Allness

As teachers, it's imperative for us to be able to recognize these barriers, not only in ourselves, but in those with whom we have stewardship, our students. They both perpetuate and are victims of these barriers. We see it every day in classroom and playground behavior, those who bully and ignore, and those who are bullied and isolated. Here is our chance to step in, engage and teach how both can bring down the barriers and improve relationships.

Allness is when one assumes they know all there is to know about another based on limited information. This is a common barrier, one tied to values found in the cultural context and roles found in the social context. 

We do this with people who sport artifacts that might be outside of our own accepted cultural norms, like tattoos, piercings, wild hair styles, unusual clothing. We see an artifact, gather other limited data and confirm the barrier that we know all there is to know about this person. In law-enforcement this is called profiling.

Many students are driven by artifacts - clothing, shoes, hairstyles - in identifying and encouraging acceptance. If one doesn't sport the right artifact they can be or feel ostracized from their social context. 

The cure here is to remember there's always more to learn about anyone. Engage in communicating, ask questions, clarify, and never assume you've closed the book on the person. Allness is a myth, a good, relationship-building notion to pass on to our students.