In my previous entry, I began to share some reflexions triggered by the book Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity: The Keys to Successful Equity Implementation by Floyd Cobb and John Krownapple (Mimi and Todd Press, 2019). In this entry, I will unpack more of their toolkit, including tools for recognising “distortions of dignity” and developing “dispositions for dignity” at an individual level, in order to shape a culture of dignity as a community.
Cobb and Krownapple propose the term dignity over “diversity”, “equity”, “inclusion”, or other terms like “justice” or “anti-racism”, which are more prevalent in our field. They describe dignity as “the innate, equal worth of each human simply because that person is human”, adding that “Dignity stands above differences… dignity is the state or quality of being worthy to belong. That’s why the recognition of the dignity of every student is central to equity work.” (p 95). They also prefer the term dignity to respect, because “Whereas dignity is innate, respect must be granted and may or may not be accorded to a person’s actions. Respect is an admiration that must be earned. That is a crucial distinction.” (p 97). This struck a chord because at Le Rosey we often talk about respect as one of highest values. In fact, actis virtus suggests that we will be judged according to our actions. But what if we started from a different premise, one where every single member of our community has “innate, equal worth”? How would our interactions change, and, more importantly, would this have an increasingly positive impact on the young people in our care? On our colleagues? On the employees alongside whom we work? Would a focus on “dignity” over respect bring about a significant improvement in school culture?
On an individual level, how do we “do dignity”? What are concrete actions we can take to lead, teach and interact with dignity? Dr Donna Hicks provides 10 essential elements of dignity in her work Dignity Model (2011), listed in Cobb and Krownapple’s book. Consider which of these resonate with you:
| Acceptance of identity: support expression of people’s authentic selves without judgment. | Safety: put people at ease, physically and psychologically. |
| Recognition: validate people. | Independence: enable agency. |
| Acknowledgment: respond to concerns. | Understanding: listen to perspectives. |
| Inclusion: welcome and issue invitations. | Benefit of the doubt: extend trust. |
| Fairness: treat people with equity. | Accountability: apologise for causing harm. |
Just typing up these terms triggered a reflection on the extent to which I apply each. For example, I aim to “put people at ease, physically and psychologically” (Safety), but do I “listen to perspectives” (Understanding) and “extend trust” (Benefit of the doubt)? And as much as I try to “support the expression of people’s authentic selves without judgment” (Acceptance of identity), I am probably more inclusive of the voices that I see as marginalised or “othered”. Some situations put me in defensive mode, where I do not put into action the essential elements from Donna Hicks’s Dignity Model. I can already sense the benefits of this self-evaluation tool!
On the other hand, humans can also act in ways that concretely violate elements of dignity in others. Cobb and Krownapple explain that “We have a need to belong. Being aware of this can make us feel vulnerable. We can weaponize human vulnerability by seeking to diminish others’ feelings of belonging…It’s a natural human failing that when we feel our own dignity is vulnerable, we can be tempted to violate the dignity of others.” (p. 126) In addition to the Ten Essential Elements of dignity, Dr Hicks identifies Ten Temptations to Violate elements of dignity. Reading through them, we can see how easily we could “slip” into one of the following actions, especially when feeling vulnerable:
| Take the bait: letting the bad behaviour of others determine your own for the purpose of getting even. | Avoid conflict: Allowing someone to violate your dignity without speaking up for yourself. |
| Save face: lying to cover up or deceive others to prevent looking bad in the eyes of others. | Play the victim: claiming innocence in failed relationships. |
| Shirk responsibility: Refusing to admit it when you have made a mistake and shifting that blame onto someone else. | Resist feedback: deflecting feedback about your blind spots that others can see and you cannot. |
| Seek false dignity: gaining one’s sense of self-worth from external sources only instead of relying on one’s inherent self-worth. | Blame or shame others to deflect your guilt: Not being able to tolerate being exposed of a wrongdoing; instead, placing the blame on others. |
| Seek false security: Remaining in a relationship in which your dignity is routinely violated. | Gossip: talking about others in a negative way in order to connect with others. |
Do you recognise any of these in your own behaviour? Perhaps our defense mechanisms will make it more difficult to use this table as a self-reflection tool, but we will surely identify experiences in our own lives where we encountered one of these behaviours, and how marginalised or humiliated it made us feel. (Interestingly, Cobb and Krownapple define humiliation as “a dignity violation that occurs with a witness(es)”, p 139). In some ways our society normalizes dignity violations by placing such importance on hierarchy and “earning” a sense of belonging through achievement and privilege. I am reminded of school events where a debate became an opportunity to “roast” a fellow classmate (the intellectual conversation turning into a personal attack) or students putting down members of their own sports team for missing a shot or goal during a competition.
To summarise: to create a school culture where every member feels they belong (unconditionally) we should focus on honouring our shared dignity as humans. And to do that would require integrating the 10 essential elements of dignity and rejecting the 10 Temptations to violate the essential elements of dignity. It will require work at the individual and collective levels, but the results could be more long-term and sustainable than a specific DEI training. What do you think?
Source: Cobb, Floyd Cobb and John Krownapple. Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity: The Keys to Successful Equity Implementation. Mimi and Todd Press, 2019.
