GAC 015: Assessment Event 4: Academic Essay

The Hidden Asset :

Cultural Diversity

Student : Ananda Mutiara Sahira

Student ID : 1505160607

Teacher : Arum Widyastuti

Due Date : 23 April 2019

Word Count : 1413

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Topic: How Diversity can actually be an asset and bring positive impacts to the University

Diversity is any measurement that can be utilized to separate gatherings and individuals

from each other. More or less, it's tied in with engaging individuals by regarding and

acknowledging what makes them unique, as far as age, sex, ethnicity, religion, handicap,

sexual introduction, training, and national root (Diversity, 2003).

The idea of diversity includes acknowledgment and respect. It implies understanding that

every individual is one of a kind, and perceiving our individual contrasts. These can be along

the components of race, ethnicity, sex, sexual introduction, financial status, age, physical

capacities, religious convictions, political convictions, or different belief systems. It is the

investigation of these distinctions in a sheltered, positive, and sustaining condition. It is tied in

with seeing one another and moving past basic resistance to grasping and commending the

rich elements of decent variety contained inside every person. (Diversity, 2003). Diversity is a

reality made by people and gatherings from an expansive range of statistic and philosophical

contrasts. It is critical to help and secure decent variety in light of the fact that by esteeming

people and gatherings free from preference, and by cultivating an atmosphere where value

and shared regard are characteristic.

Based on The New York Times since the 1990s, Hispanic and Asian understudy

enlistment in American schools has ascended by in excess of five million, extraordinarily

affecting instructive and social improvement at all dimensions of learning. The increasing

number of students shows that diversity is acceptable in American schools.

As the explanation about diversity above, it can be concluded that diversity, to some

people, are spreading negativity through the differences of one individuals to another that can

lead to some conflict. But according to the research of the impact of diversity in the education

system, it is the other way around.

Diversity sometimes connoted as a bad thing for some people, but diversity is actually

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very beneficial, especially for the university. This research shows that diversity is actually

acceptable in the society and education field, there are a lot of university that embrace the

diversity in their school and actually take it as an asset.

First, Diversity are actually supporting the development of learning in University.

According to Carnegie Mellon University (2019),

“ The goal of the school was to supplement, broaden and enlarge the existing systems of
education, and give their principal aid to those who are at present but partially or not at all
provided for.It should offer to that large and ever increasing group of women wage earners an
opportunity to acquire skill and efficiency, that they may be lifted from the unskilled group to
the skilled.The singular values of hard work, creativity and innovation in problem-solving
defined the school then, and continue to guide its ambitions to this day.”
To make it short, the Carnegie Mellon focusing on how to developed the unskillful

student, to become skillful. Teach the values of hard work, creativity, and problem-solving.

The more diverse the student, the richer what will the students learned.

Other than Carnegie Mellon, Queen’s University of Charlotte also stated that diversity

brings positive impact towards their students. Queen’s avowed the positive impacts of

diversity is directly impacts their performance. Studies show that students work better in a

diverse environment, enabling them to concentrate and push themselves further when there

are people of other backgrounds working alongside them. This promotes creativity, as well as

better education, as those with differing viewpoints are able to collaborate to create solutions.

A recent report in the diary "Child Development" represented that understudies feel more

secure in school and in life when they are instructed in a various setting. Students can find out

about various societies, cultural and background, enabling them to feel a more prominent

feeling of solace with these distinctions. That makes them comfortable with themselves,

prompting a more profound feeling of security.

Diversity experiences are not only related to desired substantive outcomes of college, but

they also shape the way students think about themselves in relation to others, the nature of the

activities in which they engage, and the value they place on attitudes toward others and their

skills and competencies in working with different types of people during and after college

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(Gurin, 1999).

Secondly, Diversity in university not only beneficial for the student at that time, but also

give them the positive impact when they grown up and looking for a job. Many businesses

and companies in the U.S. are operating on an international scale. Teaching diversity prepares

students to be global citizens by exposing them to people from different cultures and social

groups. With the growth of globalization it is important for students to be able to work with

diverse groups of people. (Nneka Bennet, 2019)

Diversity can be the key of business regarding the marketing success, cost, resource

acquisition, creativity and innovation, problem-solving quality, and organizational flexibility

as six dimensions of business performance. Diversity also give the ability to attract, retain,

and motivate people from diverse cultural backgrounds, may lead to competitive advantages

in cost structures and through maintaining the highest quality human resources.(Taylor H.

Cox and Stacy Blake,1991)

Thirdly, Diversity gives the student a lesson to promote empathy and reduces prejudice.

When students live and attend schools in racially isolated environments they can develop

prejudices. Being educated about diversity can counter discriminatory stereotypes. Through

understanding various cultures and social groups, students are able to make connections from

their own lives to the lives of their peers. Teaching diversity increases cultural competence,

which in turn allows students to be empathetic to the experiences of others.

After the diversity, almost all pre-modern societies were religious and broadly agreed on

many of their basic moral beliefs and practices. Thanks to the absence of a moral consensus

and the unprecedented importance given to personal autonomy and choice, we today disagree

far more deeply than ever before about the best way to lead individual and collective lives and

about the meaning and significance of human activities and relations. (Bikhu Parekh, 2005)

To be conclude, it can be seen that the stereotype of cultural diversity bring negative

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side to society especially student is not true, cultural diversity in the other hand gives many

benefit for the student, whether the minority or majority to learn about other cultures, and try

to embrace differences and turn that into something valuable. From all of the statement from

Carnegie Mellon and Queen’s University, it is true that diversity is an asset for every

university, because those differences teach students and the teachers something that does not

come from a book but from experiences of cultural diversity.

“Taken together, multicultural education fosters pride in minority cultures, helps

minority students develop new insights into their cultures, reduces prejudice and

stereotyping, and promotes intercultural understanding.” (Rubalcava, 1991)

Reference List

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Bennet, N, (2019), 5 Benefits of Teaching Classroom Diversity, Kickboard, [online] Available

at : https://www.kickboardforschools.com/blog/post/5-benefits-of-teaching-classroom-
diversity [Accessed 21 April 2019]
Carnegie Mellon University, (2019), History of Diversity & Inclusion, Carnegie Mellon
University, [online] Available at : https://www.cmu.edu/diversity/commitment-and-
progress/history.html [Accessed 19 April 2019]
Cox H, T. , Blake, S., (1991)“Managing Cultural Diversity : Implication for Organizational
Competitiveness”, The Executive, vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 45-56., August. Accessed via
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Global Diversity Practice, (2003), What is Diversity and Inclusion?, Global Diversity
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inclusion/ [Accessed 20 April 2019]
Ogbu. J, (2006)., “Understanding Cultural Diversity and Learning”. Educational Researcher,
Vol. 21, No. 8 November., Accessed via GoogleScholar [online]
Parekh, B., (2005). “Unity and Diversity in Multicultural Societies”., International Institute
for Labour Studies Geneva., Accessed via GoogleScholar [online]
Queens Borough Community College, (2019), Definition for Diversity, Queens Borough
Community College, [online] Available at :
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/diversity/definition.html [Accessed 19 April 2019)
Queens University of Charlotte, (2019), The Benefits of Diversity in Schools, Queens
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programs/medl/resources/benefits-of-diversity-in- school [Accessed 20 April 2019]
Umbach D, P., Kuh D, G., (2003). “Student Experiences with Diversity at Liberal Arts
Colleges: Another Claim for Distinctiveness”., Accessed via GoogleScholar [online]
Wagner, R, (2017), The History of Diversity in the Workplace, Bizfluent, [online] Available
at : https://bizfluent.com/about-5463620-history-diversity-workplace.html [Accessed
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