When someone asks me what school I go to, I do not say the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. I say Fieldston. It’s much shorter. It has a nice ring to it. It sounds academic. It sounds prestigious. But most of all, I say Fieldston to avoid the questions: “The Ethical Culture School? What does that mean?”
For most people at Fieldston, the answer to that question is almost too obvious to put into words. Ethics is everywhere. I learned about stereotypes before I learned to multiply. I know a lot more about microaggressions than I do grammar. I can name the big eight identifiers faster than I can count to twenty (I timed it–it’s true). But this “Ethical Culture” means much more than just grooming us into social justice encyclopedias. In fact, the term “ethical culture” truly does hit the nail on its head. The school, from the classroom to the hallways to the streets of New York City and beyond, truly does strive to promote “diversity, equity and inclusion” through an atmosphere of kindness, inclusion, and ultimately ethics.
This year, we have all found ourselves wondering if these qualities still exist in the world. In addition to the pandemic, we witnessed the murder of countless innocent black and brown people at the hands of the police. We watched our government descend into chaos. We opened our phones to see images of horrific hate crimes against Asian and Jewish Americans. In late April, this surge in hate hit a little too close to home: four synagogues were vandalized in Riverdale, all within a half-mile of Fieldston.
Amidst all of this, Fieldston, though far from perfect, can feel like an oasis from the chaos all around. My question is simple: what’s the secret? What makes the Ethical Culture Fieldston School so ethical? So, I asked the Upper School diversity coordinators, Mr. Marsh and Mx. Wild, for some answers.
Mr. Marsh and Mx. Wild are the Upper School DEI Coordinators, which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. Their mission statement, which can be found on the ECFS website, is divided into these three core tenets.
The DEI Department’s commitment to diversity is centered around the big eight identifiers–race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, ability, religion and socioeconomic status. Thus, the school goes to great lengths to attract a diverse student body and staff.
Our school’s commitment to equity manifests itself both inside and outside the classroom. The DEI page on the school website defines “that we work to challenge bias and discrimination of any kind, aiming to give true equal opportunity, access and treatment to everyone in our community, regardless of identity. We examine the systemic power structures that create inequity, focusing on disbanding them both on an institutional level and in the wider world.” Equity also speaks to the efforts geared towards creating conditions within the school that are equitable. One of the ways the school tries to achieve this is through a comprehensive reporting system for any student complaints regarding hate, bias data and anti-bias training for all staff and parents.
Last but certainly not least, our school is grounded in inclusion. This ensures that our commitment to diversity does not just mean having a wide range of identities–it means that we try to create a space where all of our voices are heard and valued. Thus, our curriculum tries to not just mindlessly follow the Western canon. Instead, historically marginalized voices are celebrated, integrated into our learning just as any other subject would be.
Diversity, equity and inclusion are not mutually exclusive. In isolation, they would be meaningless. Inclusion means nothing without diversity. Diversity means nothing without equity. The three tenets work together to engineer this famed ethical culture, to ensure that our education is far more than just facts and figures. “At ECFS, learning comes with purpose: to be a clear and daring thinker, to be good and kind, to be competent and skillful, to be an engaged citizen, to be an agent of positive change. This is education that prepares students not simply for college, but for life.”
Beyond the categories of diversity, equity and inclusion, the DEI department divides their work into four domains, outlined: identity, diversity, justice and action (IDJA). Identity is an integral part of education here at Fieldston. We are taught to reflect healthily on who we are and how that relates to the world around us. Our “big eight” identifiers are constantly intersecting, and together, give us a very unique perspective on the world. The second tenet, diversity, is meant to foster comfort among students in people who do not look or think like them. Here, we are not taught to be colorblind–we do not tiptoe around our “big eight” as if they are non-factors in our lives. Instead, we are taught to be comfortable enough with our identities that we can have an open conversation with people of other identities.
The final two domains–justice and action–are what give us a fervor to change the world. Our signature Fieldston “wokeness” didn’t come out of thin air. We are social justice warriors because justice is constantly weaving its way in and out of our curricula, whether we notice it or not. We are encouraged to identify the power structures that corrupt our world and to topple them. Action does not have to mean starting a movement. It can take place on a micro-level – in conversations with friends and day-to-day interactions – or on a macro-level – at protests and conferences and summits. A lot of the DEI department’s work takes place behind the scenes but has come to define what Fieldston is all about.
When I asked Mx. Wild and Mr. Marsh what their department does to combat hate, the first thing that came to mind were the Adler Requirements. One of the greatest parts about Fieldston is the elective system; instead of taking survey courses, juniors and seniors can choose English, history, ethics and science electives that interest them. Starting with the class of 2023, every student will be required to take at least one history and one English elective during their junior and senior years that are “Adler approved.”
The objective of the Adler Requirement, as described by Wild and Marsh, is to center voices that are typically excluded from the Western canon. However, this does not mean that minority perspectives are tokenized, or defined solely by their oppression. Instead, these courses balance the struggles of these communities with their accomplishments. For example, instead of just learning about the horrors of slavery, students would hear stories of resistance and resiliency–perhaps about slave rebellions, and the making of music and art. This approach is meant to “develop student ability to recognize and analyze the power, privilege, oppression and the structures that uphold them.” These classes also hope to develop the student’s self-awareness vis-a-vis these power structures and reflect on how these societal issues affect their worldview.
Another initiative to combat hate is affinity groups. Affinity groups are meetings between people who all share a social identifier. Though usually one of the big eight identifiers, affinity groups can congregate on the basis of any identity; there is an adoption affinity group and an affinity group for children with single parents. There are also affinity groups that are dedicated to the intersection of multiple identifiers, such as the black male affinity group (Invictus), and the Women of Color Collective (WoCC). Mr. Marsh and Mx. Wild explained that oppression attempts to divide people. Affinity groups are a way of galvanizing the community. It may seem counterintuitive. Don’t affinity groups divide people up by their identifiers? Wild and Marsh explained that affinity groups, by helping us to understand each of our myriad identities, make us a stronger community when we come back together.
Most Fieldston students are very familiar with affinity groups. However, they may not know just how much work goes into them behind the scenes. Both faculty and student advisors must be trained before they can lead an affinity group. Before the pandemic, they would meet with the DEI Department every quarter to debrief and discuss programming. Affinity groups are behind a lot of the programs we engage with at Fieldston, and all of that is in conjunction with the DEI department. Last year, the Asian affinity group (ACTIVE) hosted an assembly on affirmative action. ACTIVE, WoCC, Invictus and the Jewish affinity group planned a screening of Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman.”
A lot of DEI work at Fieldston takes place in conjunction with the health and wellness team. Both departments understand that social issues and mental health are inextricably linked, as what happens on the news can have a profound impact on students’ well-being. April’s antisemitic hate crimes were aimed at synagogues in the neighborhood–synagogues where some students and faculty walk by every day and attend Friday night services. As a result, the DEI and health and wellness teams together provide processing spaces and opportunities for students to talk with the guidance counselors. The same applies to any hate crime that hits the headlines, including the murder of George Floyd last year
The DEI team also periodically hosts community curriculums, where students engage with social issues during advisory. For example, on Monday, May 10, there was an extended advisory time devoted to discussing anti-Asian hate. We did not learn about this surge of hate as an isolated trend. Instead, we examined its origins and discussed it as a microcosm of hate in general. We studied how hate can and has historically elevated from prejudiced attitudes all the way to genocide via the Anti-Defamation League’s Pyramid of Hate. This was not the first of its kind. In years past, there have been many community curricula on a wide range of topics. In some of them, advisories from different grades paired together to grapple with these issues.
A lot of the same work that is done with students happens with faculty. Every year before labor day, the Progressive Teaching Institute, directed by Mx. Wild, meets with all the new faculty and staff. Wild describes that an integral component of progressive teaching is recognizing and interrupting bias in the classroom. In order to do so, students must be encouraged to connect seemingly isolated incidents of hate to larger social and legal systems at play. They also host optional sessions, called PTI Extensions, with the Progressive Teaching Institute, on topics such as promoting equity in remote school, interrupting microaggressions and teaching an inclusive curriculum. Another program, Courageous Conversations about Race, trained a large group of staff and faculty to facilitate conversations about race. Teachers, like students, also engage in affinity groups.
Perhaps the DEI team’s greatest impact is on academics. Though the DEI team does not have the final say on content, they contribute to our curricula in the form of providing opt-in training on understanding and utilizing equity frameworks. Each subject has its own unique equity framework, designed around this essential question: how has your discipline been used to oppress or liberate? None of these frameworks are set in stone. They are constantly changing to stay in tune with current events. For example, on May 5, the DEI department met with the athletic department to discuss anti-transgender legislation and its effect on their department, as well as to brainstorm different ways that activities can be organized without enforcing the gender binary. Over the summer, the DEI department worked together with the English department to help create an interdisciplinary curriculum that addressed the racial injustice during the pandemic. As a result, every single high school English class started the year with James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, prompting critical discussions about race at a moment when it was extremely important to do so.
DEI work is never over. Fieldston is far from perfect. Our halls are not free of bigotry. Neither are our classrooms. Too often, our commitment to diversity and open-mindedness crumbles when it comes to our political opposition. But before we complain, it is crucial to know that there is always work happening behind the scenes. The DEI team is doing everything within its power to make the Ethical Culture Fieldston School ethical. And so far, they’ve done a pretty great job.
