From the Cultural Climate Committee - Preparing Our Children

As a school our job is to educate our students.  But what exactly does a 21st century education entail?  What must we add to our books, adopted curriculums, and essential learning outcomes in order to help students have a solid understanding of what it means to be a good person and a contributing member of the human race?  What should we focus on and share in order to help students realize their role in making the world a better place?

These are questions we ask ourselves each day as we try to fit as much into the school experience as possible.  At the core of who we are we teach life skills and bible stories to help students understand the role of faith in helping one live a fulfilling life.  We provide numerous opportunities to partake in community service and to help make both our local and global communities better places.  In addition to countless other things, we try to teach our students that though we all have differences, it is those differences that make the human experience a more meaningful and enjoyable journey.  This last goal can be a bit challenging to accomplish since many of us live in worlds where those with whom we interact with on a regular basis look like us and have similar backgrounds, but as we continue to focus on diversifying our community and being inclusive and welcoming to all, there are many things going on to help celebrate diversity and educate our students.

To put it in very simple terms we must proactively work to prevent our children from receiving educations like many of us may have received.  For example, I grew up in a small town of 564 people.  I attended the same school for my entire k-12 education and during that time I attended school with a handful of minority students and, because time blurs memory, I’ve provided a very generous estimate.  Through my classes I was not introduced to the experience of someone in America of Hispanic, African, or Asian descent.  I was naïve, uninformed, and not at all exposed to what those who were different than me had to offer.  How do we avoid this at St. Paul’s?  How do we embrace the cultures of all of our students and help each one understand that though they may never truly understand what’s it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes that understanding one another’s history and experiences makes us each a better person?

It’s not easy and we definitely don’t have the full answer, but that doesn’t keep us from trying.  Michelle Johnson, our Diversity Coordinator, has worked hard this school year to teach monthly chapel lessons on diversity to our kindergarten through fifth grade students.  Each month she focuses on a heritage month or a minority group in order to provide a more well-rounded education.  I will never forget the comment she shared with me after teaching a Women’s History Month chapel where she introduced kindergarten through second grade students to women inventors.  A young, African-American girl came up at lunch that day and said to her, “So…, you mean I can grow up to be a famous inventor one day, too?”  It’s moments like that when we realize the power of our words and lessons.


Recently our fourth grade students had the opportunity to hear Senator Yvonne Wilson speak.  Senator Wilson is a well-respected senator from Missouri who also happens to be a woman and an African American.  Prior to entering public service, she was an educator, principal, and Director of Elementary Education for 35 years.  During this time she also taught at the Rollins School which was the home to St. Paul’s Episcopal Day School from the late 1970s until the building was destroyed by fire in 1992.  Besides teaching our fourth grade students about state government and the symbols and seal of Missouri, I hope these students also walked away with a different vision of what a successful, public figure looks like.  I hope our young girls were inspired to break barriers as they grow up and enter fields dominated by males.  I hope our students of color enjoyed seeing someone like them share with their classmates what it means to improve our world.  I hope our students of Caucasian descent were introduced to a positive role model of another race.

Providing a quality education that truly prepares children for today’s world can be a tall order and it requires intentional planning and a focused effort.  Much thanks to those who helped make our visit with Senator Wilson possible.  Thanks too to all of the parents, faculty, and staff who help us teach our students that the human experience is more beautiful and meaningful because it entails people of all different colors, ethnicities, backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, etc. living and learning together.

Lisa Jones
Lower School Division Head and Committee Member

Reflections on SPEDS Diversity Forum

One week ago today, I was in last minute preparations for the Diversity Forum I was hosting at the school. I admit to being nervous.

I was nervous because I didn't know if two people would show up or if at the last minute 200 would show up.

This time of the year is touch and go for our whole community in terms of the number of obligations going on with families. And to be honest, I didn't know if showing a 30-minute excerpt of a documentary on how two African-American boys fared in a private school out East would be much of a draw.

But in the end almost 30 people attended - more than some expected, less than some hoped - and it turned out to be the perfect conversation.

I say perfect because any real, candid conversation on diversity is a good one. It's a particularly good conversation when the topic is about race which tends to stir up a lot of emotion, anxiety and degrees of defensiveness. And if the conversation is honest there will be a shade of all of the above.

In our discussion afterward, while we talked a little bit about the 13-year journey of Idris and Seun, what we really talked about were the ways that being a racial minority impacted student happiness and success at St. Paul's.

Some parents and parents of former students talked about the positives and how, for their children, most of the time, it wasn't a major adjustment and how the students were able to make many positive friendships through out their time at St. Paul's.

But a common theme that did come up was that race wasn't as irrelevant as we'd all like to believe it is. Students of color sometimes had to struggle with identity in an environment where their race stood out. Well meaning adults didn't always get the challenges.

The purpose of the forum wasn't to disclose a problem, therefore, "finding solutions" was not the outcome sought. However, some were addressed anyway.

For example, most in attendance were in agreement that more racially diverse classrooms, along with teachers and faculty, benefits all students to better help them matriculate into the school of life.

The event was a success in that it was a reminder and a guide to the ever present goal of making this the best place for all our children to learn and grow.