Suggestions to Improve Diversity in the Classrooms

 

Suggestions to Improve Diversity in the Classrooms

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

Diversity in the classroom is essential because students come from varied cultural backgrounds, backstories, and different perspectives about the world. The students won’t feel that they belong to the class due to the absence of diversity in the classroom as it makes them insecure. Such feelings pull them back from participating in the classroom (Yale, 2021). Moreover, students become the victims of discrimination affects their learning processes (Gorski, 2020). Thus, Coleman suggested that the integration of diversity in the classroom benefits students from learning disadvantages (Wells, Fox, and Cobo, 2016). This is because they can gain confidence in understanding the subject matter well by using their perception effectively in a diverse classroom (Drexel University, n.d.)

What Surprised me from Matthiessen’s Article “Why Diversity in Classroom Matters”

From Matthiessen’s (2018) article, the phrase, “Large numbers of minority children, black and Latino students, in particular, are ghettoized in high-poverty schools — with alarming results,” really surprised me a lot. I was surprised to know that innocent students are discriminated against in the manner Jews were discriminated as exposed in Shakespeare’s play “The Merchant of Venice” during the 16th-century Venice. Such actions could impede human development as well as national development. The lack of diversity divides people and can even lead to isolation. Especially, students will feel that they are excluded, which drives their minds toward dropping out of school (Washington, Boone, Kim, Shakya, and Roberts, 2021). Discrimination in schools leads to serious mental, social, and psychological issues. Our schools and students are segregated now and then. Thus, diversity in the classroom is essential because it would enable students to be mentally sound due to intellectual engagement, and cultural engagement. 

Suggestions for the Schools

Education should create global citizens by allowing them to understand the diverse cultures of the social settings. School with diversity in the education system is found to be understanding, tolerant, and possess less prejudice because they are taught to be empathetic, flexible, and culturally sound as they get an opportunity to work with students with different cultural backgrounds (Matthiessen, 2018).

            Some suggestions for the schools to improve the climate in their diverse classrooms are suggested below:

•    Set classroom rules and regulations with zero tolerance for discrimination, bullying, and criticism to create a safe learning environment. Encouraging open dialogue enables the teacher to inculcate cultural sensitivity in his class. The students would feel secure emotionally, mentally, and physically and can focus on their studies in a better way. (Kamb, 2012).

•    Inculcate empathy in students through the awareness lesson and create a forum through varieties of teaching strategies to make connections with their peers from diverse cultural backgrounds so that they do not prejudiced later in their lives (Drexel University, n.d.)

•    Teachers should re-evaluate the teacher materials and ensure that the curriculum and the classroom environment are inclusive and responsive to cultural diversity and must address the need to embrace the reality that they will face in a diverse community (Kampen, 2020). Teachers should incorporate diversity into their lesson plans to promote cultural awareness among students. 

•    Solving inequality through the creation of a safe environment would enable teachers to have diversity in the classroom. The teacher can create a forum where students can express their thoughts openly. By doing so, students can express their views with individualism so that they improve their self-efficacy for better learning outcomes (WGU, 2020).

•    Providing enough time for the students to study their mates through their backstories, interests, and learning styles so that they can learn to appreciate each other’s culture, tradition, interests, way of life, etc. Simultaneously, the teacher can also equip the students with a better understanding of implementation processes so that they can create a conducive classroom (Sharma, 2022).

•    Inviting guest speakers from the locality with varied backgrounds will enable students to get familiar with various beliefs, customs, traditions, etc.

In conclusion, diversity in the classroom plays an important role in making students and teachers look at the importance of the learning environment. Moreover, it allows students to look at life differently so that they consider varied opinions beyond what they have observed before because it would transform them to be new and unique people.

 

References

Drexel University. (n.d.). The Importance of Diversity and Cultural Awareness in The Classroom. https://drexel.edu/soe/resources/student-teaching/advice/importance-of-cultural-diversity-in-classroom/#:~:text=When%20working%20and%20learning%20with,in%20a%20diverse%20working%20environment.

Gorski, V. (2020). Positive and Negative Aspects of Diversity in the Classroom. https://classroom.synonym.com/positive-negative-aspects-diversity-classroom-7978159.html

Kamb, R. (2012). Key Factors in Creating a Positive Classroom Climate. https://www.cfchildren.org/blog/2012/08/key-factors-in-creating-a-positive-classroom-climate/

Kampen, M. (2020). 7 Ways to Support Diversity in the Classroom. https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/diversity-in-the-classroom/

Matthiessen, C. (2018, August 27). Why diversity in classroom matters. Greatschools. https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/why-diversity-in-classrooms-matters/

Sharma, D. (2022). Why diversity in the classroom matters. https://www.educationworld.in/why-diversity-in-the-classroom-matters/

Washington, M., Boone, J., Kim, D., Shakya, T., and Roberts, D. (2021). Lack of diversity in higher learning can be a problem for diverse student bodies. https://abcnews.go.com/US/lack-diversity-higher-learning-problem-diverse-student-bodies/story?id=79019176

Wells, A. S., Fox, L., and Cobo, D. C. (2016). How Racially Diverse Schools and Classrooms Can Benefit All Students? The Century Foundation. https://tcf.org/content/report/how-racially-diverse-schools-and-classrooms-can-benefit-all-students/?session=1

WGU. (2020). Improving diversity in the classroom. https://www.wgu.edu/blog/improving-diversity-classroom2005.html

Yale. (2021). Diversity in the Classroom. Poorva Center for Teaching and Learning. https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/