Diversity: Starting the Conversation
An Introduction to Diversity, Its Importance, and Its Role at CHHS
February 17, 2023
Diversity is a beautiful world with boundless meaning. Diversity is about understanding, respecting, and valuing differences between people including demographics such as sex, gender orientation, age, and race in addition to education level, personalities, experiences, etc.
Most individuals recognize that diversity is something to strive for and that it holds great importance, but why exactly is this? Why should we recognize the differences between us when we identify as a Bruin community in a school setting?
The simple answer to this question is inclusion. Inclusion is the building of a collaborative environment that promotes the participation and appreciation of all its members. When working in a group or as an organization, it is important to properly understand the contributing individuals that make up the population.
For teachers, it is important to understand the students you are serving in order to best attain your goal: to educate. For students, it is important to understand your peers around you to best attain your goal: to appreciate and flourish in your educational environment.
The best way to understand someone and the differences between the two of you is to ask questions; open-ended ones are always best, for you can get more personalized responses than a simple yes or no. It is absolutely essential to realize that we all live in our own heads and environments, surrounded by different cultural elements. Your childhood is likely vastly varied from that of someone with more or less siblings, a different parental relationship, family traditions, income rates, or occupational background. It is easy and natural for us to have tunnel-vision based on our own likes, dislikes, and preferences, but opening an eye and addressing the diverse elements of our community, even if they are not obvious, can be extremely beneficial.
One should never assume certain things about an individual, even if the statistics show probability of them answering one way or another. Correlation between certain characteristics that create diversity such as race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation with mannerisms and defining traits are what ultimately have created the stereotypes and stigmas that exist today.
Having the conversation(s) about diversity, especially within Central Hardin, is something The Central Times highly encourages you to consider. Inquiring new ideals and ways of thinking from someone of a different subculture, minority group, or demographic can alter your life in more ways than one. It may feel uncomfortable at first, but if you are willing to open your ears and listen without judgment, the lens you view society through may become slightly less filtered.
We may all walk the same halls and learn in the same den, but every Bruin is different. It’s about time we embrace it.
