Aims of Diversity and Me

Course Reflection

This has been one of the few courses I have taken that has changed me as a person.  I have learned that diversity isn't just the three black students in my room and the little boy from India.  There is so much more to it.  Complicated, not-going-to-be-fixed-after-one-discussion, types of issues. 

I have learned that diversity is race,sex, gender, class, and disability.  I have also learned that each one of those individual topics vary within themselves.  Sex is not just man and woman, it also includes intersex people.  Whether someone is a  black person is not easy to determine.  There are light colored and dark colored black people.  More importantly, it is what one thinks they are that really matters.  A white presenting person can consider themselves black.  We cannot assume anything.

Reading about experiences people have had regarding diversity issues changed my thinking. Taking a walk in someone else's shoes, even if it was just on paper, really affected me.  Reading about the deaf couple who were desperately hoping for a deaf child baffled me at first.  But hearing their side of the story was incredible.  They loved they community of Deaf persons.  They wanted the baby they loved to feel a part of this group,

Trying to understand why we continue to allow differences took a lot out of me emotionally.  I still have a very hard time understanding how, in 2014, we can allow the Native American population to live in the poverty and alcoholism they do.  Not when, with a change in a few policies, they could change their future. We should all be outraged.  We certainly would be if we were being taken advantage of. 

Doing the two Implicit Association Tests from the Harvard website showed me that I am not as free thinking as I would love to think I am.  While I had little to no automatic preference between straight people and gay people, I had a strong automatic preference for European Americans compared to African Americans.  I have to continue to work.

I was so encouraged to hear of some people who were trying to bridge the differences in our society.  Reading about Lily Ledbetter and William Upski Wimsatt, gave me hope.  More people, ourselves included need to step up and be a part of the change we want.

Course objectives

#1 Gain knowledge of the theories and research related to the historical, political, ethical, and legal foundations of social diversity across national and cultural settings.

The knowledge I have gained through the readings and framework essays in The Meaning of Difference: American Constructions of Race, Sex and Gender, Social Class, Sexual Orientation, and Disability has really changed my thoughts and ideas about many, many things.  I honestly thought of diversity as people of color and those who came from other countries.  That was it!  I am thankful for the opportunity to read about, think about, and discuss with my family, all the different issues that are diversity.  I am a changed person.

#2 Acquire strategies for using appropriate methods of inquiry to generate original findings regarding the endeavors to promote diversity.

I have a whole new way of listening to radio interviews, watching news broadcasts, and reading articles in newspapers and magazines.  I am using a "close reading" technique to get to what is really being said.  I am consciously stopping to think what I am feeling or thinking, as a reaction to the information and why.  


#3 Develop an informed perspective about the practice of diversity in a pluralistic & democratic society and the capacity to convey that perspective to others in a scholarly manner.

I now have an informed perspective about diversity in our society.  It is not the fair and just perspective I had prior to taking this course.  I am not Miss Negative, but I am no longer willing to take the word of someone because they look trustworthy.  I want to check things out for myself.  One of the parts I have enjoyed most about this class is how after each reading I would march off to the kitchen to talk to my husband and kids about what I have read.  We have had many lively family discussions relating to issues I tell them about.  I am a better citizen because of it, and I think I am helping my children see a different side to our society.

#4 Construct a vision of themselves as advocates for diversity with a plan for professional action.

  My plan is . . . .
- to create a supportive and inclusive classroom
- to continue to read scholarly pieces on diversity issues
- to speak with my children and students about diversity issues
- to teach about important member of society including minorities and disabled persons and their 
   accomplishments in making the world a better place
- to become more politically involved
- to stand up and speak out

Guiding question:  What are the aims of diversity?
The aims of diversity are to create environments where everybody feels respected and understood. Environments where everybody's opinions and thoughts are truly listened to and considered.  To provide education to employees, students and citizens on diversity issues.  To educate citizens, employees and students about how many of our feelings and ideas have been taught to us.  The aim of diversity is to work toward a world in which everybody is treated as if they are somebody.