Blog Assignment: Perspectives on Diversity and Culture
CD 6164 Week 3 Assignment 3
September 18, 2012
My
Blog Link: http://www.nmcclain-nmcclain.blogspot.com/
lee white~artist |
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I interviewed the following people:Cynthia- Culture~Your heritage where your family comes from your customs.Cynthia- Diversity~when you are in a room of all men, this is not diversity, but when it is mixed it is diversity. Diversity is religion, nationality, color, races, and ages. A variety of everything, a mixture, when it is not all the same than it is diversity.Cynthia is a middle aged woman with mixed race of Mexican and Armenian. She has never worked outside her home. She has a husband and two grown children. She presently lives alone with her husband and watches her grandson so that her daughter can work and finish college. She is my care-giver to my son with Autism.
**********************Saleh:Culture: Your culture is something you cannot change, culture is embedded in your DNA, your race.Saleh: Diversity: Something that makes me different. Something that divides people. If someone walks into your store, and they look like a “thug”, you are going to have a bias opinion that they are going to rob your store. Everyone is bias toward races.Saleh is my 17-year old son. He is a senior in high school. He is the first and only Afro-American cheerleader on his squad. He is musically gifted and aspires to go into youth ministry.
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Cori: Culture: She mentioned that culture is the differences in culture.Cori: Diversity: Diversity is the customs, traditions of different people. The language of people.
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Diversity in Nature - Which aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received—and what are some examples?
- In Child Development 6164, we learned about the dominant culture, cultural pluralism, culture clash, culture identities, surface culture, cultural group, culture socialization and culture continuity/discontinuity. I think you can change your outlook on culture just like me and my colleagues. We learned that diversity is what makes you who you are in society. For example, just because society labels you a “woman” you are so much more, a mother, a wife, a care-giver, etc.
- Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission?
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Diversity in Color One main aspect that has been omitted is identity formation. How you view yourself in society, not how others view you. An example would be “who I am” and “what makes me the person, “I am” and also, the person, “I want to be”. - In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics?
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I think that other people’s definitions of culture and diversity is very narrow. We have learned that culture and diversity is not just “Black and White”, nor “Cold or Hot” but everything in-between, the “gray areas” of our existence. Culture goes far beyond heritage and what type of family you were born into, yet culture and diversity is how you see yourself and others that began at a very young age.
References:
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2008). Diversity in Early Care and Education (5th ed., pp. 8–13). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.
Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). "Culture and Diversity" with Gonzalez-Mena, J., Media presentation.
Ngo, B. (2008). Beyond "culture clash": Understanding of immigrant experiences. Theory into Practice, 47(1), 4–11.
Interesting responses Nancy. I like how Saleh states culture is "something you cannot change" "embedded in DNA." Do you think he knows he is changing dominant culture by participating in the cheerleading squad- a predominant female sport. Love the irony :)
ReplyDeleteHi Nancy,
ReplyDeleteDo you think or believe the world would be or could be a different place if we all had to take diversity coursework? Until this course I can say that I really only considered the 10% we talked about in reference to the tip of the iceberg. I rarely considered all of the other aspects of our lives as being cultural. And this is my 2nd or 3rd course. What if we all were required to take this course as children, as teens, throughout each level of a college education? Would it make an impact on how we view each other? Or do you think things would remain the same?
I think I might be an optimist, but I believe the world would be such a better place if we all had these tools and resources to guide our thinking. I wonder if I am alone in my optimism.
Nancy,
ReplyDeleteI loved how you gave a little bio on each of your people. I found that most fascinating in light of the depth of each answer and their age differences. I admire your son for his courage and love that he is interested in youth ministry. You mentioned how you thought their answers were narrow. They were actually quite thoughtful compared to all three of mine. I expected more in light of all I know now but would likely have given a pretty short answer myself a mere couple of weeks ago.