Social Diversity

 I was asked to define multiculturalism and social diversity. I believe multiculturalism is a group of various cultures within the same neighborhood, state, or nation. I believe social diversity is a way to define people in our society using social factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. These four factors most commonly stand out in our society today. Social diversity is very prominent in my life, especially while at college. It is important to be knowledgeable and considerate of people who are different from you. I have met various different types of people, of different races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations.

The high school and college I attended and some of my best friends have very much influenced and shaped my ideas about social diversity and multiculturalism. I have two gay best friends that have helped me learn about our diverse views on sexual orientation. I have learned that just because they have a different sexual orientation, it doesn't make them any more different than me. Well, they may be a little bit more humorous than most of my friends ;). Regardless, it makes me sad to see how people with homophobia or with different beliefs treat people who have different sexual orientations. I cannot think of one specific conversation I had with these friends that showed me a lot about their diversity, however I did experience the Chicago Gay Pride parade. I attended with friends to show my support for my friends and had a great time. The creativeness of the parade was spectacular and the pride everyone had was even better. However, religious fanatics lined the corners to criticize these people and it angered me. Why can't people be different and other people just accept it? Homosexuals, bisexuals, and lesbians don't all line the corners of churches and criticize them. It opened my eyes to see how extreme the prejudice is against them.

snapshot taken at the Gay Pride Parade taken in 2009

There are countless social justices issues in the world today. I am interested in learning more, specifically about racism in the world today, women's rights, and abuse. These are important because these three issues have been apart of the world for a long time and are still a big problem today. Abuse will unfortunately greatly relate to elementary education. I suspect that I will unhappily see a few cases of abused children or maybe even mothers. Racism may also be apart of the classroom.