Internationally, since 1990, the United Nation’s Education for All movement has worked to make quality basic education available to all learners (Opertti et al., 2014). Based on a recent Global Monitoring Report, there are still 58 million children out of school globally and around 100 million children who do not complete primary education with years' improvements globally (UNESCO, 2015).

Domestically, growing evidence points out that the increased educational opportunities and resources further disadvantage some learners, particularly those from economically poorer backgrounds (Pickett and Vanderbloemen, 2015). For instance, in a recent study of over 30,000 college students, half of the two-year and four-year students are experiencing hunger in 2017 and research shows those students with food insecurity were less likely to participate and engage in class with good performance, instead more likely to withdraw from courses (Affordable Colleges Online, 2020).

Regarding remote/online teaching in response to the COVID-19 situation, unresolved issues related to technology tools continue to mount. Key among these issues is the “digital divide,” which is not far behind us. "Digital divide" refers to the growing gap in Internet access between the underprivileged members of society, especially the urban and rural poor, the elderly, and children and adults with disabilities who do not have access to computers, the Internet, or digital resources; and the urban and suburban wealthy population who have access. An Educause COVID-19 QuickPoll reported that around 36% of institutions identified that students were facing moderate or extreme difficulty getting the bandwidth and/or Wi-Fi, which is necessary for continuing academic work (Grajek, 2020).

Educators must respond to all of these concerns: how can we contextualize the learning situation, respond to the struggles beyond academics that our students are facing, and prepare our students for success in their career pathways with 21st century skills?

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) noted the gap between our students readiness for their careers and their skill set:

Across OECD countries, almost one of every five students does not reach a basic minimum level of skills to function in today’s societies (indicating lack of inclusion). Students from low socio-economic backgrounds are twice as likely to be low performers, implying that personal or social circumstances are obstacles to achieving their educational potential (indicating lack of fairness) (2012, p. 9).

The Danger of a Single Story?

Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2019) tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice, and we may risk a critical misunderstanding and fail in communication if we hear only a single story about another person or country. Why do we need to understand other people's lives and cultures today? Please watch this Ted Talk "The danger of a single story" and keep that question in mind.

The danger of a single story, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2019

What Does Research Say?

We have diverse learners in our student population, including but not limited to underrepresented minorities, non-proficient readers, English language learners, nontraditional students, working students, parents, commuters, and traditional students. Research shows that a strong sense of belonging may improve learning experience and retention of students in online programs (Thomas, Herbert, & Teras, 2014).
Having international students on campus benefits postsecondary education in various ways in the U.S.:

They help create a diverse collegiate culture beneficial for U.S. students and professors (Glass et al., 2013). Indeed, intercultural communication skills are needed as globalization develops in sectors of business, travel, and migration.
Some graduate departments depend on international graduate students to teach and conduct research.
Furthermore, international students make great financial contributions to U.S. institutions. For instance, international students studying at U.S. colleges and universities supported the U.S. economy to the tune of $41 billion and 458,290 jobs during the 2018-2019 academic year (NAFSA, 2020).

The disproportional ratio issue between instructors and students exists in both K-12 and postsecondary education
- “Students were more likely to encounter people of color in service roles than in faculty or leadership positions. While people of color represented less than one-fifth of senior executives, 42.2 percent of service and maintenance staff and one-third of campus safety personnel were people of color.”

The student-teacher diversity gap exists in U.S. public schools. An overwhelming number of the teachers (84%) are white, and more than 40 percent of public schools in the U.S. do not have a single teacher of color. In sharp contrast, the percentage of Hispanic, African American, Asian, and other students of color exceeded the percentage of white students for the first time in 2014 (Hrabowski & Sanders, 2015). At the same time, the National School Lunch Program feeds more than half of the nation’s public school students with free or reduced-price lunch (Southern Education Foundation 2015), and English language learners (ELLs) are now the fastest-growing student population (Januszyk, Miller, & Lee, 2016).
College students are more diverse than ever, while faculty and administrators are not, according to Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education: A Status Report (Espinosa, Turk, Taylor, & Chessman, 2019).

Prospective teachers from European-American backgrounds saw themselves as “normal” and believed that students from diverse backgrounds needed to be knowledgeable and accepting of the beliefs held by the dominant culture. They did not identify a connection between diversity and learning (Milner, 2005).

References

Affordable Colleges Online, (2020). Support for College Students Experiencing Food Insecurity. https://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/college-resource-center/college-food-insecurity-support/

Ainscow, M. (2016). Diversity and equity: A global education challenge. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 51(2), 143–155.

Espinosa, Lorelle L. Jonathan M. Turk, Morgan Taylor and Hollie M. Chessman, 2019, Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education: A Status Report, Washington, DC: American Council on Education. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

Hrabowski, F. A., & Sanders, M. G. (2015). Increasing racial diversity in the teacher workforce: One university’s approach.

Glass, C. R., Gómez, E., & Urzua, A. (2014). Recreation, intercultural friendship, and international students’ adaptation to college by region of origin. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 42, 104-117.

Grajek, S., "EDUCAUSE COVID-19 QuickPoll Results: Help for Students", Data Bytes (blog), EDUCAUSE Review, April 3, 2020

Januszyk, R., Miller, E. C., & Lee, O. (2016). Addressing student diversity and equity. Science and Children, 53(8), 28.

Milner, H. R. (2005). Stability and change in prospective teachers’ beliefs and decisions about diversity and learning to teach. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(7), 767–786.

OECD. (2012). Equity and quality in education: Supporting disadvantaged students and schools. Paris: OECD Publishing.

Opertti, R., Walker, Z., & Zhang, Y. (2014). Inclusive education: From targeting groups and schools to achieving quality education as the core of EFA. In L. Florian (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of special education (2nd Revised. London: SAGE.

Pickett, K., & Vanderbloemen, L. (2015). Mind the gap: Tackling social and educational inequality. York: Cambridge Primary Review Trust.

Thomas, L., Herbert, J. & Teras, M. (2014). A sense of belonging to enhance participation, success and retention in online programs. The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 5 (2), 69–80.