The Challenge of Courageous Conversations - Mix It Up!!

"Broken homes" are now "dysfunctional families", "failure" is now "deferred success", "garbage men" are "sanitation engineers", I don't know what to call someone who is shorter than average...no matter the conversation in today's times we travel waters infested with the politically sensitive . We spend a lot of time and effort in school trying to teach students that we are all more alike than we are different, but in failing to acknowledge that there are differences in people we lose an opportunity to learn and become more culturally aware. It takes courageous people to have open conversations about differences in one another. In schools this topic has become particularly relevant, as NCLB has forced schools to examine achievement gaps between various groups of students. It is only through open and courageous conversations that we can hope to narrow those gaps, and leave no child behind - for real.

Author Glenn Singleton, in his book Courageous Conversations About Race examines schools that have been successful in narrowing the achievement gaps that exist in many of our nation's schools between students who are of varying ethnicities and their white counterparts. A common theme of the success in these schools is their willingness to have open conversations about race, gender, socioeconomic status and a variety of identifiers that seem to have had connection to success in our country's schools.

Last week a team of teachers and administrators attended a workshop with Mr. Singleton. We had many interesting conversations about what we as educators do, should do, or can do to ensure that all children learn, and have the same opportunities available to them when they leave our schools. We experienced the frustration that there is no single answer. There is no "silver bullet" for this problem. The one thing we could all agree on was that in order for students to engage with teachers in the classroom, it is critical that teachers establish positive, trusting relationships with their students. At Grosse Pointe North we have made the focus of our year building a fabric of relationships between students, students and staff, and our entire school community. It has made a difference.

Last week our "Challenge Day" team organized an event that coincided with national "Mix It Up At Lunch" day. The intent of this day was to get students to meet and engage in conversations with people they either didn't know, or did not ordinarily spend time with. North students emceed the event, and challenged students to learn things about one another. They played music, and had a "musical tables" format that involved students rotating through the lunch room to meet with new people. It is a simple concept, but the best concepts usually are...making a difference and connecting with people is as simple as making the effort. These conversations take courage, but there is comfort in numbers, and large scale participation made this a successful event.

Political correctness is not as important as simple respect. Our students are learning that we are all more alike than we are different regardless of the color of our skin, our religion, the cost of our homes, or the nationality of our ancestors. As adults in the community, we should follow the lead of our students and invest in courageous conversations that acknowledge that it's o.k. to be different and embrace our differences with the same enthusiasm we embrace our commonalities.

I was recently watching a television show with my kids, and a child character approached a midget/dwarf/little person and said "I'm sorry, but what should I call you?". The answer......."Jerry - that's my name." Mix it up at work, at a party, in the community - have courageous conversations that step out of comfort zones and into the kind of depth that might make a real difference in the world. Our kids are doing it...