COMMENTARY : Leaders of Tomorrow Learn to Overcome Fear of Diversity : High-school seniors from diverse ethnic and social backgrounds spend 10 days at UC Irvine in a ‘boot camp of the mind.’
Almost daily the media reports incidents of racial violence. For example, a recent story appeared about a 15-year-old Garden Grove high school student who endured 10 hours of surgery to sew the left side of her face back together. Her injuries were the result of what she says was a racially motivated attack with baseball bats and a broken piece of mirror. If the attackers had looked into that mirror, they would have seen yet another grotesque example of behavior resulting from the fear of diversity in opinion, race, culture or gender.
Whether one lives in Baghdad, Moscow, Washington or Orange County, no one is immune to destructive prejudice. The challenge of diversity requires leaders who are able to resist the temptation to create a false unity with demagogic appeals.
To better nurture such responsible leadership, UC Irvine and the Orange County chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews became partners in 1985 to develop and coordinate the Knowledge and Social Responsibility Program. The idea for the program was developed during a discussion between Manuel Gomez, UCI assistant vice chancellor for student affirmative action, and Harlan Anderson, executive director of the NCCJ in Orange County.
KSR is now a summer leadership development program for a diverse group of high school seniors who are selected to live in the UCI dorms for 10 days to experience a curriculum that has been described as a “boot camp of the mind.” It is designed to help identify young leaders, to assist them in obtaining a greater vision of their potential and their responsibility in a democracy.
Tolerance and appreciation of diversity are the most important themes in the KSR program. As the concept of a common enemy continues to dissipate in our post-Cold War society, we can no longer direct our frustrations and anger toward an “evil empire.” Our educators and leaders need to help society overcome the anxiety caused by differences in people. If this does not happen, our fears of difference may be turned against others within our own borders. As a leadership development program, KSR deals directly with this pivotal societal issue.
Observers of the program were amazed that, in just 10 days, 48 teen-agers from 30 high schools and a variety of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds could so effectively overcome stereotypes. They witnessed a human “chain-reaction” that fused people through friendship and understanding.
As the students interacted with each other in these activities, the walls of intolerance fell. The level of acceptance of different perspectives increased as the students developed a love of learning. Toward the end of the program, a student participant wrote, “I was personally changed by this experience because of being around so many different kinds of people with so many different views.”
The heart of leadership development is to awaken the spirit of inquiry, to encourage intercultural understanding, to teach democratic values, and to increase awareness of one’s views and relationships with others.
The KSR program exists to provide the opportunity for students to interact and to explore how they can contribute to a culturally diverse society. There are no grades or examinations to pass. The program explores issues such as poverty, homelessness, drug abuse, housing discrimination, power of the media, racism, affirmative action, undocumented workers, feminism, South Africa, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union; it does this by treating students as scholars and bringing them into direct contact with prominent scholars in their respective fields.
The students participate in small group discussions where they are encouraged to express their thoughts and concerns and share their insights about human nature and solutions to worldwide problems. Learning through discussion can be very effective in exploring critical social issues. As one student noted, “At school we are given books, told to learn information and memorize it. Here, everything is questioned.”
Because of the complex controversies of our era, we need leaders who have the ability to think critically and to embrace diversity. The KSR students learn that solutions to social issues require the dedication and determination of many people working together. The students leave the program with more questions than when they began, with a respect for learning for its own sake, and with greater hope that their actions can make a difference.
A sound democracy needs leaders who are activists for positive change. After experiencing the KSR program, many students were motivated to lead organizing efforts to help homeless people and victims of natural and other disasters and to protect the environment.
Leadership today, as defined by the many controversies of our time in our region, nation and the world, desperately requires an ability to deal with the differences they face. The values of our leaders will have an impact on our future. Our youth need to be given the opportunity to explore their values as they continue to acquire knowledge. The program offers that without focusing on specific ideologies, but rather on encouraging constructive involvement in the community.
Primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities can do more to integrate social responsibility into their curricula. As we teach reading, writing and arithmetic in our schools, we should add social responsibility as the fourth “R” to prepare budding leaders to meet the challenge of diversity.
