The purpose of school is learning, not just about academics, but also about learning life skills. Responsibility, communication, problem solving, are all things that we, as students, are taught at a very young age. We learn to love each other and accept each other, no matter our flaws. Without learning these things people would have no real skills for the real world. One major thing that can affect some of these key things is lack of diversity in our schools. 

Think about it like this: When kids are 5 years old, they don’t see a person of color any different from themselves. Racism is taught over the years. If students are in a diverse schools, with multiple racial groups or ethnicities, they will become more comfortable with other races, which will inevitably reduce racism.  

Also, students that are comfortable around other races will use the other things they are taught in school, things like responsibility, communication, and problem solving, to help change the world around them to make it a better place. 

Diversity in schools can also help students learn better. Studies have shown that students who work with other students with different backgrounds from themselves are able to concentrate more and work harder. When different students with different backgrounds are able to work together to solve problems, creativity sparks, as well as a better education. 

Staff diversity is also crucial to students’ success.  When students see a teacher who comes from the same background as they do, they will end up trusting that teacher more, and be able to relate to them. Having a teacher-student bond is so important for students to learn better, and having a diverse staff with a diverse student population would make that bond even better. 

Bullying in schools has been a problem forever. A recent report called Learning From Student Voice: Bullying found from a sample of 180,000 students, 17% reported that they have been bullied because of the color of their skin. That’s 30,600 kids. It has been calculated that there are about 56.4 million students in either elementary, middle or high school now. Using that 17% and applying it to everyone, that’s 9.6 million kids who are potentially being bullied because of their race. Even if that number is high, if you cut it in half, it is still nearly 5 million students. Having a diverse school would make it so kids wouldn’t think as much about racial differences, therefore bullying rates would drop. 

All parents want for their kid is a safe school they can go to, where they can learn a lot, make friends, and not have to worry about bullying or their child not feeling like they fit in. Diverse schools help that and make sure that all kids have the education they deserve.