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During this week’s discussion, a couple of people brought up some issues on diversity in educational settings which I found very interesting.  As I mentioned, I think that it is important to think about what we mean by productivity before we can decide whether or what kind of diversity leads to productivity.  Looking at Bryn Mawr, I think that diversity of race and nationality is important because the goal of our college is to produce people who will make a meaningful contribution to the world.  Liz and Professor Grobstein started a discussion about whether this kind of diversity is important in educational settings, not just diversity as in people with different types of thinkers/ problem solvers.  Though I certainly think mental diversity promotes a more exciting learning environment, I personally think that it is also important  for any institution to have students and scientists that have diverse beliefs, backgrounds and life experiences, because these differences can push people to define and redefine what productivity is.  What do we mean by meaningful contribution?  What is it that we really want to produce?  I believe that discussing these questions with a group of people who do not necessarily agree with each other is what pushes people to really think about their arguments and actions, and whether their efforts will really lead to something that is beneficial for our society and our future.