Narrative on Social Diversity

Social diversity is very hard to define because it is such a broad spectrum.  To me social diversity includes differences in race, ethnicity, gender, age,  and sexual orientation among other things.  Multiculturalism is the way in which society can blend these social diversities together to better understand each other and build upon ourselves.  Social diversity was honestly not as important in my life as I know it should have been.  Growing up I just was not really exposed to different ethnicities because I have always lived in a predominantly white community where everyone was pretty similar.  However, I as have grown up my eyes have opened and I have come to see how many different social diversity issues there are.  The issue of "class" has been important to me because I am an education major and one of my biggest beliefs is that there should be an equal right to a proper education irregardless of your income or race.  Many areas in poverty do not receive a proper education, and that is something that should change. Another issue that has been important to me now is sexual orientation.  I recently found out that a friend from high school is gay.  It was something I would not have expected, but it has shown me not to judge people based on their sexual orientation. 

Where I grew up blinded me from social diversity when I was younger because everyone seemed just like me. However, as I said earlier, as I have grown up I now have my own perspectives on social diversity.  Once I got into High School I knew that I wanted that I wanted to teach, so educational equality has always been an interesting subject for me.  My junior year I went to New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity with my friend Nicole.  It was sad to see the damage that was done, but what affected me the most was when I found out how many of them were now unable to attend school now because they were without homes and money.  That is why it is so important for educational equality because those children need education because they deserve to have a chance to live a happy and successful life.  This also applies for many Chicago Public Schools.  There are many teachers who show up as baby sitters because they have given up on their students, but you can't give up because they deserve a chance too.  That is why everywhere should have equal quality teachers and you education should not suffer based on where you come from.  And as far as sexual orientation equality, I have recently been influenced by Lady Gaga.  I saw her in concert this summer and she was very inspirational.  She didn't judge anybody for anything and she wanted everyone to embrace their differences, which was really inspiring. 

The social issue I am most interested in is Education.  It's very important because it affects everybody.  Not only do teachers teach math science and social studies, but they also they also teach students how to be a good citizen.  Children are our future, what the next generation does will affect everybody, so we should make sure that everyone is equally educated so that we can continue to prosper as a nation.