Cultural Diversity Essay Research Paper Explain why

Cultural Diversity Essay, Research Paper

Explain why cultural diversity is important in a college education.

I come from a small town. Hannibal, MO, the boyhood home of Mark

Twain, is described its claim to fame as ?a sleepy town drowsing.? Most surely he

has never been more accurate, for this small enchanted river town has never

awakened total equality.

It is a town full of ignorance, where nobody has ever thought twice of

sharing and spreading their sly comments and idiotic judgements to anyone and

everyone who will listen, and most people do. It is a town where fathers, mothers,

brothers, sisters, and grandparents teach their kids to ?ignore those no-good

niggers,? stay away from those ?half-breeds? and give hell to anyone ?nigger-lover?

who refuses to believe the truth. It sickens me.

Last year, we had an issue to address at our school. It later became known as

The Cowboys vs. The Blacks, and never has our school been more involved. The

newspapers screamed of the hate, violence, and threat of gangs that were corrupting

our schools; the halls rang with the lastest gossip on the next big showdown. This

problem slapped a school full of apathetic kids into a lively bunch ready to get

involved. Involved in what? A controversy that all had opinions on, but how could

you not have an opinion? It was the talk at all of the dinner tables, bars, and stores

in town. Kids went home scared of the racial tension. Parents whined and cried of

violence in the school.

The parents whined and cried, and at the same time forgot to remember that

it was they, not the kids, who had taught the very prejudices that were ?disrupting

the education process.? My opinion is simple and elementary: Children are not

born to hate others, they must be taught to judge colors. If we are taught prejudices,

then obviously, the racial tensions at my school didn?t disrupt education, rather

enforced lessons often reviewed over fried chicken and potatoes.

I cried once in my sophomore history class. The girl in front of me sang and

preached that life was just that way, no one could ever change anything, so why

should we even try? Prejudice is taught in the home, and the home is where we

learn everything we really need to know. I listened, fumed, and stood up to

interrupt her. (I rarely frown, let alone yell, but I had had enough of her pessimism.

All eyes and ears were on me, and as my dramatic nature began to influence me, I

started to preach.)

I have a theory. I created it. Some say I?m naive, others say I?m too hopeful,

but so far no one has told me to abandon it, so I cling to my idea and share it as

often as the issue comes up.

I have a story about my experiences. At my grandparents house, we cannot

watch Cosby without hearing a racist slur from my grandfather. Great guy, but

racially unfair. My dad grew up around jokes and hints about those ?half-breeds?

and such, but I did not. Enter my theory. Somewhere in my family, the racist

ideas were tamed, not eliminated entirely, but curtailed in such a way that I was

able to escape them. How did my father, who was conditioned at an early age to

slight those of other cultures, unlearn?

Two words: education and experience. My dad played football and studied

with people of different ethnic backgrounds. Although he was still exposed to the

beliefs at home, he was beginning to slowly form his own. Always around different

cultural backgrounds, always aware and always learning that maybe what he had

been earlier taught wasn?t entirely true. Questioning all the time, wondering if

maybe they weren?t so low-down and no-good.

There comes a point in all of our lifes when we simply grow up. We no

longer blindly latch on to what our parents say. We believe ourselves before we fall

victim to other influences, and we question and reteach ourselves answers we

believe correct. We evaluate and review what we have been taught, and sometimes,

if lucky, we are able to unlearn.

If my dad had never studied, sweated, and sheltered others of different ethnic

backgrounds, I would have grown up hearing as many sly jokes and racist

comments that he did. I would not, however, repeat them to my children. Why?

Because I would have played in the sandbox at kindergarten with someone not like

me, cheered on a squad where not all have the same ethnic roots, and exchanged

math notes with a fascinating foreign exchange student.

Cultural diversity is not important in a college education, it is vital. No other

place is more ideal than college ke of success, everyone would unlearn the

prejudices taught to them, and learn of What we need here is not the arrogance of

power, but the cooperation of everyone to learn and to be open-minded.