Diversity courses fail to teach students tolerance

Plutsky is a fourth-year sociology student.

By Tracy-Kate Plutsky

Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of controversy over
whether a diversity requirement should be added to UCLA’s
general education curriculum. I do not feel that a diversity
requirement needs to be added to the UCLA curriculum; I feel there
is a better option.

I believe that a lot of students enter the University of
California system believing that they maintain liberal views and
respect those who are different from themselves. However, once
stepping foot on campus, most students find themselves questioning
everything they ever understood or believed in.

We are human and we all have preconceived notions about specific
groups of people. I think that a lot of UCLA students claim to be
tolerant but that this is just presented as a mask of political
correctness . Forcing students to take one diversity class will not
really solve the problem.

In order for the university itself to be considered politically
correct, it will have to offer courses on most cultures. As a
result, most students will enroll in a class that studies their own
culture. What would this solve? Nothing. Students would not learn
about a group other than their own. nor would they learn to be
tolerant. This class would just be seen as one more class down
until graduation.

Even if students did enroll in a class that studies another
culture, they would probably just take it pass/no pass, do the bare
minimum and move on with their lives. As a senior about to
graduate, I know that, as students, we are often overwhelmed and
struggle to find a balance between our studies and our social
lives. This means classes not required for a major are taken
pass/no pass. Call it wrong, call it a smart balance, call it
whatever you want ““ it’s a fact.

I propose that UCLA alter the diversity requirement to a
tolerance requirement. This is what all minority groups and
everyone in general should be searching for. Teaching a class about
a given group’s history or past struggles is not going to
change anything. It may make others empathize with the minority
group, and it may even provide others with a greater understanding,
but what will it do to change the future? I have taken four classes
that would fall under the proposed diversity requirement. None of
my professors mentioned what happens in the future, how we can
change things and move forward.

As educated people, UCLA students are aware of the main
catastrophes of discrimination ““ slavery, the Holocaust and
Japanese internment to name a few. But what does learning about
these historical tragedies do to change the future?

So here comes the argument: learn about the past in order to
change the future and not repeat the same mistakes. I believe in
the validity of this statement, but isn’t it discrimination
if students simply take a class that only discusses the historical
struggle of one given group? What about all the other groups that
have suffered?

At one point or another I believe every group has suffered from
discrimination, whether it is in this country or not. Even the
white man, who is often perceived as the enemy by minorities, has
suffered. Most of our ancestors suffered in their native homelands
and that is what brought them to the United States.

But we must focus on the future, not the past. What’s done
is done. I do not condone the horrific events of discrimination
that have occurred, but I feel the best way to ensure that it does
not happen again is to teach tolerance.

Children in elementary school say it every day with the Pledge
of Allegiance: “One nation under God indivisible and Justice
for all.” We preach this but we have failed to practice it.
By requiring a course in tolerance as opposed to a class in
diversity, UCLA would educate people on all sexes, races, classes
and genders as opposed to just a few.

In addition to UCLA providing its students with a strong
academic background, it should also be the university’s
responsibility to give us the tools necessary to be educated,
productive adults. I believe that anyone who does not practice
tolerance is not an educated person and is not worthy of a degree
from one of the top undergraduate institutions in the nation. The
administration must make changes and give their students an
understanding of how to respect different groups.

I say we stop wearing the mask of political correctness and
begin to establish political correctness as our own face, our own
beliefs. Let’s begin to practice what we preach, “One
nation under God, Indivisible, and Justice for all!”