You know how they say that college is “the rest of your life?”
False.
Your life is the rest of your life. This isn’t real.
In the real world, African-Americans represent more than just 4.1 percent of the population, which was their representation in IU’s fall 2012 student population. IU’s 2012 international student population totals little more than 3,000 students.
We are relatively sheltered here — the IU student population does not accurately represent the diversity you will encounter on the job market in bigger cities.
This week marked the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
In many ways Dr. King’s dream has been realized, but needless to say the struggle continues.
The fight is no longer about segregated water fountains but about economic and social differences between the black and white population, as well as persisting stereotypes.
Additionally, we are learning how to deal with a world that is more connected than ever and with other countries challenging the idea that the American way is the best way.
I keep going back to this quote from Dr. King: “The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.”
The struggles for equality that continue today do not just refer to equality within our country, but equality with the entire human race.
For us college students, we miss a vital part of our education if we do not learn how to understand the value of different backgrounds.
Maybe it comes from our innate desire to find common ground with other people.
Many friendships form from a conversation where you discover you like the same music, or you’re from the same area. It’s how we connect with people.
For all the progress we’ve made in terms of equality, we still differentiate ourselves on the grounds of race and nationality.
How many of your friends are the same race as you?
How many of the international students in your classes have you talked to?
I’m guessing the numbers are pretty low if you’re a white student, and that’s not necessarily your fault. This campus doesn’t accurately represent the diversity of the world.
We can all learn so much from people who are different from us.
Things like race and nationality are all ways we identify ourselves. We can’t pretend those things don’t matter. They matter to each of us a great deal.
It’s just that in the grand scheme of things, a black person can fall in love with a white person, and an Indiana-born student can have just as strong a friendship with a Chinese international student as they would with another Indiana-born student.
When it comes to love and friendship, our backgrounds just don’t matter.
We can’t ignore the real world out there. If we can’t connect on a basic human level with the relatively low diversity just on IU’s campus, how are we supposed to thrive once we get to “the real world”?
We all go to the same school. Isn’t that a big enough similarity?
Out of all the schools in the world, we all go to this one. Wherever we came from, wherever we’re going, right now, we have this in common.
The only way to survive “the rest of your life” is by finding common ground with other people in ways you wouldn’t normally see. To celebrate our differences, but to realize that there is a basic humanity tying us all together.
— cjellert@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Caroline Ellert on Twitter @cjellert.
False.
Your life is the rest of your life. This isn’t real.
In the real world, African-Americans represent more than just 4.1 percent of the population, which was their representation in IU’s fall 2012 student population. IU’s 2012 international student population totals little more than 3,000 students.
We are relatively sheltered here — the IU student population does not accurately represent the diversity you will encounter on the job market in bigger cities.
This week marked the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
In many ways Dr. King’s dream has been realized, but needless to say the struggle continues.
The fight is no longer about segregated water fountains but about economic and social differences between the black and white population, as well as persisting stereotypes.
Additionally, we are learning how to deal with a world that is more connected than ever and with other countries challenging the idea that the American way is the best way.
I keep going back to this quote from Dr. King: “The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.”
The struggles for equality that continue today do not just refer to equality within our country, but equality with the entire human race.
For us college students, we miss a vital part of our education if we do not learn how to understand the value of different backgrounds.
Maybe it comes from our innate desire to find common ground with other people.
Many friendships form from a conversation where you discover you like the same music, or you’re from the same area. It’s how we connect with people.
For all the progress we’ve made in terms of equality, we still differentiate ourselves on the grounds of race and nationality.
How many of your friends are the same race as you?
How many of the international students in your classes have you talked to?
I’m guessing the numbers are pretty low if you’re a white student, and that’s not necessarily your fault. This campus doesn’t accurately represent the diversity of the world.
We can all learn so much from people who are different from us.
Things like race and nationality are all ways we identify ourselves. We can’t pretend those things don’t matter. They matter to each of us a great deal.
It’s just that in the grand scheme of things, a black person can fall in love with a white person, and an Indiana-born student can have just as strong a friendship with a Chinese international student as they would with another Indiana-born student.
When it comes to love and friendship, our backgrounds just don’t matter.
We can’t ignore the real world out there. If we can’t connect on a basic human level with the relatively low diversity just on IU’s campus, how are we supposed to thrive once we get to “the real world”?
We all go to the same school. Isn’t that a big enough similarity?
Out of all the schools in the world, we all go to this one. Wherever we came from, wherever we’re going, right now, we have this in common.
The only way to survive “the rest of your life” is by finding common ground with other people in ways you wouldn’t normally see. To celebrate our differences, but to realize that there is a basic humanity tying us all together.
— cjellert@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Caroline Ellert on Twitter @cjellert.
