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Write a summary relating to importance of diversity in the learning environment and how it that can be used to develop skills in an equally efficient manner.
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The essay discusses the importance of diversity in the learning environment and how it can be used to develop skills in an equally efficient manner. The teacher must be aware of the learners' cultural specificities, but should not oversimplify these specifics to the point where the educator succumbs to the typical stereotypes.
human
Provide an essay relating to importance of diversity in the learning environment and how it that can be used to develop skills in an equally efficient manner. Exapnd on the summary above. Start with the words '#Gaining a Deeper Perspective'.
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#Gaining a Deeper Perspective through the Analysis of Learners’ Backgrounds Expository Essay
Of all the issues of the 21 st century, diversity is clearly among the most complex ones. It has the top priority on the agenda of the U.S. cultural issues, it is said to have the utmost importance for the modern society, and it barely has a distinct definition (Garcia, n. d., 00:01:14).
Despite its vagueness, diversity is an essential component of any learning environment, which a teacher must enhance and use so that the learners with different cultural backgrounds could develop skills in an equally efficient manner.
As long as a teacher is capable of learning relating to student’s culture, they are able to find a unique approach towards any learner and enhance motivation even among the least enthusiastic students (Kyle, & McIntyre, 2000).
Indeed, the globalization and industrialization processes that have been going on all over the world over the past few decades have triggered massive changes in the U.S. education landscape. As Eugene Garcia explains, nowadays, “higher percentage of children in those locales, now come from populations that we might have called one time ‘minorities’” (Garcia, n. d., 00:15:40:–00:15:44).
Therefore, it is obvious that a teacher must be aware of the learners’ cultural specifics, and yet a teacher must not oversimplify these specifics to the point where the educator succumbs to the typical stereotypes.
The ability to balance between lack of cultural awareness and common stereotyping is what makes a good educator; this ability can be trained in a variety of way, they key one being the willingness to discover pone’s own diversity. As Garcia explains, “There is as much diversity within us as there is across us” (Garcia, n. d., 00:00:55).
The problem is that there is a very fine line between being aware of cultural specific of a particular ethnic group and stereotyping people based on the common prejudice concerning their culture.
The situation gets even more complicated as it turns out that not all stereotypes are necessarily negative; some of them allow for building a very positive idea of a specific ethnic group; however, these prejudices are still harmful for the evolution of a learner, since they make a teacher set the expectations that a student cannot meet (Taylor, 1990).
Cultural stereotypes are not the only issue that may hinder the process of a student’s academic development; apart from race and nationality based bias, the so-called gender issue persists even in the 21 st century. The given phenomenon traditionally leads to major complexities in the learning process. One must keep in mind, though, that the difference between two genders exists, and not only on the biological level.
The task of the teacher, however, is not to limit the amount of skills and knowledge that a student may get, based on these differences, but, on the contrary, to expand the opportunities for their learners. In other words, the learner’s gender must inform, but not define, the strategies that a teacher should use and the tasks that a learner must perform.
Therefore, an educator must be flexible enough to not only adopt unique strategies towards every single learner in order to motivate students for being self-sufficient in their academic life.
In other words, the ultimate goal of any educator is to promote lifelong learning among students and to enhance the latter to be independent in their academic life. To achieve this goal, teachers must be active learners themselves and be able to explore their diversity, as well as the diversity of their students, in order to motivate the latter.