When we launched our print-based Teaching Tolerance project back in the late 20th century (1992, to be exact), "multicultural" and "anti-bias" education were new concepts to many teachers, and the Internet as we know it didn't exist. In the ensuing decade, events at home and abroad have highlighted anew the dead ends of prejudice and hate. The "information revolution" -- like the democratic revolutions of the same period -- has transformed the way we think about the world and our place in it. And the latest U.S. Census has brought "diversity" into the headlines as never before.
TeachingTolerance.org is designed to help you explore how teachers, students and families are transforming education for a new era.
Through the World Wide Web, a classroom in Des Moines can conduct a collaborative science project with a classroom in Buenos Aires. A teacher in Indianola, Mississippi, who faces an ethical dilemma can seek the advice of colleagues around the country. Students on the rim of the Bering Sea at Point Barrow, Alaska, can play real-time word games with peers in Key West or Kamchatka. The very concepts of "colleague" and "peer," in fact, have assumed a demographic and geographic breadth unthinkable just a few years ago.
At its most dazzling and idealistic, the Internet invites us to explore a vast global neighborhood. But can it make us any better at getting along with the people next door? A growing community of educators are using the Internet to make a positive difference for students -- not only in their learning, but in their lives.
Welcome to TeachingTolerance.org. Come in. Look around. We have many doors, and they're all open. Here you'll find new paths leading outward to broader horizons, as well as new ways of building bridges closer to home. We hope you'll come back often, share your ideas with others, and discover something useful every time.
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