The Importance Of Diversity In The United States

What information about diversity in the United States has helped you better understand or relate to others in ways that you may not have in the past? I have learned so much from taking this class. I have learned what other cultures and races had to endure to gain the respect from others that ridiculed and disrespected them as humans just because they were different. I have also learned that even though some have worked very hard, they are still not accepted by others. I have also learned that one has to be accepting and tolerant, to listen with your heart, and you could learn many new things like how others live, cook, raise their children, different religions and their beliefs. Even though the United States is so diverse, people are very
The United States has come a long way since then, however to continue and improve the path that we are on, and make it a better climate of acceptance, more education would be a place to start. I feel that we should not only educate the adults, but the children as well. They should be taught about all the different cultures and what/how they contribute to society. I believe that many of the traditions and family stories have been forgotten due to the discrimination and racism. Harvard University has set a great example by starting a program called the “Pluralism Project”. Pluralism is not just tolerance, but the active seeking of understanding across lines of difference. Tolerance is a necessary public virtue, but it does not require Christians and Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and ardent secularists to know anything about one another. Tolerance is too thin a foundation for a world of religious difference and proximity. It does nothing to remove our ignorance of one another, and leaves in place the stereotype, the half-truth, the fears that underlie old patterns of division and violence. In the world in which we live today, our ignorance of one another will be increasingly costly. Pluralism is not relativism, but the encounter of commitments. The new paradigm of pluralism does not require us to leave our identities and our commitments behind, for pluralism is the encounter of commitments. It means holding our deepest differences, even our religious differences, not in isolation, but in relationship to one another. Pluralism is based on dialogue. The language of pluralism is that of dialogue and encounter, give and take, criticism and self-criticism. Dialogue means both speaking and listening, and that process reveals both common understandings and real differences. Dialogue does not mean everyone at the “table” will