When asked if experiencing diversity affected his education, Cooper Green stated “I was around people who didn’t know where or when they would eat their next meal, it made me aware of different situations, and humbled me. Not everyone had what I had. It was a different kind of learning, but I think in a way it was just as important as anything else I learned.”
Around campus there is a running joke about the lack of diversity at Gonzaga. While there may be some truth behind this statement, the class of 2019 has 26% students of color, and the university as a whole has 24 different faiths represented. This still may not convince anyone that Gonzaga is a diverse school, but for me, it was an improvement from what I had been accustomed to for the last 18 years. Gonzaga caters to a crowd of mostly privileged families which establishes a metaphorical bubble, but if you were to take a few steps outside of campus and you’re in a neighborhood that struggles with poverty. Spokane has a median household income of $37,308, compared to Seattle, which has a median income of $52,048. This is what makes coming here such an eye opening experience to students who grew up in predominantly middle to upper middle class areas, which is the majority of Gonzaga students.
For me, coming to Gonzaga and volunteering with Spokane residents has been a transformative and eye opening experience, but I started to wonder if it was this way only because of my sheltered childhood, living in a suburban “bubble”. Danika Morrison shared a similar high school experience, and stated “I saw the world solely from a white middle class view, it was hard to really “get” anything else going on in the world or relate to it because all I knew was my suburb.” “You get a sort of tunnel vision. You can hear the news or read the statistics, but if you’re only surrounded by privilege, you start to think that’s the reality, that’s how it is for everyone.” When I asked her to expand, she explained how her perceptions of poverty have changed since coming to college; “when you are distanced from it like I was, its easy to think that “its their own fault” or “they’re just lazy or irresponsible” but actually seeing poverty made me realize how wrong I was. Seeing people working so hard but still not making enough to support their families is heartbreaking and that’s the reality for the majority of people.” It took 18 years for Danika to make this revelation, and all it took was talking to some locals. For people who did experience diversity in their hometowns, this view is not a groundbreaking discovery, but merely an accepted view.
Cooper grew up in a small agricultural town in central Washington, called Cashmere. It is unique from the cities many of us grew up in for 2 main reasons, the size and the economic diversity. Cashmere is an extremely agriculturally based area, meaning many of the inhabitants work in one facet of the industry. This in turns creates a drastic divide in the SES of community members, being that some of them manage the orchards and the equipment, and the others tend and harvest the crops. The public school in this area, Cashmere High School, exposed Cooper to racial and economic diversity from kindergarten on. When I asked him how this affected his world view, he replied “I think it prepared me well to go into different situations and interact with different people. You learn to empathize. It made me aware that there is more to someone then what you see. At first glance you may see a kid struggling to keep his grades up but behind the scenes they’re up all night taking care of their siblings because their parents work two jobs. Everyone has a story and a struggle. It prepared me to be in the real world and interact with people who are different then me. It also showed me how lucky I am.”
So what’s the point? Why does it matter? Public schools serve the neighborhood they are located in, and some neighborhoods lack diversity. It’s unrealistic to think that all schools can suddenly become integrated, and all the problems in education will be solved. I guess the point is that no matter where you grow up, or what school you attend, making an effort to leave what’s familiar, and escape whatever “bubble” one is in is important. Education is about more then just the facts. Yes, it is important to learn algebra, proper grammar and that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, but its not that simple. Education should also be about self discovery, learning our place in the world, how to interact with others and how to think critically. To do this, we have to learn from each other, and what is there to learn if everyone is the same? Experiencing diversity from a young age promotes understanding, tolerance, growth and respect from all sides.