Character Education: Diversity

11 December

Character Education: Diversity

“I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort, where we overlap.” – Ani DiFranco

As the holiday season approaches, it’s time to shift our focus to our next character quality: DIVERSITY! Although this is an overarching theme for the year, Social Skills and Peer Group classes will now be emphasizing specific ways we can be more aware and inclusive of our diverse Aaron School community! We will be highlighting and celebrating the ways we are all different and unique from one another. Aaron School is a place where all staff and students are valued, regardless of our backgrounds, preferences, abilities, self-expression, and learning styles. Students will understand that everyone must be treated with respect, kindness and tolerance so that we can work together to strengthen our connections with each other and foster a safe, supportive, and positive school climate.

The 45th Street Counseling Department’s bulletin board in the front hallway is freshly stocked with inspiring quotes that encourage and bring awareness to our DIVERSITY theme (see below for more examples). If you as a parent, teacher, therapist, or administrator have any additional quotes or affirmations you would like to include, please feel free to share and drop a note in our DIVERSITY envelope in the front hallway!

“If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.” – John F. Kennedy
“Diversity is about all of us, and about us having to figure out how to walk through this world together.” – Jacqueline Woodson
“Society is unity in diversity.” – George Herbert Mead