ONLINE EXTRA: Diversity requirement challenges students with different perspectives

By Kimberly Cauley

Is it not the mission of UCLA to produce the best and brightest
thinkers who go out into the world and make their mark? OK, maybe
not, but is it not at least to equip students with the basic skills
required for success in the real world?

Well, UCLA is failing in this mission. Some students are
managing to graduate without ever having learned how to think
critically about themselves or their environment.

Too often as students we sit in classes that do not compel us to
examine the world around us. We learn to be empty receptacles
waiting for information to put into us, never able to challenge or
substantiate it with multiple perspectives, our own personal
knowledge and that of our peers. This type of curriculum does not
produce students who engage in the learning process. We are not
driven to look at issues in a larger context. Instead we are
rendered passive observers and absorbers, who are content to see
only a tiny piece of each picture.

We are not being challenged to think critically on the most
basic level. We are being allowed to enter the world without ever
having been forced to defend the education that underlies our
identity. When our notions of race, gender and sexuality go
unquestioned, a great disservice is done to us as individuals and
the larger community as a whole. We miss out on invaluable aspects
of our personal and social development.

The diversity requirement is a way to ensure that no more of us
will graduate without having thought critically about our place in
society. As an African American studies and microbiology student, I
have acquired a myriad of perspectives to view my environment and
myself. I have been able to affirm some of my beliefs, but novel
insight has caused me to abandon some. Nevertheless, when I take a
stance as a member of the African Student Union staff, I can say
with confidence that I have considered multiple factors and have
made the most informed decision possible.

We need a space where we can dialogue about and test the
fundamental beliefs we hold. We should be able to understand why we
hold the convictions we do and not take their correctness for
granted. At the least we should make the effort to learn about
other types of people in order to move beyond stereotypes, bias and
popular opinion.

By incorporating multiple perspectives into our thought process
we will learn to make decisions from a platform of knowledge and
not a position of ignorance. Let’s not be content to be empty
receptacles and find comfort in our own ignorance. Lets take the
first step in creating a curriculum that endows people with the
skills to truly think about what they hear and believe and to
become proactive in their education.