This project pushed me to think deeply about how I define diversity, and in many ways how I have been misguided to think of it in too narrowing confines. Additionally, it pushed me to reflect upon my own educational upbringing: both in an appreciation for the unique curriculums I learned from, yet also in recognition of the immense privilege I had due to my own race amidst a curriculum that more often than not provided me strong mirrors of self-recognition and a sense of place.

The four main things I learned…

1. In realizing the lack of diversity in many curriculums I realized the impressive model I had for curricular diversity in my early education. I attended an incredibly liberal private elementary school for the first six years of my education, before moving to a public school system. My elementary school made a tremendous effort to support a diverse curriculum: we spent months studying different empires of ancient Africa, we put on an entire fifth grade play centered around eighteenth century Chinese fiction, and our sixth grade literacy class spent two months reading  two young adult novels centered around a young person with autism and another documenting a young boy coming out. Moving to middle school I largely saw this curricular focus change. While we still at times learned beyond themes of whiteness and homogeneity, these attempts were always distinctly labeled as “cultural explorations,” fit within the confines of a Cultural Celebration Week or a “Diversity Day.”
2. A diverse curriculum spans far beyond including characters of different races. In the onset of this project I thought largely about curriculum diversity as the frequency of non-white histories and subjects. However, it was not until reading more about ethnic studies as a whole and seeing examples of grassroots organizations demanding diversity that I realized how limited my understanding of curriculum diversity was. A diverse curriculum includes representation of different sexualities, different abilities, or even different family structures. Also, merely implementing a token unit of “diversity appreciation” does little to remedy the actual problem. A diverse curriculum is not one where students are made aware every time they open a book or discuss a topic that this is a “cultural exploration.”
3. Often times creating diverse curriculums runs counter to community measures of curriculum control: book banning, standards based learning, etc. As many sects of education, the question of curricular diversity often becomes ingrained in political complexity. This was never the more apparent than in my researching pertaining to banned books and standardized testing, both practices which overwhelmingly favor white narratives.
4. A diverse curriculum can be a powerful force to make students feel ownership of their school. Especially as an elementary schooler myself, I was not aware of the role this played in my education.  Educated largely by curriculums that centered around whiteness, I had a distinct advantage in that my own race matched the bulk of what I learned about. As many of my journal articles hinted at, seeing oneself in ones learning builds an important senses of belonging and power within one’s education system. The curriculum I learned about more often than not reflected my race. In elementary school, without even realizing it, I was given mirrors upon mirrors of curricular intent. This realization has been sobering, and has made me question even the best attempts of my education in how they went about including non-white themes or events.