In 鈥淪traight Talk with Rick and Jal,鈥� Harvard University鈥檚 Jal Mehta and I examine the reforms and enthusiasms that permeate education. In a field full of buzzwords, our goal is simple: Tell the truth, in plain English, about what鈥檚 being proposed and what it means for students, teachers, and parents. We may be wrong and we will frequently disagree, but we鈥檒l try to be candid and ensure that you don鈥檛 need a Ph.D. in eduspeak to understand us. Today鈥檚 topic is diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); it is the first part of a two-part post, the second of which will be published later this week.
鈥�Rick
Jal: Why is it so hard to find a healthy equilibrium on DEI? It emerged as a needed response to the well-documented history of racism and exclusion that have governed all aspects of American society. The idea, in schools and universities as well as corporations and hospitals, is that those spaces have historically excluded or marginalized people who differ from the dominant white male norm and that a readjustment is therefore in order. Accelerated by the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter Movement, these institutions have been rethinking various aspects of their structures and practices, which seems like a long-overdue development.
Some constructive steps have emerged from this reexamination, in ways large and small. Syllabi have diversified, as many teachers have recognized that the canon of relevant knowledge is much broader than they thought. Elite universities and private schools have realized that they need to teach the hidden curriculum that comes with power and privilege, encouraging students who haven鈥檛 spent time in elite spaces that it is OK鈥攁nd often necessary鈥攖o ask for help, that building relationships with professors and teachers should be the norm, and that self-advocacy is critical for success in life. Educational institutions have rethought whose voices and ideas to elevate, which holidays to celebrate, and even what to name their buildings.
But then, in typical American fashion, we seem convinced that if some is good, more must be better. And then we see some of what has alienated the right in recent years: students self-censoring out of fear of being canceled by their peers, essay writing reimagined as a symptom of 鈥渨hite supremacy culture,鈥� formerly benign words taken as microaggressions. It shouldn鈥檛 take a chastisement from President Obama that, , every older person isn鈥檛 going to know the right language in every situation, for us to realize that an endless fight over the policing of each other鈥檚 words serves no one.
And then, of course, the pendulum swung back the other way. Just as the left was at fault for its overreach, the right went overboard in its response. If you believed certain parts of the conservative press the past few years, you would have thought woke mobs were everywhere. Critical race theory became a bogeyman in education, even though there was almost no evidence it was being taught in K鈥�12 schools. That only reenergized the left, and around and around we went. This vicious cycle remains with us today.
Have we lost all sanity? Why do we keep swinging the pendulum back and forth? What happened to common sense? Rick, what do you think?
Rick: You鈥檝e done a terrific job framing the issue. We鈥檙e on the same page on much of this, though I suspect I鈥檓 more sympathetic to the pushback against DEI than you are. We agree that DEI set out to address real historic tensions. Making every learner feel welcome and included, expanding the canon, establishing norms of mutual respect, and teaching the skills and habits that were once reserved for those on the inside are all very good things.
And I think there are ways to do all of this that enjoy broad support. After all, whatever the extreme rhetoric from the talking heads on FOX and MSNBC, Americans of all stripes consistently favor fairness and teaching the good and bad of the American story. Heck, AEI鈥檚 Survey Center on American Life has that, among Republicans and Democrats alike, more than 4 in 5 agree that students should read 鈥渨orks by a racially diverse set of authors鈥� and say social studies textbooks should discuss slave-owning by the Founders, the World War II internment of Japanese Americans, and the maltreatment of Native Americans. There鈥檚 a lot of common ground here.
But I鈥檝e long thought the biggest problem is that the kinds of sensible priorities you flag have been drowned out by ideologues pursuing personal agendas. That鈥檚 how you got The Equity Collaborative educators that 鈥渇ostering independence,鈥� 鈥渋ndividual achievement,鈥� 鈥渋ndividual thinking,鈥� and 鈥渟elf-expression鈥� are racist hallmarks of 鈥渨hite individualism.鈥� That鈥檚 how you got the KIPP charter schools their decades-old mantra of 鈥淲ork hard, Be nice鈥� because they deemed it a legacy of white supremacy culture, one that 鈥渟upport[ed] the illusion of meritocracy鈥� and hindered efforts to 鈥渄ismantle systemic racism.鈥� That鈥檚 how you got the Smithsonian鈥檚 National Museum of African American History and Culture debuting an online guide for 鈥溾�� that troubling 鈥渁spects and assumptions鈥� of 鈥渨hite culture,鈥� including 鈥渉ard work,鈥� 鈥渟elf-reliance,鈥� 鈥渂e[ing] polite,鈥� and timeliness.
That鈥檚 how you got PD workshops where teachers were that 鈥淲hiteness reproduces poverty, failing schools, high unemployment, school closings, and trauma for people of color鈥� or urged to 鈥渢he disruption of Western nuclear family dynamics.鈥� That鈥檚 how you got Democracy Prep on a biracial student for refusing to label himself an oppressor, in a class where students were told, 鈥淏lack prejudice does not affect the rights of white people鈥� and 鈥渞everse racism doesn鈥檛 exist.鈥� That鈥檚 how you got 鈥減rivilege walks鈥� and DEI loyalty oaths as a for aspiring chemistry professors. Whatever we may think of all this in 2024, my inbox was full of this stuff during the Trump years and the pandemic.
When anyone is urging schools to dismiss independence, individual thinking, hard work, and being nice in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion, they鈥檝e lost the plot. Worse still, in recent years, it got to the point that educators got bullied for pointing this out. Over the past five years, I鈥檝e received scores of emails from educators who shared their frustrations about trainings or faculty meetings where they鈥檇 been ridiculed鈥攐r watched a colleague be ridiculed鈥攆or daring to raise concerns or push back.
That鈥檚 why I鈥檝e supported efforts to check the nuttiness through legislation, muckraking journalism, democratic oversight. Of course, you鈥檙e right that there are times when this pushback loses the plot鈥攚hen it鈥檚 no longer about principle but just grievance politics from the other side of the spectrum. When unhinged right-wingers object to students learning that the protesters opposing desegregation were white, it all devolves into mud wrestling among the terminally online outrage artists. And I鈥檓 wholly with you in that.
It strikes me that we need a clearer sense of the principles that can help us find that healthy equilibrium. You鈥檙e the Harvard professor. So how do we find it?
The second part of this conversation will be published later this week.
