ania makes the observation:
in the grade 8 all students play together with no visible dissonounce
between them and in grade 12 the picture changes to students tending
to create separations strong and visible to all?
If we are serious about creating a multi-racial culture, it seems like
we're going to have to address this question seriously. There are key
years during which young human beings take on their adult social
identity. In this culture, that identity is marked by skin color,
class markers, gender roles, etc.
The desire to eliminate those as the social markers is laudable, but
it can't be done by eliminating the development of social identity.
To tell young people not to form social groups is not only
unrealistic, but probably counterproductive, in the long run, to their
development as mature social creatures.
The question for diversity/multi-racial training, it seems to me, is,
what are the markers we WANT students to use as they come to terms
with their social identity? To denigrate one means of establishing a
social identity, without providing another to replace it, seems only
to increase the social strength of the original markers.
dale