Ethnic Diversity?

[Guest Levy]

Okay, I stuck this in the debate forums because I believe it has the potential, and the high likelihood, to become a debate. So I put it here in advance so I won't have to bug a mod later.

 

So here we go:

 

How ethnically diverse is your school district? Below is a link to my school district's ethnicity graph.

http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapcorp.cfm?corp=1835

95% of my school is Caucasian. Only 8 students in the entire district, which includes every elementary school and the middle and high school, are African-American.

No wonder most people in Northeast Indiana are racist.

Because the diversity never exists at all while I am in school, I get uneasy around African-Americans. Its not that I want to be, its just... involuntary.

 

So here comes the question.

How ethnically diverse is your school district? (Check you school's website for information. If your school doesn't have the info on the website then Google search your school with quotation marks.)

 

Disclaimer: Yes this topic can be viewed as racially sensitive, but according to the debate guidelines this is entirely within discussion-able discourse: Rule 6 "Any topic can be debated, from global warming to sex. But, this right is only given for this board only, and only if talking about these topics can be conducted in a mature way. Debates will be closed if members are immature."

[crxsnochic]

My university says: "About one-sixth of the student population is made up of students of color (I don't know if that means they are including all non-Caucasions in that total, but I think they are), and 55 percent of all students are female. (<-- girls are smart!)." But there are also "664 international students (4.2 percent) from 39 foreign countries." So, fairly diverse I guess.

 

My high school had similar demographics as yours Levy, but two of my best friends at school were black, and my partner in all my science/math classes was too (he's probably the smartest guy I've ever met, a total genius, it was great to have him as lab partner, we got 'A's on everything!). My mom also goes to Honduras every year to work in a clinic and I've gone with her too, so I've got a few Honduran friends from there (and some are black too, though it's central america, there's a pretty large black population there), and my current neighborhood is mostly hispanic also. And I worked at a Thai restaurant and got to know some of the funnest girls I've ever met there, they're all back in Thailand now though (man do I miss them!) So, I never really felt uncomfortable around other races, cause they've always just been my buddies. But I've seen old classmates of mine be uncomfortable, and my grandparents are horribly racist (they grew up and still live in rural Ohio, so they have had very limited exposure to other races, and their outlook has become rotten and soiled because of it :angry: ) I think my mom was a bit racist when she was younger (my grandparents influence), but she isn't any more cause she's just gotten out and about the world and has become friends with all sorts of people.

 

When you're out of school, try moving to a big city (or bigger and more diverse city at least) and just be open to getting to know lots of different people. You're uneasy feeling will go away once your subconscience finally realizes that the only differences are the ones its putting there.

[Ellie_Penguin]

Where I live, about 95% of the population is Caucasian. Even though, there aren't many blacks or hispanics around, people here are very welcoming so we don't have a racism problem from the lack of diversity. In my school, there are only 6 hispanics (including me) and about 4 black people. The rest are just Caucasian, but that is because most of the population here is Caucasian and not because my school is racist (just so you know).

[m3l3ana]

Well I am in NZ, and my school doesn't have a graph like Levy's however I can probably tell you that atleast 40% of the students at my high school were Maori or Islander and about 30% were Asian and then you probably have the rest being Caucasions (not the correct number, but somewhere around there). Now I am pretty sure that most of the students that go to my old high school are Asian or Caucasions and the lesser being Maori and Islander, kind of strange since the school was started for Maori Girls!

[antiaircraft]

While the largest chunk of the population at my university is made up of Asian students, the general population is pretty diverse (I was unable to find any ethnicity charts). Personally I'm quite comfortable around people of any race (relatively speaking, since I'm not usually comfortable in social situations).

[Catzi]

My university considers itself very diverse. I'm sure that with over 20000 students, it would be considered diverse. However, if you look at the stats, 80% consider themselves white.

[Ruto]

We have sort of a small school, but big enough to where there should be a few African-Americans. However, there aren't any. The only ethnic diversity we have is this one kid from Korea. Out of over 10,000 students in all districts.

 

Pretty bad. It's not that our school prohibits other races from enrolling, it's just that the kids who aren't white don't want to enroll 'cause they would feel out of place and uncomfortable.

[torridity]

My school doesn't have any statistics for ethnic diversity, but ballparking I would say about 65% of students are Caucasian. Since I live in Northern Ontario, there are native reserves everywhere and a large popluation of my school is made up of Aboriginal peoples. There are also a few African-American, Asian, and Pakistani families (who all have large numbers of children, surprisingly) so they make up a big part as well.

 

Most people that go to my school are pretty comfortable with different ethnicities... especially myself, since my parents have pretty diverse friends. In my opinion, that's the best way to combat racisim - expose new generations to equality and peace between different races.

[ffchild]

I'd say about more than half of the people in my school are African American, and the rest are Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic, etc.

Yah...I have a lot of minorities in my school. But I'd say it's pretty diverse. We all get along w/ each other. It's nice.

[Christina]

Where I went to school I only remember a couple non caucasian kids, and I mean literally a couple. I can only think of 2, at least in the surrounding grades when I went to school. That was in a small town in southern NY.

 

Now that I live here in TN, I am a minority being white. In my complex here there are only a few white families besides us.

 

That being said, my husband and I are looking at moving outside of the city limits a bit to a more diverse or "white" area before our 2 boys go to school, because if they go where we live now, whites make up less than 10% of the population of the school here. I am just not comfortable with my kids going to a school where they are a minority. Especially with the white hate crimes going on around here lately. That and my husband and I have personally been discriminated against here.

 

I wouldn't mind, and would rather my kids go to an ethnically diverse school, but am not comfortable with them being less than 10% of the school's population.