Diversity in Schools

Today the group that I was in had a few discussions that really got me thinking.  We talked a lot about diversity in race and socioeconomic status.  We also talked about private vs. public schools and how we found that in certain areas, the wealthier parents will send their children to private schools to avoid the diversity that exists in the public schools.  During these discussions, I was particularly interested in a conversation about the cost of college tuition.  We talked about how it is unfair in our country that a higher education is so expensive and there are many people who are unable to afford this opportunity.  Yes, there are loans to take out, but people know that they will be paying these back for many years after college and this could be discouraging for them to want to go when they could start working and making money after high school.  Also, some people whose family does not have much money, can not find a cosigner to be approved for them to take out loans.  Then, we talked about how many times people in other countries are able to go to college for free since they encourage everyone to go and they want everyone to have an equal chance.  It is so important to have a minimum of a Bachelor's degree now so I think that with such a high amount of people attending college, the cost should be much lower.  I know that there are many other factors that go into this, but I really do think it is sad that so many people do not get the opportunity to go to college due to the high tuition rates.  We also touched on that many people are just born into a certain lifestyle, whether it be upper/middle/lower class.  I think it just bothers me that there are some people who do not value all that they have or have been given when there are so many people who work so hard and never even get close to what they have.  I would consider myself neither rich nor poor, but I have seen both very deserving lower class people and ungrateful upper class people.  I know that this is something that will always exist but this is what was on my mind after our discussion today.


Since I mostly talked about diversity in SES, I decided to think about this aspect as a future teacher.  I went to a school where I really did not see much poverty, but I realize that I will definitely encounter this in my career.  In our group, we talked a lot about how everyone has certain biases and prejudices, but we must not ever let them be seen in our classrooms.  It is most important as a teacher to treat everyone equally and make everyone feel comfortable and safe at school.  I feel that if I notice students who are not as fortunate as others, that I would want to encourage them even more and to really be there for them.  I know it cannot be easy to pay attention in school when there is so many other problems going on in their lives, but this just means that we need to be ready to face these issues as a teacher and to be aware of our student's backgrounds so that we can keep them on track and not let them give up on education.