On paper, Diversity programs and classes seem like a simple solution to reduce racial bias and to be mindful of other backgrounds. Many colleges and even the workplace have implemented mandatory diversity programs or courses. The end goal of these programs seems to be ineffective to many. Some people may not pay attention or even retain that knowledge after the training. The real question is how effective are these programs. Do they reduce the amount of bias in an individual? We need to look into the execution of these programs and courses. Most of these courses have a format of lecture teaching. Someone would probably instruct this awareness to the students and they would take notes or do class work on it. This isn’t a bad thing, but sometimes instead of retaining the knowledge and incorporating it into their own lives, it could result in the opposite effect.

A mandatory lecture where someone tells you what you should think with no involvement of the learners can lead to resistance. When you have to do something and you have no other choice, it can close off your mind to learn and just get it over with. A lot of people go through routines in their life that require them to do the same things through different courses. There’s no will to learn of their own volition. Humans are emotional creatures, so how we feel will reflect on our actions. With the addition of a lack of self engagement or expression, one can lose attention even more. Let’s not forget about the teaching methods executed in these pieces of training/courses. The reason traditional teaching doesn’t work is that they are too passive and too lecture-oriented. Not a lot of people are aware of different cultural backgrounds, so students can’t fully engage in the learning process. It’s already treated like another class in their head. A quote from the article called Why Diversity Programs Fail by Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev states, “Trainers tell us that people often respond to compulsory courses with anger and resistance—and many participants actually report more animosity toward other groups afterward.” With all these factors coming to play. The effects of the training after the course tend to fade away for a while: “The positive effects of diversity training rarely last beyond a day or two, and a number of studies suggest that it can activate bias or spark a backlash” (Dobbin).

    So how would we be able to break through these barriers? How would we treat a subject like this for people new to this type of awareness, and how can they retain this knowledge after these lessons? Let's take a voluntary perspective instead of a resistant perspective. Voluntary participation, on the other hand, tends to have more positive effects. Maybe these individuals have been affected by diversity issues or driven to make a change. With these values and driven motives, there’s an emotional or social incentive behind them. For an alternative method, training can focus on making teaching more inclusive and emotional. Rather than just telling people the do’s and don’t. Allow people to express their thoughts and emotions to empathize with each other. An article from National University called “Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Why It Matters for Educators” states, “When educators make academic lessons more personal and relatable to students, students may be more inclined to participate and maybe less likely to mentally check-out during their subjects”. Not only will this bring awareness to self-management and social awareness, but it helps others to build relationships easier with people of different backgrounds. Merrimack College does have the Unity House. This could be an opportunity to mix lectures with students' speaking out of their experiences, social events, and more engaging activities that can impact people more outside of the classroom.

    One suggestion would be self-exploration activities outside of the classroom. Students are allowed to choose a culture they want to explore and learn about it. Students can journal about different music, food, traditions from their selected culture. The Unity House has different events containing these social activities for students to participate in. This allows students to not only be engaging outside of class, but express their experiences and what they learned about from the culture or themselves. There is also another engaging in-class activity that can be performed called the Social Identity Wheel. This activity allows students to understand more about their self-identity in the social world. This also allows students to open up their minds and be aware of what advantages and disadvantages they have with their identity. Students tell their personal stories if they want to, but this also opens an opportunity for empathy. Students can empathize with each other and build new relationships with their classmates, and learn more about each other through their companionship. Another article called Integrating Social Emotional Learning Strategies in Higher Education by Chiara Elmi explains how SEL strategies encourage students to gain interest and engage with the subject matter. One quote states: “A positive attitude, a proactive approach to life, a tendency to set goals, perseverance, effective support systems, and empathy are effective factors that can contribute to helping students to become more confident learners. Helping students to develop skills that promote their social and emotional well-being seems to be a long-term investment in higher education, as it is in earlier educational settings” (Elmi).

    Let’s start to make the small changes because they could have big effects on the future for the new generation.