Growing up, I never took into account how culturally diverse the schools that I went to were, that is until I got to my private liberal arts college. Don’t get me wrong, I love Linfield and I’ll never regret the day that I secured a spot at this amazing school, but there are times when I am sitting in class wondering: Where are all my fellow Latino students?
Personally, I never thought I would attend a private school, but on the contrary, there are students at this school that know nothing else but a private school. A private college may not be big deal for many, but for me it was a huge change in environment.
As I went about my first week of classes, I knew there was something different about this school, specifically in the classrooms. Elementary through high school my classrooms were filled with students who looked just like me. It was such a strange feeling for me to sit in class and realize that I was the only minority in there, it was definitely a feeling that I had never really encountered before.
In class discussions, I tended to have different perspectives on some topics. Even if I never spoke up on them, I did realize that because of my ethnicity, my views were not the same as the ones of other students in the class. This realization was never really brought upon me in my past schools, but at Linfield it became more apparent.
With that being said, Linfield College has been named number one on the Best Ethnic Diversity list for liberal arts colleges in Oregon and Washington. So if that is how I feel here, I can only imagine the “diversity” at the other liberal arts colleges in the Pacific Northwest.
If Linfield tops the Best Ethnic Diversity list in the Pacific NW, why do I still feel the way I do in my classrooms? Why are there not enough culturally diverse faces on campus?
For many, this campus might look like it is filled with diverse students. So, while you are not entirely wrong for thinking so, try shifting your perspective and place your self in my shoes. Diversity should not just be based on numbers and percentages, but more so on the enviroment that the school has to offer.
