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.
For example, of all polled generations, Generation Next is the most comfortable with interracial dating and marriage. Close to 90 percent of White 18- to 29-year-olds have no problem with a family member marrying someone of African, Hispanic or Asian descent. Only about half of respondents from the Baby Boom Generation think the same.
Looking at demographic trends, having to go beyond tolerance is also needed outside traditional notions of race and bigotry. For many decades, net migration in rural states like Iowa was negative—more people moved out than moved in. During the 1980s, more than 250,000 more people left Iowa than moved in and its overall population decreased, especially in small towns.
