The Benefits of Diversity and Inclusivity in a Learning Environment

Core Values: Adaptability and Perseverance

Core values are useful as they help students to adapt to changes, assists them to persevere difficult decisions and be able to clarify difficult problems.

Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity is an essential part of the University of La Verne and other universities. Diversity and inclusion go hand in hand. Diversity refers to the condition of being composed of different elements. These can be concerning race, ethnicity, age, gender, and socioeconomic status, political and religious beliefs among other ideologies. Accordingly, it is fundamental to support and ensure diversity by esteeming people and groups without bias and creating an environment where equity and mutual respect are inherent.

Inclusion: Creating a Conducive Environment

On the other hand, inclusion refers to the act of creating a conducive environment in which different people can be accommodated and feel welcome, supported, respected, and valued to participate fully. Inclusion in a classroom environment perceives students learn in various ways and have valuable perspectives to convey to the content learned. Therefore, diversity and inclusion have positive impacts on all students because when they identify their university as the nondiscriminatory environment, those students’ underrepresented ends feeling a more noteworthy feeling of having a place and majority shows greater support for the university’s diversity efforts. This paper will discuss the benefits of diversity and inclusivity in a learning environment.

Informational Diversity and Performance

The primary thing to acknowledge about diversity impact is the idea of informational diversity. At the point when diverse individuals come together to tackle issues in groups, they bring unique information, sentiments, and perspectives. Students who are different from one another in the race, gender and other dimensions bring remarkable data and experiences to persevere on the task that needs to be done (Ferguson et al, 40). For example, a male and female engineer may have perspectives as different from one another as an engineer and a physicist, which is a good thing. Thus, increased in racial diversity enhances good performance because when students hear dissent from a fellow student who is different from them, it provokes more idea than when it originates from an understudy who is comparable. Additionally, when diversity is applied in groups doing research, the outcome is that the paper composed by various gatherings gets more references and have higher critical factors when contrasted with those written by students from a similar ethnic group.

The Power of Anticipation

Also, there is the power of anticipation. Diversity enables students to trust that distinction of the point of view may exist among them, and that conviction makes them change their conduct. Students of a homogeneous group rest somewhat assured that they achieve a concurrence with each other, that they will understand each other’s perspective and beliefs, and that they will be able to agree quickly (Ferguson et al, 42). However, when students in a group understand that they are not quite the same as each other, they change their expectations. They expect differences in opinion and point of view, and they accept the need to work harder to agree. The rationale behind this clarifies both the upside and downside of social diversity, that is, students will work in general work harder in various conditions both psychologically and socially. The idea may not be appealing to them, but rather the diligent work can prompt better results. Diversity thus advances diligent work and inventiveness by encouraging considerations of alternatives, even before any relational collaboration happens.

Inclusivity: Open and Respectful Environments

Moreover, inclusivity is fundamental to students as it is a social, political and ethical responsibility for them to be able to treat their fellow students fairly and vice versa. For there to be a productive and basic talk in classrooms, it requires one to foster open and respectful environments so that discussions can go on. In this case, diversity is inclusive as each student is given a chance to present his or her opinion in contribution to the debate (Ferguson et al, 45). Thus, teaching inclusively has a positive impact on learning. Besides, inclusivity is considered a legal requirement. This is according to the Equity Act (2010) which applies to all education, employment, and the provision of services makes it illegal to all types of discrimination on the grounds of the protected characteristics such as age, disability, gender ethnicity among others (Smart and Conrad, 183). As a result, students appreciate the need for each other and empathy brings about a better environment. An example is when inclusion of special education students was increased in the 1990s, which resulted in students treating each other better as they realized that everyone needs each other from time to time and it is as gratifying to provide it as to receive it. Also, all public authorities, including colleges are required to find a way to take affirmative steps to encourage equity all over their activities. These steps, for instance, production of equality and diversity policies, commit all members of the university to act inclusively.

Increased Engagement and Intellectual Challenges

Another advantage of these core values is that student turns out to be more occupied with scholastic. There is a probability that students who see their colleges as comprehensive and nondiscriminatory portray greater enthusiasm to accept intellectual challenges. For instance, ladies who feel that they “fit” into their science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classes have more chances to participate in the learning process and classroom discussions actively (Smart and Conrad, 184). As a result of this participation, students connect with different friends, both inside and outside of the classrooms which leads to greater active thinking, intellectual engagement, and motivation. Participation in classroom discussions enables students to gain confidence in creative problem-solving, increased understanding of their area of study and increase comprehension in science and technology. As per an appraisal completed from two colleges demonstrates that when students and associates are allowed to take an interest in “Safe Space” training with an aim to create inclusive environments, they reported greater solace and improved perceptions of the university atmosphere. Likewise, those students with the opportunity to confront multicultural issues in the classroom and extracurricular settings report heightened satisfaction with their general university college experience upon graduation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident that diversity and inclusion in a learning environment bring about many benefits which can be summarized as follows. It is good to appreciate that we are living in a global society and as days go by, our world is shrinking. Students who are exposed to diversity and inclusion curriculum in the classroom can explore social problems, ability to relate well to people of different races, religions, and nations, and have increased autonomous ability and knowledge acquisition. Also, their experience at the university must be improved, for underrepresented students’ as well as for the students’ body This is to enable them to contend in the 21st-century worldwide economy. It is therefore recommendable that universities should and continually assess the efficacy and impact of university policies to serve their students better.

Works Cited

Ferguson, Therese, et al. "Concepts of Inclusivity and Quality Education." SDG4 – Quality Education, 2018, pp. 39-48.

Smart, Pippa, and Lettie Conrad. "Diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility." Learned Publishing, vol. 30, no. 3, 2017, pp. 183-184.