Diversity
Britney Gotshall
Deb Shores
Mastering College Experience
November 3, 2012
Diversity
People are not alike. Everyone is different. Diversity became the perception that individuals are alike and vastly different at the same time. It became a concept reliant on each person or student as an individual and what experiences, values, and understanding he/she brings to the bigger picture of a school or community as a result of race, reputation, or culture. And although I am not one to have experienced the setbacks of being a minority in a time where “outsiders” were given less opportunities, I am one to identify that no one should ever feel a minority in a community like the one I support, because we are all alike, regardless of sexual orientation, religion, political views, social class, and intellect, and that in the end we are all human beings socially capable of love, hate, guilt, happiness, jealousy, hope, fear, and sadness. Seeing fellow schoolmates open up about themselves, and witnessing first-hand the number of people that could identify with each other and were there to support each other, I learned that what we have in common is what should keep our diverse community united, and what should be the basis of a community able to overcome prejudice. The unity in the classroom that I witnessed with the students and staff members supporting each other was very powerful. I realized, that moment, how different each of us were from each other, and how we had allowed such trivial differences between us to hinder opportunities to learn about each other and form a supportive set-up based on the similarities and experiences we shared behind those obvious differences of skin color and social
Deb Shores
Mastering College Experience
November 3, 2012
Diversity
People are not alike. Everyone is different. Diversity became the perception that individuals are alike and vastly different at the same time. It became a concept reliant on each person or student as an individual and what experiences, values, and understanding he/she brings to the bigger picture of a school or community as a result of race, reputation, or culture. And although I am not one to have experienced the setbacks of being a minority in a time where “outsiders” were given less opportunities, I am one to identify that no one should ever feel a minority in a community like the one I support, because we are all alike, regardless of sexual orientation, religion, political views, social class, and intellect, and that in the end we are all human beings socially capable of love, hate, guilt, happiness, jealousy, hope, fear, and sadness. Seeing fellow schoolmates open up about themselves, and witnessing first-hand the number of people that could identify with each other and were there to support each other, I learned that what we have in common is what should keep our diverse community united, and what should be the basis of a community able to overcome prejudice. The unity in the classroom that I witnessed with the students and staff members supporting each other was very powerful. I realized, that moment, how different each of us were from each other, and how we had allowed such trivial differences between us to hinder opportunities to learn about each other and form a supportive set-up based on the similarities and experiences we shared behind those obvious differences of skin color and social