I still remember when I first met my friend Gary. It was the first day of school and as I sat alone in my web development class she approached me. She is an immigrant from India to America and I love talking to her and learning about her latest hobbies and ambitions. She always made me smile. However, some people distanced themselves from her. One day she confessed to me her biggest concern.
“I’m most worried about my accent. It is sequestering me from others. I have to be like an American who is accepted by Americans.”
Ah, I wish I could tell her that she was wrong. She didn’t have to change herself for the approval of others. She is Indian and is beautiful in its own right. Gary’s story is one of many explanations of the shortcomings of the modern education system. Our education struggles to promote acceptance of people that are different from the majority and fails to teach students to embrace a variety of cultural backgrounds. To truly cultivate gender and racial diversity, we must increase curriculum expression, improve the quality of education, and promote more empathy among students.
Curriculum expression
According to a graduate study conducted by Florida State student Amy Baylor, curriculum representatives have significantly improved their understanding of information and acceptance of diverse perspectives. Students finally begin to appreciate the richness of diversity.
Image credit: Pexel Fexel
As I pondered, I realized that the history taught in schools was very eurocentric and didn’t represent my ethnic culture at all. From the Crusades to the Cold War, there was little or no context for the history of Asian or African countries. Despite these restrictions, access to minority research at high schools in certain states is still limited. In Florida, AP African American research is not taught in schools due to concerns about critical racial theory (NPR).
What is an important racial theory?
Critical races argue that the system has racist consequences for our systems without being aggressively and intentionally racist. This censorship in education can promote more racial bias and carry over minority groups into the future.
These biases can begin to form in high school. This is a crucial time in our formative years (Time Magazine). Some of the interactions you have in school can lead to engage in relationship attacks, spreading gossip, bullying and quiet treatments to maintain your popularity. With more cultural education integration in schools, students learn to respect classmates that are different from their own.
The importance of quality education
Prejudice is prevalent today due to the decline in American education. Covid-19 has had a strong impact on students and teachers, but political factors complicate integration into the lessons of diverse cultures. Recommended data from Harvard Education Policy suggests a decline in performance among American students in reading and mathematics.
How do teacher shortages and tiktok affect students?
Teachers have encountered the problem of reaching lower-performing students due to the lack of teachers in the US (Institute of Economic Policy). Teacher shortages are particularly common in underprivileged communities. This allows many students to learn from the world around them, not from the education given by their teachers. Many students were able to look to the vain opinions of the Tiktok people, from the hoaxes of Moonlanding to gang life on the streets. With the addition of more teachers, students’ lives will potentially thrive, and they will not be taken to false hopes that social media or society may feed them.
Furthermore, modern education shows the consequent disparities among various minority groups around the world. In Afghanistan, girls are restricted from access to education. In Somalia, over 50% of children have under two years of schooling. In Chad, less than 34% of students are expected to complete primary school. (Concerns around the world).
Image credit: Fatimayusuf of Pexel
Children struggle due to the uncertainty of their native citizens, which leads to a harsh future where literacy rates are low. So many children who have brain power to study for a better future do not have the tools to do so. As they grow, there is a noticeable literacy gap between educated people in first and third world countries, and some may even lead them to prejudice to the point where they assume their stupidity. Lack of education is also common in some minority groups in certain countries, such as Afghanistan and Nepal (minority rights groups), which are educated and subject to bias. These women are born to be placed on them ever since this prejudice was born, and society fails to teach them how to fight it. This leads to systematic inequality around the world.
As a society, we should improve education in third world countries. By addressing various UN targets for quality education and increasing teacher employment through incentives, we can improve the quality of education and prevent children from suffering due to biased attitudes.
Indifference and how it ruins diversity
Indifference also plays a major role in today’s society. From the tendency to be non-nuisance to the ignorance of systematic racism based on stereotypes, indifference ruins the means of equality we promise to teach our children. From the environment, some children are growing up, so bias may be ingrained. Ignoring indifference is not the solution. It only expands the problem and allows injustice to flourish. These issues need to be addressed directly. Avoiding them will exacerbate the problem. In fact, on April 12, 1999, Holocaust survivor Ellie Wiesel went to the United States to reveal the issues of this world’s indifference during World War II. His lamentation of community conflict reveals a more important issue of indifference in the face of stigma (American rhetoric).
“In a way, being indifferent to that suffering makes humans inhuman. After all, indifference is more dangerous than anger or hatred” – Ellie Wiesel
From Ellie’s experience, he concludes that by being indifferent, you are helping the quiet oppression that occurs in immigrants across America in the education system. Learning to stand up to systemic racism can help promote diversity in the education system.
What should you do about it?
Diversity is not a problem to be solved. It is the strength to be celebrated. Changes do not start with laws or policies. It starts when someone chooses to see the beauty of another person and refuses to look away.
Image credit: Daniel Reche on Pexels
When you see someone being treated differently because of where someone comes from and how it sounds, you can choose to speak. You can feel lonely and stand by students who celebrate what makes them unique. You can start a conversation. Above all, you can remind others, just as I reminded Gary, that remind us who we are. You don’t need to erase a part of yourself to be accepted.
Closing Statement
Looking back, Gary’s story reminds us why this is all important. From the lack of cultural expression in the class to how diversity is addressed in university admissions, it is clear that the education system still has a long way to go. It is necessary to move away from better representation of the curriculum, increased access to marginalized students, and treating people as statistics. Education must be a place where all students can be seen, appreciated and feel free, regardless of where they come from. If we want real change, we must start by rewriting the stories we teach.
