Cultural Diversity and Effect on Students' Futures

Similarly to "you are what you eat", and as naturally social beings, the interactions we have greatly affect our attitudes and ways of thinking. The article "Five Years After Graduation: Undergraduate Cross-Group Friendships and Multicultural Curriculum Predict Current Attitudes and Activities" explains how these interactions do not even need to be limited to social interactions. Students can also be exposed to difference in courses that discuss ethnic and cultural diversity topics. According to this survey study, there seems to be a correlation between students being exposed to diversity and the promotion of multicultural awareness and commitment. There may also be an increase in critical thinking skills and civic engagement activities, such as volunteering, due to exposure to diversity. It can be interpreted that the university's part in exposing students to difference is increasingly important as demographers have predicted that "by 2020, 1/3 of the United States workforce will not be White (Toossi, 2002)" and since universities are often the first opportunity students have to have significant interactions with diversity.

When it comes to the issue of interactions with diversity in a student with mostly White students, the article suggests two ways the impact of a mostly homogeneous environment could be maximized. One way is to have curriculum that covers topics of diversity or ethnic information. Another method is to extend their concept of diversity to not just a person of another ethnicity but also to a person of another religion or sexuality as well. They encouraged, especially, for those in a mostly homogeneous environment to make cross-group friends with those who are stigmatized.

Three recommendations made for the "higher-ups" in universities are, one, to include multicultural courses, especially those that include small group discussions, two, to foil students' tendency to create friendships with like-people by organizing programs that encourage more diverse friendships, and three, to create an environment where students feel safe interacting with different people.