Diversity In Education Essay

“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” This quote comes from Maya Angelou. If schools taught about diversity at a younger age, imagine what are education system would look like. We would have more teachers that are understanding, this includes students. If we taught students that poverty is a real thing and a huge problem in the education system, imagine how different teachers and students approach to poverty would be. I want to change what is wrong with diversity in the education system and I believe I can make that difference. Growing up, I have always had the privilege to attend a catholic school my entire life. Yes, this meant I had to wear a uniform every single day a jumper or a skirt that could only be two inches above the knee. I could only wear a certain color sock and certain kind of shoes. Most people who I would talk and went to a public school dreaded the idea of wearing a uniform, but I loved it. It meant I didn’t have to pick out an outfit every single day and everybody had to wear the exact same thing, no one was different in that aspect. Just like the uniforms, the people who I went to school with in kindergarten through eighth grade also looked the same. The schools I attended in elementary school and middle school were predominantly caucasian. I can recall only having about one or two classmates that were african american in elementary and middle school. All of my friends I hung out with her white, upper middle class, had a mom and a dad, siblings and I seemed to be the black sheep out of my friends. I lived with just my mom, no siblings and I could be considered as lower middle class. The high school I attended was more diverse than my elementary and middle school were. We had many more african americans and mexicans and we were significantly more diverse than most catholic schools that I know of. We were diverse, but we still did have a huge number of students were upper or upper middle class and had the picture perfect all american family. I still felt like a black sheep among my friends in high school also, that didn’t change. Recently, I have had the privilege to be in the class Education 111. …show more content…
Going into the class, I had no idea what to expect, this is now my favorite class. Throughout the semester so far we have talked about race in education, the achievement gap, poverty, and that is just a few topics we have covered so much. Until this class, I didn’t realize how many issues we have in the education system with those topics. I was honestly shocked because going to a catholic school my entire life, poverty and race issues were very little issues in the schools I attended and I want to change that. If it took me my whole life attending school to just realize how big of issues race, the achievement gap, poverty and many other issues are in the education system, then I know that there are millions of other people out there that do not think those issues exist, even teachers them self. Taking this class has opened my mind and has made me more driven to becoming a teacher so I can help students who are in poverty and help more people realize the issues going on in education. I want to make a difference. I still need to work and learn more on many issues in diversity. I want to work on learning more on poverty and ways my students will need my help not just in the classroom, but in outside of the classroom also. I want to get to know not only my students, but the parents of my students and the things they need me to understand about what issues they have in their home. If they need more food in their home, I want to find a way to help them, if they can’t afford school supplies, I want to help them, whatever it may be, I want to learn and grow in understanding the needs of my students especially those in poverty. During my time here at CSB/SJU, I want to go