by Anouk Shin ‘26
It’s no secret that St. Mark’s prioritizes anti-racism—and understandably so. As a small and “very diverse school, bettering yourself to be anti-racist and more inclusive of the people around you is more important”, says Elizabeth Pellini ‘23.
From Pathways groups to C&E day, our school’s devotion to inclusivity and multiculturalism is apparent in student life, academics, and all school events. But what do St. Markers think? Which aspects of St. Mark’s anti-racist efforts actually uplift anti-racism among students within our community—and which head in the opposite direction?
Fortunately, many of the current efforts towards anti-racism seem to be working their magic. Steven Zhang 24’, says that “Affinity groups and C&E day “reduce preconceptions and prejudice [of racial identity] in the school”, and as the St. Mark’s faculty board becomes more diverse each year, Joel Lawore 25’is “happy that St. Mark’s is definitely taking more of an initiative on [recruiting faculty of color].” For Joel, a diverse group of faculty is a “crucial” effort towards anti-racism in the long term: “Students are here for four years, but it’s the faculty that stay that really make the community what it is.”
St. Mark’s mission to combat racism makes an impact in the classroom as well, namely by “incorporating inclusivity into [its] courses,” according to an anonymous third former. One example of this “inclusivity”, she says, is apparent in The Global Seminar: “Its core values [are] learning cross-cultural dialogue and how to be respectful with people’s differences.”
However, despite the successful anti-racist efforts St. Mark has made over the years in school events, faculty, and the classroom, there is still room for improvement, according to St. Markers.
One issue, Steven notes, is the occasional “over-the-top” nature of school-wide events relating to anti-racism. To Steven, an important aspect of promoting anti-racism is not only the means of promotion, but also the student response—and “pressur[ing] students to [attend events] that they really don’t want to” may make it even “more unlikely that [students] will actually start becoming more anti-racist.” According to Steven, one example of an “over-the-top” event was the Lion Dance, mostly due to the fact that “[St. Mark’s] made [the event] mandatory for the whole school”. In addition to the event being mandatory, he says, many students “weren’t happy with the time that [the Lion Dance] was placed in” and “not many people were necessarily as interested.”
Events related to the anti-racist effort that are disliked by students can pose serious problems. In these events, intended messages of multiculturalism and anti-racism may go overlooked, and in the worst-case scenario, a negative perception of a culture or anti-racism may be instilled. So “in the future,” Steven suggests, “we can have these types of events, but we shouldn’t put them in such a weird time and force them to be mandatory.”
Joel believes that there are “a lot of things” relating to anti-racism and inclusivity St. Mark’s could improve upon. “Not to be pessimistic”, he adds, “just [thinking] with that growth mindset.”
Something that has been “very hard to deal with” but seems “prevalent” for Joel at St. Mark’s are the struggles students with a minority background face while adapting to the community: “When you are a student that comes from a very different background, it’s very tough to acclimate,” he says, especially because there are many students from “similar backgrounds.” Immediately jumping to a potential way to address this complex problem, Joel adds that just “being aware, whether you’re a teacher or student” and having “more Affinity Group involvement would definitely help” in mitigating the issue.
Implementing complete anti-racism in any institution is a noble, but very difficult task to accomplish. Nonetheless, I am glad to see that St. Mark’s is constantly committed to the seemingly impossible goal of anti-racism, and I hope, through feedback, changes, and everything in between, we continue to run closer to that finish line for generations to come.