(The Beacon)
By Amanda Blas, Staff Commentary -- blas13@up.edu
UP was buzzing about diversity during the week of diversity dialogues. From accepting it to realizing there's more to it than skin color, race and sexual orientation, Diversity Dialogues Week had UP students engaging in diversity left and right. With all this talk about diversity, it made me think, why not talk about one of the biggest diversities we have on campus. Say, the often unrecognized diversity of majors?
Going to UP, we have the chance to pursue over 30 different majors, from accounting to biology to music to philosophy. With such a selection, you can imagine the huge diversity that exists when it comes to students' majors. But the sad thing is a lot of students don't appreciate this diversity at all.
I don't know how many times I've heard someone criticize somebody else's major with a comment like, "That's your major? You have it so easy!" or "You're so lucky! You don't do anything in your major!" You've probably heard it all before, and sadly, you might have even been the person who was guilty of saying it.
But the next time you feel the need to judge someone else's major, think about this: How much do you really know about their major? Do you know how much work they have to do? Or how much time they spend studying for it? How about what struggles they face in their major?
Do you know what they have to do to overcome them? More than likely, the answer is no.
There's so much we don't know about other majors. The same goes for diversity, too. We don't know about every religion's beliefs or every culture's practices or every race's customs, but that doesn't stop us from accepting them and appreciating their uniqueness and differences. This is because accepting diversity means choosing to not be ignorant, especially when it comes to things we aren't too familiar with. Why should it be any different when it comes to diversity of majors?
Sure, differing majors isn't even close to being a controversial subject when it comes to the discussion of diversity. But the bottom line is, it is still diversity and should receive respect and acceptance as well. After all, would you want someone to judge you simply because of your major? I don't think so.
Embracing diversity doesn't mean just accepting the big things; it means understanding that you should embrace the little differences as well. So if you can wrap your minds around embracing the bigger differences, why not do one better and accept the little ones too?
Amanda Blas is a sophomore sociology and organizational communications major. She can be contacted at blas13@up.edu.
(The Beacon)
