Educational Diversity
All I see is the same color around me. Faces of familiarity pass and I feel safe. This was my mentality for most of my life. I am from a small, agricultural town in California called Santa Maria. My whole life is based on what this town has provided for me growing up. I want to say that it had done more for me, but truthfully, I can’t quite say it did. At my high school, there seemed to be a lack of quality. It only offered 9 AP classes and had a demographic of 97% Hispanic. Being difficult for those who wanted to go to college, and having little diversity it was harder to get into a university with an in accurate representation of the world. It is a huge problem that is also reflected in larger scale. My group of friends and I were some of the determined few who wanted to attend a four-year institution. My local community college was referred as ‘high school: part two’. This in my mind sounded awful and something I knew I did not want to be a part of. The road to college was to be tricky for me, and would do anything for the best possible chance.
To start my journey, I was involved in various organizations which I dedicated much of my time to. Key Club, Future Farmers of America, and AVID were what drove me to excel in my education. During my junior year of high school, I dreaded the stress I would endure of applying to colleges. The application process was like a marriage proposal. You work so hard to invest in a relationship and
The study of adolescent alcohol dependency is a growing field and offers both captivating and alarming discoveries because more and more younger children are depending on alcohol to function on a daily basis. You would be surprised to know how many young individuals are now dependent on alcohol because of the false advertisement that happens through television commercials and through social influences that surround these
Socially Uncomfortable: King openly discusses the socially uncomfortable topic of segregation and racism in which he goes on to mention the myriad of injustices perpetrated by the hands of the white population towards the African Americans in the city; bombings of African American churches and homes, poor tolerance and treatment by judges in court. Racial slurs all around the city further emulating the embarrassment and inferiority of African Americans to the white population. In these points, where King highlights the ungrudgingly, detestable and loathsome stance of the white population among other human beings because of their skin color, inevitably emanates discomfort and a lack of brotherhood among society and the human race.
This essay will be arguing that colleges and universities should promote more efforts to diversify and create equal representation of all students. Attending higher education institution for minorities has been an uneasy struggle and one that few minorities accomplish. The dilemma of African American enrollment for example, in a college lecture hall at Texas A&M containing 250 seats, only a maximum 4 out of 250 seats will contain African American students. Unfortunately, many institutions are similar to Texas A&M University, they have an underrepresentation of minorities their on campus in relationship to white students. The lack of diversity keeps stigmas associated with racism relevant and disregards the demographic representation of
As I reflect over my life, I appreciate the many diverse experiences I’ve came to encounter. My experience with diversity dates back to birth. I am from a small rural town, Moss Point, MS. and notably the last state to abolish slavery. The town currently has a population of 13,704 people and consists of 73% Blacks or African Americans, 23% Caucasian, 1% Hispanic or Latino and 1% bi-racial.
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
The world is filled different cultures, races and ethnicities, and it is crucial that our higher education institutions reflect this diversity. Representation matters. We are a country filled with diverse cultures all of which whom need to be represented. The purpose of this literature review is to explain why and how diversity in a higher education setting is important. Students learn better in such an environment and are better prepared to become active participants in our pluralistic, democratic society once they leave school Diversity is not only important among the student population but also within college curriculum. It is an important issue regardless of the setting. However, when it is applied it to a place where people come to learn,
A majority of school climate research has focused on the K-12 environment (Anderson, 1982; Beets, Flay, Vuchinich, Acock, Li, & Allred; 2008, Brand, Felner, Shim, Seitsinger, & Dumas, 2003; Bulach, & Malone, 1994; Ma & Klinger, 2000; MacNeil, Prater, & Busch, 2009). More recently, researchers have turned their attention to school climate on college and university campuses (Worthington, 2008; Rancon & Reson, 2008; Hart and Fellabaum, 2008). Two primary issues related to the need to monitor school climate and culture in higher education have taken shape over the past twenty years. One of the issues that has attracted considerable attention in higher education is the school climate experienced by racially, ethnically, and economically diverse
ayers and basketball players then it was the opposite. The black girls at Saint Mary’s often segregated themselves off, not because they did not want to be friends with the white population. But more to create an atmosphere that keeps their own cultural values with one another. It was white class privilege floating all around Notre Dame, Indiana. I felt like most kids were educated in catholic or boarding or top tier public schools. Their schools offered a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum and a broad range of extracurricular activities aimed at helping them to become more competitive to gain elite college admission. Going to a predominantly white institution it made my world feel small. In fact it was one of the reasons I transferred to DePaul, a school in Chicago. I always been in schools where I was a minority yet now I was a majority. I could not comprehend how people are okay with only being around only white people. Yet slowly I understand if one grows up always around all white people or vice versa all black people become accustomed to that way of life.
It is absolutely imperative for educators to understand the perception of "kids do well if they can," rather than "kids do well if they want to," as explained by Dr. Ablon. Despite the significance of this concept, there is still a widespread, incorrect believe that behaviorally troubled children are acting up on purpose. Similarly, it is also commonly accepted that children who do poorly in school are failing because they are apathetic and lazy, when really the opposite is true.
With the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868, prohibiting states from passing laws that deny U.S. citizens from equal protection under the law, the Supreme Court has been obliged to provide decisions that are color-blind (U.S. Const. Amend XIV, § 1). However, the Court often viewed education as a state issue and was reluctant to get involved. That all changed in the 1954 Supreme Court decision known as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In this ruling, it was decided that, “State-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment and was therefore constitutional” (National Archives, n.d.). It was at this time that the Supreme Court began to hear more cases regarding racial inequities in
Through seventh grade I went to a small elementary and middle school with family and friends that I knew all my life where the teachers did not believe in homework and everyone looked like me. Diversity was not something we talked about or saw in our small town. From that background, I then began a new stage in my life as an eighth grader at a new school where uniforms were required, homework was a given, and the student body was at least three times as large and quite diverse.
After learning so much about diversity in my Cultural pluralism class, I know that learning and utilizing multicultural skills will come very easy to me. I have always been the type of person who is very open minded and understanding to others and their differences. Throughout my life I am usually the person that everyone comes to and confides in about personal matters they may be dealing with before opening up to anyone else about them.
According to the Census Bureau, the term “minority”, used to describe racial and ethnic groups in the United States, may need to be retired soon. In 2012, projections were released that by the end of this decade, no single racial or ethnic group will constitute a majority of children under 18. And in about three decades, no singe group will constitute a majority of the country as a whole. (CITATION) Why is this relevant you may ask?
Increasing diversity in college enrollment has been a top task for universities for over fifty years. Despite the targets for diversification, a wide margin exists between the number of affluent white students and minority students enrolled in universities. One of the criteria for admission to many colleges is a standardized admission test. Those of higher socioeconomic background tend to score higher on standardized tests—of various categories: namely, SAT (referred to as “Scholastic Aptitude Test” or “Scholastic Assessment Test”) and ACT (originally “American College Testing”) for the purpose of college admission—than those from a lower socioeconomic status (SES). It is sometimes evident that it is concentrated to racial groups: white and
Has anyone ever passed away out of nowhere in your family, and you had no idea what to do? When I was fourteen years old my cousin, Kelly Crawford, passed away. My family and I had a hard time with this. Kelly was only twenty-one when she passed. Aaron, my cousin’s boyfriend, was only twenty-two when he passed. They died a year and three days apart due to two different accidents. These situations taught me lessons that I would have never learned if these tragedies would have never happened.