Diversity adds beauty to life. Celebrating diversity in a class full of students gives self-confidence and raises the self esteem of everyone. But we also know that too much diversity would mean no society. A society remains a society when there are several commonalities which help people understand each other and develop effective relationships. Too much of diversity will in the long run dis-integrate the society and that will be a big loss.
This is a misconception that to much diversities can dis-integrate society. All the members of society are divers entities even they have several commonalities. persons with diversities make a society beautiful instead to dis-integrate the society.
An interesting question for many people. The capital city of my country, London UK, is probably the the most diverse society on the planet. Over 300 different languages are spoken, excluding local dialects. Usually there is remarkable tolerance with just occasional outbreaks of rioting and looting. Rioting and looting definitely preceded diversification by hundreds of years so it is not necessarily the result of diversification. Whether diversification results in disintegration or not is an interesting question also. Certainly the Great Powers at the beginning of the last century believed so. In order to contain and weaken the defunct Ottoman Empire the existing powers colonised large areas of Turkey with non Turkish speakers, Armenians, Bulgars, Greeks etc. Attaturk realised what the intention was and after the treaty of Lausanne (1923) I think, he started replacing the new arrivals, and many old established non-Turks with Turks brought back from their adoptive countries. Depending on the biases of the various authors this was a non -acrimonious exchange or wholesale ethnic cleansing. Clearly both sides, The Great Powers and the Turks felt that diversification would weaken the Ottoman Heritage. Slightly different I grant you from normal migratory intentions but nonetheless pertinent. What can we learn from this? It depends on the openness and tolerance of the host community as to whether diversification is a good thing or not. The Turkish or Ottoman Empire was in itself made up of numerous and diverse cultures. There must therefore be a point where a diverse and tolerant culture reaches a threshold beyond which they become intolerant. I believe that any given culture or society remains tolerant of diversity up to the point when the diversification threatens to subsume the host culture. That is when events turn unpleasant. I am no expert!
Eric and Latif, I agree with your opinions. I appreciate the diversity. I feel it is required for the development, creativity and innovation. But I believe that this diversity should be coupled with some commonalities as well. These common things, for example one big purpose gells people together and then their diversity gets a direction and then inventions and creativity surface for that one big purpose. this purpose can be movements like, health for all, education for all, technology education for all etc.
Very good question with unlimited explanation available in the literature. But if we try to give a summarized answer the question in single line is that " We should teach a curriculum in the school that produces good human and useful member of the society."
Unity, Uniformity and Understanding are to be taught in the schools. Diversity is there in any society however it should be treated in such a way that that diversity become the strength of the school society. Often starting from Uniform and treating all as equal is very essential in the school level as the schools are the first mentoring place to mold the youth into a dynamic force.
But, we are growing global village, so diversity is the new normal as the metaphor has changed from a "melting pot" to a "salad bowl." Given the current dominant diversity narrative, we would evolve into societies with diverse ethnic groups as discussed in the following resources:
https://youtu.be/7-f_noT0DbI- Does education have the concept of diversity incorrect?
Best,
Debra
It is necessary to attach importance to values education for a good society. A good society is formed if people adopt values and apply them in daily life.
I think it's not so much of the content but the context generated or conduced within the pedagogic setting. So anything can be taught to diverse groups but there is need to be measured in the structuring of the setting that ALL in the setting feel respected and valued for who they are.