The Importance Of Critical Thinking And Diversity

A conversation needs to be had regarding the effects of diversity. Diversity in practical terms is the inclusion of people from different walks of life whether it be color, race, or heritage. This topic is one that is sensitive for many people because of the history attached to this subject. In the past decade there has been instances where the supreme court has had to address the topic of “Diversity” to justify this ongoing debate. Like in the supreme court, college campuses have also discussed diversity in their college for a multitude of reasons. Additionally, they too have found many reoccurring problems relating to diversity, which will be addressed in this paper.

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.

This course focuses on important to teach students about diversity to help them develop empathy for others. We will read about diversity and cultures to help students understand what diversity really means and how it applies to them. Diversity focuses on race, gender, ethnicity, and cultural and how it pertains to the classroom and everyday life. This course is here to enlighten students of the differences of others and how to be sensitive to everyone’s cultures and beliefs. Consists of developing positive relationships among diverse groups and individuals to fight stereotyping and promote unity (Bank & McGee, 2013).

As an African-American female coming here to Kutztown was a new experience. Attending a predominantly white school was nothing new to me, but coming from a city schooling experience was completely different than the town setting of Kutztown University. It was difficult getting adjusted to life at Kutztown, I did not know anyone and I did not have a roommate for the better part of my first semester; I kept to myself more. The diversity of Kutztown is not apparent at all. It’s buried under A.C.E. activities or mainstream organization funding. In direct correlation to the educational aspect of the matter, most professors that I have encountered are aware of the various issues are respectful to everyone so I speak for my peers. The diversity issue on campus comes into play within the student population.

Reading the prescribed chapters 4 and 7 in Diversity in the Workplace, I hemmed and hawed what workplace to target filled with heated debates aligned with their side, the other side and the truth. I will also provide my insights and observations onsite at a federal agency located in the Hudson County region recently. We have grown and continue to grow in technology, science, and math like the speed of light, however, when it comes to us on personal and interpersonal relations, I feel that we are little better than our ancestors nineteen generations ago.

This paper is the first part of a training manual that will help employees to have a better understanding of diversity in the work place and how to act towards different diversity issues that may arise in the workplace. It will also give current statistics and recent trends of the demographics in the United States as well as the forecasted trends. Also included will be a rough outline of the entire contents of the manual and the table of contents for the manual.

Being born and raised in College Station, I have experienced diversity. When I was in elementary school, race was never an issue. I went through each grade with a “class family” in which all peers were accepted and encouraged to learn, work, and play together. Students of all ethnicities felt a belonging and friendships were easily made. It was a time and age of innocence.

Cultural differences in the workplace can sometimes become a challenge in the work environment. In order to facilitate these differences, there must be some form of cultural awareness. Cultural awareness can help employees face the challenge of responding to individuals with different religions in the workplace, expose religious practices, and eliminate stereotyping in the workplace. Awareness of religions, and the beliefs associated with different religions, can be accomplished in many ways, such as training courses, workshops or company handouts (Thomas Kochan, 2003, p. 4). Companies must embrace multiculturalism and diversity.

Language and language diversity play a significant role in critical thinking and its processes. Language is the main device we use as humans to communicate through symbols what we think, experience or feel. Language is also one of the primary methods of transmitting culture. Language diversity is important to critical thinking because of the close relationship between language and culture. Language is used diversely by different cultures, with what is deemed appropriate in one culture often being thought of as inappropriate in another culture. Culture, then, often shapes language both in its use and in what we view to be "normal" language. Close reading consists of exploring language in ways that increase critical thinking skills.

     Finally, the individual needs to be comfortable when dealing with the dynamics of diversity. This person will need to utilize a process framework in addressing diversity. This means take the time to understand both sides of the story before deciding who was wrong. Sometimes a saying may be interpreted wrong because it may be acceptable in one culture but not the other. A diversity mature individual will take the time to ask questions to better understand the situation, and then provide a solution to help both parties resolve the matter in a peaceful way. This technique will allow employees to regain focus and continue performing at peak levels.

In order to study the need of a racially and culturally diverse college campus, the journey and battles fought must be dicussed. While there is a lack of diversity on college campuses today, they are not completely devoid of people of color. However, there was a time when college campuses were one hundred percent Caucasian. Jonathan R. Alger, Jorge Chapa and a team of researchers conducted studies on various college classrooms. They then went on to publish their findings in a book titled Does Diversity make a Difference? The purpose of their paper was to discuss the importance of diversity and reveal the effects of non-diverse campus. They begin their book by taking a look into the history of diversity in America. The start of the Civil Rights movement along with President Lyndon B. Johnson’s war on poverty took place in the mid 1960s. These events forced the country to face the reality of the people of color in America. These Americans of color did not have equal access to education, jobs, housing, or other valued resources (Alger et al. 2000). College administrators and faculty were starting to understand the necessity of a diverse campus. The realized that people of color had just as much to offer to the United States as the Caucasian majority. During that time, “many higher education faculty members and administrators were deeply concerned that abandonment of race sensitive admissions and hiring, at a time when most minority groups continue to be unrepresented in higher education, will severely limit campus diversity and would undermine the learning environment for all students.” (Alger et al. 2000). Additionally, a lot of the traditionally white colleges and universities were provoked and questioned by the concerns of their students. The universities and colleges began to notice their inability to extend the same educational

Since I started this class, I have a learned a great deal about cultural diversity in the classroom and abroad. My perspective has changed slightly but my knowledge of this subject has improved. In my family, my father taught me about the civil rights movement and the evils of segregation in the U.S. My parents taught me to be tolerant of all humans, no matter what they look like, how they dress, or their sexual orientation. My family has always been liberal thinkers who taught me the dark history of racism and bigotry in this country. As an educator I would be accepting to all race, creeds, and religious peoples.

The first thing to acknowledge about diversity is that it can be difficult. In the U.S., where the dialogue of inclusion is relatively advanced, even the mention of the word “diversity” can lead to anxiety and conflict. Supreme Court justices disagree on the virtues of diversity and the means for achieving it. Corporations spend billions of dollars to attract and manage diversity both internally and externally, yet they still face discrimination lawsuits, and the leadership ranks of the business world remain predominantly white and male.

We live in a society where people come from different countries, they belong to different cultural, religion, ethnic groups, and races. All these factors come together and contributes to differences that make us unique from each other. Hence, a multicultural country with huge diversity. This reflection journal will cover what “human race” is and what role it plays in ones’ personal life and in a nursing profession. Moreover, what bias, assumptions and judgements are, and how to avoid them. Lastly, what caring is and what role does it play in nursing.

As of July 1, 2011, there are 36, 708, 083 people in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2017a). 1.2% higher than the population last year, which was 36, 264, 604 people of all ages and both sexes (Statistics Canada, 2017b). The growth of population in Canada, which in this case powered largely by immigration, increases not only the human capital, but the diversity in every province as well. Hence, as diversity expands, there is also a rampant growth in religion. In 2011, there are 108 religions observed in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2011) - Christianity, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu – to name a few. These demographics have connotations on how diversity in school is also evident.