<p>Why don't most college students seldom hang around those from different backgrounds?</p>
<p>Isn't college supposed to be, in part, about broadening your horizons?</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Sadly, it’s a normal human reaction to self-segregate. Ever heard of the saying, “Birds of a feather flock together”?</p>
<p>That’s not to say that we are not receptive to interacting with others.</p>
<p>Well, if the point in life is to be happy no matter what, and hanging out with familiar people makes one happy, I don’t see the problem anywhere.</p>
<p>I don’t see this among my residential college. Maybe in the larger U but I haven’t noticed. Almost all circles that I know of have people from widely different backgrounds. So, not my experience at all. </p>
<p>Could be because different colleges attract similar people? Majors attract similar people?</p>
<p>But really, who cares?</p>
<p>Also, I think your original assumption is wrong.</p>
<p>That’s a very good question. I’ve noticed that most people want to be around others who they feel share common beliefs, interests, and practices. We tend to segregate ourselves according to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religious beliefs, etc. One of the reasons for this is shared identify, support and safety. I believe that groups on campus must come to value, understand and respect one another.</p>
<p>I have a suggestion. Get out of your comfort zone. Involve yourself in a campus club or activity that has a diverse membership. Be part of the solution.</p>
<p>It’s the nature of humanity. It’s not a universal constant by any stretch, but people do tend to hang out with more people of similar backgrounds and interests. It would be hard for an average millionaires kid to relate to a kid that grew up on the poverty line on a lot of levels. Different statuses breed different views of the world, and different experiences to draw on. We naturally gravitate towards those that we can better relate to.</p>
<p>This is one of the greater issues in society in my opinion. People are too isolated, and live too much in their own worlds. As aquamarine said above, be one of the ones that breaks this mold and try to change this, if only in your own little part of the world. Despite all of our differences as people, we share the greatest common interest imaginable…being human, and being alive today on Planet Earth.</p>
<p>I go to a large university and I do see a lot of groups of people that are all the same ethnicity. This is entirely the opposite of how it was in any of my schools prior to college. I feel like from elementary-high school a lot of people grow up around the same people and don’t really think about race and then they become more race conscious in college for some reason. It might sound extremely weird or different but I am full white and I’m in three black organizations on campus. I have learned a lot from them so far and I am very glad to have joined them.</p>
<p>I think self-segregation happens anywhere. People like being with others who have things in common with them. I personally don’t find it annoying unless they start accusing each other of racism. It’s rather silly to argue about that when they self-segregated themselves in the first place. </p>
<p>I don’t segregate myself and do try to attempt meeting new people. However, sometimes if ideas clash too much that can cause conflict.</p>