To think diversity now just means not white?

[diversity101]

We live in a suburb that is known for being very diverse. We don't live in UK (in Australia). We were looking for day care centres for our dd that claimed to be diverse and where shocked at the lack of diversity. The children there were at least 90% from Chinese backgrounds. On the day we inspected one place there was only one white child and one Indian child.

How on earth is that diverse?

We ended up settling on a childcare run by my workplace. It has a great mix of different backgrounds and they celebrate a range of holidays from Christmas, Diwali, Eid, and Lunar New Year, and they bring in elders from the local Aboriginal community to teach them some of the local language. The one we choose doesn't advertise as being diverse.

It feels like around here diverse has lost all meaning and just means not white.

I would think it was a necessity dictated by the Aus Government. So you must be seen to be inclusive. I doubt the owners of nurseries can refuse anyone because they are too many of the same ethnic group. In theory that should be allowed if everyone wants diversity but in fact you would probably end up splashed across the front page of the local paper, or I think you would here.

If the wiggles is anything to go by then the nursery means diversity compared to the rest of Australia. Watched the wiggles with my child and a low point was when the 4 white cast members sung an aboriginal song to an audience of all white children. It was shockingly lacking self awareness and diversity and made me more grateful for the BBC. I imagine there’s many Australian children growing up with little exposure to minorities if that is anything to go by (and from the experience of my brother who lived there for a bit).

So yes, as a black person I would see a school with lots of Asian children as diverse in the context of a country that sells the white dream in every other context.

Are you really sure that they were all Chinese? Perhaps they were from a variety of Asian backgrounds. I am half Chinese, my dad is Chinese and people have mistaken his ethnicity before.

Perhaps people from the same heritage community feel more comfortable using the same nursery? Children see people like them, aren’t prejudiced by their skin tone and have a commonality of tradition and language.
Many Polish, Indian and Filipino parents locally often travel a long way to drop their children to the Catholic schools. In part that is about a Catholic heritage but it’s probably more about a sense of belonging and finding a comfortable place where they can raise their children alongside and make friends others who speak their language, who celebrate in the same way and eat the same food.

Artificially forcing mixing to look ‘diverse’ would be as bad as rejecting children based on skin tone or heritage. Inclusion is about ensuring a place for all where they feel comfortable as they are not about developing uniformity and a monoculture.

@Dannydevitoiloveyourart

If the wiggles is anything to go by then the nursery means diversity compared to the rest of Australia. Watched the wiggles with my child and a low point was when the 4 white cast members sung an aboriginal song to an audience of all white children. It was shockingly lacking self awareness and diversity and made me more grateful for the BBC. I imagine there’s many Australian children growing up with little exposure to minorities if that is anything to go by (and from the experience of my brother who lived there for a bit).

So yes, as a black person I would see a school with lots of Asian children as diverse in the context of a country that sells the white dream in every other context.

Spot on.

Did they say diverse or racially diverse? They could meal economically, some of the parents could be LGBT, due to religion, the 'Chinese backgrounds' could be mixed race, some of the kids could have been adopted, some of the parents could be disabled.

This is just one nursery, not sure it's fair to extrapolate it into diverse = not white.

I live in an area where has seen 'white flight', no one wants diversity that = not white.

Were they actually of Chinese backgrounds or did you assume that all the Asian looking kids were Chinese?

Good point striving

It also concerns me slightly when “diverse” is claimed, but disability, sexuality and culture are ignored and skin colour is the only issue.

This ^^

It's slowly becoming that way. Although I agree that it could be socio-economic diversity too, or that they could have been other asian backgrounds that you assumed (most do) was Chinese. However, tv adverts etc over represent minorities to be "diverse" yet the same companies don't have diversity in the workforce. For example studies show that people of black backgrounds earn less and have lower levels of responsibility (junior staff, admin etc rather than management)

It’s interesting though, thinking about WHY we want to live in a diverse area or send children to a diverse school. What does that actually mean? The school my children are at has children from “diverse” cultural backgrounds which is nice as they learn about different cultures, religions and practices. However, basically all of them are upper middle class families, similar jobs, similar outlooks, aspirations, hobbies etc whatever their skin colour is. I would say my white British/Australian sons have more in common with their Indian/Australian or Chinese/Australian friends than they do with other white Australian children who live in (say) Wagga Wagga or Cairns.
Equally, their school really encourages children to celebrate their cultural heritage and share that, and I think the message that “we all have similarities and differences and interesting things to share” is a pretty good one.

@diversity101 any answer on where the children were actually Chinese or could they have been a mix of Asian backgrounds?

What is the correct way to refer to someone of Chinese/Japanese/Korean background when you dont know their national origins?

What is the correct way to refer to someone of Chinese/Japanese/Korean background when you dont know their national origins?

Asian?

I'm sure the toddlers involved dont care too much about it. They're the ones involved surely.

@7Days

What is the correct way to refer to someone of Chinese/Japanese/Korean background when you dont know their national origins?

East Asian.

Southeast Asia would be Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand & Vietnam etc.

So if in any doubt say East & Southeast Asian.

I understand what you mean. It's the use of it as a selling point, when the centre isn't diverse at all, but quite homogenous.

Demographics will depend on area. The area I teach is about 30-40% immigrant families, so relatively diverse in one way, but we only have one indigenous family attending, so not in another.

My kids are dual heritage, so we chose a genuinely diverse part of the city to raise them. Many parts are much more monocultural.