Diversity: Growing Up In A Small Town

Inclusion is making sure everyone has an equal opportunity to participate. It is a process that involves identifying, understanding

Diversity means people of different sexes, ages that all have their own different experiences, attitudes, beliefs and preferences. Equality means treating everyone fairly and making equal opportunities available. Inclusion involves making the individual the centre of their life, involving them in everything that is about them so that they are actively involved in all aspects of their life, care and support.

Diversity means to value and respect the differences and individuality of people. This means to embrace the differences between people and to treat a person’s race, culture, religious beliefs, age, sexual orientation, gender, physical and mental characteristics etc. with respect.

As a white male, raised in a middle class, rural family, I am not diverse at all. For most of my life, I even failed to see the importance of diversity. The majority of my high school looked the same, acted the same, and thought the same way. When I found out that my brother is gay, my perspective on diversity completely transformed. As I learned of his struggles, from being harassed at work to feeling that he had to pretend to be somebody else while at school, I realized diversifying is much more than something companies did to boost their public reputation. I may be impartial, but my brother is brilliant, one of the smartest, most ambitious kids that I know. I saw that being in an environment that was not inclusive to him whether it was

The most memorable time when I was impacted educationally by diversity would be my freshman year in High School. I had gone to a private Christian school from Kindergarten through 8th grade. My mom thought that it would be a great idea to send me to public school for my freshman year. Mind you, I lived in Dallas, TX at the time and public school is quite different than private school there. I was not only the minority in school, but I was one of five Caucasian kids in the entire school. I was made fun of for being white, coming from private school, and for being smart. Just like the article, Helping Diverse Learners Succeed, I had to learn about my new environment. I didn’t understand why the kids were mean to me and why

The word diversity represents a large group comprised of different people with different experiences. These differences include race, color, religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status or citizenship. However, “diversity” does not address how these different people function or work. Inclusion enables us to strive to have all people represented and make all members, partners and employees feel welcomed and valued, not only for their abilities, but also for their unique qualities and perspectives. The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique,

As an undergraduate McNair Scholar I wrote a paper on diversity in higher education, I was fortunate to have that paper published and I presented that paper at several conferences. The paper led to one university funding more culturally relevant events for African-Americans, along with the development of a Black Student organization. Through my experiences I have learned that diversity is more than just numbers, it is a culture. No two people have the exact same experiences, we all are diverse. However, if we foster a diverse and inclusive environment, everyone will feel a sense of belonging.

When we meet new people, we create small talk discussing about interest, dislikes etc. this then may lead to a new friendships or another person to avoid. Our diverse thoughts, interests and experiences steer us to the people we are close to and love. If everyone was exactly the same our relationships would be meaningless because rather than having a two way relationship , it will be like talking to yourself. Also because everyone has their interests and experiences when we meet people who have similar interest and experiences, we can feel excited or relieved knowing there is someone who we can relate to. This then can create a special bond.Some may believe diversity can divide us because we may disagree on opinions, have different lifestyles, create subcultures etc. however ignorance is what divides us. We can become closer as a society by embracing everyone's differences rather than excluding others because of their differences. In other words with diversity will come unity.

Growing up I lived in a small town in a small county. My town had a population of 500 people – 499 white, 1 black. In elementary school my class size was never over 25 children, even in high school it stayed around the same size. My graduating class was 183 students which was large for the area. I never had much diversity or realized that I was so sheltered to the diversity our world has to offer.

The two areas that I am the strongest in when we talk about understanding diversity are prejudice and discrimination. We are all different in our own special way; however inside we are all equal. I believe that the way I think has a lot to do with the way I grew up. I was raised in a catholic environment/setting where everyone helped each other out no matter what. Our text explains that “Diversity can be defined as any attribute relevant to an individual that creates or reinforces a perception that he or she is different from another individual” (De Janasz, Dowd, & Schneider, 2014, p. 113). Now a day there is a lot of prejudice, this judgment in my opinion is not fair. We can’t just stereotype people based on memberships or because they are

I attended one of the most diverse public high schools in New Jersey. My experiences there have taught me not only that the world we live in becomes more complex with each passing day, but that I have a never-ending hunger to explore it. That’s not something I can do by myself. Diversity is beyond an individual’s race or gender. It comprises of their characteristics that make them unique as one or as part of a community.

Living in a diverse community as a new immigrant, speaking Chinese is the only thing I felt at home. Surprisingly, starting from my freshman year, many classmate talked to me in Chinese to practice their speaking, which made me realized Chinese has became a connection between me and the new environment. By this notion, I started to assist my Chinese teacher with providing additional help for the students, such as improving pronunciation, recognizing Chinese characters, and learning verb tense. I felt fulfilled when my classmates showed improvements by talking to me with fluent Chinese because it proved that my influence of Chinese has engraved in this diverse community. The experience in teaching not only inspired me to help people, but it

Cultural diversity is a major epidemic in this world today. There are many small towns that do not want to deal with the diversity of people and do not want to accept diversity into their community. My community, which is known as Princeton, was developed in the early 1800 's, and we are one of those communities. The most common issues with cultural diversity are race and gender. Although the majority of people in my community feel that the days of cultural diversity are long gone, I would have to beg to differ with them and bring to their attention a few of the opposing issues that still occur here in our community.

Reflecting back to my undergraduate days was my first real experience of diversity. There were several different ladies in the dorm with me from very many different cultures. I learned so much from talking to the ladies that spoke English. I was so amazed with the different experiences I had. Life was becoming very vast just like my parents said it would be. I happily embraced everyone differences regardless of religion, political, social class, or ethnicity. I was always taught to treat the janitor of a building the same way you would a CEO, with respect. Never look down on anyone unless you are kneeling down to pray.

My experiences with diversity have been somewhat limited. I was raised in a European American family. All of my close relatives are white, and having grown up in Eugene I did not see much racial diversity at all. Until I began high school I was rarely exposed to other cultures. I wish I would have attended schools that exemplified diversity