To the Editor:

I was trying to figure out how to honestly express my views on the importance of DEI in education. I’d like to share this personal experience from teaching at Emory University.

Most Emory kids came from excellent school systems and were used to succeeding. However, many found themselves in a new environment for the first time; Emory is adjacent to Atlanta and the campus is racially, culturally, and economically diverse. Some struggled with what they perceived as a “weed-out class”; getting their first “B” or “C”.

Students who worked hard to pull that up to “B+” and “A-” were the ones I’d often tap as teaching assistants for the following year.

My challenges working in this diverse setting ranged from embarrassing: (“Please stop using car analogies, not everyone knows how to drive.”), to upsetting: (“My name is pronounced “Sha’de,” not like a lamp shade.”), to very serious. An aspiring med student came to office hours to discuss his “A-” grade, which he took as a personal failure.

He explained through sobbing tears the pressure he felt from his parents, peers, and especially his girlfriend who told him, “How are you going to support me if you can’t even ace Intro Bio?” He was a gifted student but said he found college just too overwhelming; he was far from home, struggled to fit in, everything was too different. Fearing he was a suicide risk, I walked him across campus to the counseling center.

Unfortunately, he unenrolled.

Know our students — who they are, where they come from and listen to their life experiences. We do a disservice by failing to prepare kids for the realities of a diverse and challenging world. I feel we should help them approach from a standpoint of curiosity and courage, not fear.

Christopher Gilson

Sandy Hook