Colleges Must Require a Diversity Course

Colleges Must Require a Diversity Course

It has been over half a century since the Civil Rights Act was passed into law, however, prejudice and discrimination rooted in race, color, religion, sex or national origin is still prevalent in our society today. In fact, hate crimes, motivated entirely or partly by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity, increased 6% between 2014 and 2015. Implementing a diversity course requirement for all undergraduate college students nationwide would help to combat this outbreak of hatred in the country by fostering graduates who are better equipped to understand the perspectives of others with backgrounds, cultures, and socioeconomic statuses different from their own. This paper reviews literature both in favor of and against the requirement, andultimately determines that mandating a diversity course for all undergraduate students would allow for the development of more tolerant members of society. The research shows that if students can learn to think critically about one significant difference in US society, they will be able to think critically about other differences as well.