The demographic category of ethnicity and race becomes complicated because it is a social construct and many people can identify with not only multiple backgrounds, but also with drastically different ones.  For example, someone may have been born in Iraq, raised in America, and have Australian parents. Their identity is not easily predicted, nor mutually exclusive. Personally, I was born in Miami, but raised in Colombia. Although I most people would agree that I both American and Colombian, when asked the dreaded question ‘where are you from?’ I always respond ‘Colombia.’ Even if I was not born there, Spanish is my first language, my customs are predominantly Colombian, so I identify more with the country. I have now been living in the United States for close to 20 years, but still, I identify as Colombian. It was where I saw my first sights, where I have my earliest memories, etc. The below video exemplifies my struggle and many others’ struggle:

In an age of globalization, my case is becoming more popular than a singular-ethnicity scenario. As people travel, learn new languages and become more inter-connected, many maintain their initial ethnic culture, but also adopt new ones. The matter at hand becomes even more complicated as people identify more loyalty to one or another.

The implications for the demographic category are straightforward, since ethnicity and race are social constructs, more complex ethnic identities could create new labels or categories. What we consider ‘Latino,’ could be merged to include ‘white.’ Or, ‘Latinos’ and ‘Blacks’ could be included in a single category. Alternatively, it can have the effect of splitting current ‘categories’ and creating new ones. Multi-race or ethnic people, could be boxed into their mom’s ethnicity or race, or it may become socially acceptable for the person to identify with the father’s identity. As humans continue to evolve, the current social constructs may become irrelevant and drastically change.

Finally, the implications of ethnicity and race for education and the classroom are paramount. As is knowledge to most, minorities normally underperform and are taught my underqualified and inexperienced teachers.  Students who identify with multiple races or ethnicities can face serious social challenges that can translate into academic problems. Even if a student does not behave with expected behavior of his/her race and/or ethnicity, the implications to his/her education are significant. As identities become increasingly complex, teachers need to unpack these social construct to begin to understand students as individuals, instead of forcing them into a categorical boxes that are tied with expected behaviors. For the benefit of our students, we need to look beyond their evident ethnicity or culture, and instead aim at understand the complex individual.