"We prepare students to engage in the world that is and to help bring about a world that ought to be."

A Week of Courageous Conversations

Diversity and Inclusion program culminates with conversations on religion and ethnicity.
In the second to last week of school, the Diversity and Inclusion program culminated its year-long focus on identity and anti-bias practice with a week of courageous conversations on religion and ethnicity.

Parents and faculty/staff were gathered at separate times to discuss New York Times columnist Roger Cohen's memoir, "A Girl from Human Street", which foregrounds questions related to Jewish identity, racial dynamics, ethnic and national belonging, and social justice. Participants vulnerably reflected on their own identities, family histories, and visions of a better world. Many attested to the power of religious ritual to construct enduring senses of self and community.

A group of Upper School students and faculty worked with the Director of Diversity and Inclusion to plan three discussions. Each conversation was guided by its own set of queries and framed around either a specific example of religious and ethnic identity or the dynamics that these kinds of identity often generate.

While two conversations were optional lunchtime discussions open to the whole Upper School community and all faculty/staff, the third required the attendance of all Upper Schoolers and their teachers. The first lunchtime discussion focused on Jewish identity, its relationship to the symbol and state of Israel, and the reality of anti-Semitism. The second highlighted Arab identity, stereotypical representations of the Middle East and its inhabitants, and anti-Arab sentiment. The third and final conversation was styled as a Meeting for Listening and Sharing, led by student leaders who offered queries for reflection. All members of the Upper School community were asked to consider the best attitudes and practices for addressing sensitive issues and controversial topics in ways that honor our Quaker values.
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Friends Seminary actively promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in all its programs and operations, including admissions, financial aid, hiring, and all facets of the educational experience. To form a community which strives to reflect the world’s diversity, we do not discriminate on the basis of race or color, religion, nationality, ethnicity, economic background, physical ability, sex, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation. Friends Seminary is an equal opportunity employer.

FRIENDS SEMINARY
222 East 16th Street
New York, NY 10003
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Friends Seminary — the oldest continuously operated, coeducational school in NYC — serves college-bound day students in Kindergarten-Grade 12.