Diversity is one issue that has been observed in several institutions in the world. People from different walks of life are united through religion, education, entertainment, and living together. When people embrace their differences, existing peacefully becomes a result (Bell, 2021). However, when people cannot harmonize their differences and coexist, chaos becomes the character of existence. Education is one of the significant aspects that bring people from diverse backgrounds together. Some researchers have identified diversity to affect students’ performance in their studies. The diversity of the students comes in terms of ethnic, racial, gender, and age distribution. This paper seeks to research the impact of the above factors on performance in my school.
Age and gender cause a difference in performance in my school. According to the research, the composition of females and males in the school is15000 and 13500 respectively. This means that the number of females admitted to my school is slightly higher than males accepted each year. According to my research, 9% of females graduated with distinction while 15% of males graduated with distinction. This finding indicates a performance difference between males and females that other factors may cause. Another research done from the different learning institutions show that males perform averagely better than females, though there is a slight difference in performance (Bush et al., 2017). Most of the students in my college are 17 to 24 years of age. From the research findings, age does not have a significant influence on performance. However, the findings also indicated that some students who enter college at an advanced age are likely to take academic work seriously more than the younger ones.
Moreover, racial and ethnic diversity may also influence students’ performance in my school. The racial composition of students in the school is; 70% white, 25% African American and 5% others. The students’ performance at graduation is not affected by their races as there is no statistical evidence of a particular race performing better than others. However, most African American excels in their college education compared to the other races. Another research indicates that few African Americans graduate from high school to college, but the few get good performance (Roksa et al., 2016). According to the study, the ethnic groups were well distributed and had no significant difference in academic performance.
While doing the investigations, I have noticed that students above 25 years of age were 10%. I expected that almost all the students were within the age bracket of 17 to 24 years of age. Surprisingly the students above 25 years were doing well in their academic performance. This was evident because almost everyone graduated with at least credit in their studies. According to other research, older students are expected to perform lower than the younger ones because of their reduced concentration span due to the commitments (Chen, 2017). However, according to my research, this is not the case; older students have shown more commitment to their academic work than younger students.
In conclusion, diversity is a norm in every setting and has little to do with students’ performance. What makes the difference in their performance is more than the mere fact that they are old, African American, or female. Other factors come in to cause these differences. These other factors may be issues like environment, motivation, and finances. People should learn to harmonize their diversity and exist together.
References
Bell, M. P. (2021). Diversity In Organizations. Cengage Learning.
Bush, A. A., McLaughlin, J. E., & White, C. (2017). A Review of Contemporary Diversity Literature in Pharmacy Education. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 81(7). Web.
Chen, J. C. (2017). Nontraditional Adult Learners. SAGE Open, 7(1), 215824401769716. Web.
Roksa, J., Trolian, T. L., Pascarella, E. T., Kilgo, C. A., Blaich, C., & Wise, K. S. (2016). Racial Inequality in Critical Thinking Skills: The Role of Academic and Diversity Experiences. Research in Higher Education, 58(2), 119–140. Web.