Diversity education would be a boon to Nevada students

The March 28 Review-Journal included an article about Democratic state Sen. Tick Segerblom of Las Vegas and how he wants to make it mandatory for our high school students to take an ethnic and diversity studies program. He believes that a more well-rounded version of our nation’s history should be taught.

I say amen to that.

If you open most any high school history or social studies textbook, you learn about the Great Depression, World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, slavery, our presidents, etc. Do you see any real focus on racially diverse contributions to society besides maybe MLK or Harriet Tubman? No. Studies show that most of the coverage in these books is tilted to European history.

According to the 2010 Census, which did not account for those who identify as Hispanic, 72.4 percent were Caucasian, while 12.6 percent were African-American, 4.8 percent were Asian and so on. In a country as racially diverse as ours, our children should be afforded the opportunity to learn how the forefathers whom they identify with have contributed to this great country.

This is not just white America and the history taught should reflect that people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds have worked, discovered, sacrificed and even died to help make this country what it is.