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Building Respectful Connections Among Culturally-Diverse Students in Hawai'i

Judy Daniels

Abstract: Tl1is article discusses ll1e formation of a new university/ scltool-based partnersl1ip wltich was designed to promote students' respect and awareness for cultural diversity.

Hawai'i is frequently referred to as the "land of paradise." This image emerges from a genuine appreciation of both the natural beauty of the Hawaiian islands and the spirit of "aloha"that characterizes the way individuals treat one another in this special land. Visitors often comment about the positive impressions they have regarding the respectful and accepting atmosphere that permeates the daily interac­tions of people from so many different cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds.

This myopic image does not, however, portray a com· pletely accurate picture of the types of social conflicts and tensions that exist among various groups of persons in Hawai'i. In fact, much of the modem history of Hawai'i has been scarred by numerous instances of conflict and strife that has fueled continuing antagonisms between persons from different cultural, e thnic and racial groups.

Over the past several years, tensions have become more openly manifested as acts of violence have increased among high school students from different cultural and racial backgrounds. These alarming incidents support the notion that the level of cultural, ethnic and racial tension is rising in many communities in Hawai'i.

Ponterotto and Pedersen (1993) note that this sort of intercultural tension is typically rooted in a lack of knowl­edge and information individuals have about persons from diverse backgrounds. This lack of awareness frequently promotes negative prejudices and stereotypes which perpetuate unhealthy antagonisms between persons who differ according to their cultural, ethnic or racial heritage (Ponterrotto & Pedersen, 1993).

The cultural diversity of the citizenry in Hawai'i is likely to increase in the future. Demographic projections point to the fact that many people from the U.S. mainland, China, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and other nations in southeast Asia will continue to migrate to Hawai'i well into the 21st century (Hawai'i Community Services Council, 1995).

Thus, the combination of rising incidents of inter-ethnic tensions and violence in our public schools, students' lack of

knowledge about persons from diverse cultural/ethnic/ racial backgrounds, and the demographic trends mentioned above constitute a realistic area of concern for. many educa­tors, administrators and counselors. To defuse the potential volatility of these factors, it is important that school officials implement proactive strategies that promote greater under· standing of cultural diversity and reduce the types of negative prejudices and stereotypes which fuel inter-ethnic conflicts among culturally-diverse student populations.

School administrators, counselors and teachers can play a vital role in helping students develop the types of social skills and knowledge that are necessary to acquire a greater sense of tolerance and respect for cultural, ethnic and racial diversity. As with many other types of educational interven­tions, it is believed that the sooner students are provided opportunities to develop social competencies which reflect greater respect and understanding for human differences the better. For this reason it is suggested that cultural awareness and prejudice reduction activities should be systematically infused into elementary school classroom settings.

This article describes how members of the Department of Counselor Education at the University of Hawai'i joined in a partnership with the staff and students at a local elementary school to address issues of racial-ethnic conflict.

The primary goal of this school-based program was to promote children's social development by incorporating a variety of cultural awareness and prejudice reduction activities within the classroom setting. The design of this intervention was guided by a number of propositions and assumptions that are associated with the work of several social development and multicultural counseling theorists. These theoretical principles and guidelines are briefly discussed in the following section of this article.

Social Development Theory and Mullicultural Counseling Issues: Important Considerations in Program Planning

Elementary school counselors and teachers are in an excellent position to implement intervention strategies that help children develop the types of cognitive and social skills that are necessary for them to live productive and satisfying Jives in a pluralistic society. With the increasing diversifica­tion of our modem society, one of the major developmental tasks students will have to fa ce involves learning to get along with individuals who look, act and think very differently from themselves.

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Selman (1980) noted that youngsters normally manifest new cognitive and social competencies which help them develop more meaningful interpersonal connections with their peers during middle childhood. These developmental changes include an increased ability to accurately understand another person's perspective (perspective-taking) and learning about the importance of acting cooperatively with one's friends (reciprocity) (Selman, 1980; Selman & Byrne, 1974).

Selman's (1980) research clearly demonstrated that most children manifest a developmental readiness to interact with their peers in more cooperative and meaningful ways during their elementary school years. However, the perpetuation of racism and negative cultural stereotypes that exist in society at-large makes it difficult for many youngsters to demon­strate a genuine sense of respect and acceptance for indi­viduals from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.

The rise in the number of racial/ ethnic conflicts, which have recently occurred among high school and university students in Hawai'i and the U.S. mainland, represents a serious delay in their social development (Allen & Niss, 1990; Carter & Wilson, 1989; D' Andrea & Daniels, 1994). This sort of developmental delay frequently occurs when individuals are not provided opportunities early in their lives to develop the types of skills which are necessary to interact with persons from diverse backgrounds in an empathic and respectful manner.

It is important to note that interpersonal conflicts which are rooted in a lack of respect and empathy for persons from diverse cultural backgrounds are not restricted to adoles­cents and adults in secondary schools and universities. In fact, elementary school counselors are frequently called upon to work with children who have interpersonal prob­lems with students from different cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds.

It is certainly important to intervene and help children resolve conflicts when they occur. However, it is equally important that school counselors take a proactive position by providing services which are intentionally designed to help youngsters develop the types of cognitive and social competencies that are necessary to prevent interpersonal conflicts from occurring in the first place. When utilizing this sort of preventive approach with youngsters from diverse backgrounds, it is vital that counselors do so in culturally-responsive and respectful ways (Pedersen & Carey, 1994).

Numerous guidance and counseling programs have been tested and found to be effective in promoting the social

development of elementary school students (Lane & McWhirter, 1992; Liu & Baker, 1993; Myrick, 1987; Paisley & Hubbard, 1994; Stickel, 1990). Unfortunately, few attempts have been made to design and assess the effectiveness of programs that strive to be responsive to the unique develop­mental needs of students from various cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds (Vargas & Koss-Chioino, 1992).

Recognizing the importance of addressing this void, Omizo and D'Andrea (1995) developed an educational framework that was specifically designed to promote youngsters' social competencies and cultural awareness. Their framework integrates the work of several developmen­tal and multicultural theorists. This model was subse­quently field-tested and found to be effective for use with elementary school-aged students (D' Andrea & Daniels, in press).

Based on a modified version of Omizo and D' Andrea's (1995) framework, faculty members and graduate students in the Department of Counselor Education at the University of Hawai'i joined together to develop and implement a ten­week classroom-based intervention to address teachers' concerns about inter-ethnic conflicts among their students. What follows is a description of this school-based project.

Formulating a New University/School-Based Poirtnership

An elementary school counselor in one of the public schools in Hawai'i requested a consultation meeting with faculty members in the Department of Counselor Education. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss problems that were occurring among numerous third grade students at her school and to get ideas about possible intervention strategies to address these problems.

During this meeting, the school counselor acknowledged that it was not unusual for third graders to exhibit interper­sonal difficulties with their peers from time to time. How­ever, she indicated that there were several reasons why she was particularly concerned about the types of problems this group of youngsters were exhibiting toward each other.

The school counselor explained further that all four of the third grade teachers had met with her on a number of occasions to express their concerns about the frequency and nature of the hostility which the students in their classes were demonstrating at school.

In summary, the teachers reported that many of the students were becoming increasingly involved in fights and arguments in their classrooms and on the playground during recess. The teachers indicated further that these

fights were almost always initiated by some student making deriding and derogatory comments about another young­sters' cultural, ethnic, and/or racial background. While all of the third grade teachers and the elementary school counselor had ten or more years of experience at the school, each had commented that they had not observed this level of overt hostility exhibited in this way by so many third grade students in the past.

The school counselor offered a number of reasons why she and the teachers thought these interpersonal conflicts might be occurring. First, the counselor noted that there was a substantial increase in the teacher-to-student ratio from the second to the third grades at the school during the past year. More specifically, there was a 1:20 teacher-to-student ratio in three of the four third grade classes (the fourth class had a 1 :31 teacher-to-student ratio). Given this situation, the teachers suggested that the students may have been acting out in part because they were frustrated over not getting as much personalized attention from the third grade teachers as they had in the second grade.

The counselor also mentioned that the students' family environments may have been another factor that contributed to the aggressive and antagonistic behavior they were manifesting at school. She added that many of the third graders came from single-headed, poor households which were characterized by their own unique and negative stressors.

Lastly, the school counselor explained that the composi­tion of the student body had undergone substantial changes over the past few years. These changes included a notice­able increase in the number of students from diverse cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds who currently attended the school. The teachers and counselor all agreed that the changes in the cultural make-up of the school were a major factor which contributed to the increasing level of hostility and aggressiveness students exhibited.

After listening to the counselor's description of the problem, two Counselor Education faculty members indicated a willingness to implement a multicultural­developmental program in each of the third grade classes. The program, entitled the Multicultural Guidance Project (MGP), consisted of ten meetings in which the students were required to participate in a variety of activities described in Omizo and D' Andrea's (1995) framework. Two advanced graduate students, who were also enrolled in the Depart­ment of Counselor Education at the University of Hawai'i, acted as group facilitators and implemented the activities within the students' classrooms under the faculty members' supervision.

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The goals of the project were as follows. First, the MGP was designed to stimulate students' social development in order that they might demonstrate greater respect and sensitivity for persons from diverse backgrounds. The second goal of this research-based, developmental interven­tion was to reduce the frequency of fights and disagreements the students were having in their classrooms and on the playground during recess.

Description of the Multicultural Guidance Project (MGP)

One hundred-seventeen third grade students participated in this project. They comprised the four third grade classes at the school in which the intervention was conducted. All of these students resided with families from low to low-middle socioeconomic backgrounds. The cultural/ethnic/racial make-up of the student body at this school was very diverse including children identified as being Hawaiian or part­Hawaiian (35%), Filipino (25%), Korean (15%), African American (12%), Caucasian (10%), and youngsters from other Pacific Island groups (3%).

The third grade students who participated in the MGP project ranged in age from eight (N=77; 69%) to eleven years (N=1; 1%) with a mean age of 8.38 years. Fifty-one percent (51 %) of the students were female and forty-nine percent (49%) were males.

Upon receiving parental consent for the students to participate in the Multicultural Guidance Project (MGP), the faculty member and graduate students met with the teachers and the school counselor to schedule specific days and times when the MGP could be carried out in their classrooms. The graduate students volunteered lo assist in conducting the classroom activities that were designed to promote the students' social development. Both of the graduate students had received training in multicultural counseling and education interventions prior to participating in this project.

The MGP intervention was based upon a modification of Omizo and D' Andrea's (1995) multicultural-developmental framework. This intervention consisted of ten guidance sessions which were conducted once a week for ten consecu­tive weeks. The guidance meetings were held in the stu­dents' home rooms during times that were scheduled by the teachers and the school counselor.

These meetings were specifically designed to increase positive student-to-student interactions and reduce the problem behaviors these youngsters were exhibiting at the school. The Counselor Education faculty member and the graduate students acted as group facilitators who were responsible for providing the guidance activities with the

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third grade students at the school. The content and organi­zation of these classes are briefly described below.

Meeting #1 - Pretesting, Introductions and Rule Setting: During the initial session the group facilitators administered the Social Skills Rating Inventory (Gresham & Elliott, 1984) to all the students participating in the MGP in their respec­tive home room classes. The facilitators also discussed the goals of the project and the rules which everyone was expected to follow during the group meetings.

Meeting #2 - Name Tag Activity: After having the students write their names, favorite foods, songs and music, places they like to visit, and most enjoyable holidays, the facilitators led a class discussion that focused on the young­sters' responses to this exercise. The group leaders empha­sized any cultural similarities and differences that were associated with the responses the students gave to these issues.

Meetings #3 - The "I am" Activity: The students were asked to draw a picture of themselves and to finish the statement "I am .. . " The purpose of this activity was to provide positive feedback regarding any cultural/ethnic/ racial comments/statements that emerged when the students completed the activity.

Meeting #4 - "Labeling": The males and females in the class were divided into two separate groups. The females were arbitrarily identified as the "good" group and the males were referred to as the "bad" group. The facilitators an­nounced the "good" group would have various privileges from now on while the members of the ''bad" group would have several punitive restrictions. Following these an­nouncements, the students were asked to discuss their reactions to being in either group. The purpose of this session was to introduce the concepts of "prejudice" and "stereotyping"to the youngsters and to explore the various ways people feel when they are victims of cultural, ethnic, or

racial prejudice and stereotyping.

Meeting #5 - Videotaping Activity: While one of the group facilitators videotaped this session, the others summarized the last class meeting and continued to process students' reactions to it. The facilitators then helped the youngsters explore various ways that elementary school students demonstrate negative prejudices and stereotyping when interacting with persons from diverse backgrounds. After exploring these issues for about 20 minutes, the group leaders asked the students to view the video and to com­ment on their own interactions with the facilitators and other students during that session.

Meeting #6- Multicultural People Bingo: The students were provided a "Multicultural Bingo Sheet" which included boxes that contained various cultural-specific statements (i.e., "Enjoys eating sushi," "Has tried adobo," "ls Samoan or part-Samoan," etc.). They were then asked to walk around the room to find other students who could "sign ofr in any of the boxes on the bingo sheet. To "sign off,"students had to experience any of the statements or possess the quality or characteristic that was listed in one of the boxes on the bingo sheet. After the students had all of the boxes "signed off' by other students, the facilitators used the descriptions con­tained on the bingo sheets to lead the class in a discussion about the positive aspects of cultural diversity.

Meeting #7 -Abstract Concept Activity: The students were presented with several abstract concepts like "love" and "fairness" and encouraged to discuss the various meanings these words might have for different people. They were then asked to draw pictures of what these words looked like in their class and at their school. The students were asked to show their pictures to the rest of the class and explain what they represented.

Meeting #8 - Rainbow Poster: The group facilitators Jed the students in a discussion about "rainbows." Then they asked them to paint a large rainbow on poster board paper using the following colors: brown, black, white, red and yellow. The children were then asked to paint a picture of themselves next to the color that represented their own racial background. As the students were involved in this activity, the facilitators walked around the room asking individual students to talk a little about their racial back­ground. The facilitators provided positive feedback on various comments the students made about their different backgrounds.

Meeting #9 - The Hands Activity: After the students broke up into small groups, they were asked to place their hands in the middle of their desks and encouraged to look at their neighbor's hands. While asking them to keep their hands in the middle of their desks, the facilitators led a group discussion which addressed the following questions: "What do you notice about your own and your neighbor's hands?," "Are they all the same color/shape/size?" "Do you

think any hand is better than another?"

Meeting #10 - Summary and Posttesting: The facilitators asked the students if they could recall all the activities that they had done together during the past several weeks. They were also asked to discuss one thing they learned that they could use when working or playing with other students in the class.

Lastly, the group facilitators re-administered the same Social Skills Rating Inventory (Gresham & Elliott, 1984) that was used to measure the students' social development at the beginning of the intervention.

Results and Conclusions

Two important differences were noted in the students' pre- and posttest scores on the Social Skills Rating Inventory (Gresham & Elliott, 1984). First, a significant increase was manifested in the students' "total social skills scores." This indicated that the students' social development had under· gone a positive improvement during the time they partici­pated in the MGP. Second, a comparison of the pre- and posttest scores on the Social Skills Rating Inventory also reflected a significant decrease in the students' level of "total problem behaviors."

In addition to the results generated from this sort of quantitative analysis, the school counselor and the four third grade teachers were also interviewed individually to gather additional information regarding the type of impact they felt the MGP might have had on their students. The school counselor reported a sharp decline in the number of third grade students who had been referred to her for fighting or other types of interpersonal conflicts. She stated further that the third grade teachers told her that they had noticed a big difference in the way the students were getting along with each other as a result of participating in the MGP.

The four third grade teachers reported similar reactions. They stated that the children appeared to be more tolerant of cultural differences and generally got along better with each other in their classes. They specifically indicated that the youngsters acted more respectful in class by not interrupting other students as often as they had in the past. All of the teachers noted that they felt much better about working with these students as a result of the changes the MGP appeared to have upon them.

The quantitative and qualitative data generated in assessing the effectiveness of the MGP indicated that it is a useful way to enhance youngsters' acceptance and respect for children form diverse cultural, ethnic, and racial back­grounds (D'Andrea & Daniels, 1995). Clearly, the MGP needs to be tested among students in other elementary schools to assess its utility and transferability when used among youngsters from a broad range of backgrounds and settings. However, the initial research findings suggest that this classroom -based intervention offers great potential in terms of increasing students' comfort and respect for those youngsters who are different from themselves.

EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVES/ 27

This is particularly important given the continuing diversification of the students attending public schools in the United States mainland and Hawai'i. Several experts have reported that students are likely to demonstrate defensive­ness and embarrassment about their own cultural/ethnic/ racial backgrounds when they represent a numerical minority at their schools (Atkinson, Morten, & Sue, 1993; Gibbs & Huang, 1989; Vargas & Koss·Chioino, 1992). ft has also been repeatedly noted that youngsters from minority cultural/ethnic/racial groups often become the target of negative stereotyping and hostile prejudices at school (Lee, 1995; Pedersen & Carey, 1994; Ponterotto & Pedersen, 1993). These sorts of negative reactions can often lead to antagonis· tic interactions and an increase in the number of intercul­tural conflicts youngsters from different backgrounds experience in elementary school.

Ponterotto and Pedersen (1993) stated that counselors and educators must be at the forefront of fostering racial/ ethnic self-acceptance and inter-racial tolerance as our schools become more culturally-diverse. Elementary school counselors are particularly well-positioned to help students develop the cognitive and social skills that are necessary for them to reflect a genuine sense of respect for human diversity in their day· to·day interactions with others.

The success of the MGP was largely due to the genuine spirit of cooperation and collaboration which was consis· tently demonstrated by the faculty members and graduate students in the Department of Counselor Education who provided the services along with the counselor, teachers, administrators, and students at the school where the project was conducted. The positive outcomes that resulted from implementing the MGP underscores the potential benefits which can be derived when university faculty members and their students make a commitment to provide these sorts of outreach services in our public schools.

References

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Atkinson, D W, Morten, G & Sue, D (Eds.). (1993). Counsel­ing American minorities: A cross-cultural perspective, (4th ed.). Dubuque, IA: William C Brown.

Carter, D & Wilson, R (1989). Minorities in higher educa· tion. Washington Council on Education. Washington, DC.

D' Andrea, M & Daniels, J (1994). "The different faces of racism in higher education." Thought and Action, 10, 73-90.

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D' Andrea, M & Daniels, J (In press). "Helping students learn to get along: Assessing the effectiveness of a multicultural­developmental guidance program." Elementary School Guidance and Counseling foumal.

Gibbs, J T & Huang, L N (1989). Cltildre11 of color: Psycl1ologi­cal interventions with minority youth. San Francisco: jossey­Bass.

Gresham, FM & Elliott, SN (1984). Tire social skills rating inventory (SSRI). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.

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Lee, C C (Ed.) (1995). Co1111seling for diversity: A guide for scllool counselors and related professionals. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

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Myrick, RD {1987). Develop111e11tal guidance and counseling: A practical approac/1. Minneapolis, MN: Educational Media Corp.

Omizo, M M & D' Andrea, M {1995). "Multicultural class­room guidance. " In C C Lee (Ed.). : Counseling for diversity: A guide for school counselors and related professionals (pp. 143-158). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Paisley, P 0 & Hubbard, GT {1994). Developmental school counseling programs: From l11eory to practice. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.

Pedersen, PB & Carey, JC (Eds.). (1994). M11ltic111t11ral counseling in tile schools: A practical lmndbook. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Ponterotto, J G & Pedersen, P 8 {1993). Preventing prejudice: A guide for co1111selors and educators. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Hawai'i Community Services Council {1995). Scanning tire future: Forces for change. Honolulu, HI: Author.

Selman, R {1980). The growth of interpersonal understanding: Developmental and clinical analyses. New York: Academic Press. Selman, R L & Byrne, DA (1974). "A structural-develop­mental analysis of role-taking in middle childhood." Clrild Development, 45, 803-806.

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Multicultural Connections at the Fun Factory

Photos by Steve Kelsey

f 11dy Daniels is an associate professor in tire Department of Counselor Education at tire University of Hawa1'i-Manoa.