Draft:Intellectual diversity

Intellectual Diversity

Intellectual diversity has started to be incorporated into our world's school systems in the past recent years. In order to understand how intellectual diversity will affect the school systems in the future, we first need to understand more about the bill, how people learn, and how having different representation in the classroom can also affect the main ideas of intellectual diversity. Indiana State Senator Deery states that “universities that fail to foster intellectually diverse communities that challenge both teachers and learners fail to reach their potential.” (Deery).  Intellectual diversity is a new aspect that is being added to teaching. In grade schools, the idea of intellectual diversity is being presented, which helps strengthen new ideas. When teaching this to younger students, it helps the world by giving these students new perspectives. While potentially having positive effects on students, it may put additional strain on educators attempting to accommodate different learning styles and student backgrounds.

Intellectual diversity is the exposing of multiple points of view. It introduces people to a variety of different viewpoints. When people from diverse backgrounds come together, it creates opportunities for learning. There are many ways intellectual diversity is incorporated into grade schools, workplace, and universities. There are different aspects to intellectual diversity, and how it connects with racial diversity and people with intellectual disabilities.

Grade schools

In grade schools, the goal of implementing intellectual diversity into the curriculum is an overall strengthened understanding of the content. Children respond differently to various teaching styles, so it is vital to provide many approaches toward understanding a subject. There are four main learning styles in children; they are visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and reading/writing. For example, singing the alphabet song promotes linguistic skills for auditory learners, whereas creating the alphabet out of play dough will help develop the same skills for kinesthetic learners. According to Anna Harris, it is an important part of the educational career to push children to apply multiple learning styles when becoming familiar with a subject or topic. Also, by providing an intellectually diverse setting, students will have opportunities to engage in conversations that challenge their own existing beliefs. Giving children the opportunity to apply their strengths and improve upon their weaknesses will lead to more well rounded and confident adults, ultimately creating well-rounded individuals who are equipped to contribute to a diverse society.

Government Action

There have been numerous successful attempts through government intervention to create an environment of intellectual diversity throughout higher education by passing legislation. The goal is to create a safe space and learning environment for students to learn unbiased information and freely express their views and opinions in free forum spaces. There are reviews of staff timelines put in place to ensure that they are complying with the laws and they are allowing the “free” space, speech, and thinking for their students at each of the universities. Listed below are several Bills that have been presented in states around the country to assist in promoting intellectual diversity in higher education.

Ohio Senate Bill 117

Senators Jerry Cirino, Kirtland, Rob McColley, and Napoleon introduced this bill in early May of 2023 to propose new diversity centers to be built at 2 universities in the state of Ohio. The center would be named after Ohio’s 63rd governor, Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at Ohio State. (Henry, 2023) The other center would be located at University of Toledo’s College of Law and named the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership. The intention with these centers is to create a space for students to engage and interact with each other, giving and learning all perspectives, views, and thoughts free from bias. Prior to the Bill passing, an amendment was added to create additional centers at Miami University, Cleveland State University, and the University of Cincinnati. The bill was officially passed July 4, 2023. (Honesty for Education, n.d.) There was a $191 million dollar budget set for the 5 centers at the universities.

Ohio Senate Bill 83

A Bill still in the works as of June 2024, is Senate Bill 83. Ohio lawmakers have been working to pass since early 2023. This Bill outlines both promoting intellectual diversity and controversial beliefs in higher education. It is proposed that students are given “both sides” to a story when it comes to historical events, political views, and religious topics. College faculty would also be mandated a review every 5 years to ensure they are complying with the classroom requirements set into place with these laws. This Bill went for vote in the Senate and passed, yet did not make it through the House. Opposers are concerned that this will hinder the attraction of students to colleges and universities in the state of Ohio. (Henry, 2023)

South Dakota House Bill 1087

March 3, 2019 South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signed House Bill 1087. This bill’s intention is to add and protect freedom of speech and the matter of intellectual diversity in specific colleges and universities. Passing Bill 1087 made history by being the first bill of its kind in the nation, protecting intellectual diversity on campuses across the state of South Dakota.  The bill includes creating a space within the campus’s referred-to “public forum” spaces where freedom of speech can be conducted by the students. Originally the Bill required students to pass 3 credit hours in both American Government and American History courses to graduate, but that was removed from the final draft of the Bill.  

Indiana Bill

In different states, there have been many bills that have passed, or these bills are trying to be passed, about intellectual diversity. This form of teaching is presented around the world because it presents different ideas and teaching environments. The state of Indiana passed a court case stating that faculty members who don’t provide intellectual diversity will receive consequences. In the article “Indiana Bill Threatens Faculty Members Who Don’t Provide ‘Intellectual Diversity’” it states, “The legislation would demand attention to ‘intellectual diversity’ in promotion and tenure decision processes affecting faculty members, and it would mandate new post-tenure review policies, threatening academics’ careers and livelihoods if their teaching and scholarships don’t meet their trustees’ criteria." (Quinn, 2024). This case passed the Bill of teaching Intellectual Diversity because it helps promote new ideas, especially for younger kids. In the article describing the court case, it also quotes, “These measures would severely constrain academic freedom,” says a joint statement by the Purdue at West Lafayette and Indiana University at Bloomington chapters of the AAUP.” (Quinn, 2024). According to the state of Indiana, the teaching of intellectual diversity promotes academic freedom. To add to that, many other states have passed bills, such as many schools in Ohio. When designing court cases, the states or schools have to come to an agreement because it broadens the idea of new thoughts. In general, since many states have passed laws, it is a very common subject, and many people agree that intellectual diversity helps spread new interest.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

In the past, it was more commonly known that there are only four ways of learning. Howard Gardner, a Harvard research professor and developmental psychologist, had a theory about multiple intelligences. There were more than four ways to learn. He theorized that there are seven ways a person can learn. Some of the previous ways of learning are incorporated into his theory. The seven ways are linguistic, which presents reading, oral presentations, and debates. The second is logical/mathematical learning, which is best achieved through patterns and their relationships, categorizing, and classifying. The third is spatial, where people best learn with charts, diagrams, and other visual aids. The fourth is bodily and kinesthetic, where you learn through demonstrations and manipulating objects. The fifth way of learning is musical, where people remember better by using rhythmic patterns and exercises. The sixth is interpersonal, where people benefit more from group work, and the last is intrapersonal, where people learn better from one-on-one instruction. Howard Gardner stated that “the biggest mistake of past centuries in teaching has been to treat all children as if they were variants of the same individual, and thus to feel justified in teaching the same subjects in the same way.”  (Gardner 1999) The theory of multiple intelligences can be incorporated into intellectual diversity. When having a student population that learns differently on individual levels, having diverse instructors and methods of teaching can benefit the students ability to learn.

Diversity in teaching

There is not only a student factor in intellectual diversity but an instructor factor as well. It is not just the students that come from different backgrounds and life experiences, having a diverse teaching population contributes to intellectual diversity. Pew Research Center stated that “the share of black, Hispanic, and Asian American teachers has increased in recent decades, but it has not kept pace with the rapid growth in the racial and ethnic diversity of their students." In the most updated study completed in 2018, they found that 79% of public teachers are non-Hispanic or white, and 47% of students are non-Hispanic or white. 9% of teachers are Hispanic, 27% of students are Hispanic, 7% of teachers are black, and 15% of students are black. Alexander Cuenca, an IU professor, is quoted saying, “If students can't see themselves in the classroom, if we’re scared to mention black perspectives in social studies, why would they go into teaching social studies?” (Appleton).

To conclude with all the information said above, applying intellectual diversity to schools will overall benefit students.  This refers to the consideration of a wide range of different viewpoints and perspectives. The concept presented helps emphasize many thoughts and options, which encourage students. Also, the teaching of this subject helps broaden new jobs and classes for these students when taught at a young age. However, the idea of intellectual diversity can present challenges because, when finding new viewpoints, they also need to be respectful. Intellectual diversity can also be an added strain on educators, who have to incorporate many teaching styles to fit students needs. Such as having different learning requirements or different backgrounds that could have impacted their previous education level. This can also be a challenge because it can cause problems when these new ideas don’t respect the norms in society. To add to that, there may be conflict with society because of the new viewpoints. The whole world has had many different views on this idea, and many believe it will help achieve a dynamic intellectual environment. Additionally, the most updated version of the article has missing citations and an overall positive tone. If possible, we would like to add in the citation and offer an overall more neutral tone.

University

In a university setting, it is important to incorporate diverse lessons in order to cater to many types of thinkers. For example, a study conducted by the National Academy of Engineers found that the students exposed to a more diverse curriculum scored higher on the "King and Kitchener reflective judgement scale." Diversity amongst lessons may lead to more versatile people. According to a Pew Research Report, the United States will continue to diversify within the next few decades. Creating more diverse lessons will instill new knowledge in students which will benefit them when they run into different kinds of people. Additionally, diverse campuses tend to expose people to many different types of cultures which may offer valuable experiences. There are many kinds of clubs on college campuses which offer many different perspectives, which will expose people to many types of intellect. Universities are where students will go to educate themselves in order to become a functional part of society, so incorporating intellectual diversity will help to emulate the diverse environment in the "real world".

Work environment

In the work environment, intellectual diversity is a crucial part of fostering innovation and creativity. Since there are people from all sorts of backgrounds in places of work, there is a larger range of ideas and solutions. When an employer takes the time to find each team members strengths, there is more opportunity for creative problem-solving and decision making. Encouraging intellectual diversity not only helps with creativeness, but also encourages inclusivity and an equitable space. There are a variety of problems in a multitude of fields, but overall, if you put people together with different strengths, it is more likely for some of those problems to be solved. Additionally, intellectual diversity will boost employee engagement, as well as their overall satisfaction. When talking about intellectual diversity in a place of work, it is important to talk about the overall diversity and inclusivity of that place. People of color bring a different kind of experience, which is underrepresented in "white-collared" jobs. To ensure that a company remains diverse, it must start at the very top of the company with the CEO. When the CEO of a company takes the stance of promoting diversity in their company, it sets the overall tone for that company. Overall, intellectual diversity is a crucial part of a well run business.

Intellectual diversity in the public sector is important. Jobs that require you to work with the public require different viewpoints. In Law Enforcement for example is tense and rapidly evolving. A diverse and inclusive police force is crucial to create trust and legitimacy in communities. Diverse thinking brings a wider range of perspectives and experiences to the police department, leading to more effective solutions and a better understanding of diverse communities. Inclusion ensures that all community members feel represented and valued. That will in turn create trust and more cooperation with the police. Police departments across the nation benefit from training, education, and policies, that promote equity. A diverse police department is essential for creating a positive workplace for officers and a fair, competent, and reliable police force for the community. According to Charles Bozza Ph.D. “law enforcement needs to know how to deal with people from other backgrounds in today’s society or be prepared for the results of lack of understanding”. American culture is hurling towards the future at break neck speed and law enforcement needs to match this pace. The police are seen as the first line of defense in dealing with conflicts among people.

Research seems to be based more on the impact of intellectual diversity in higher education. Scholarly articles and journals about intellectual diversity in K-12 education were nonexistent. It seems that K-12 Education could benefit from more research on the impact of intellectual diversity in the classroom. Diversity and inclusion in the workforce for public education in K-12 is gaining steam. Stories of successful teachers with diverse backgrounds but not having a traditional teaching certification are becoming common place. There should be a reevaluation of teaching licenses requirements in order to bring in people with different backgrounds and experiences. School leaders should be empowered to make hiring decisions irrespective of certification status. Barriers to teaching should be removed as great teachers can come from diverse backgrounds and not all from a College of Education.

Racial diversity

When talking about racial diversity on a college campus, having a diverse educational setting, like many different people from many different cultures, makes a campus very diverse and makes people want to go there. Every single person will think differently than one another. When a student is exposed to a wide range of different people and thinkers, it fosters new growth and helps you to be more prepared for when you are out of school and have to go into the workforce and into a society that is very diverse as well. When a person is exposed to a variety of different races, it can also make them more accepting. There are numerous studies that show alumni who graduated from a racially diverse college felt that because of attending a racially diverse college, they were able to get along with people of different racial backgrounds better and came to be more accepting of other people's cultures. A study done in 2004 by Antonio et al. was done where an African American student was placed in a discussion with all white students. The results showed that by having the other race in the group, the environment was enriched. Racial and ethnic diversity can help create a better learning and social environment. It can also further a person's ideas or thinking when you have a mix of different races in an educational setting, specifically when the discussion revolves around an issue that involves race. Racial diversity also goes for professors at a college. When you are exposed to different professors with different racial backgrounds, you are able to learn in different ways and hear many different opinions. When there are different kinds of racial backgrounds at a campus, there is a greater chance that the students at the campus will become involved in activities that revolve around diversity, and become involved in groups that have a mix of races. This can help move along the students' development.

People with cognitive disabilities

When talking about people with cognitive disabilities, it is important to define what cognitive disability is. Cognitive disability refers to how a person thinks, and can include people with conditions of autism, mental illnesses, brain injuries, strokes, Alzheimer's disease or dementia, and more. People with cognitive disabilities think very differently than people who do not have cognitive disabilities. It is important to include people with cognitive disabilities under the term "intellectual diversity" because intellectual diversity is the exposing of multiple different viewpoints. A person who is autistic might have a totally different viewpoint on a certain topic than someone else might have. Cognitive diversity allows you to be able to look further into understanding the basics of knowledge, and who it can come from. It unveils new ways of thinking. There are many people with disabilities in a college setting, and it is important that they are included and that they are given a voice. People who have cognitive disabilities think in their own way and have valuable knowledge to share with others, but are often labeled as unknowledgeable and their ideas are discarded when it comes to people sharing their different ideas or point of views.

References

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