Kenya has long looked to education as more than a pathway to academic achievement. In a country where ethnic identity can shape political and social relationships, bringing young people from different communities into the same classrooms has also been seen as a way of building a stronger sense of nationhood. But does simply putting students from different backgrounds in the same school make them trust one another? New research from Kenya suggests the answer is more complicated. A study published in the British Journal of Political Science , led by Jaimie Bleck, Robert Dowd, Danice Brown Guzmán, and Mizizi Elimu Afrika researchers Dr. John Mugo and Jackline Oluoch-Aridi, examined 984 secondary-school students in 20 schools to assess whether exposure to a more ethnically diverse student population influences friendship, trust, tolerance and national identity. The findings offer both encouragement and a warning for education policymakers: diversity can create an opportunity...
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