A group of IOU members went to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles during the summer of 2008. As stated on its website, the museum "is the educational arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an internationally renowned human rights organization dedicated to promoting respect and mutual understanding, through education, community partnerships , and civic engagement."

We were joined by representatives from other Oregon community colleges. The Museum of Tolerace educational team introduced us to a variety of the museums's interactive displays accompanied by several days of interactive instruction and discussion. During these discussions, we discussed Cultural Proficiency, a model for dealing with difference (see below). We brought this model back to our campus and presented it in both staff/faculty inservice and individual classes. We hope to continue to use this model to guide our discussions about diversity. This is a brief overview of the model.

1)  Cultural Destructiveness – See differences.  Stomp it out.

     The elimination of other people's cultures

     Example - Genocide

2)  Cultural Incapacity – See differences.  Make it wrong.

     Belief in the superiority of one's culture and behavior that disempowers another's culture.

     Example - Our play that we performed at inservice

3)  Cultural Blindness – See differences.  Act like you don’t.

    Acting as if the cultural differences you see do not matter, or not recognizing that there are differences among and between cultures.

    Example - Assuming that Cinco de Mayo is a holiday for all Spanish-speaking countries

4)  Cultural Pre-Competence – See differences.  Respond inappropriately.

     Awareness of the limitations of one's skills or an organization's practices when interacting with other cultural groups.

     Example - Token acknowledgement of cultural celebrations without looking at deeper issues

5)  Cultural Competence – See differences.  Understand the difference.

    Interacting with other cultural groups using the five essential elements of cultural proficiency as the standard for individual behavior and school practices.

     Example - The Poverty Tour

6)  Cultural Proficiency – See differences.  Respond appropriately.

   A journey from exclusiveness to inclusiveness

   All voices heard

   Our goal - Courageous Conversations

From a presentation by Keith Myatt

keith.myatt@gmail.com

Also, from Using the Tools of Cultural Proficiency (2003) by Randall B. Lindsay, Kikanza Nuri Robins, and Raymond D. Terrell.