My child is growing up in a prejudice country.

Today while browsing through my news feed on Facebook, an article caught my attention. Now while most people usually click the link of an article to read it, I find myself drawn to look at the comments first. Call it 'virtual people watching' if you would like. Regardless, it is fascinating (and sometimes will leave you dumb-founded. I suggest every one go try it). The article I am referring to is one that was published by Fox News. I will provide the link to the article here. In a quick summary the article is about a father who was upset that his daughter had to write an essay about Islam in school. Why am I upset? It is less about the actual article and more about the comments. I am upset with people that are around us every day, shaping our world, teaching and influencing our children and the way they think. 

So here I am reading the comments and I fully expected some negative comments. Instead I found myself scrolling through countless racist and prejudice comments. Comments like "They should have written about how they behead people and kill innocent children." and "Are they going to teach about how they think only Muslims have the right to live?" My jaw almost hit the floor. I am baffled that this kind of ignorance and prejudice is still so prominent in our society today. It makes me sick to know so many people in this country, people who affect the youth and set a path for the future, still somehow have mindset stuck in the dark ages. That the actions of some are now apparently the actions of all those under the same faith. 

As a kid I was taught that knowledge is power and ignorance is bread by fear. Now, when it comes to the education system, it seems that many have the feeling that more knowledge is harmful as opposed to helpful. Sounds backwards right? Think about it. Why do we want our kids to have math and science courses? It makes the smarter. It helps them with problem solving skills when they get to the real world. Great, so they have 'book smarts' but what about 'street smarts'? We restrict what our children learn about the world. We teach them a little world history, some American history, and a small portion of how the world works today according to their society. Then we throw them into the real world and they are slammed with prejudice and distrust. We complain that we live in a dark world where people are still so full of hate for one another but it is our fault. It is just how they are taught. It is just what they see through mainstream media. It just the cycling negative comments they hear through multiple generations of family members. 

What is wrong with diversity? What is wrong with your child learning more than the small bubble that you keep them in? The benefits to learning about other groups and cultures is abundant! Imagine if everyone still thought that the world was flat, if no one was willing to broaden their ideas and beliefs on how the world worked. Pushing the limits and learning more about what and who is around us is what has advanced us a species. 

Diversity is something to praise. It is something that we should strive to incorporate into our children's lives. Diversity allows for fresh ideas and perspective as well being informational and enlightening. Being open minded is an essential life skill. We are living in a world that is constantly changing. If the world around us is changing, shouldn't our thinking be changing too? We cannot limit ourselves to only what we know and only what was comfortable in the past. 

Many benefits have been noted from those who accept diversity. You get to experience changes. Opening up your mind to diversity allows you the opportunity to change what you think and how you view the world. This doesn't mean you necessarily will change your beliefs but you have the option to. It also strengthens you. Diversity provides a platform on which you can build. With an open mind you can learn new things and you can use new ideas and information to build onto the old. Everything you experience can strengthening who you are and what you believe in. It's hard to build on experiences without an open mind. 

We are in charge of the future and the future generations. Our actions and thinking directly affects them. I know I will personally try to teach my child to be open minded to the diverse world around her. It will make her more optimistic, have better problem solving skills, be less prejudice, be more adaptive to change, and just all around more intelligent. If my daughter ever comes home and tells me that her school is having her write an essay on Islam, I will gladly help her. Maybe I will learn something new myself.