Diversity

I have always know that diversity is important for our country, especially considering that we are a nation made up of immigrants. But to be honest, before this year, I had not experienced a whole lot of diversity. I come from small town Iowa, where most everyone is white and have conservative beliefs. To put that into another perspective, I graduated with all white classmates. So although I knew diversity existed, I hadn't particularly been exposed to it on a day to day basis.

With that said, I felt the presentation that was given last Tuesday was very informative. After I wrote my introductory paragraph, I remembered how diversity doesn't necessarily just mean what race or ethnicity a person is. So I think that was the major thing I took away from the lecture. Diversity can also mean sexual orientation, gender, and religious affiliations among other things.

So thinking back to my views on diversity in high school and my views now, they have definitely changed and I would say in a good way. Although Iowa State is still made up of many small town Iowa kids like me, we have a ton of different people! Something that proves that is the number of clubs we have here. I think I once heard over 800? With that in mind, I'm sure there are clubs here that I would never be interested in joining and I'm sure there is someone here that wouldn't want to be a part of a club that I am in. But that is completely fine! One of my favorite parts of being a part of such a big university is all the different people I've met and gotten to know. Sure, some are similar to people I went to high school with, but others are just polar opposites.

I think this diversity is essential to our culture and education because without it, life would be boring! We would go about every day agreeing with each other and nothing would get accomplished. For example, if we were all like me and hated blood, needles, and surgery, who would be our doctors? Who would find cures to diseases? Like I mentioned earlier, our country was made up of immigrants hundreds of years ago and still today, new people are coming in from other countries daily that improve our schools, businesses, and health care.

Finally, I think that it is one of the worst things in the world when people stereotype and judge people based on their appearances and beliefs. Unfortunately, we all do it. I think it's important that we all work on this because we have all probably lost so many potential friends by just passing by them and not getting to know them. By getting to interact with people of all different backgrounds daily, I'm sure you would be able to learn more about yourself as well! Most importantly, just respect each other. I don't think anyone would ask for anything more than respect and a chance.