T o care about socially diverse students requires mindfulness of diversity on multiple levels. One must be mindful of diversity on professional, academic, intellectual, emotional and personal levels. It is important to include outlets for examination of the personal and emotional components of life in the context of diversity, both within the school and in the broader community.
Problems arise when people depend too heavily on categorizations to organize their thinking.
Mindlessness begets automatic behavior, and can also come about when people act from a single perspective. P eople's use of language can provide clues, as certain language patterns are indicators of mindlessness. T he proxy for mindless or mindful behavior is language. When people are made aware of the patterns of thinking as reflected in the patterns of their language usage, they can start to examine themselves and relate on a deeper level with students whose backgrounds are outside their tradition. Mindfulness is encouraged through changing thinking patterns.