The more a teacher knows about a student, the more equipped [they are] to organize an instructional program that caters directly [the student’s] social and intellectual needs (Warren, 2014).

My doctoral thesis examines empathy in social institutions, specifically medical institutions. One of my chapters will be on race and empathy. Recent events both here and in the US have got me thinking about diversity (or lack thereof) and empathy (or lack thereof). My questions here are on where empathy fits into a discussion on diversity, and on what, if any, effect empathy has on the creation of, or dealings with, diversity. To this end, and to bring to a close my blog entries for this academic year, I’d like to talk about how empathy affects diversity in the classroom.

Empathy has been a difficult concept to define due both to its complex nature and to a general lack of agreement on its purpose. Empathy has its roots in the German word Einfuhlung which described feelings and emotion towards a piece of art, whether it be music or a writing, an act of transference of feeling from an object to oneself. Most definitions of empathy include a feeling for and with another that allows one to experience and understand another’s emotional state, all the while maintaining a “safe distance”—not taking on the experience as your own. 

It is not very much of a stretch to see how empathic responses to the “other” are a necessary part of successful intercultural interactions, as much as, or even more than, with a member of your own cultural or ethnic group. It is also fairly easy to see how a total lack of empathy towards an “other” permits you to ignore their suffering and deny them safe haven from that suffering; exclude them from participating in public life, and even watch them perish at the hands of institutional authorities. In individual, face-to-face interactions a lack of empathy, while not life-threatening, can be equally harmful.  Diversity brings about exposure to the “other,” gives the stranger a face and a voice, and provides room for empathic opportunities.

Carrell (1997) examined how intercultural communication courses and diversity-infused communication assignments impacted students. She found that intercultural communication courses strengthened students’ empathy as a trait, attitude or behaviour, while students who had been exposed to a diversity-infused assignment alone showed little improvement.

Warren (2014) theorized that empathy improved the effectiveness of teachers in urban, multicultural classrooms. His research showed that teachers could be taught to display empathy in their practice. This study illustrated empathy’s value in the classroom, showing that “diversity should inform a teacher’s professional decision-making” (p. 412).

Aslantas (2019) looked at how intercultural education affected the ethnocentrism of prospective teachers positively. The author proposed that prospective teachers could pass on what they had learned to their students, thus minimizing “biases, stereotyping, and again, ethnocentrism in the diverse classroom” (p.  323). Aslantas also observed that enhanced empathy contributed to improved general communicative competence and intercultural communication.

Back to my original question on how empathy affects diversity. As is often the case in my field of sociolinguistics, there is a symbiotic relationship between the entities involved; in this case, it is empathy and diversity working in tandem. Diversity allows for intercultural interactions that move the participants from the unknown to the known, and in turn with regular exposure, that growing knowledge of the “other” allows empathy to flourish. It encourages willing subjects to eliminate negative assumptions. Empathy, in return, creates a space for enhanced relations, and, specifically in the classroom, more efficient teaching and learning.

In these times of increasing divisions, and as diversity becomes the norm, empathy is one tool that can be used to build equity, belonging, and inclusion.

Have a great summer!

References

Aslantaş, S. (2019). The effect of intercultural education on the ethnocentrism levels of prospective teachers. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 11(4), 319-326.

Carrell, L. J. (1997). Diversity in the communication curriculum: Impact on student empathy. Communication Education, 46(4), 234-244.

Warren, C. A. (2014). Towards a pedagogy for the application of empathy in culturally diverse classrooms. The Urban Review, 46(3), 395-419.