The Potent Combination of Diversity and College Education
As children advance in education, going from elementary schools to high schools, they also go from seeing and engaging with mostly children who are in a similar socio-economic situation in their immediate neighborhoods to a setting with a lot less uniformity. This happens all over the world naturally, if for no other reason, because high schools serve a larger geographic area and there are fewer of them than elementary schools. Though there are nominal standards, children entering high schools typically arrive with varied backgrounds and preparation.
The same phenomenon repeats at a much larger scale, when children become young adults and go to college. Students in state universities in the US arrive from all over the state from its cities, towns and villages. Often a quarter or more of them come from other states. This is also nothing unusual. In Europe or India, the top schools attract a mix of students, who often grow up speaking different languages. Internationally known schools attract students from multiple countries, near and far.
In the diverse setting that is typical of colleges, students necessarily meet and mingle with students the likes of whom they have never before encountered in their lives. They don’t just learn different subjects, hear different thoughts, and watch different ways of thinking in their classrooms. Outside the classrooms, as they spend time with their friends and get to know them over multiple years, they learn about different cultures, customs, faiths, games and sports, values, and about each other. Specifics may vary but many of us have experienced exactly this.
Once we get to know people unlike us, something that’s simultaneously obvious and astounding happens: We start liking our friends for who they are. We understand our differences. We appreciate that though at a surface level we may look and speak differently, we have a whole lot in common. Diversity in our friends and in our thoughts isn’t scary. It is necessary for our growth as people.
The benefits of a diverse population in colleges, diverse across a vast spectrum of variables, to the students at colleges and to our societies as a whole are apparent and obvious — even if achieving that diversity must come occasionally at marginal drawbacks for a few. There’s no meaningful absolute merit scale to rank every student, so from among many meritoriously qualified students, colleges must either leave out a few arbitrarily or choose a few intentionally. Our problem should never be that our children go far away, mingle with people unlike them, and find common cause. Our problem is that too many cannot afford a college education and experience and have to stay close to home for one reason or the other.
Diversity and colleges is a potent combination. When we know friends unlike us, even when we disagree, we will see people, not enemies. We’ll seek peace, not wars.
Happy summer! May you find sand dollars on beaches or whatever brings you joy.
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