Month: February 2022
Diversity in education
When I was picking the schools I would want to apply to or attend potentially all of my options were mostly in southern states because of the proximity and their locations, they are more diverse and I would feel more welcomed as I was an international student coming to live in the US for the first time. Eventually, I got into Penn State, I loved almost everything about it, the dorms, the campus, the programs, etc. My only concern would be if I felt like I belonged here, especially because this school is located in the middle of nowhere, it’s not like a big city where a lot of people from other countries come to build their lives. Currently, I feel like I do belong here, however, I still believe diversity in-state college is not the highest.
Diversity in schools is an issue that needs to be addressed more, its importance relies on how valuable can be when students consider or encounter worldviews, the different perspectives, and ideas developed by the variety of experiences are essential for the understanding of a globalized world, and have a better learning environment. It challenges negative stereotyped preconceptions, encourages students to perform critical thinking, and helps students to learn how to communicate with people from different backgrounds as them. Learning from others’ special needs, abilities, motivations, family compositions, or backgrounds helps many students to understand and even adapt to new perspectives, they can work collectively around the differences in the different dimensions. For example, there are other ways of measuring diversity in a university, for example, the sexual identity or orientation of someone, their income level or social status, cultural background, gender, etc.
| Race/Ethnicity | Percentage |
|---|---|
| African American | 5.63% |
| Asian American | 6.40% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 7.65% |
| Native American/Alaskan Native | 0.13% |
| Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander | 0.11% |
| White | 64.95% |
| Multiple Races | 3.44% |
| Unknown/Undeclared | 2.28% |
| International | 9.36 |
This table shows the diversity in Undergraduate Enrollment University-wide by Percentage for the 2018-2019 school year. It shows how the university’s population is mostly white, followed by Hispanic or Latino, and then Asian. Students in Penn have medium racial diversity, with 31% of students as minorities or people of color. One of the reasons the university might not be diverse enough is because of the lack of financial resources for international students, such as scholarships, grants, or loans. The university, being a public institution, doesn’t recognize an official international students scholarship or financial aid.
In conclusion, a diverse learning environment is very important for students to develop more wide ideas and perspectives, knowing how to discuss controversial public issues that affect many people at once, take into consideration the differences in experiences, capacities or abilities, and interests, and help make better citizens of the world.
bibliography:
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/diversity-in-college-and-why-it-matters
https://admissions.psu.edu/apply/statistics/
American culture and the world
United States or as people call it sometimes “Melting pot”, this metaphor is used to describe the US because there are so many religions, cultures, ideologies, races, sexualities, etc, in one country. The US has always been well known for accepting and embracing different types of people from all around the world, or at least most of the times. Multiculturalism is the view of minority groups, that deserve special recognition of their differences within a dominant political culture, they might be sexual, religious or sexually defined groups. As an international student this topic has always interested me because it evaluates a lot of important aspects of the world’s economic , social and political aspects. For example how while governments emphasize the need for migrants to increase economic gains, there also exists the fear of loosing jobs for the citizens , xenophobia is also a big issue in this area ( fear of foreign or strange) , and negative reactions from the natives that sometimes become in violent confrontations or verbal abuse.
For me an “authentic” American culture is not so broadly real, I feel like a lot of things created here were somehow emulated from some other culture, for example the food, the amount of dishes American culture has tried to change and then call it theirs are so many. At the same time, it makes sense that American culture gets tangled or mixed with other because of how diverse the country is, coming back with the “melting pot” metaphor, because of the amount of different people living in the country and they opening their businesses , its normal that they want to get customers and giving them something they can relate too, opening France – American bakery, Italian – American pizza place, etc.
Now that I’ve been here for 6 months, I’ve learned how to communicate better with American people, for example I’ve learned some of their word slangs, customs and traditions, and they way they express in general. Words like the N word were unknown by me until I came here and found out it is an important issue for people of color and their supporters. People here where understanding when I wouldn’t get this small words that meant so much to them or were important not to say it for respect to each others. I admire Americans for defending what happened years ago and still caring about the history this words has behind.
“The way people “melt” in the United States differs. “Different groups of immigrants integrate in different ways,” De Rossi told Live Science. “For example, in the United States, Catholic Spanish-speaking communities might keep their language and other cultural family traditions, but are integrated in the urban community and have embraced the American way of life in many other ways.” ”
https://www.livescience.com/28945-american-culture.html
This citation explains how traditional Catholic hispanic communities can be able to accept and embrace American culture, not having to change all their traditions but normally the newer generations might consider themselves more Americans if they come to the US in their early lives. I have many friends and family which came to the US with their love ones or even alone for a “better live”. Thats also another thing the us is knowns for, having a good life or improving quality of live when coming here because jobs pay higher wages, better change of being someone in life, study so you have an education, have a better healthcare system, etc.
There is also no official language of the US, almost every country in the world knows how to speak English because of its predominance. There is an estimated of 350 languages spoken in the US, 2nd most spoken language in the US is Spanish, followed by German , French, and Chinese. Once more because of the quantity of different cultures and existing diversity in the country. Clothing styles vary so much too, it depends on social status, climate of the state, religion of the person, occupation, etc. American fashion iswidelt influenced by the media, for example celebrities on social media creating new trends, normal people that get viral on titkok or Instagram, etc.
All of these different aspects are some of the distinctions people can be influenced from, different cultures have contributed their own different “flavours” to the American culture, just as the American culture has also contributed to the worlds perspectives or views. We’re all together as one but all so contrasting.