Essay On Moving To Diversity

I grew up a very small, predominately white, rural town in eastern Ohio. I, personally, did not enjoy going to school and being socialized in this town. I felt that most the residents taught fear and discrimination towards others they did not like or understand. This included: people with disabilities, people of color, people with "abnormal" family histories, people in the LGBTQ community, and more. Along with this being socialized into the children in this town, I was unhappy with the opportunity that was given to students. I took the majority of the highest-level classes available to me through the high school, itself. The teachers and administration in the school made it seem like this put me and the other students in these classes
Knowing the difficulties I had adjusting from my small school which did not provide many opportunities for me made me realize the difficulties other students who came from schools who offered the students even less.
I feel that I am also extremely aware of the different types of views people can have in regards to minority groups. While growing up, I would say that this mindset was a norm for the town and nothing was said much to correct discrimination. It may have even been encouraged subtly through school policies and punishment trends. Moving to a college with such diversity as Ohio State and interacting with people of all kinds with different views, I am able to contrast the views of small, rural, mostly conservative towns and see the reasoning on both sides despite not agreeing with one side. I find myself wanting to be more educated on these issues so that I can properly inform and reason with people who may have discriminatory actions.
When thinking about these experiences from growing up and how they have shaped who I am now, I realize that I want to fight to make where I am better and safer for everyone. I want to help others who might feel disadvantaged and support those who need