The Importance Of Diversity In Education

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

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.

Diversity has been a main theme within Education 100, and throughout the past eight weeks I have learned about the many ways that diversity applies to education. The first assignment we were given was to complete the Diversity Module, and that helped explain many terms and concepts about diversity, specifically in context to a college campus. Though with the topics we talked about throughout the eight weeks, each one can be applied to diversity in a different way.

Teachers should understand the diversity spectrum that is in a classroom; there are cultures, races, languages, and socioeconomic backgrounds in classroom during the 21st century educational realm. Students need to acknowledge student’s diverse background specially when they arrive late in the school year.

Diversity in the classroom is having a diverse group of students simply means recognizing that all the people are unique in their own way .Their differences could consist of their reading level, athletic ability, cultural background, personality, religious beliefs, and the list goes on.

The thought I have about teaching in a diversity classroom. Is it going to be a big challenging? Challenging in a classroom I see and deal with on an everyday basis sometimes but, dealing with a diversity classroom I have no idea. I believe in treating each of my students fair with unique strengths. I will like to create an open classroom that can value the experiences and perspectives of all students.

As teacher I look forward to teaching in the DMPS area because of the diversity within these schools. One of the school’s I would like to teach at is East High School. East is located on 14th street near downtown. It is literally in the middle of the city and because of its location the students there come from all kinds of ethnic, culture, and economic backgrounds. One of the mission statements for this school is “Using research based strategies, along with high expectations, to increase student achievement and prepare students for post-secondary education and/or the world of work.” Though I agree with somethings in this mission statement I also disagree with much of it as well.

In 2016, Donnetrice Allison does a Ted Talks on the trend of claiming diversity within an institution. Diversity is something people have demanded within public institutions, lack of diversity can lead to bad media coverage. For this reason, organizations now often strive to advertise their means of achieving a diverse environment. Allison points out in her talk that achieving diversity within an institution has become more of a numbers game rather than a humanitarian deed. Organizations have become obsessed with the idea of having diverse members, but do not focus on giving those people the same experience as the dominant group. Allison points out that because of this, institutions become (some what) diverse, yet exclusive to the minorities.

On the other hand, the education community faces growing challenges related to diversity, such as the academic achievement gaps between students of diverse backgrounds; racial segregation and resegregation in our schools; gender inequalities and sex discrimination; bullying and harassment of students who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender; educating students with disabilities; staggering disparities in educational resources based on class or income; access to education for immigrants; respecting students of all religious backgrounds; and so forth. Institutional hurdles such as high-stakes testing and the lack of resources for "nonessential" subjects make addressing the issue of diversity even more challenging

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

Effective differentiated instruction reflects where the students currently are in their educational stage and not where a teacher wishes them to be. This step is important; placing students either too high or too low in the instruction can be adverse to the teacher’s goal of helping all students. Developing lesson strategies for students that are too demanding may have a negative effect on performance and reinforce negative emotions concerning learning. Likewise, developing lesson strategies that do not challenge students to perform at their best can also have a negative effect. Some students that are not engaged by a teacher's instruction are left adrift waiting for new or more stimulating material. Engaging students in the learning strategy is the key ingredient in producing active learners.

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”)

When I was in my last year of high school in the Netherlands, I decided I wanted to pursue my college career in the US. My preference went out to Lehigh and I went through the application process. A few weeks later I got the news, I was admitted. Lehigh University has an acceptance rate of 26%, which means you get admitted at the expense of 74% of applicants. Since Lehigh is such a prestigious institution, the question was, were my above average grades and SAT scores going to be high enough to beat that 74%? Did the fact that I’m international have any weight in the decision of my admission?

As we are all aware education is something that plays a tremendous role in the life of every individual. As educators we need to be aware of our role in the life of our students. Sometimes we attempt to forget that there are many students who look up to their teachers, social workers, counselors, and others as their role model, and if students see that their own educators don’t believe in them or don’t see a bright future for them this is something that is going to affect the student’s not only in daily school life but also in their future decisions. If student’s feel like their teachers don’t have a big hope for them, this can make them believe that they wont be able to achieve what they want in life. It had also come to my concern that the school doesn’t provide students with a diversity among teachers.

Educational achievements determine future success and economical outcomes. In fact, race/ethnicity, social class and gender outline the path of ones educational experience. Besides that, socioeconomic status and household factors affect academic performance as well. Both school and non-school factors make it clear that inequality and educational achievement gaps exists in schools. Elements of schools to examine is funding, tracking and grouping, as well as teacher quality become predominant in institutional settings. While on the other hand, non-school factors include poverty, community, family participation and environmental factors. It is evident that these points are dependent on one another through which fuels the existence of inequality and gaps in educational attainment.