By Bryan Yingst
Director of e-Learning for KnowledgeStart, Inc.

Recently, I had a conversation with a professor from a university while traveling at a diversity and inclusion exposition.  After talking for quite some time, he shared a diversity-based moment he had with a student.  In light of recent world events (in addition to the every-growing diversity on today's college campus) I felt it would be a good time to share this with the readers of INSIGHT Into Diversity.  In fact, our training group has since incorporated the event I am about to summarize into a new product for educational institutions that can be found on the adjacent page.

The diversity moment occurred in a traditional college classroom following a lecture that the teacher was giving in his area of expertise.  Just as he was about to finish his final thoughts, the bell rang and, of course, all of the students were quick to jump to their feet.  The teacher settled the class and reminded them of the upcoming group assignment that would be due in the weeks to come.  He then dismissed the class and all but one student scurried off to the rest of their day. 

When the teacher approached the student to see why she remained seated, she reluctantly expressed her concern with the student she had been partnered with for the group assignment. Simply put – the student did not want to work with her partner because the media had recently been filled with the headlines of a particular country aiding terrorists. Because she wrongfully associated the partner with this country, and the fact that English was his second language, she believed that her safety and her grade were at stake.

Thankfully, the teacher had enough cultural competency to intervene and prevent this stereotyping from progressing any further.  The teacher's own background and worldly travels provided him with an opportunity to use his student's stereotyping as a coachable moment to expand the horizons of a student who had misconceptions about a fellow classmate from a different culture. The teacher was quick to point out to the student that she was at an advantage (to her surprise) given her partner's unique insight to the group project as well as his own confidence knowing the partner's excellent grades in his class.

Now you may be saying to yourself that this is merely an isolated incident.  But the truth is, as human beings we are ALL taught to stereotype at an early age.  From separating girls and boys into different groups during school activities to watching a television shows that targets one demographic, stereotypes surround us.  Even by learning a language we are learning a series of stereotypes. Through language, we see similarities and differences in the world around us and assign words to them.
This process of labeling and grouping through stereotypes is our brain's natural way of processing the millions of pieces of information that we are bombarded with at any given moment of the day.  To visualize this - imagine yourself making your way through a crowded campus searching for one specific student.  You are so focused on that one specific student that you unknowingly filter out the hundreds of other students, professors and interactions that you are passing on your journey. 

This automatic mental process of filtering based on personal preference is referred to as unconscious bias.  And it can happen in every school.

Unconscious biases like:

• Discounting a faculty member's capabilities because of a previous, limited personal experience

• Calling on the same ONE student to reinforce a question you're confident they'll know

• Overlooking the hard work of another colleague simply because they come from a different background

Typically, these biases exist out of human nature’s reluctance to explore uncharted territories.  For most people, it is easier to assume based on our beliefs than to explore something unfamiliar.  So, it’s going to take some work to admit or realize that you have unconscious biases of your own and how integral they may be to your decision-making.

When interacting with something or someone new, we have several options. We can remember it, we can forget it, or we can misremember it. Research has shown that unconscious biases cause people to remember information that confirms their biases and forget or misremember information that contradicts their biases.

As leaders and champions for diversity and inclusion, we need to set an example and convey that we are not acting fairly if we treat people differently because of stereotypes and unconscious biases that we might have. Each one of us deserves to be treated uniquely and with respect.

Inclusion starts with you.  Even one person can make a difference.