A Diverse Student Population

High school does a great job of exposing a person to a myriad of characters and personalities, however, it is typically during college that one becomes fully engulfed in the diversity that exists in our world. This becomes especially true if attending big universities as students come from all across the country and the world. Having classmates from different backgrounds actually provides a different learning experience as it becomes accompanied by diverse perspectives, concerns, and strategies that each person brings with them.

In my experience, interacting with people from different backgrounds has generally made me more aware of the possible contexts in which a person can grow up. Consequently, I have become more sympathetic toward people as I understand their reasonings for their actions and thought processes. For instance, I used to wonder why some people were so adamant about moving out from home the first chance they got. I soon came to realize that everyone’s experience at home was different from what I could imagine it to be. Realizing things like that through my classmates’ experiences has made me more hesitant to judge situations immediately.

As described in this article, cultural awareness arises from being exposed to people of different backgrounds and helps with enhancing one’s, “global depth and communication skills”. Such skills are important in your day-to-day interactions, job, and social life. Therefore, even if your school does not provide you with a diverse population to interact with, making personal efforts, such as going on a study abroad, becomes very important in terms of developing one’s character.