Respect Educational Diversity

When is the last time you thought about the education level of your stakeholders? As PR professionals, we may think more about visual indicators of diversity than how people differ in ways we can’t see. The level of education people have can affect all aspects of their life. Have you considered tailoring your PR strategies in relation to educational diversity?

When I first started in public relations, I remember how I had to work to simplify my writing style. Just out of school, I still wrote in that verbose, fill-up-the-page style college students use so they can meet the page length of papers. 

My old writing included lots of big words — almost challenging readers to deny my intelligence. Writing for the workplace turned that around. Now I know writing in a way that’s easy to read is the smarter choice. 

I probably wrote at an eighth-grade level in my early PR days, thinking journalists would appreciate I could show I had some writing chops. When I started writing for internal employee audiences, I was taught that writing at a fifth-grade level was best to serve diverse readers

What was really diverse for our over 88,000 employees was their education level. If we wrote at a fifth-grade level, it would be better comprehended across education levels. Writing at a lower level took conscious discipline for me, but simplifying my messaging allowed me to communicate with more people. That became my new goal.

This past December, Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle wrote about how a debate over the term “Latinx” (and how unpopular it is) was showing how a “fixation on minor word choices” was overshadowing more substantial issues that determine the outcomes of elections. 

She explained that while American institutions are increasingly concerned about achieving demographic representation, what’s being forgotten is the fact that most elected officials hold college degrees from highly selective institutions. “With educational polarizations rising, the left cannot afford to forget just how different educated people are from whatever demographic group they are supposed to represent.”

Working across educational differences

Communicators should consider that. The more educated people are, the further disconnected they can become from publics living different experiences. According to recent Census results, only 36% of the U.S. population holds a bachelor’s degree. Advanced degrees are about half that amount. Are we considering how we’re communicating with stakeholders who may not have the same educational background? 

As McArdle suggests, those without college degrees may not have the same concerns, values or interests as those who hold a bachelor’s or beyond.   

I recently conducted a media training workshop for a zoo, and a main point I made was being understood by all kinds of people. Animal care specialists have deep knowledge of their subject matter areas and have their own industry jargon to untangle when speaking.  

“Tell your story like you would to a field trip group of elementary students,” I explained. “If it makes sense to kids, it’ll make sense to adults, too.” 

Often, we know our subject areas so well that the acronyms and industry jargon involved seem redundant to explain. It can seem exclusive if we don’t explain what we mean to others when we write or speak. Here are five tips for breaking down topics in ways that work across educational differences:

1. Be sure to clearly define any terms or acronyms you use in common words. 
2. Ask a member of your target audience to be a beta reader. 
3. Think “simple and impactful” when you’re communicating. 
4. Explain a complex idea by including a story and hit the main point multiple times in a few different ways.
5. Always presume people need context, definitions and clear examples.

Making things easier to understand quickens comprehension and connection. Remember that when you communicate.