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Plutsky is a fourth-year sociology student.

By Tracy-Kate Plutsky

Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of controversy over whether a diversity requirement should be added to UCLA’s general education curriculum. I do not feel that a diversity requirement needs to be added to the UCLA curriculum; I feel there is a better option.

I believe that a lot of students enter the University of California system believing that they maintain liberal views and respect those who are different from themselves. However, once stepping foot on campus, most students find themselves questioning everything they ever understood or believed in.

We are human and we all have preconceived notions about specific groups of people. I think that a lot of UCLA students claim to be tolerant but that this is just presented as a mask of political correctness . Forcing students to take one diversity class will not really solve the problem.

In order for the university itself to be considered politically correct, it will have to offer courses on most cultures. As a result, most students will enroll in a class that studies their own culture. What would this solve? Nothing. Students would not learn about a group other than their own. nor would they learn to be tolerant. This class would just be seen as one more class down until graduation.

Even if students did enroll in a class that studies another culture, they would probably just take it pass/no pass, do the bare minimum and move on with their lives. As a senior about to graduate, I know that, as students, we are often overwhelmed and struggle to find a balance between our studies and our social lives. This means classes not required for a major are taken pass/no pass. Call it wrong, call it a smart balance, call it whatever you want – it’s a fact.

I propose that UCLA alter the diversity requirement to a tolerance requirement. This is what all minority groups and everyone in general should be searching for. Teaching a class about a given group’s history or past struggles is not going to change anything. It may make others empathize with the minority group, and it may even provide others with a greater understanding, but what will it do to change the future? I have taken four classes that would fall under the proposed diversity requirement. None of my professors mentioned what happens in the future, how we can change things and move forward.

As educated people, UCLA students are aware of the main catastrophes of discrimination – slavery, the Holocaust and Japanese internment to name a few. But what does learning about these historical tragedies do to change the future?

So here comes the argument: learn about the past in order to change the future and not repeat the same mistakes. I believe in the validity of this statement, but isn’t it discrimination if students simply take a class that only discusses the historical struggle of one given group? What about all the other groups that have suffered?

At one point or another I believe every group has suffered from discrimination, whether it is in this country or not. Even the white man, who is often perceived as the enemy by minorities, has suffered. Most of our ancestors suffered in their native homelands and that is what brought them to the United States.

But we must focus on the future, not the past. What’s done is done. I do not condone the horrific events of discrimination that have occurred, but I feel the best way to ensure that it does not happen again is to teach tolerance.

Children in elementary school say it every day with the Pledge of Allegiance: “One nation under God indivisible and Justice for all.” We preach this but we have failed to practice it. By requiring a course in tolerance as opposed to a class in diversity, UCLA would educate people on all sexes, races, classes and genders as opposed to just a few.

In addition to UCLA providing its students with a strong academic background, it should also be the university’s responsibility to give us the tools necessary to be educated, productive adults. I believe that anyone who does not practice tolerance is not an educated person and is not worthy of a degree from one of the top undergraduate institutions in the nation. The administration must make changes and give their students an understanding of how to respect different groups.

I say we stop wearing the mask of political correctness and begin to establish political correctness as our own face, our own beliefs. Let’s begin to practice what we preach, “One nation under God, Indivisible, and Justice for all!”

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