“Building Bridges,” a diversity workshop on May 4, 2008 with third formers, aimed to highlight the pluralism of our community, while making it a more tolerant and open one. The exercises challenged the students to explore themselves and each other and to gain an increased awareness of their hidden biases. Most importantly, we encouraged students to realize the harm of epithets, slurs and more subtle forms of bias and would eliminate them from their speech and denounce them when they hear them from others.
In the hour-long program, we asked students to participate in two exercises to examine themselves and the community in which they inhabit. In the first exercise, we asked students to split into racial groups to discuss their own identity. Students later shared their reactions to the exercise with the wider group. Students explored themselves and others in their form in complete silence in the second exercise: A statement regarding race, class, gender or sexuality was read, and students were asked to step into the circle if it applied to them. A final discussion and a spoken word poem ended the event.
“Building Bridges” was designed to be challenging and even at times uncomfortable. In the evaluations, seventy percent of respondents said that they would recommend the workshop to a friend. Eighty-four students (82%) expressed that what they liked most about the workshop was that they were able to understand their peers and their community better. One-fifth of students responded that they learned much from the workshop but that it was “awkward.” Introspection is never easy; discussions about race, class and gender--especially discussions seeking to change our paradigms of them--are always provocative. Students learn best when they lean into discomfort and allow themselves to confront the biases in them. If students realize the prejudices they possess and eliminate them, we will all live in a more tolerant, cohesive community. We hope that “Building Bridges” was a catalyst for students to continue to examine themselves and the world around them. Each one of them has the power to create social change.
Carey Turnquest, Char Davidson, Jim Yanelli
To the editor:
In response to the notion, brought up in Mr. Lee-Murphy’s letter to the editor (May 16, 2008), that the recent structural and regulatory developments at Choate are a cause for concern, I believe that his argument failed to mention many of the important reasons for the changes and the many positive aspects to the changes of the physical makeup of the school. In particular, I believe that the construction of the new dorms and the decrease in the number of day students will have markedly different consequences, mostly positive in my mind, than what Mr. Lee-Murphy foresaw in his letter.
First, I do not think Mr. Lee-Murphy considered the main reason behind the installment of fences along Christian Street – the wishes of the town of Wallingford. It is clear that Wallingford residents dislike the students’ use, or lack thereof, of the pedestrian crossings at the various intersections along Christian Street and Elm Street. As a means of trying to encourage students to use the designated crosswalks, as opposed to crossing the streets haphazardly, Wallingford requested Choate to place the fences in their current position. In that sense, the fences serve as less a barrier between the Choate community and Wallingford, and more as a symbol of Wallingford’s and Choate’s unanimous concern for the safety of pedestrians on campus and for the sanity of drivers.
Second, while the decrease in the ratio of day students to boarding students will undoubtedly result in socio-economic changes, I believe the changes will be for the better. The state of Connecticut has the highest income per capita and one of the best public education systems in the United States. In the grand scheme of things, Connecticut residents need less financial aid than the students from less affluent states, even more so than the students from less affluent countries. Like Mr. Lee-Murphy, I take pride in the fact that Choate is one of the more progressive boarding schools in New England. Only a handful of other schools that have many times Choate’s endowment can boast of better need-based financial aid programs. I believe that reallocating the limited enrollment slots to accept more students from a broader range of applicants, both culturally and socio-economically, will serve as another step towards upholding that sense of progressivism. I do not think that the school has taken a step in the wrong direction in terms of shunning elitism and opening its doors. While I am sure no one looks forward to 7:30 check-ins on Saturday, I do not think the overall direction that the administration has taken should be a cause for concern.
