Importance Of Diversity In Education

707 Words2 Pages

Diversity has become a significant part of our world today. Diverse families have become the new norm rather than nuclear family systems. It is normal for students to have one parent, two parents of the same sex, a reconstituted family, or a foster family. Due to this new level of diversity in today’s families, it is important for educators to allow students to have diverse experiences, and model acceptance and love for others regardless of differences. As an educator, it is important for me to address diversity with a positive attitude, and not allow any bias I may have to hinder my ability to teach children to accept one another. According to Wardle (n.d.), children need concrete experiences in order to learn about themselves and others, …show more content…

It is the educator’s job to make all families feel invited to school activities. Halgunseth, Peterson, Stark, and Moodie (2009) suggest early childhood programs foster family engagement by creating an environment that is welcoming, visiting the parent’s home, encouraging two-way communication, providing opportunities for families to participate in classroom activities, and offering resources for home learning. An educator needs to invite parents into the classroom and extend the invitation to siblings, grandparents and close family members. Siblings may be much older or around the same age as the student, so it is important to offer activities for siblings of all ages to participate in with the student. Activities such as cooking or arts and crafts are easy ways to get the family involved and feel comfortable helping. An educator can also offer books in the native languages of family members to be read to the class. These activities will provide the student with a sense of acceptance of who they are. Diversity comes in many forms, from cultural and social diversity to organizational diversity. Overall, the role the educator should play when addressing diversity is to teach each student to love him or herself and love others. By exposing children to diverse experiences in the community and in the classroom, they will be able to gain a better sense of how to standup for themselves, accept differences in opinion, and avoid stereotyping against others. Diversity is a part of the world, and children need to understand they are normal and

Open Document