Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Educators from around Kosciusko County recently were students themselves when they attended a five-week multiculturalism seminar at Grace College.
The purpose of the seminar was, in part, to "create an understanding of cultural differences," said Dr. Tom Stallter, professor of intercultural studies at Grace, who developed the seminar.
Stallter's goal with the seminar, he said, was to help participants understand other cultures.
"The values approach is more about understanding one another rather than talking about what you're doing wrong on the behavior level," he said.
He also emphasized teaching the educators skills for handling feelings of uncertainty and ambiguity in a situation of cultural differences, and skills for interaction and cooperation.
Dr. Lee Harman, superintendent of Warsaw Community Schools, was one of the participants of the 20-hour seminar.
"We're becoming as a district more diverse all the time - our population is changing," he said. Stallter's class helped the educators "make sure that we have a good understanding of all the different elements of diversity that we deal with."
Harman said the members of the WCS diversity steering committee attended, and were invited to participate by the Committee to Commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Warsaw educators who attended also wanted to assess if the curriculum should be added to staff development opportunities, Harman said.
The seminar offered a broad view of multicultural relations, with a focus on how people from different cultures look at things, including, Harman said, "how we communicate, our perceptions, and how white middle-class people view the world.
"It gave all of us a better perception of the big picture."
Mark Stock, superintendent of Wawasee Schools, also attended, and said the curriculum "brings a rich view of the world through a multicultural lens that's values-based. You view different cultures through behaviors you see and not your own views."
Stock said that "while racial issues tend to be the most recognizable and the most emotional," Stallter discussed national differences, such as Asian, African, Hispanic and European, as well as other types of culture, such as the culture of poverty.
"Culture isn't just geography," Stock said. "It can be wealth or a lack of, age. ..."
Teaching educators can have a trickle-down effect, Harman said, and a shorter version of the seminar may be offered to teachers this summer. Teachers, in turn, can help students understand that "different" does not always equal "bad."
In school, Harman said, "kids come from their own backgrounds where sometimes stereotypes exist. ... We don't want to immediately alienate people. All of us have to be sensitive to the differences we all bring to the mix."
Stallter said he plans to offer the seminar to other people in the community, such as commerce and industry, government, health care professionals, clergy, etc., a sentiment that was echoed by Harman.
"It's important for other segments of the community to get involved to give everybody a better understanding," Harman said.
Stallter has lived in France, the Central African Republic and Chad. He said the years abroad made him realize the importance of understanding other cultures and value differences, and the need for intercultural understanding.
"Cultures are an integrated system," he said. "If you change any part of it you affect all of it."
