Dear Faculty and Staff,
I invite you to read the attached Chapter One of Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do by Claude M. Steele. This powerful work explores how stereotypes and social identity contingencies, our awareness of how others may perceive us, can shape our behavior, performance, and sense of belonging.
As a Jesuit Catholic community, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School is called to embody cura personalis, care for the whole person, and to create a learning environment where every student and colleague can flourish. This reflection offers us the opportunity to examine how identity and belonging intersect with our mission and to deepen our collective understanding of how to support each member of our community.
Reflection Questions
As you read, I invite you to reflect on the following:
1. Identity Contingencies: What aspects of your identity shape the way you experience our school community? How might certain identities, racial, cultural, religious, gender, or socioeconomic, be more visible or restricted in a Jesuit Catholic setting?
2. Stereotype Threat: How might stereotype threat, the fear of confirming a negative stereotype, manifest among our students or colleagues in our school, classrooms, and at student workplaces? How could this affect participation, confidence, or performance?
3. Jesuit Connection: How does our Ignatian call to find God in all things challenge us to recognize and confront these experiences with compassion and justice?
Strategies for Consideration
As we work to foster an inclusive and equitable school culture, I encourage you to consider two strategies that can mitigate identity contingency in our classrooms and shared spaces:
1. Affirming Belonging and Identity: Create consistent opportunities for students to see their identities reflected positively in the curriculum, liturgy, and classroom dialogue. Simple affirmations of competence, belonging, and potential can significantly reduce stereotype threat.
2. Reflective and Restorative Practice: Engage in ongoing reflection, personally and as a team, about how our language, policies, and expectations either affirm or unintentionally marginalize others. Centering care, dialogue, and restoration allows students and colleagues to reconnect with our shared mission and values.
As Ignatian educators, we are entrusted with forming hearts and minds, our own and those of our students. Thank you for your continued openness, reflection, and commitment to ensuring that every member of our Cristo Rey Jesuit community experiences the fullness of belonging that our faith and mission call us to uphold.
Peace and gratitude,
Walter D. Reap, Sr., President
Cristo Rey Jesuit High School – Baltimore
