Social Identity

Summary of Findings

The history of Catholic and Protestant social identity is a powerful, challenging, and emotionally divisive issue. Witnessing the model of shared education in N. Ireland was inspirational and led to many reflections on the social identity of Los Angeles. As Mayor Garcetti has said, Los Angeles is likely the most culturally diverse city in the history of the world. However, the social identities of its inhabitants has a history deeply rooted in its own divisiveness and challenges. Those separations pose different, yet shockingly similar, issues in our school system. The opportunity to utilize some of the lessons experienced in N. Ireland and implement them in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has the power to address the issue of race and social identity with local community enrollment and involvement in our schools.

Takeaway #1

The education system’s complexity in Northern Ireland is deeply rooted in their long history of divided Protestant and Catholic communities. Since the end of The Troubles, the education system has been working towards building relationships between these communities through shared education.

Takeaway #2

Shared Education, in its many forms, has Protestant and Catholic schools that are located nearby to each other to create common lessons for students, foster social interaction, deliver joint-teacher training, share resources, and share facilities. Students spend time on each other’s campuses as part of shared education. Students, while maintaining their own school and community identities, work together to build relationships, break down barriers, and celebrate differences. During the process, students benefit from meeting new people and having access to more resources and opportunities.

Takeaway #3

As part of Shared Education, it is very important for schools and communities to retain and maintain their own cultural and social identities. The Shared Education model is not about integration. It is about building understanding. Shared Education has shown the ability to break down barriers without sacrificing the importance of maintaining social and cultural identity. Everyone’s personal and community identities can be celebrated.

What is Transferable?

Our social identity challenge in the United States and Los Angeles is Race Relations

QUESTION: How do we change perspectives of ethnically homogenous schools and how they are perceived outside their own communities? How do we move our communities to be more open to joining and working with communities different than themselves?

  1. Building relationships to break down barriers
    1. Teacher-to-teacher
    2. Student-to-student
  2. Host and promote “disruptive” events
    1. Take experiences and traditions in your community to other communities
    2. Invite people from other communities to join in and experience your community
  3. Need to change attitudes of our parents & students through building awareness and changing dispositions
    1. Be patient; “chip away”
  4. Be mission-oriented
    1. ALL ARE WELCOME: “Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live; a place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive”