Kelli, López, Wysocki, and Kepner (2012) defines diversity as acknowledging, accepting, valuing, understanding and celebrating the differences amongst persons of different races, tribes, ages, class, sexual orientation, religion, and any other demographic classes that can be used to classify people. The world is increasingly being globalized.
Different people from different backgrounds are interacting within this global world. There is therefore very need to ensure that these different societies interact in a manner that would foster peace. Education is one of the institutions that have fostered diversity. In leaning institutions, different persons of different socio-cultural background are brought together as a unit.
Within an educational institution, there are teachers, students, non-teaching staff, and the parents among other stakeholders. These people are brought together as a unit with the aim of imparting knowledge into the students. It would require a high level of interaction for these individuals from different backgrounds to co-exist peacefully without experiencing any disharmony amongst them.
The emerging technologies are bringing new trends in the educations sector. The emerging technology has brought to a close, the geographical barriers that existed before. It is now possible for an individual in the United States of America to communicate easily with another in Australia through phones. Travelling has also been made easier and faster with the invention of the planes and the cruise liners.
This has seen a new trend in education that has had a huge impact on the workforce. Because of the ease of communication and travelling, different people currently prefer learning in the institutions that are considered to offer the best, irrespective of the distance.
This trend has been common in institutions of higher learning. An American would prefer Harvard Business School as the institution to take their bachelors or higher degrees. A Briton would share the same feeling and so would a South African, an Indian, Brazilian, Russian, Chinese or any other race or tribe that exist around the globe.
They would be brought into this institution where they would be expected to interact and act as one large family. These people come to these institutions from different socio-cultural institutions.
When in such institutions of higher learning, these individuals are forced to accept the diversity of the place. It may not be easy to change the mindset or the general way of life of these individuals. It would require the individuals to accept the difference that exist and learn to live with it.
With time, these individuals would come to appreciate that in the world, people are different. They would have to appreciate the fact that just as others are unique to them, they are also unique to others. Because of this, others must be ready to accept them the way they are. Similarly, they have to accept others the way they are and respect their social standing.
This would be the only way through which these individuals can manage a peaceful co-existence. When these individuals graduate and are absorbed into the workforce, they are people who understand and appreciate the difference that exist between different societies. Such individuals would find it easy to work in a diversified workplace.
It would also be easy for them to work in different societies with different cultural beliefs. E learning however comes as a double-edged sword in fostering diversity. On one end, it allows an individual the ability to learn the way of life of different people easily in the internet. On the other end, it eliminates physical interaction hence hinders diversity.
References
Kelli A., López, M., Wysocki, A., & Kepner, K. (2012).Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and the Required Managerial Tools1. Florida: University of Florida Press.