<p>The problem with diversity for the sake of diversity is that the whole concept categorizes everyone by race rather than by less-obvious characteristics. </p>
<p>My white, intellectual, non-drinking daughter who has lived overseas would have a much better living experience with someone of a different race who has similar values than with someone of the same race who expects her boyfriend to live with them, has little interest in academics or chides my daughter for not partying more.</p>
<p>It seems to me that it may be that when some minority students say they want “diversity,” it may be a code word for, “are there enough people like me?” I think this is a fair question. But when members of a majority group say this, it probably does mean that they are interested in attending school with people of diverse backgrounds. Most minority students are going to have little choice of this, unless they want to attend a HBC. I also think that as more students are exposed to diverse backgrounds in high school, they value that experience and want it in college, too.</p>
<p>But, living with people from other backgrounds can have a downside–there can be a culture clash, and it can cause big problems for roommates. Still, this is not really different from any other kind of roommate incompatibility–you can have a problem with a roomie who stays up all night, or who drinks a lot more (or less) than you do, or who is much more (or less) talkative than you. Cultural differences can lead to such incompatibilities as well.</p>
<p>“Furthermore, in certain cases, racial diversity can actually lead to social homogeneity. Oftentimes, racial groups congregate together, limiting the mixing together of different types of people and thereby completely negating the immense diversity that a school advertises.”</p>
<p>This seems like a valid point. Often, it seems, the more numerical diversity, the less true diversity - at least this is the case at my high school. Well-represented minorities stick together, while the few from more unique backgrounds spend more time with the rest of the school.</p>
<p>So my question:
Does your college have true diversity (lots of interaction between different races and cultures) or merely perceived diversity (high number of minority students - but they are normally seen with each other)?</p>
<p>*It seems to me that it may be that when some minority students say they want “diversity,” it may be a code word for, “are there enough people like me?” I think this is a fair question. But when members of a majority group say this, it probably does mean that they are interested in attending school with people of diverse backgrounds. *</p>
<p>*So my question:
Does your college have true diversity (lots of interaction between different races and cultures) or merely perceived diversity (high number of minority students - but they are normally seen with each other)? *</p>
<p>Good question. This is a problem for schools all over the US. There’s even a book about the problem…</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> “Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”: A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity (9780465083619): Beverly Daniel Tatum, Beverly Daniel Tatum: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Black-Kids-Sitting-Together-Cafeteria/dp/0465083617]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Black-Kids-Sitting-Together-Cafeteria/dp/0465083617)</p>
<p>Diversity did not work out very well for my D her freshman year. She chose to room with someone of a different race/religion who was a friend from our hometown. They were not best friends, but were definitely close enough friends and had known each other since elementary school. They also had differnt majors.</p>
<p>D turned down a request to room with someone who was white and in her very small program because she wanted to broaden who she would hang out with in college.</p>
<p>Within a week, her roomate had joined an ethnic/ church-based group on campus and had nothing to do with my D for the rest of the year. I think they shared 2 meals in 2 semesters because roomate was with her same race/religion friends constantly. These new friends were shocked that D’s roomate had a white roomate (my D) and said so to her face. For the one meal they shared first sememster, my D went with roomate and her friends to a restaurant and was asked pointedly if she minded being the only white. Roomates friends would come to the room to get the roomate and roomate would never ask D to join them at the library or wherever they were going.</p>
<p>Luckily D was in a small program (in a big university) whose students were very social with one another, and so she had a good social life nonetheless. But D was hurt by the experience very much and felt it was very race-related.</p>
<p>Summer back in our hometown D’s ex-roomate made it seem like they were best friends all year. While they never had a “fight”, D can’t respect her as a friend anymore. D felt her roomate had no backbone and went along with the exlusionary/ racist attitude of her friends</p>
<p>Don’t forget political diversity. My D called me one day crying because her “friends” had ganged up on her because after hearing a celebrity speak on campus, she told them that she did not get her views from celebrities. It was a real lesson for her. She said that she was considering their views and couldn’t understand why they weren’t listening to hers.</p>
<p>As a prospective college student, to be completely honest, the idea of diversity is anathema to me. I do not want to separate myself from those like me, and throughout my schooling, my friends have been 95% Asian, the majority of whom are fully 100% Chinese. In general, my experience has shown that I am able to communicate and relate far better to those of the same ethnic origin; in addition, those of a different race tend to grate on my nerves, so to speak. The very notion that I would want to socialize with non-Chinese is, for the most part, laughable. Although I recognize the value of interpersonal relations with all races in a professional or business setting, for personal social interaction, I would much prefer to surround myself with those like me. Time and time again, observations and experiences have shown me the differences between the races–and I believe I know which one I prefer. The Chinese culture is one which I fully enjoy and partake in, and Chinese customs and traditions are vital parts of my life. I have never, even for a single moment, entertained the thought of allowing an outsider to observe the details of my every-day life to such a great extent that it would be as though he is living in my very house.</p>
<p>Indeed, I will never understand fully the sentiments of those who are proponents of diversity in student life. Is it not better for culture to remain exclusive? What good is culture if it is diffused and spread out in such a fashion that it has no more worth? The experience and familiarization of different cultures is truly an enlightening experience, but the total immersion in a so-called “diverse” setting does nothing more than strip away one’s original culture and replace it with some sort of convoluted mixture of values. Although I may enjoy sampling all sorts of foods, at the end of the day, I simply want to go home and have a bowl of rice. Living in an overly diverse college is not so–one cannot board a plane back home on a daily basis. The protection of East Asian culture is of the paramount importance and I would be a fool to contribute to the diffusion and utter destruction of my own culture in the United States. Instead, I will remain at home as my culture desires, commuting to college and returning to my beloved home in the evenings.</p>
<p>@Kironide</p>
<p>That’s quite an interesting perspective! While I generally disagree with you, I feel that you make a good point about the importance and significance of culture. Don’t take offense to this, but I wonder whether that decision to remain ensconced within your own culture, instead of embracing a multicultural ethos, is partially derived from East Asian cultural values. Liberal Western values promote diversity so it is hard to imagine someone from that culture so honestly making the argument that you are able to put forth.</p>
<p>Eh, I feel like I needed diversity in my college experience. In HS, my friends were predominantly Asian, despite my being White. In college, I’m a minority in that I practice my faith, I’m a minority in that my values don’t mesh up with most people’s, but still, it would be a very, very boring life indeed if my best friends thought and acted the same way I do. One of the deals with diversity is that I want to understand PEOPLE: not a singular culture, not “get-along” with people, not find a place where I’m nice and comfortable. All those are anathema to my exploratory nature: can I really have any intelligent conversation about, for example, Islam, if I don’t know anyone, and haven’t had conversations with anyone who actually practices that faith? By going to a diverse school, I’ve been introduced to Indian and Greek food, and I’m constantly pushed to explore something I wouldn’t have considered (eg., [Falling</a> Whistles | A Campaign for Peace in Congo](<a href=“http://www.fallingwhistles.com/]Falling”>http://www.fallingwhistles.com/)). Furthermore, I’m more likely to break down the bigotry I do have: how can I be homophobic if my best friends are gay? Furthermore, how is it even possible to relate to other people if I’ve never interacted with “anyone like them” before? Without diversity, you see a dichotomoy of “us” and “them” (i.e. “I don’t feel uncomfortable going to a largely white school, but ‘they’ would.”). If you want people with the same cultural background as you, you should probably go to college in your home state, and experience 13th grade with the same friends from HS. After all, who will have a closer background to yours than your HS friends? However, I want to meet people who mesh with me: I can only do this by stepping out of my comfort zone of similar backgrounds, and meeting people who I connect with on a different level (i.e. do we both love computational theory? Can I be sure that any movie they pick to watch will be enjoyable to me as well? Can we tease each other about our choices of food, and is there a lot to discover about their background/life?). I’ve found that people who should be “similar” to me in terms of background tend to not “mesh” with me as well as people who I have to discover.</p>
<p>In retrospect: my first roommate was supposed to be an international student from Pakistan. It really saddened me when he couldn’t show up. By being thrown into a diverse freshman dorm, I’ve gained friends from literally all over, and I’ve found the closest-knit friends typically are related due to something other than race or geography (i.e. music, party-ing, classes they take, playing poker, etc.). There are exceptions to this rule, but in general, it disheartens me if, after meeting and getting to be friends with a few people in a group, I don’t feel like I belong in their group of friends.</p>
<p>I like good amounts of diversity, so its like a melting pot. I won’t feel odd being the only person of my race there and I can make friends from everywhere and get exposure to new cultures and ideas.</p>
<p>pwoods,</p>
<p>Kironide is ■■■■■■■■ again. Look at his past postings and you’ll see that he also claimed, among other things, to be the 40-year-old son of the Chinese President. Now he is posing as a “prospective college student.” He may not even be of East Asian descent or male; don’t believe everything you read, even on College Confidential. :-)</p>
<p>“her “friends” had ganged up on her because after hearing a celebrity speak on campus, she told them that she did not get her views from celebrities.”</p>
<p>Huh. Did she actually use those words to them? Because that comes across to me as a snotty thing to say. I wouldn’t say that to my classmates unless I were trying to imply that they DID get their views from celebrities and couldn’t think for themselves. If that’s what happened, I bet she did learn a lesson from it, but not the one you’re talking about.</p>
<p>To OP - I witnessed an awful situation where one privileged Jewish-American princess filled out her application celebrating “diversity” and a real excitement to reach out to learn more from other cultures. It turned out to just be for admissions purposes though. When they actually placed her with an international student from South America, NIMBY came into full play. Suddenly she had a thousand issues with the roommate and fought tooth and nail to leave. She was a total brat and ended up getting her way, but such a sad case of wanting diversity, just not “THAT” much. Colleges should do a better job of screening past the BS.</p>
<p>There were those who questioned my position that some/many students consider “diversity” as meaning that a school has an acceptable number of THEIR ethnic group.</p>
<p>Well, today this got posted…</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1065776836-post1.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1065776836-post1.html</a></p>
<p>*Ok I have this major dilemma! One of the colleges that I am interested in isn’t very diversity (4% black) and I really want to apply for a school with major diversity… *</p>
<p>This student isn’t unusual. And, note that his litmus test for “major diversity” is the number of HIS ethnic group.</p>
<p>Although it wouldn’t be too comfortable at first to be with someone unfamiliar who is very different from me, I think if we were roommates or classmates we could eventually become close friends. It just takes time and adjustment. Many people have come from homogeneous communities, but they can get used to other types of people soon.</p>
<p>Enough so I can do my interracial dating (mating).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I for one would have no objections to returning from class to find six women in burqas sitting on my bed. Heck if I could get even three women in burqas on my bed I’d consider it a pretty successful day. ;)</p>
<p>^ ha ha .</p>
<p>Honestly, I think we’re missing the point. We can’t compare a student’s want for diversity with the kind of roommate he or she wants. Most students look for diversity around them, but they look for a roommate with which they think they would be compatible. Most people are MOST comfortable around someone of their own race, but they want to be surrounded with a representation of their real world.</p>
<p>NIMBR?? Why are people so close-minded when other cultures are so amazing? I am half-Korean, quarter-German, quarter-Irish, and have bits of Luxembourg, Japan, and China. I was born in Florida, moved to Thailand at the age of 2, moved to Indonesia at the age of 7, and moved to Virginia at 11. (My parents are diplomats). Maybe it’s because I’ve been exposed to all these cultures, but people rejecting diversity when it comes up close just seems so strange. All you have to do is step a little outside of what you’re used to. Life isn’t always going to be an exact representation of the home(s) you grew up in.</p>