What other ways do you spread diversity in the classroom? Please click here to share your ideas.
Diversity
Classroom
Although our society as a whole is becoming more diverse, with about 44% of American students today being nonwhite, the education system is becoming separated and unequal. This trend of resegregation and lack of diversity began in the 1980s, and has yet to substantially alter the direction. The result? A large majority of the children in these minority groups are being put into situations when they are prone to falling victim to becoming dropouts.
Diversity
Classroom
Why is being diverse in the classroom an important matter? Not considering the mere fact that education should be fair and equal out of pure morals and virtue, diversity also prepares children to be global citizens. Diversity is key for children to learn how to get along with individuals from different backgrounds and understand why different people are the way that they are. In addition, diversity education is shown to promote tolerance. In fact, a study done by UCLA showed that students from diverse settings showed less racial and ethnic prejudice than those students who interacted with non-diverse groups.
Diversity
Classroom
Among these benefits, there are a plethora of others when it is diverse in the classroom. For example, diversity improves cognitive skills and creative thinking. This is so because, in a diverse classroom, there is a multitude of perspectives and opinions that are different from the students’ pre-formed perceptions based on their circle in life. As a result, the students are forced to think critically when presented with these differing viewpoints. Diversity promotes creativity by enabling the students to use all the different ideas and experiences the students have encountered to bring them all together and make it into something new and unique. In fact, a study cited by Scientific American found that racially diverse student groups tended to outperform the groups that lacked diversity in problem-solving scenarios.
Diversity
Classroom
So then, what is the dilemma? Often parents feel as if they have to choose between giving their children an education that offers diversity or an education that offers excellence in the quality of their kids’ education. Although this is the overall trend throughout the country, there are schools within the nation that provide both diverse and excellent quality schooling. According to Richard Kahlenberg, when students go to a high-poverty school, they tend to be about two years behind their peers in low-poverty schools. Still, this imbalance disappears when they go to economically mixed schools. When this happens, the low-income and minority students benefit by having increased achievement. Meanwhile, the student body does not have a drop in their achievement. It seems like a win-win situation . More and more schools are trying to implement policies to address diversity, but the change is small so far. We need to continue to strive towards an equal, diversified education
What other ways do you spread diversity in the classroom? Please click here to share your ideas, we’d all love to learn more ways to spread diversity! Be diverse. Take care and stay connected.
