Along with all the other good things said in this post, I would like to
add my strong positive reinforcement to this point.
My experience as a trades instructor in a predominantly male area (Who am
I kidding? We've had three female students and four other than white males
in the last five years, change that to _overwhelmingly_ male and white) I
have a double jeopardy around sexism / racism in my shop.
I use and encourage a zero tolerance approach to negative remarks. Among
other techniques, it is embedded in the program that we:
* ensure that students are aware of college policy and law on
human rights when they come into the program.
* instruct and practise teamwork, basic problem solving and
conflict resolution skills
* encourage positive interaction and interdependence through
structured group work in the shop.
Should an incident occur, I will (and have):
* clearly state how I feel about the comment(s)
* ask the person to explain their meaning and intent
* remind them of the policy and laws
* ask for a retraction (and a specific apology if the remark was
directed at a person who was present - more often it is a generalized
negative stereotype)
all hopefully leading to a reasonable resolution.
If not, I would suspend them (haven't had to do this)
I am quite aware that they may still hold negative beliefs and display
negative attitudes outside the college. But the shop is one place that
will remain as safe for everyone as possible.
as inclusively as is possible at this time
alice
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* Alice Macpherson, TQ, ID phone: (604) 599-2697 vm 9954 *
* Kwantlen University College email: alicemac@kwantlen.bc.ca *
* 8711 Lansdowne Road, Richmond, B.C., V6X 3V8, Canada *
* "Life Long Learning includes Everyone" *
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