Cultural diversity is
not a new subject to me. Throughout my
years of school we have learned about it and each year during high school we
had a diversity week. During the week we
have speakers come in and activities to embrace and celebrate our differences. One day we would dress up like our heritage
or wear a flag, another we would have sort of a potluck of different types of
ethnic foods. We learned that it isn't
just about race, like most people think, it is so much more.
My outlook on diversity
hasn't really changed from high school to now.
I went to Waterloo East High School where it is known for the diversity,
and unfortunately why it is labeled with bad reputations. To give you an idea of the diversity I'll
give a few estimated percentages: 68% Caucasian, 28% African Americans, and the
rest other (Mexican, Asian, and Bosnian) with different religions and genders
out of a school with a little over 800 people. The major difference between
high school and now is more of a range of differences. There are a lot more races, especially Asian,
which I'm not use to, speaking other languages, and more types of religions.
Why is diversity
important? It is important because the world is full of differences causing the
diversity and it is important to understand the differences, but also embrace
them. Diversity relates to people more
and more as we get older. If we don't
understand it now it could possibly hurt us later in life. It is seen in education, work, and daily out
on the streets. Diversity isn't the
problem, the problem is when the differences aren't understood and accepted
between people. Some of my friends couldn't be more different from me sometimes, but that's what makes us friends. To lighten the mood from a serious topic I have added a picture of two of my best friends, one being African American and the other Korean.
"Much of the vitality in a friendship lies in the honouring of differences, not simply in the enjoyment of similarities." (Unknown)
"Much of the vitality in a friendship lies in the honouring of differences, not simply in the enjoyment of similarities." (Unknown)
I think it is cool that you had a diversity week in school and that you guys truly got into the different cultures. I would also agree that the real problem is not diversity, but an intolerance of diversity.
ReplyDeleteIt seems very different to me that your high school was so diverse, only because my school was mainly all caucasian. Coming to ISU must not be very different diversity-wise for you.
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