As the face of the American nation continues to change, American colleges and universities must have a plan of action that ensures students are prepared for the world that they will meet after graduation. The combination of national diversity, influx of immigrants, and ever-increasing globalization in business and life in general demands a new kind of educational approach for America's undergraduate and graduate students. By creating and incorporating a course specifically focused on diversity-related topics, the university will provide students with opportunities to explore their values ​​and beliefs, learn about national and international concerns and viewpoints, and broaden their critical thinking and writing skills in order to better understand the needs and demands of the globalized society in which they will work and live. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Nationwide, “Americans are becoming more nonwhite and more diverse than ever before” (Rendon, 1). America is no longer a black and white nation. Indeed, the country has grown beyond basic racial categories. An increasingly larger part of the population has a mixed cultural heritage, with different social and cultural influences prevalent in their lives. “White America” is no longer the “majority” as it was once defined. Instead, America is witnessing a growth in African American and Hispanic communities that will change the demographic composition of the United States in drastic proportions over the next quarter to half a century. “The birth rate among African Americans is double the national average and for Hispanics it quadruples the national average” (Rendon, 3). Internationally, immigration to the United States is growing every year not only in terms of people coming to work, but also in exchange students entering American universities. “In the United States, the overall percentage of international students is… just over 4%, although the actual numbers are enormous, at around 582,000” (King, 165). With numbers like these, the need to provide structured educational opportunities that explore class, language, ethnicity, gender, exceptionalism, cultural differences, sexuality and other national and international topics grows stronger every year. In recent years, many colleges and universities have seen courses that include ethnic-specific history, women's studies, and gay and lesbian studies courses added to the curriculum. Some colleges and universities are expanding students' knowledge base through the use of required courses already in the curriculum, such as African American studies, women's studies, foreign languages, and cultural history courses (Rendon, 277-279). While this approach is certainly a step in the right direction, none of these courses specifically address students' challenging views and require analytical and critical thinking about concepts such as power and privilege, class, homophobia, and institutionalized racism. Seeing beyond the lenses that cloud thinking and judgment is key to seeing growth and change within students. It is the challenges and growth in the university context that will equip students with the skills needed to enter the global economy and participate as teachers, business leaders, public servants, technologists, and in any other field. “Universities are recognizing that much disciplinary content is too nationally oriented in an era when graduates – domestic and international – are facing the prospect of more globally mobile careers or, even if they worklocal, they do so for organizations operating in transnational contexts (King, 166 ), yet, when asked, although the majority of teachers supported diversity education, support did not become a classroom practice (“What encourages teachers"). In order to ensure that students across the university receive a solid foundation in diversity education, university-wide implementation of a diversity course requirement would alleviate resistance, discrepancies, and deficiencies at the departmental and individual levels. With the ever-changing composition of the higher education population and the demand for globally prepared graduates, the responsibility for diversity education must fall on the university, rather than the individual department. An article by Kim Case examined research conducted to measure bias against women in a pre- and post-test study of students taking women's studies courses (2007). It was found that students who took women's studies courses (compared to those who did not take a course) “showed greater awareness of sexism, appreciation for diversity, and egalitarian attitudes regarding gender…[and a] greater awareness of discrimination against women” (Causa, 426). This study implies that with exposure to diverse topics and challenge of the “norm” within a structured classroom context, students are more likely to have increased issue awareness, have a greater appreciation for the challenges surrounding those who identify with the problem, be more aware of discriminatory practices and attitudes, and realize that members of a “minority” group are not less human simply because they are different. In the context of education, student teachers are especially crucial in addressing America's evolving needs, and education faculty are less likely to incorporate diversity content than their counterparts in departments of arts and sciences, business, engineering and fine arts (“What encourages teachers”). At the university level, teacher education programs must ensure that students are prepared to handle diversity in race, class, gender, sexual orientation, international relations, and more when they are in their classrooms. This applies to both primary and secondary school teachers, as well as higher education faculty and administrators. Ensuring that in-service teachers are well trained on a multitude of diversity issues, rather than having taken one or two specialized diversity style courses, will provide the guided educational experience needed to open their minds and give them the tools to enter the classroom with a more competent approach. mentality. According to Milner & Smithey, student teachers must recognize the differences between the perspectives, experiences, values ​​and beliefs of their own races and cultures and those of others. Teacher trainees need to see color and begin to recognize its political and historical legacy. teachers must become researchers and learners in their teaching environments. In-service teachers need the skills to evaluate their own growth and progress and to continue to strengthen their knowledge and skills where diversity issues are concerned (2003). Not only are these skills detrimental to teacher effectiveness, but because the United States of the 2000s is truly a global society, these skills are useful for anyone planning to participate in American business or professional venues, especially because “most part ofAmericans live in segregated and homogeneous environments” (Rendon, 268) and their university experience will be their primary training ground for success in the global economy. If the prevailing view of diversity education is that “educating for and about diversity means radically changing the curriculum in virtually every field” (Rendon, 269), then creating a specific diversity curriculum that addresses the needs of many would be more feasible than attempting to rewrite entire departmental curricula. Minorities, women, and GLBTQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, queer, and questioning) all want increased curricula, and there are concerns that, due to limited resources, each of these areas will suffer (Rendon, 23 ). A college course designed with the sole intent of addressing national and international diversity topics, would provide most if not all students with exposure to a broader range of diversity-related issues than courses more narrowly focused on the spirit of diversity that they are not designed to reach the masses, nor do they delve into targeted issues of race, gender, ethnicity, and others. Proposed Diversity Course As a college-level requirement, ideally this course would be mandatory during the first semester, but all transfer students would be required to enroll upon entry to the university. The course would consist of a two-semester sequence based on the textbook Thinking Critically by John Chaffee with additional readings from recent research and studies. Thinking Critically is an intensive reading and writing program, and while it is possible to complete basic text work within a single semester, in order to delve deeper into topics such as race, class, gender, etc. more time should be dedicated to allow students to grow and learn. A tremendous benefit of using this text as a foundation for freshmen is that it is also a tool for critical thinking, analytical writing, and research—all necessary tools for collegiate success. The first semester of the course will cover the first six chapters of the book which include self-examination, critical thinking activities, asking questions, listening, organizing and discussing ideas, problem-solving skills (personal and non-personal), perception, believing and knowing, language and thought. In addition to chapter readings, specific articles related to different areas of diversity studies may be used to provide discussions and written responses related to the various themes presented in each chapter. The thinking and writing activities found in the chapters are designed to encourage students to begin their careers of critical analysis through a combination of personal and non-personal themes and topics. Students are taught to evaluate reasons for making an argument and are guided through exercises to enable them to learn to write based on reason rather than emotion. Articles about race or gender (for example) can be used as a group activity to determine reason versus emotion. You can analyze sources for accuracy, reliability, and validity, prompting students to start thinking about diversity topics in an academic environment. Personal writing to examine individual feelings can be combined with research-oriented or critical thinking exercises to help the student balance self-examination and personal growth with the academic pursuit of knowledge. During the first semester, students will examine evaluating the qualities of internet sources. Combined with the research and critical thinking skills already learned, students.