Cultural Diversity

As I think about my life, both in and out of the classroom, I realize I have limited experience with diversity. I started to school in a small, Tennessee town just as the public schools in my district were being integrated, but I didn’t realize what was happening. My parents never made an issue of a person’s race, so I just never thought anything about it. While I do realize that this has probably made me less sensitive to racial issues, I am also thankful that I did not witness some of the sheer ugliness that others have endured.

I would describe my students over the past few years as being mildly diverse, but not wildly diverse. Whatever the extent of their diversity, they all deserve to have their differences celebrated. I am torn between the two views of handling diversity in the schools. While I recognize the need for people of different cultures to keep their language and customs alive, perpetuating their differences could hamper their individual success outside of their own culture.

The curriculum and policies of schools are more Anglo-friendly than ethno-friendly, in that our system of accepted behaviors is not so different from that of the early Protestant-based common schools. We speak of tolerance and multicultural differences but don’t educate about them or celebrate them. Schools need to find that middle ground where students can be not just tolerated, but accepted for their cultural differences while learning the skills that can make them successful in a workplace that may or may not be as accepting.