I was recently talking to a group of people from work, a group of counselors and former educators, about the Department of Education’s policy* and efforts on integration and policy change based on this premise. The integration that the department is targeting relates to efforts in ensuring that students from all socioeconomic backgrounds, housing status, and disability status are represented in all schools, and districts without zoning rules are encouraged and programmed to participate in these efforts more fully, as they are not bound by address rules (zoning implies that a family’s address determines where the child/children go to school).
My contention with the term “integration” stems from my perception on what the term means. I’m a much bigger proponent of the term “inclusion” as “integration,” in my view, implies that a group of people (namely students of color, students of low socioeconomic status, students in shelters or students with disabilities) have a lesser standing in society and need to be brought into the mainstream, need to be assimilated by the mainstream, and need to be educated so that they are up to par, hence, they need to be “integrated.” The term “inclusion” on the other hand, implies, in my view, that regardless of the student’s status, the mainstream needs to make the effort to accept and incorporate those students in all areas of life. Inclusion implies a general character and pertains to an effort from all involved.
Of course, I have colleagues that work in this arena as well, who prefer other terminology. Even the term “inclusion,” for some of them, is not enough to capture the spirit behind what we are trying to accomplish. Inclusion, they contend, implies that there is a group of people (people in temporary housing, people with disabilities, you name it), who have a lower standing and therefore need to be included. They prefer terms such as “coexisting” because terms like do not presuppose any particular standing (higher or lower) within society. I can clearly see why they take this approach and why they practice using this terminology.
Do you have any thoughts about these terms? What do they mean to you? What kinds of feelings do they provoke?
Share your thoughts below!
Love & Hugs,
Dr. Klimek
*location to be disclosed at a future date
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