Diversity needs to go beyond tolerance. Tolerance is a first step. It is much better than conflict. But tolerance is a somewhat negative word, according to David See-Chai Lam, former lieutenant governor of British Columbia. To “tolerate” and to be “tolerated” involves an unequal relationship. Tolerance implies that the tolerator has the power to not tolerate.
German philosopher Herbert Marcuse said under conditions of inequality one cannot preach tolerance to the oppressed. Tolerance poses little challenge to an unjust status quo and silences the oppressed. Going beyond tolerance is a journey of building competencies and dispositions beyond shallow acceptance and celebratory sympathies and sensibilities.
The destination is cultivated and sustained by mutual empathy and respect. The path is littered with abandoned stereotypes and dismantled barriers. Venomous malice spewed (both on and offline) is repelled and driven back by an appalled, interconnected community of victims and allies. Bullies and their ilk are no longer ignored and tolerated but met with massive doses of outrage and shamed into extinction.
Facilitating this journey means helping students build bridges across unfair biases and attitudes by anchoring the school experience in a genuine respect of other beliefs. Instead of mere tolerance we should now see our goal as creating welcoming environments, understanding and appreciating differences and developing cultural competencies that model compassion and trust. Glimpses of this scenery are in front of us now. A new social standard founded on wired relationships and plugged-in communities is emerging.
According to a Pew Research Center report titled “Millennials: A Portrait of Generation Next,” young people consider their use of technology as the greatest difference between them and previous generations—Generation X, Baby Boom, and Silent. Generation Next sends more than a dozen text messages a day, and more than 80 percent sleep with their cell phones. At the same time, these young adults are the most tolerant of any generation on social issues like immigration, race and sexual preference.
