For my fourth field, I focused on inclusive education and diversity within the school. Today was Halloween, so looking for inclusion was easy to spot. Almost all kids dressed up, as did the teachers, so I knew that the kids and teachers felt included within the building. Personally, I felt like this is very important to the children because they are comfortable around their peers and teachers to do so. The wide demographic range my school has didn’t play a part either, as no one was excluded due to belief or religion. Some kids didn’t dress up, but that was due to either religion or belief (for the most part). Something else I noticed that no one was picked on because of their costume. One, in particular, was a larger boy who was wearing a rainbow zebra suit. From my own experience as a kid around his age, this would have been a really negative time. I know my peers would make fun of me but for him, people asked what he was and he said, and then they said it was cool or something along those lines. I felt like this was really heartwarming because I never thought the mindset of kids would have changed so quickly. When I hear that people are bombarded with information regarding inclusion or diversity I understand how they feel in terms of how much it is, but at the same time, I can see the importance of it. As society becomes more socially inclusive, individually, people become more understanding and aware as well.

One other aspect of inclusive education in the school I noticed was a little less desirable. In the picture, I included below is a magnet that was up on the staff room refrigerator. As you can see it incentivizes inclusive education for the purpose of money, not out of social justice. I feel like this is the wrong approach, but I also understand why it is this way. For many, I feel like social justice is secondary or less of a priority for people, so having a pay raise is a motivation. Even on our first day, people in the school asked about how knowledgeable we were about teacher salary, so I can see the reason for others to see this and have it be the reason they get involved.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed today. It wasn’t exactly what I had imagined, but it was really good to see how kind and accepting all the kids were. The atmosphere in my school felt really inclusive and personally, I felt as if this was a great day for me to reflect on my school’s diversity and inclusive education.