In first grade, my class consisted of three kids, including myself, who were “American”, meaning that neither us, our parents, nor our grandparents were immigrants to the states. Even for my extremely diverse school district, this was certainly a rare occurrence, especially in suburban Ohio. My teacher, a black woman herself, utilized this diversity to foster tolerance, kindness, and curiosity in a way that was digestible for our 7-year-old minds. She invited the parents or relatives of every child to come in and talk to us about their home country, their religion, and the customs that they practice, both back home and now in the United States.

         Evidently, our class was extremely close, both to one another as well as our teacher. Learning about where my classmates came from, and how their upbringings were different than mine really created a sense of community for all of us. My teacher never once uttered the words, “diversity”, “equity”, or “inclusion”, but the culture in the classroom represented all of those things. Clearly, first graders do not have the capacity to talk about racism or prejudice, but they do understand how people are different. My teacher celebrated our differences, while also emphasizing the commonalities that we shared, effectively demonstrating what it means to be kind and accepting.

         After first grade, I moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, and sat in a classroom that was effectively the opposite. I was now the minority, which is a crazy thing to say, coming from a middle-class, suburban white girl, who just so happens to be Jewish (half at that!). The dichotomy between these two environments was shocking, and I knew about the lessons that my peers were missing out on. By no means is this comparable to the experiences that people of color and immigrants go through, but it certainly is interesting to have other parents come in and talk about their culture, and then in a different school, your mom is the one coming in to teach the class about a foreign concept.

         The gap between these school systems was wide, and as I grew up, I recognized the divide even more. After sixth grade, I moved back to the same school district that I had gone to back in Cincinnati. And just as the elementary schools’ curriculums did not align, the differences between what I learned in the middle schools were even greater, since middle schoolers do have the language capable of discussing things like racism. Furthermore, at that age, kids can be racist and prejudicial on their own, unless they are taught effectively how to be tolerant and respectful of others. In Cincinnati, we regularly talked about the downfalls of the US government and how it pertains to racism and the mistreatment of minorities. I know from my friends back in Erie that they never had those conversations.

         Going to these two vastly different schools really grabbed my attention and made me aware of how the education system is not universal. Diversity is so incredibly important, and learning about it from a young age makes such a vital impact on the personality and tolerance of an individual. Children need to be taught about how to treat others with respect at an early age. Schools have the moral responsibility to demonstrate tolerance and anti-racism to their students in order to create respectful adults. That’s why I’m passionate about multiculturalism being taught in schools, as it greatly impacts the acceptance of the world’s future, regardless of the information that they receive at home. A school needs to be a safe place for students of all races and ethnicities to receive an unbiased education while also learning about how to respect their peers.