Teach Children To Be Better Than Politically Correct

I believe where political correctness is concerned we will soon see the true folly of the idea as measured by two things. The idea of being considerate with others who are different than we are is a great idea gone wrong. The reason I believe this is that trying to blur and submerge aspects of our identities and personality in order to respect others is a flawed idea. Here is why.

Understanding and appreciating cultural diversity is a great teacher. We have tried to teach our children to accept and befriend people who are different than they are. It is like learning a second language. By knowing something different about an alternative language we learn more about our own. Knowing and communicating with someone different from us helps us learn more about and understand ourselves better. Developing children become more mature socially when they understand many and respect cultural identities about people who are different than they are.

In contrast, let’s examine what happens to us and our children if we use the blending, blurring, submerging emphasis given in political correctness. Fewer people will dare to say what they think, reflect on our differences, and preserve their own identities because we are worried about someone else. Almost everyone will be the loser. We will eliminate celebrations and other markers of culture because we can’t do everyone’s and in that case we will do no one’s. The net result of all this is interesting. Instead of greater compassion and acceptance for others we have and will have increased self absorption.

It is like the current demand faced by public school teachers who are asked to teach without representing any particular value. A teacher, to satisfy this requirement, must submerge what he or she believes in order to not offend. This is not possible in most cases because virtually all teaching is value laden. A better way would be for the teacher to identify a certain concept or opinion as his or her value, show the benefits, and include it in a discussion of competing ideas as well.

Years ago when at the University of Minnesota, I was directing a training program for counselors for minority populations. The prominent politically correct idea at the time was to be color blind about people’s skin color or ethnic background. This seemed to be a logical extension from the idea we should eliminate words hostile to someone and their race or culture. When meeting with various groups of people I didn’t find one person who wanted their counselors to be color blind to them. They wanted instead to have their skin color and cultural identities to be recognized and to mean something real and positive. In that condition I met and grew to love many and was able to teach counselors about the true benefits of appreciating the significance of culture and cultural backgrounds.

We can all turn this around and be much more mature about this matter if we start teaching our children about their own cultural heritage, about themselves as boys and girls, and to appreciate the qualities that make them unique and distinct as individuals. When they are clear about themselves they can more easily recognize that it is possible to declare themselves with true intent without arrogance or superiority. This is better than organizing ourselves to limit everyone just so we don’t offend one or two people.

In child development literature a writer has identified “stranger wariness,” as the beginning of prejudgment and bias. This concept suggests that children simply are wary of people who are unfamiliar and feel a little anxious when coming in contact with them. Unless channeled correctly, or unless it is cultivated, it can grow into selectivity, indifference, and then something worse. Children can easily be taught to overcome their natural wariness of those who are unfamiliar by learning more, not less, and by open acceptance of and knowledge about one’s person and culture. It would be good to teach children to learn about and appreciate one another rather than minimize and submerge qualities that make each person significant It would be nice if politicians applied this same principle.