Diversity In Education

The United States population is filled with diverse individuals. It is important for educators to understand that diversity in classrooms is not just based on race but ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, economic status, learning disabilities, and etc. It may not affect your student directly but it can be a part of their family background. Educators may assume that students have the same social or educational status of each other which in some cases is not true. If they assume that every student is on the same academic level, the students may suffer educationally or emotionally. Teachers need to understand that all students grow and progress at different times and it is up to an educator to help start their growth in the right direction and to make each child feel accepted. Yale University () discussed how it can affect teachers if they do not understand how to assess diversity, “teachers may themselves feel out of place based on their own ascriptive traits (i.e. differences based on class, privilege, etc.).” Diversity in classrooms is becoming more frequent and educators need to understand how to properly assess their student’s based on their educational needs and how to teach other students how each of them are different individually. There is no right choice to teach diversity but it is something that needs to implemented in classrooms.

Poverty is a serious issue which our society and children faces every day. It is a constant struggle that shouldn’t be ignored. UNICEF states “The study of OECD countries in 2007, over fourteen percent of Australian children under the age of eighteen are currently living in households who are defined as poor or with incomes less than half of the median national income”. The increase in the number and percentage of children living in poverty within our society has contributed to making today's classrooms more diverse than ever it has been. This highlights and makes both teaching and learning more challenging. Diversity exists in the students who are living in poverty and the education assistant and teachers must provide the concept of diversity

Students have their own best way in effectively learning the lesson. With the diversity of students, the problem is each student has a preferred learning style. It becomes undeniably one of the reasons that make it difficult to achieve the best expected outcome out of teachers’ effort. However, teachers try to incorporate various teaching techniques to make every learning opportunity become productive, meaningful, and relevant for the learners.

According to the 2014 Public School Review Diversity Report, the state of Maryland is rated the third most diverse public school system in the nation, with 43% White students, 37% African American students, 11% Hispanic students, 6% Asian students, and 3% Unknown. With a significantly higher population of African American students compared to the state average, the Baltimore City School District is a far less diverse agency than the state school system as a whole. Collectively, the Baltimore City Public School District is comprised of 85% African American students, 8% White students, 5% Hispanic, 1% Asian/Pacific Islander, and less than 1% American Indian, Multiracial, Native Hawiian/other (Baltimore City Public Schools, 2013a). Considering

Jonathan Kozol, a Harvard University scholar, witnessed the travesty of racial segregation within the inner city public educational system. After many years of teaching and exposure to substandard classrooms with dilapidated furniture, a shortage of materials to engage a pupil’s mind and a disproportionate diversity ratio, he could no longer tolerate the conditions in which he was surrounded. Kozol’s frustration compelled him to become a staunch advocate for disadvantaged children so that they might receive equal rights to a quality education.

Additionally, the transgender population at community colleges, which are social institutions, is an invisible minority on college campuses throughout the United States (Ivory, 2005). The systematic marginalization of transgender students begins with the application process (Seelman, 2014). The community colleges only recognize two gender identities on their applications, which reinforces the societal norm of gender identities (2014). Additionally, there is limited training on the needs of transgender students for faculty and staff (2014). Hence, there are none or few support services specifically for transgender people on many community college campuses (2014). Therefore, the community college perpetuates the marginalization of transgender

In chapter six the topic was about school and society. What I have gathered from this chapter is that a lot of schools and teachers aren’t incorporating and taking into consideration the culture and language of the students that attend the schools. The issue of diversity was major problem in schools and still happens today. The idea that minority students aren’t receiving the best education they can because teachers aren’t trained to fit their needs is kind of sad and unfair to those students. Students who come from Mexican families have a hard time communicating their teachers, because their teachers don’t know how to speak to them nor understand them.

When it comes to the law, everyone’s voices should be heard. There should be diversity within the law schools if everyone’s voice is going to be taken into consideration. Diversity can be defined as “[…] acceptance and respect.  It means understanding that everyone is unique, and recognizing our individual differences.  These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.” Lawyers are advocates for the people. The legal system does not work if only one person’s voice is heard. One system that is in place to ensure diversity in the law schools is affirmative action. Affirmative action was established on September

Researches have found that teachers are being bias towards African American students as young as preschoolers. There has been many studies that investigated this situation. It has been said that teachers watch the behaviors of students, but watch some students more closely. It is quite unfortunate, but is a real problem in today’s society.

This 1st grade math class has a diverse population of learners. Some were above grade skill knowledge, some were on grade level, some were below grade level and one had a learning disability in math. To help with this diverse group of learners, there were different instructional methods used: Team teaching/Whole group, Alternative teaching/small group. During whole group instruction, the concept was modeled and explained clearly. Whole group instruction allows the students to learn from their peers through their questions and answers. The class was divided into groups to practice the skill as well. I understood that I needed to closely observe my IEP students and a few more to make sure that they had an understanding of the skills. Small group

I am currently working in a Title 1 school. In the community I work in, diversity is extremely apparent. One of our largest diverse populations is found in the Haitian and Hispanic community. Being raised part Haitian, has created not only empathy and fair-mindedness for my students, but has brought awareness to their resilience in life. One major issue I think students of diverse populations face is the culture shock. As I previous mention, the Haitian community is well apparent in my school. Most people know that Haiti is not one of the richest places on earth, so therefore a student who is entering an American school for the first time can find it to be a bit overwhelming due to the culture changes. I know in my classroom, I pride myself in modifying my classroom for all students. I display this by presenting more visuals, Rosetta Stone program, Haitian-English or Spanish-English

Diversity and inclusion within STEM has become a challenge for institutions of higher education and industry employers. Issues with recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities are illustrated in workforce hiring and enrollment in higher education institutions. In particular, Colleges of Agriculture and related industries have shown to lag behind other fields in metrics related to diversity, equality, and inclusion. For example, in Purdue University’s College of Agriculture of the 2,736 students currently enrolled only 193 students were underrepresented minorities. This is alarming as the national demographics illustrate a shift in population proportions of underrepresented minorities and subsequently

Teachers sometimes spend more time with the children than parents do. Guetzloe explains that “we’ve got the children for most of their awake lives through their childhood” (Kaff 320). Teacher generally have the experience to know when certain behaviors should be further observed. The student/teacher relationship for children with emotional and behavioral problems is essential in the progress of that child. While at school, a child is left under the responsibility of a teacher where the child seeks guidance in that teacher as the authority figure present; the teacher serves as a secure base from where the child can socialize with fellow classmates and become familiar with the classroom (Arbeau, 2010, 3). On the other hand, some children tend to disrespect the authority figure in the teacher; do not take a hold of the opportunity of the secure base that the teacher provides for him/her for

Like it or not, there has always been diversity among students in the classroom. It is the fact that each and every student is unique. From every circumstance, students bring a varying set of values, perspectives, and beliefs to the learning environment. Understanding the character of students is important in order to become a competent teacher. In fact, teachers should be aware and recognize students, as unique individuals, all acquire information differently than others. Some of these differences are due to developmental variations in cognitive, physical, intellectual, moral, emotional, and social changes caused by maturation and experience. And this reality of classroom conditions makes instruction much more challenging for teachers and

Within the core of many educational institutions, diversity is a commercial tacit. While every institution cannot offer the same kind of diversity, the endorsement of such exists through various definitions. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges define diversity through the various classes: race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, disability, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and age (“Statement on Diversity”)