If we can't change hearts and minds then what else is there?

[leftofcool]

I get it. You can't change the thinking of an adult. No amount of sensitivity training will do a damn thing for a cop or anyone else who has so much insensitive shit stuffed into his brain. No 3 day tolerance class will make a person tolerant if they are so blinded by religion, what their parents taught them, what their neighbors say etc... If we can't change the hearts and minds of adults, why can't we begin with the children who have a clean slate? We make mandatory math, history, science, and English but not one school in this country mandates the teaching of tolerance and sensitivity. I wonder what would happen if starting in preschool, all children "had" to take tolerance and sensitivity courses every year in a public school? Each year, said courses would go farther in depth than the year before and maybe by the time a kid's Senior year rolled around who knows? Is this something that might help us become a kinder, more gentle, less bigoted nation?

[LuvLoogie]

1. We have to prosecute. We have to find like minded individuals to govern and enforce the laws,

and see to it that justice is served. We cannot continue to blow off the congressional election cycles. We need numbers in the government and in other seats of power. They take away our vote, but too many of us are giving it away as well.

[brer cat]

3. That is a very good point.

From my perspective (I'm almost 70), a lot has been accomplished simply by integration of schools and neighborhoods, as inadequate and spotty as that has been. I attended all white schools; my granddaughters attend schools with a very diverse student population. The only black people I knew were those who cleaned houses or yards; their closest friends are primarily black and Hispanic.

Yet I see exactly what you are saying. My granddaughters are tolerant, but they lack sensitivity, even awareness of the racism that is around them. They notice that some students stay in all white groups; they didn't notice when we attended high school registration that all the faculty present was white. They are smart girls, but when I asked "what is wrong with this picture?" at the registration, they didn't see it.

I think that tolerance is largely a product of the environment at home, church, etc. but sensitivity requires education. It would be both appropriate and enlightening to include it in school curriculum. Whether it could be enacted is another matter, but I agree with you.

[kwassa]

6. "Sensitivity requires education"

That's it, in a nutshell.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

4. behavior and accountability.

[LWolf]

5. I support that.

Many individual teachers actually DO spend some time on that, but it's hit and miss. Since the onset of the high-stakes testing, punishment, and blame system, if it's not tested, we can get in trouble for spending instructional time on it. That includes academic subjects that are not tested. For example, I've been told by 3 administrators in the last 10 years that I'm spending too much time on Social Studies; I should just let the high school deal with it when they get there, and focus on their reading scores.

Social studies: history, geography, economics, current events, government...nah, those aren't important classroom focuses.

I would gladly embrace a comprehensive effort to teach tolerance. We've already got some resources. Give us the time, the permission, and, yes, for the reluctant, the requirement.

http://www.tolerance.org/