While students are growing up in an increasingly diverse world, many types of media often do not realistically reflect such diversity, whether it be the news, television programs or magazines, to name a few.  Using this basic premise, teachers can engage their students in a project concerning diversity and the media that allows them to discover for themselves how the media portrays diverse peoples.  Remember to look not only for differences in race, ethnicity and gender, but also in religious background, physical and mental disability levels, age, social/economic class and weight. 
 
Have your students consider types of media in which diverse people are or are not represented.  Students can first brainstorm about the different types of media present in their everyday lives.  Newspapers, magazines and television programs (sitcoms, cartoons, news programs, educational programs, etc.) are the standard fare, but make sure they also include media in other forms such as video games, advertisements, film, radio and common internet sites in their search.  How many evening “family hour” sitcoms (from 8-9pm) have racially diverse casts?  Do the magazines that students or their families read make an effort to represent disabled people?  Do video game ads represent girls or women often? 
 
Your students will most likely find that a disproportionate majority of certain types of people are represented in everyday media portrayals of the world, while minorities or other underrepresented people are portrayed in more specific arenas or are not portrayed at all.  Urge your students to figure out why this misrepresentation is a problem and how it can persist in such a diverse world.  Students can then find alternate publications or media outlets that make an effort to accurately represent the diversity of the United States.  

Your students can also tackle this issue in a few pro-active manners.  Students can work on writing and communication skills by learning how to write “letters to the editor” of select publications and other media outlets, either praising those that do show diversity or criticizing those that do not.  Critical thinking is essential for this task, since students will learn how to make concise, convincing arguments supporting diverse representations in the media. 
 
The following websites can help in researching for this endeavor:
 
Just Think
http://www.justthink.org/
 
Children Now: Children and the Media
http://www.childrennow.org/media/
 
Diversity in the Media and Entertainment Industries
http://www.ethnicmajority.com/media_home.htm
 
Center for Media Literacy
http://www.medialit.org/   
 
Your class can also launch a media literacy campaign to teach other students and community members the importance of approaching the media and entertainment industry in a critical manner.  Students can prepare presentations and create publications that explain these issues and can distribute such information in the school and the community's public spaces, such as libraries.  In this way, by critically thinking about the issues themselves, they can teach others to engage in critical thinking.  This type of involvement could even spark a community movement or debate about the issue of media influence.

If there is disagreement in your class about the necessity, importance or benefit of diversity in the media or the entertainment industry, have your students plan and participate in a debate about the issue.  Make sure that your students research their topics well, using secondary resources from journals, books and academically suitable websites, and primary resources from the media, such as clips from the news or television programs, etc.  Your students can utilize their speaking and reasoning skills in this project to formulate and hold informed, well thought out positions on a social issue.
 
If your class or school is not very diverse itself, your students can supplement their work on diversity in the media with a cross-cultural exchange.  Your class can make contact with students from a different region in the country or in the world.  For examples about such exchanges, read Monica Hochstedler’s article, “Celebrating Diversity.”
 
Teaching students the joy and benefit of diversity and the necessity of representing that diversity in the media accurately will prepare students for the future.  As young adults, they will be ready to interact with a wide range of people in the growing global forum that is our present workplace.  Exposing children to diverse peoples, while at the same time combating false stereotypes about others, can help those students become more tolerant of others and more prepared for a continuously diversifying America.