Making Sense of Tolerance and Diversity
Thomas Lickona, Director, Center for the 4th and 5th Rs
Thomas Lickona, Director, Center for the 4th and 5th Rs
Tolerance has often been a controversial issue for schools. Why is this so? On the one hand, tolerance seems like a core human virtue, essential for democracy and civilized life. The absence of tolerance is at the root of much evil: peer cruelty, unjust discrimination, hate crimes, religious and political persecution, and terrorism.
But if tolerance is defined, as it often is, as “the ability to accept the values and beliefs of others,” it poses a dilemma: How can you ask people to “accept” all people's values when they may believe that some of those values are wrong? How, for example, can you ask people on opposite sides of the abortion and homosexuality debates to “accept” the validity of each other’s views? Contradictory views cannot both be right.
Tolerance does not require us to accept other people's beliefs or behaviors. It does require us to respect every person's freedom of conscience.
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