When I lived in the Dominican Republic, I would walk home from school every day. Luckily, it was only a 10 minute walk, as the Dominican sun had been baking into the asphalt for several hours. One day, as I was turning the corner onto my street, greeted by the comforting shade of the palm trees, I stepped over some discarded plastic bags from Carrefour and a broken glass bottle of Presidente. A dented Hyundai Sonata came careening around the corner with “This is America” by Childish Gambino blaring from its Pioneer subwoofers.
In reflecting on that microscopic moment, I realized how globalized our world was. In an island in the caribbean there exists a French multinational corporation (Carrefour) and a Dominican beer company (Presidente) that both litter the streets. Both contribute to the local pollution, and the intricate and detrimental web of environmental degradation. The complex social commentary on gun violence expressed in Childish Gambino’s song is competing against the local bachata and merengue, all while blaring out of Japanese speakers. And Korean automobiles are reclaimed and repurposed into carritos, or public cars, another prime example of the remixing taking place and the fusion between our globalized world and the local community.
I am lucky enough to be part of a community that reflects this reality: Farmington STEAM Academy (FSA).
Students at FSA hold roots throughout the world: India, Pakistan, China, Mexico, Japan, Poland, Canada, Iraq, and the United States, to name a few. We have students of a variety of races, religions and various identities. We may speak different languages at home, but we still listen with empathy and communicate with honesty. And this makes us better.
In fact, according to a study, diversity within education improves the “intellectual engagement, self-motivation, citizenship, and cultural engagement, and academic skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and writing – for students of all races. Interacting with diverse peers outside a classroom setting directly benefits students, making them better scholars, thinkers, and citizens.” (Gurin et al.)
And just like the world around us that we reflect, we are not perfect. At times, misunderstanding leads to conflict. Cultural similarity leads to cliques. And we will always have more work to do. Yet, that is exactly why we are here. To work together. To learn from one another. And to continue to grow as a community.
As humans, we tend to gravitate towards people who think like us, who look like us and who believe what we believe. It is in our human nature. It is why we cheer along with complete strangers who wear the same team colors. It is why the tastes of our family recipes hold memories unique to us. It is what makes us feel comfortable.
However, we need to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. Students must be able to navigate unknown challenges, peoples and ideas. Through consistently being surrounded by a variety of identities and personalities, they will have become experts at dealing with the discomfort. So when they may find themselves on a walk home from school or work in a foreign land, they can look around them and enjoy the mixture that is our globalized world.
Works Cited
Gurin, Patricia, et al. “The Benefits of Education for Democratic Citizenship.” Journal of Social Issues. Univeristy of Michigan. Sept. 22, 2002. Retrieved from: https://igr.umich.edu/files/igr/The%20Benefits%20of%20Diversity.pdf
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