Diversity in the classroom

Diversity in today’s educational system

Diversity is very important because one needs to know their status in life. Diversity in today’s society plays a major role in one’s life because many individuals are still trying to found out where they belong. For example, many people are still worry about their own race, whereas other individuals usually put full effort on trying to put one down just because of how ones look.
Can today’s society still cope with diversity? Diversity often played the central role in an individuals’ life, especially in school. However, diversity is the intentional or unintentional use of power to isolate, separate and exploit others as defined in our population today. Today, understanding diversity is very important. For example, People generally respond to others differently based on what they know, which may include superficial characteristics often associated with race. In today’s society, diversity has become very important because most of the times, society has to label one group inferior in order to make the other feel more superior.

A diverse school may be full with different races and cultures. For example, in a diverse school, individuals will encounter all types of people who come from all around the globe and one who were born in a different background. Yes there is a need because this country cannot help it but to focus on how well one is living, when others are not doing too well, especially in our universities, it’s the money that plays a role in an individual future because it makes the one who has the privilege feel more special about themselves.

Yes there is still a need in our society because students should be taught a well rounded curriculum to excel regardless of ethnicity. Many of the classes taken in college are centered on individual thought and expression. To ensure race and ethnicity, individuals goal is to welcome or embrace diversity while attending colleges, this should be our focus and goal for the college because ones horizons to look beyond the visual that one see and focus on the person as a whole without any reference to race, gender, or nationality. There might be other types of diversity that need to be ensured, but I can’t really think of any right now. Change not will happen overnight; it must start at home and then travel abroad. If we take the following steps within the individualized, then, it will be ok for diversity to be part of schools around the globe.

There are many ways to ensure we as educators treat each and every students that walks in our classroom with the utmost respect to their race and heritage without prejudices and racial and ethnic bigotry, first step is to first recognize any biases you have learned; there are some questions you can ask yourself to find out if you are indeed bias, do I interact equally with all the students? Do I discourage women from taking on an abundance of work and leadership role? Do you assume every minority student that is enrolled in your educational institution is there under special admissions program? (E.g. Affirmative action). Treat each student as an individual, and respect each student with respect for he or she is. Do you do your best to be sensitive to terminology? Words can be a very powerful tool as we all know, the tongue is a very powerful weapon, and it can build a person or destroy them, as educators we must know exactly how to treat our students and use positive language to help build their self esteem and this will lead to improving their self worth.

According to Levine and associates, ever since the civil rights movement America has been struggling to figure out how to best educate and graduate their new students, these new students were African Americans, Chicanos and Latinos and Native Americans. Once they are on campus, though, many of these students feel that they are treated as unwelcome outsiders, and they describe having encountered subtle forms of bias (Cones, Noonan, and Janha, 1983; Fleming, 1988; Green, 1989; Hall and Sandler, 1982; Pemberton, 1988; Sadker and Sadker, 1992; Simpson, 1987; Woolbright, 1989). We’ve all seen and read the stories of the way the minorities were being treated during those times, and the treatment was everything but equal. During the 1907, Mississippi spent about $5.02 per white student and only spent $1.10 per black student, which is a very big difference in the different level of education, afforded to the white students, therefore the black students often or if ever receive any new text books or school supplies. In 1954 the Supreme Court heard a case that would go down in educational history, which was Brown vs. Board of education of Topeka, which this decision whites schools would have no choice but to allow black students to enroll and attend their schools, this decision would not received with open arms by the whites, they would boycott in front of the schools every day, it was so bad that the national guards had to be dispatched to keep the black students safe from being harmed. This Supreme Court ruling was to fix the 1896 Plessey vs. Ferguson ruling which made segregation legal and the so called American way of life.

It really pains me to see how today’s minority students are not taking advantage of the education they have inheritated from the blood sweat and lives of the African American men and women fought for and won. In today’s society, schools and everywhere else you turn contain many different type of people, the goal of the educator today is not only to teach the material but to do it in such a way that everyone in the classroom understands, due to the fact most students that are In the classroom are more often than likely bi-lingual, some students speak one language at school (English) and speak in their parents native tongue at home. This quotes by an esteem African American educator by the name of W.E.B. Dubois “Probably never in the world have so many oppressed people tried in every way to educate them.”