Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
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Diversity @ App
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Author:  Brian Post [ Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:27 am ]
Post subject:  Diversity @ App
There is always talk about diversity at Appalachian. We are always encouraging it, striving for it and in the coming weeks celebrating it. I was just wondering what some people thought about our University diversity? I know if you go to the diversity page it shows you all this information about the races of people who go here. That seems to be the published items more than anything else. It seems possible especially with these figures that no we are not diverse. Although, this is about as superficial as it gets. Diversity is everything unique and skin color is so literally shallow. Some of us are from big cities, some from small towns, some from richer families, some from poorer, some from certain religious backgrounds, some not and so on and so on. I think in class we have looked at these issues pretty well and saw past the color factor. The Diversity Celebration is coming up and it looks to be a fantastic day!

Diversity Celebration Link:

http://www.celebration.appstate.edu/
Author:  Meaghan Dunham [ Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:00 pm ]
Post subject: 
I think diversity is a topic that should be discussed more in classrooms. I agree with you Brian, there is more to diversity than just skin color. Honestly, I think our campus is incredibly diverse. It's obvious just walking through Sanford Mall that there are all kinds of different people who come to Appalachian to receive an education. People who have different religious and political beliefs, people with different cultural identities, people who associate themselves with certain social groups, people with different hobbies, there are lots of things that could be considered "diverse".
I think the Diversity Fair is a really great way for students to showcase their identities in a healthy and constructive environment. I have never thoroughly participated in the fair, but I have been to a few events and they are really fun! Maybe we should challenge one another to go to at least one event during the Diversity Fair. :) And then we could have a discussion about it later!

Meaghan Dunham
Music Ed.
Author:  Megan Snyder [ Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:56 am ]
Post subject: 
Diversity is a great but complicated thing to discuss if you truly think about it. Teaching about diversity and acceptance is important no matter what, but it's an interesting and broad subject to teach. We teach children to accept and embrace all the differences that make up the human race but we stress that we are all the same at the core. So really what we're saying is we're all different but we're all the same, which I agree with. This could be a complicated theory for our students to grasp though. So as good teachers, we're going to have to try our best to help our students understand what diversity, and more importantly acceptance, really means.
Author:  Jayme Fox [ Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:53 pm ]
Post subject: 
I never really thought about it but you are so right... Diversity encompasses all differences, not just the ones we can see. I guess it wouldn't be "pc" to include a rich person in comparrison to a poor person in the name of diversity...
Author:  Hoy Colson [ Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:25 pm ]
Post subject: 
I think diversity is handled differently in different school-classes. In instrumental music, especially band, there is not an emphasis on race or socioeconomic level. The purpose of the class is to understand music. In other classes, especially History, I can see where the race and class of each student has an impact on the progress of the class and the considerations that should go into lesson planning.

This University has some diversity in it, but I don't think it is diverse racially. Next time you drive down the street, count the number of white people you see and the number of black people you see. Then compare that number to the number of Latino people, Arabic people, etc. I think you will be shocked to see how non-diverse we really are.
Author:  nick reece [ Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:38 am ]
Post subject: 
In comparison to other colleges and universities, ASU is not very diverse. However, I am not saying that we are not diverse at all. All you have to do is take a walk on campus here and take a walk on campus at a larger school such as UNC, Ohio State and so on and I think that you will be able to see the difference like night and day.
Author:  Will Saunders [ Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:45 am ]
Post subject: 
It's interesting to see how people think differently about diversity. There are plenty of different ways to think about diversity, and the more you break it down the more diverse people are going to seem to because of their personal experiences that nobody else has had. However looking at it from the wide sweeping generality of "cultural diversity" it doesn't seem that Appalachian is all that diverse. Looking around campus there are many people that look similar and dress similar. Many are in involved in the same religion. I'd imagine that if we could go to everybody's parents house they would all fall into a fairly similar profile, and most of our parents income levels are probably in the same range. So overall I believe that as a college culture there are plenty of similarities that we can see to draw from and that makes us more similar than incredibly diverse. This especially from the high school that I attended. I grew up in Charlotte and the high school that I went to was very culturally diverse and was almost painfully obvious to see.
Author:  brandivannoy [ Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:51 am ]
Post subject:  Diversity in schools
I totally agree that diversity is an important topic that should be discussed in classrooms. Kids need to understand that although they might live in an area where everyone looks the same, in other areas people look different have have different beliefs. I think it's important for us to realize that while we may not feel the same way as others, we still need to be respectful. Usually if kids aren't taught that at a young age, they will never learn to respects those who are different.
Author:  Allyson Chambers [ Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:07 pm ]
Post subject: 
I also agree that diversity is more than just skin color or ethnicity. Unfortunately, many tend to like diversity with ones skin color or ethnicity. I also see that it is important to teach students at a young age about diversity and the different types of diversity. Students need to know and understand that everyone has similarities and differences and that is ok. At Appalachian I do not think that we are greatly diverse in terms or race, but we have other ways at making our campus a diverse place.
Author:  Erica Shelton [ Sun Apr 27, 2008 3:14 pm ]
Post subject: 
I do believe that Appalachian is probably more diverse now than ever before. We have many student that study abroad and many clubs and activities for religion, sexual orientations, racial groups... and as I've mentioned before our successful football team is drawing much attention to our beautiful campus in the beautiful Blue Ridge and the student body is growing immensely; almost to the point that I wonder how the campus population in addition to the town population (which is also growing) will effect our treasured Boone - traffic, pollution, costs of living, etc. but yes, the diversity is definitely striving.
Author:  andyellis [ Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:51 pm ]
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Recently in the Appalachian, the school newspaper there was this poll that they did to try to gather a good understanding of our student body population. One of the questions involved race and ethnicity and the end totals ended up being only 3% African American and 4% Latino. Sad? I think so.

andy ellis
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