Biases are becoming dominating factors in our midst as we tend toward the divisive. Racial, class, age, ability, and gender biases are among many other ways to “other” our neighbors. It will continue to worsen until we are purposeful in our decision and work to fix it.
Provide implicit bias training for all people coming into contact with students during the course of their education day. Expand the training to all people paid by tax dollars. This is not a solution, but it is a very basic place to start, with an understanding of the nature of implicit bias and the damage caused by it. Let’s make the effort to use common language, so we know what we’re all talking about. Follow that with implicit bias training for all people being paid by Vermont tax dollars. Make it a fully funded mandate, and teach it using consistent sources and methods.
Follow through with plans to implement statewide ethnic studies curricula.
Provide and encourage diversity training for students and families, and make it known that if they are apprehensive about this, they will be supported, and will learn that implicit bias is about understanding one’s one context and predispositions, and the nuanced difference between bias and bigotry.
Inventory books in every school library for the inclusion of books with a diversity of regular, everyday characters.
Change the way public services are funded and administered, by shifting some of the first-responder roles to more appropriate agencies.