Respect for the power of words reveals how language can lift and unite or wound and hurt the diverse members of your audience. This respect develops into cultural sensitivity. If you read the historic writings on human communication, you will find little about cultural sensitivity. The ancient Greeks, for example, worried only about speaking to other male Athenians who were “free men” and citizens. Only in today’s world, with its emphasis on empowering a wide spectrum of cultures, lifestyles, and races and its pursuit of gender equity, has cultural sensitivity emerged. as an important standard for effective language usage.
There is a high probability that your classroom audience will include people from different cultures. As listeners, they may be sensitive to clumsy efforts by speakers to identify with folkways that aren’t their own. Campaigning for the presidential nomination in his native South in 1992, Bill Clinton was comfortable using such folksy expressions as “my opponents are squealing like a pig caught under a gate.” Speaking in Georgia in the same campaign, however, Senator Bob Kerrey from Nebraska was less adept. At Atlanta’s Spelman College, Kerrey declared that if Clinton got the nomination, Bush would open him up “like a soft peanut.” Kerrey’s listeners looked at each other with puzzled faces. Someone must have spoken with his speechwriters, because in later speeches in that peanut-producing area Kerrey changed the expression to “boiled peanut.” The lesson seems clear: Don’t try to be what you’re not, or you may look ridiculous.
A lack of cultural sensitivity almost always has negative consequences. At best, audience members may be mildly offended; at worst, they will be irate enough to reject both you and your message. Cultural sensitivity begins with being attuned to the diversity of your audience, appreciative of the differences between cultural groups, and careful about the words you choose when referring to those who may be different from you. Although you must make some generalizations about your audience, avoid getting caught up in stereotypes that suggest that one group is inferior to another in any way. Stay away from racial, ethnic, religious, or gender-based humor, and avoid any expressions that might be interpreted as racist or sexist.