The first step is to listen carefully to the “other” voices already within our schools. A second step is public support and encouragement of any efforts towards inclusion and diversity that occur within the school. Also, multiculturalism and diversity matters must be treated with the same investment of time and resources as curricula, capital campaigns and headmaster searches. Another important step, and one that could be difficult for some of us who have made the choice to be involved in the work for diversity, is to realize the limitations of our experiences as "white" men and to step aside and let colleagues and students of color or of different sexual orientation or a less represented religion lead the processes and programs of inclusion whenever it is more advantageous for the school community to be prodded and guided by them and not us. It is essential to show that we can be lead as well as that we can lead. Perhaps the most important commitment is one to anti-racist training for the entire faculty but if this faculty wide training does not occur, individual teachers must take it upon themselves to learn and to change. Finally, we must stay focused on our own individual schools and the experiences of people within our “communities” and not become overconfident or apathetic because of comparisons to other schools that, we may believe, are behind us in matters of diversity or multicultural learning.

It is essential that schools encourage, if not insist upon, faculty participation in conferences and institutes such as the one run each summer by Randolph Carter and NAIS. It is also imperative that any school that proclaims diversity a priority have within its administration a person charged with initiating, protecting and championing diversity and multicultural learning. This person must represent some form of racial, class, religious, sexual diversity him/herself and be given the access, budget and voice to constantly keep issues of diversity, on the radar screen of the faculty, the trustees, the parents and the students, despite the possible discomfort or hesitancy. These issues would apply to but not necessarily be limited to: admissions, hiring, the experiences of students and teachers and curriculum.

2. We need to become more involved in the admission processes and policies of our schools.

The admissions office of every Independent school must work to diversify its diversity and make sure that its school does not unconsciously feed stereotypes that exist in the minds of students, faculty and staff. Schools, whose populations of students of color or of Jewish students or of those coming from working class families are low, risk destructive and racist self-fulfilling prophecies about young men and women who are as deserving of the school’s best courses, highest expectations and personal attention from all faculty as any student in the institution. There is a moral responsibility of any Independent School to make sure that there is “diversity within the diversity.” If an admissions office only is interested in young African-American men who play sports or Asian-American students who excel at mathematics then dangerous and inaccurate stereotypes become the reality in that particular community. It is a small and quick step from stereotype to disenfranchisement and the school will bear the blame and the burden for the climate created and the trust forfeited. Likewise, as admissions officers, we have the responsibility to maintain a “critical mass” of diverse students. This is an issue of fairness especially for students of color, who should not have to be the “only one” in any of their classes and thereby feel the isolation of constantly representing their race as well as themselves. To accomplish balanced diversity, the number of students of color from grade to grade must be closely followed. It is not enough to have 25 % of one grade made up of students of color if other grades have 5% or less. Students who are Hispanic-American or on financial aid or Gay need to see a commitment to their experiences from the school as a community and to sense care from “white” men as individuals. Also, for "white" students, to learn practices and philosophies of tolerance and celebration of others, diversity is an essential practical step not merely a theoretical goal; these lessons cannot be taught or made part of the school’s moral fabric if “other” cultures and individuals do not exist in the school.

Periodically through the year, a vast majority of the Admissions offices of our schools will ask/require faculty to assist in interviews, open houses, feeder school contacts, and candidate follow-ups. Our schools depend upon this professional participation by teachers. Yet, issues that directly impact the school’s diversity, such as the desired percentage of students of color, visits to more diverse elementary or middle schools and financial aid amounts and distribution, can go undiscussed and so undisclosed throughout the school year. Too often the topics of financial aid or diversity in a student body are treated with expressed self-justifying platitudes that “We’re doing all that we can.” or “We’d like to do more if we had the resources.” and then the topics are allowed to sink beneath the surface of the school’s respectful climate and busy schedule.

"White" male faculty, especially those senior members of a faculty, possess the voice and hold the responsibility to ask public and private questions regarding the practical realities of the financial aid budget, the recruitment, interviewing and attrition of students of color, and the diversity of the admissions staff. Additionally, "white" male faculty on admission committees must become more aware of the diversity coming to our schools and of holding the admissions office accountable to the stated goals and philosophies of the institution. Discussing admissions is not merely a philosophical issue; it is a practical issue as well, since the demographics of America are rapidly changing. Independent Schools that are slow to make their schools more attractive and accessible to folks new to Independent Schools, who will be an increasingly larger group in “the pool,” risk being judged as antiquated, regressive or worse.

Admissions offers every Independent School the opportunity of “continuous reinvention” and the vitality of an Independent school five, ten or twenty-five years from now depends upon attention paid to diversity now. While this is, of course, chiefly the duty of an admissions director, her/his focus on diversity can be supported or sharpened by "white" male teachers who still make up a large portion of the titled and untitled power within many Independent Schools. We should become more involved in diversity by asking questions and receiving answers of admissions officers, heads of school and trustees and so focus attention upon the cultural and intellectual diversity that will make a school truly vibrant and healthy, now and later.

3. We need to become visible forces of support for students of color.

For all of those students who enter an Independent School, the most daunting challenges are faced by students of color and many of the obstacles and frustrations they face are placed upon them because of the culture of Independent Schools. The “expert burden” of speaking for an entire race, the supposition that you are on financial aid, the isolation of always being in the minority in your classes, the scrutiny of others when you seek out others of your race and culture (“Why do all the Black kids have to sit together at lunch?), and other such issues present a daily accumulated pressure that "white" students in Independent Schools (and usually in life) have never experienced.

Students of color can feel left out of a school's curriculum, society and ethos and so feel different from the school identity. We must remember that, whereas "white" students oftentimes find an extension of their race, culture and, sometimes, their own family in Independent Schools, all students of color give up something by coming to Independent Schools whether it be language, neighborhood or family. I wrote the preceding sentence long before I read the following excerpt from a senior’s college application essay: “As an African-American, I have struggled and lost many things, like the knowledge of the native languages of my mother and the knowledge of my African history, in my attempt to fit into the Eurocentric definition of an American.”

Dances, proms, academics, discipline, college placement, school trips, athletics, etc. can all affect the lives of students of color in a way that makes them feel disconnected from the community that is supposedly as much theirs as anybody else’s. They can feel peripheral because the culture and ethos of their school unconsciously but consistently separate them from everyone else. Ironically, they are simultaneously being told, implicitly and explicitly, to learn from and to appreciate the Independent School experience that they are “fortunate” to receive. If schools are not sensitive to this difference of experience then students of color will continue to feel uncomfortable and will resist a complete involvement in the academic, athletic and social pieces of a school and the fault will lie with the schools not the students.

The first essential step in a process to improve the experience for our students of color is to alleviate the unfair expectation that it is somehow the expected, assigned or natural responsibility of faculty of color alone to assist, to advise, to care for and to “hang” with students of color who attend our schools. The unspoken but learned message for these students could be that they are only valued by folks like them and that their histories, heroes, traditions and lives are, to use Ralph Ellison’s word, “invisible” to those "white" men who teach them. Organizations run by and for students of color are crucial. One effective and symbolic means to insure the health and status of these groups within the larger community is for "white" male faculty to ask about or, better, to attend some of the student group’s meetings. It is important for students of color to see “white” men within their community actively listening to their experiences and opinions. We also must assist students in creating dances and other institutional events where the minority-majority poles are reversed for a time and when the school feels it is as much theirs as anybody else’s. At some schools, student diversity groups are met with distrust from their peers and defensiveness from the faculty; established and respected "white" male teachers can help to improve this situation with their displayed interest and public involvement in the lives of students of color.

We need to be, at least, sympathetic, and, if possible, empathetic, to the frustrations, concerns and triumphs that are unique to students of color in an environment that is almost always "white," upper class and suburban. Teachers must begin to" unpack" the diversity within a school’s diversity by becoming aware of the different cultures that are lumped together under ethnic headings: “Black” or “Asian.” The experience of a Korean student is not that of a Vietnamese student for countless reasons, likewise, a “black” student, whose family can trace their heritage back into the abyss of Slavery, is not the same as the student whose family emigrated from Jamaica a generation ago. (Malcolm Gladwell’s article, “Black Like Them,” in the “Black in America” issue of The New Yorker is an interesting examination of the differences in being a “black” American.) It is important for me to ask kids about their cultures and religions in a genuine way that will create a relationship with the student inside and outside of the classroom. It is essential for us to learn the proper pronunciation and spelling of students’ names that are non-European and too often devalued by inaccurate spelling and pronunciation. In classes, we must avoid creating the “expert burden” for a student that will contribute to stereotypes that other students and teachers may harbor. Slavery and Relocation Camps should not be treated as issues only important to African-Americans and Japanese-Americans; there are more "whites” on welfare than any other racial group; AIDS is a threat to all sexually active people not only those who are Gay or Haitian.

Becoming involved with students of color may mean coming to grips with our own prejudicial expectations about their involvement and performances in academics, athletics and the extracurricular life of the school. We need to be honest, without being defensive, about the influence that learned stereotypes have upon us and the possible change in our comfort level when teaching, advising and disciplining students of color. As administrators and faculty, we, as "white" men, need to be more aware of how issues of race impact admissions, schedule, assemblies, dances etc. and how to support students of color for whom the “fit” is not automatic. Clearly, it is not these students’ responsibility to adapt to us, but our responsibility to welcome them and to care for them.

4. We must act as mentors to young teachers different from ourselves.

It is possible that the number of teachers who are lesbian or Muslim or Asian-American, choosing to stay in Independent Schools for their careers could decline; I am sure we all know immensely talented young teachers who are in the process of leaving our schools for other professions. There are many opportunities for these talented young men and women in other professions that do not carry with them traditions that are as exclusive; likewise, other occupations are more diverse in terms of the people that they attract and employ. It is important for our schools to be honest and to realize that the institutional climate that acts as an attraction for "white" students and faculty could be a distraction if not a drawback in the attraction and retention of folks of color that any school would want on their faculties and in their classes. The loss of teachers of color would have devastating ramifications for our schools if we intend to pursue diversity and inclusion as a philosophical goal and as a practical necessity in hiring and in admissions. True diversity is impossible if folks of color are not in a school’s faculty and administration.

Independent Schools remain easier places to assimilate into for the young "white" prep-educated male hockey player and, while we want this teacher to feel supported, it is more important for the experience of an African-American woman to be positive if this will influence her to choose a career teaching in one of our schools. Those of us who are "white" prep-educated men move comfortably within the world of Independent Schools and with those who may be younger versions of ourselves. This instinctive pull towards “white” alumni/ae of prep schools who wish to pursue teaching at the secondary level not only influences decisions made during the hiring process but also might affect our personal comfort level when working with younger faculty whose experiences due to race and culture will be much like our own. As administrators for and colleagues of young men and women of color, different sexual orientation and different religious backgrounds, we must recognize and prepare for the different experience that they will face teaching in private schools, even if these candidates are “prep-educated.” If you are a teacher of color or if you are Gay or lesbian in an Independent school , you are constantly reminded of your status as the “other.” The experience for these folks may be replete with isolation, stereotyped expectations and unintended but nonetheless harmful racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia that can make them uncomfortable with our schools, even as we use words like: “Family” or “Community.” In fact these “values” can become valueless if they only apply to those on the faculty who are represent the traditional “white” male teacher or those who are alumni/ae.

It is essential for "white" male faculty and administrators to be aware of this different experience and to strive to create comfort for young teachers who by virtue of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation are different from us. To pretend that their experience will be the same as a "white" teacher is naive certainly, but more importantly, such an assumption is unfair to the individual teacher and to the pursuit of true diversity. In a specific context, the blame for a “revolving door” of teachers of color who choose not to pursue administration nor to become “Master teachers” in our schools lies squarely with those "white" men (and women) who fulfill and occupy those “upper level” positions currently. We have a responsibility to dismantle the exclusion at our schools because we have been the chief beneficiaries of it.

The benefits to our schools and to ourselves from mentoring the younger faculty member who is Gay or Latino or Muslim are varied and profound as we learn how to make our schools better places of education for all students as well as for the faculty. A person, for whom the racial, religious, heterosexual climate of our schools is new or uncomfortable, will have an awareness of the “feel” of a private school that we will never be able to understand or speculate upon. As Walter Mosley says in his novel, RL’s Dream: “...nobody knows ‘white’ people better than blacks. A black man knows the "white" man inside out.” Not to seek out and to listen to a new and different perspective is an injustice to a school, its students and to ourselves. If the culture of the school and how it impacts people of color, Jews, Gays and lesbians and people who were not born or raised into wealth is known, then "white" male faculty can help to dismantle the factors that may contribute to exclusion and to promote those that create real inclusion.

5. We should become aware of the impact of curriculum in our disciplines.

Distribution of power within a school’s curriculum needs to be examined and if necessary, corrected. "White" male faculty should also examine the misperception that certain subjects (Science, Mathematics) are somehow racially neutral or “raceless.” They are neither. If a science class only covers the discoveries and theories of ancient Greeks, Renaissance Europeans and "white" Americans then a strong yet incomplete message about the origins of and care taking of scientific truths is being sent to students and to colleagues. Before we deem a course “raceless,” we need to consider if it would appear so to everyone or only to those who are represented within its curriculum. It is also crucial to include texts that represent various viewpoints and to insure that these texts are given equal weight in the structure of the course; they cannot be included on a book list only to be dropped at the frenetic conclusion of a semester. To do so is a damaging assessment of value that sends a message more powerful than the initial intent to read a non-canonical text.

If a teacher teaching a Latin American Literature class departs, the school must provide time and incentive to another teacher so that the class survives. If the school fails to do so, this omission sends a clear message to students and faculty alike regarding the value of such a class. Likewise, if a class on Latin American Literature is preserved or created that also sends a message throughout the community. Once when visiting another Independent School, I was told of an English department’s attempts to diversify the senior English electives that were being offered and they had achieved a rough balance of classes between those that were “Canonical” and those that were “Multicultural.” However, the arrangement of these classes undid whatever gains had been made since the fall electives, when the college process sharpens the students’ drive and, perhaps, their interest, all revolved around Shakespeare while the more inclusive electives were left to senior spring, when a process of winding down if not of “senior slide” can often occur. Unfortunately, an unmistakable message had been sent regarding the worth of these various courses and their respective titles and authors. This interest in achieving a balance within our teaching discipline should not be the sole responsibility of the department chair. As "white" male faculty, many of us have come to accept the validity of certain authors and texts without regularly examining whether these achieve a balance of culture, race, gender and sexual orientation, let alone, if they carry relevance to twentieth century American adolescents.

Too often due to time or schedule, we fall back upon those texts that we were taught, the ones that are most familiar to us. Two years ago, our English department began discussions about summer reading and in our desire to “get the list out to the kids,” we selected a "white" author for the required text of each grade level. Fortunately, this was noticed and discussed and changes were made; Alan Paton was out and Henry Louis Gates was in. It is important to state that this decision is not an example of the unfair “P.C.” practices of Multiculturalism. No judgment was made concerning the quality of Too Late The Phalarope vs. Colored People; both are excellent works that deal with important issues of race. Instead, the change was an attempt to restore a symmetry of authors that we try to adhere to during the school year and one that is important to the department. The unfair reaction would have been to notice that the required summer reading list, that is symbolic of the English department and of the school itself, was comprised exclusively of "white" authors and then to do nothing.

We must realize that our identification of cultures as “other” or “Third World” reaffirms a perception that Western or "white" or Christian or male is the “normal” or, worse, the “better.” Study of the dominant culture must include adequate examination of its acquisition of power and its benefit of privilege as well as the justification and explanation of battles won and peoples conquered. This may require us as European-Americans to take ownership of the negatives as well as the positives inherent to being a member of the dominant group. "White" students may consciously or unconsciously deny or pass over their ethnicity because it has become so embedded in the overall American culture. Ironically, they may feel “culture less” but their culture is also continually celebrated. This paradox can contribute to racism because, for them, America has come to mean “white,” Christian and heterosexual and any characteristic that deviates from these is somehow, un-American; even if this unexpected or unwanted trait lies within the students themselves. Therefore, it is a necessary challenge of the "white" teacher, especially, to examine his/her own privilege and prejudices with students and by doing so model genuine self-exploration of racial and cultural identity. This can happen by reading and respecting voices that can teach us about our own prejudicial approaches to our discipline.

If we as classroom teachers examine ourselves, any inherent and unintended racism in our courses can be brought out and shifts and changes can be made. An example: When I read Toni Morrison’s wonderful treatise, Playing in the Dark, Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, I come across the following passage that reveals an aspect of my own racism when I read literature. Morrison is discussing Hemingway’s To Have and To Have Not.

“In part one, at a crucial moment during the fishing expedition, which has disappointed both the captain and his customer, the boat moves into promising waters. Harry is coaching Johnson; the black man is at the wheel. Earlier Harry assured us that the black man does nothing aside from cutting bait but read and sleep. But Hemingway realizes that Harry cannot be in two critical places at the same time, instructing the incompetent Johnson and guiding the vessel. It is important to remember that there is another person aboard, an alcoholic named Eddy, who is too unreliable to be given the responsibility of steering but who is given manhood and speech and a physical description. Eddy is "white" and we know he is because nobody says so.”

Although Morrison’s discussion of Hemingway’s novel seeks to show the lack of development and dependence upon stereotypes in his creation of this black character, the final sentence about the assumed race of Eddy caught me unawares and taught me about my own unconscious racial prejudices. When I am introduced in a work of literature to a character whom, if not identified as “the other” somehow, (“a Jew,” ”the nigger,” or other some other racial, ethnic identification) I automatically assume him/her to be "white.” While this assumed "white" character identity has been apparent in Western Literature since Homer, if not before, this need to identify characters as “non-white" and so implicitly inferior is especially evident in American Literature since American writers from Hawthorne to Hemingway have depicted America as, if nothing else, "white." To realize the racial, religious, class and sexual prejudices within myself is not necessarily comforting but it can only help my teaching of American Literature. I now know that discussions of Morrison’s ideas in Playing in the Dark, or of James Baldwin’s passion in The Fire Next Time or of August Wilson’s introduction to Fences are essential to a complete examination of American culture as reflected in its writing and in its authors.

This year, our department instituted a required semester of American Literature for every junior. Required American history and literature classes in our schools continue to be dominated by the stories and experiences of "white" men even though “we” were not here first or alone and not everyone “came” here; some were here already, while others were brought. These omissions regarding the contributions and tribulations of African-American, Native-American, Latino-American and Asian-American cultures contribute to a Eurocentrist (racist) view of America’s factual and fictional stories. For me as an English teacher, a discussion of the “American” preoccupation with explaining and controlling the Nature of this continent is greatly enhanced by close reading and discussion of Louise Erdrich’s Tracks, Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima or N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn. Whether it is in the lakes and forests of Minnesota or the llano of the Southwest, these authors provide a presentation of the spiritual power and healing forces within America’s natural world far different from that view of "white" authors who often see Nature’s valuable gifts and considerable threats coming from a supernatural power that usually bears a striking resemblance to the Christian God that taught the Puritans about the “Wilderness.” Interestingly, the rejuvenation of the individual through contact with Nature that is often temporary and untenable to the characters of Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, Hemingway etc. is not only possible but graspable to American Indian characters and their authors whose cultures accept and covet a close relationship with Nature as a necessity towards self-knowledge and community. There were several in depth discussions about the texts that each of us thought should be taught in a survey of American literature and also what options teachers should have for their own presentation of American literature.

Here is the list of major texts that I will cover in my class:

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

“Nature” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Narrative of Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

Beloved - Toni Morrison

Tracks – Louise Erdrich

Angels in America - Tony Kushner

Is this a perfect list? No, and for some teachers (including myself) the inclusion of Huck Finn is problematic, but it is an attempt to include into the evolving canon of American literature, experiences and voices often left out.

6. Final comments: What can I do? “All diversity is local” and Diversity = Academic excellence.

I wrote this, not only as a means to share some ideas, but also as a way of reminding myself of my personal and professional duties as an English teacher who assists the Admissions office. Periodically, I must do so or I risk slipping into the safe comfortable climate of the Independent School norms, curricula and traditions that constantly reaffirm my sense of belonging while they insistently and insidiously question the presence of others. To borrow Toni Morrison’s metaphor, I can never forget the histories and prejudices that have created and maintained the invisible dimensions of the Independent School "fishbowl" that holds the water I swim in. I need to remember that my experience is not every teacher’s or student’s experience and that until there is equity and equality in the private school experience, there can be no indifference or ignorance in how I and other "white" men perceive and approach our students, our schools and ourselves.

So what do I need to do to be effective in this work to make our schools more diverse? I must begin at Nobles; it would be meaningless if I came to NAIS to give my opinion and then return to Nobles to be satisfied with the progress that we have made and to think that all has been done or that it is somehow good enough because the experiences for women, gays and lesbians, students and faculty of color are improved from what they were five, ten or twenty-five years ago.

In the last ten years Nobles has become an extremely popular school due in great part to its academic reputation. In the same ten years, there has been a push led by many folks, who were there long before I came, to make the school more diverse and, while the steps made have not always been orderly or comfortable, the school’s faculty and student body is far more diverse and its curriculum more multicultural than they once were. Yet the two topics, improved academics and greater diversity are rarely linked together at Nobles and, I am sure, at other Independent Schools.

In the class of 1997, Nobles graduated an excellent class and the college acceptances affirmed what we, as their teachers, already knew to be true. The prizes given at graduation are interesting to look at as examples of the connection between academic excellence and attention to diversity.

• 35 seniors received prizes in addition to their diplomas.

19 are young women.

7 are of non-European ancestry.

3 are legacy students and their awards were related to athletics.

• 15 seniors received awards in the various academic and artistic disciplines.

11 are young women:

3 are of non-European ancestry.

• The Nobles Class of ‘97 had 22 members who graduated Cum Laude.

19 of the 22 are young women.

•The Wiggins prize for Writing awarded to juniors.

There were 3 winners, 2 are young women and one of these young women is African-American.

• The Little prize for Writing goes to Seniors and there was one winner.

This student also won The Wiswell prize as the

best English scholar in the graduating class and The Greenough Prize for Excellence in Mathematics. She is Jewish.

• 6 students won prizes for the highest academic average in each grade.

4 were young women; the two young men were Jewish.

• 6 students won prizes for improvement in each grade.

3 were young men and 3 were young women.

2 were students of color; 2 were legacy students.

The connection of academic excellence in our schools and an increased awareness and pursuit of racial, religious, gender, class diversity is too often not made and it is essential that we are ever mindful of the connection. Moreover, attention to diversity in student and faculty bodies or work towards multicultural-canonical balance in curriculum is often seen as a possible weakening of a school’s academic reputation and stereotypical expectations based upon race or gender or class are used as brakes to slow diversity. The realities of Independent Schools demand that attention be paid to legacy and sibling candidates in admissions, real development concerns, the need to study literature with some retrospection and I accept all of them. However, at Nobles and many schools, increased diversity and a more multicultural curriculum are directly responsible for infusing the school culture and population with the ingredients that have improved the school. Ultimately, I come to this conclusion: it is the inclusion of students, teachers and texts that were excluded five, ten or twenty-five years ago that have raised the intellectual vibrancy, college acceptances, admissions inquiries and overall reputation of Nobles.

These observations and contentions are not entirely original and it would be wrong for me to take credit for them; instead they represent the collected wisdom of many colleagues and students who have influenced and broadened my understanding of Independent Schools and the need for deliberate steps that create and strengthen inclusion. Specifically, I want to thank Mr. Lewis Bryant who took the time to read this piece and to discuss it with me and whose seminar at an AISNE/Channels conference regarding teachers’ relationships with students of color provided much of the information and insight for that section of this essay. I thank Randy Dottin and Mike Lajoie for their friendship and the many lessons that I learned from them. I also thank Mr. Randolph Carter, Ms. Zina Jacque, Mr. Robert Williams, Ms. Betty Ann Workman, Mr. John Peterman, Ms. Maxine Carpenter and a host of others that I have met in two trips to the NAIS Diversity Summer Institute.

Alden Mauck – 1998

alden_mauck@nobles.edu