Option #2

The challenge facing humanity today that I want to discuss in this essay is discrimination.
Discrimination is treating a particular person, group of people or community in an unjust
manner subject to their belonging or being: race, sex, pregnancy, marital status, health status,
ethnic or social origin, colour, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, dress,
language, birth and other grounds. It hinders individual and collective growth, advancement
and evolution of human beings as a species.

In high school, my role as the vice president of the Black Student Union allowed me to channel
my dedication towards combating racism and discrimination, both within my school and the
broader community.

Dependable statistics have shown that black people particularly black males in the US, Europe
and Australia are the most susceptible to wrongful arrests. Patriarchy, racism and all forms of
discrimination deny the victims economic rights which consequently deny them other
fundamental rights: right to education, shelter, healthcare ,human dignity, political rights and
ultimately the most important right, the right to life. These incidences call for active advocacy
for a less-prejudiced world. I made a decision to contribute towards the realisation of a fairer
world, in my capacity.

First year students are immersed in one of our five Living Learning Communities (LLC), with
the themes reflecting the vitality of the liberal arts tradition: Advocate, Collaborate, Cultivate,
Illuminate and Innovate. Select one of these five themes and describe how it resonates with
you and why.

Collaborate
Collaboration is the act of working with someone, people or other organisations to create
something or achieve a particular result. Collaboration is essential for survival of any living
organism. Nature is intertwined and so is the man-made world. Family is the basic unit of a
society. The importance of collaboration cannot be understated in a family set up. It is
collaboration that is first taught and practised at home, that has helped build the civilised
societies, working institutions and emergency responses that we have in the contemporary
world.

In school, collaboration in the form of group work, clubs, societies and teams, make learning
more efficient, improve people’s inter-personal skills, promote tolerance, teach the importance
of respecting diversity and appreciating the strength in it and ease workloads. I believe that
collaboration, when used effectively, has the power to bring the collaborators and communities
surrounding them, tremendous advancements and benefits.

Currently, the global challenges such as hunger, poverty, adverse effects of climate change,
wars, inflation, insecurity and diseases call for unity and collaboration of states and human
beings to address these challenges. They cannot be solved by individuals or small groups in
isolation. Only collective human efforts can alleviate these challenges.