For a school that boasts about its International Student Program (ISP), JC has a problem reflecting this diversity of numbers in its social structure and curriculum. Steps should be taken to prepare students for the diversity that they are going to encounter when they leave these halls.
JC’s mission statement states that students will be prepared to shape “a more just and compassionate global society.” For this to happen, students have to be exposed to different types of people and different cultures.
The ISP may bring students of other cultures to JC, but it fails in mixing those students and the domestic students in social situations.
A way to integrate students from other countries with American students is to set up a program like our current Friend-to-Friend program that would connect students, across the language barriers, that share common interests. Through the formation of international friendships, students can learn about another culture without even trying. Such education outside of the classroom would help JC live up to its mission statement.
JC can also instill diversity by changing the curriculum to prepare students for a globally diverse world.
World Religions should be made mandatory because, besides Anthropology, there are no culture-related classes at JC.
JC needs only to look at almost any college’s course load. Almost all colleges offer classes, majors, or minors dedicated to the study of foreign cultures such as Human Rights in Asia, Politics in Italy, and Modern Latin America.
JC should also offer AP World History which could teach students about other cultures without the European colonization perspective.
Students who have a thorough understanding of different cultures will be more inclined to be accepting of those other cultures.
English classes also offer a chance at diversity education. Books such as “Secret Life of Bees,” “Song Yet Sung,” “Kite Runner,” and “Their Eyes Were Watching God” are good of examples of books that are taught in the classroom which address the issue of racial tension in a manner in which students can effectively discuss them.
Diversity is not something that can be forced upon the student body. However, there are steps that can be taken to better prepare students’ to go out and fulfill JC’s mission statement.