Does Lakeside Have a Diverse Curriculum? 

Name 10 historical white men. Easy, right? You could even name the first 43 U.S. presidents. Now name 10 historical people of color. A little harder, isn’t it? And it’s not your fault: In the United States, over 58% of people are white, so it makes sense that we don’t learn as much about people of color. In this article, I’m going to be exploring the possibilities of increasing diversity here at Lakeside.

In Human Development, you’ve probably learned about the dangers of a “single story,” or in general, the idea of characterizing a group of people by a single stereotype. But when only 23 states have clear laws against discriminating on the basis of gender and sexual orientation (not including federal laws), it’s difficult for schools to legally and willingly teach about seemingly taboo topics. In classes such as English, History, and even performing arts, there are so many opportunities to learn even more about multiple perspectives.

For example, in Spanish this year, we learned about multiple sides of the Cuban Revolution and the Cubans’ current government. We even met a woman from Cuba who has lived in the United States for over 10 years to help us understand the differences between her old life and current life. It was a great opportunity to learn about the many sides and perspectives to stories, whereas sometimes we tend to stick with just one, which can be dangerous. 

In addition, in English class, we’ve read memoirs about different people's experiences in different countries. I noticed, however, that in these books, there tends to be a single story about either poverty or culture (e.g., religion, drug use, housing). These are, of course, valid stories, but I think incorporating other parts of these stories would be very beneficial to our learning. It would allow us to learn about another side’s thought process, i.e., not considering one side the “bad guys.” Connecting this back to culture, this lets us notice the other lifestyles people adopt in similar areas. We could also pick more memoirs about prosperity in many diverse groups to understand their perspectives as well as those who aren’t as well off.

Keeping with the example of English (sorry, English teachers), one thing I find the high school does really well is offering the option of studying more diverse groups through literature. That may not entirely be plausible at the middle school, but similar ideas would allow us to learn more deeply about many different cultures and identities. For example, the school could allow us to choose a course from five or six options, for example: LGBTQIA+-focused literature or South Asian Literature. To clarify, this would be a year or semester long course, not just one book in a year. This would allow us to dive deeper into different cultures, while still giving kids choice in what they learn. We can continue to analyze many authors' works while also diversifying our program. Different courses also would allow us to have more time throughout the year to learn about and analyze many perspectives and viewpoints. To ensure that no one repeats the same class twice, we can have kids choose between programs they haven’t already chosen.

Finally, I want to discuss affinity groups. While these are amazing to help us learn about current issues, microaggressions, and more, dividing us into groups by race in order to learn about discrimination based on race seems a little cliché. In my opinion, a better way to talk about these topics could be through our Human Development programs. HD tends to revisit similar topics every year; so instead of re-learning what we’ve already learned, we could use HD classes to teach the same things we’re learning about in affinity groups. This would allow us to dive deeper into these topics as we have a 50-minute HD period once every three days instead of a 40-minute session once a month. We could also create something similar to the Upper School’s system, which allows anyone to join any group. 

In conclusion, I think our school has come a long way from an all-white boys’ school. However, to promote diversity and inclusion, we still have a ways to go.