Person one: “Culture is a person’s background and experiences that have made them who they are. Culture generally speaking is a person’s age, ethnicity, disabilities, abilities, family dynamics, socio-economic status, and their geographic location,” (M. Jackson).
Person one: “Diversity is the span of differences between people. Diversity is the things that make people different from each other,” (M. Jackson).
Person 2: “Culture is your family traditions, values, and beliefs. It is how a person is raised,” (J. Bredfield).
Person two: “Diversity is embracing other cultures that I did not grow up with. It is learning about people’s differences and what they do,” (B. Bredfield).
Person 3: “Culture is a part of how I define myself. It has numerous aspects for example I am a child of the 7o’s and that affects my thoughts and feelings. My economic status in which I was raised is part of my culture and it molded my views and beliefs,” (A. Williamson).
When I was in the middle of asking this question a white middle-aged man joined the conversation and said we don’t have a culture and were not diverse. He believes because he is not of specific race he does not have a culture at all. “We are boring white class American’s.”
Person 3: “Diversity is the combination of different cultures coming together. It is the differences in beliefs, actions, and values. It is what makes the world interesting. Diversity is accepting that we are all different and that differences are okay,” (A. Williamson).
The aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied and that have been included in the answers I received are culture and diversity are about age, ethnicity, background, where a person lives and is raised, it is about family dynamics, eras, economic status, abilities, disabilities, traditions, and beliefs.
The aspects that were omitted about culture and diversity include language, heritage, religion, education, as well as culture being part of an identity which is ever changing. That a group of people that share similar qualities for example African-American’s do not necessarily share all the same beliefs, they may not all like the same foods, music, and they may not even speak the same language.
Listening to others talk about culture and diversity makes me realize that people see more surface culture or diversity rather than culture or diversity as personal. I think diversity is deep and not shallow however it is hard to understand. I think it is important that early educators talk more about culture and diversity and that it looks different to everyone. It can even look different to people in the same family.
Josie Zbaeren
Josie,
ReplyDeleteWhat response did you have for the man who indicated he had no culture at all? What an interesting perception.It does make me wonder what his culture really is if it is invisible to him!
You received some very interesting responses. Mine were more similar than I would have believed they would be asking a variety of people.
Thanks for sharing!
Deb
I wrote the exact same comment in my blog. We focus on the surface culture, but now we know there is much more. And yes, I agree people in the same family can have completely different cultures. Our family is an example of it ;)
ReplyDeleteCarolina
Hi there! I also had the same opinion that we focus too much on the surface of culture rather than getting into deep culture. But I would not have realized this difference until taking this course. Glad we understand more now :)
ReplyDeleteGood job,
Cortnee :)
I completely agree with our peers on this one. I wrote a similar comment in my blog. We focus so much on surface culture that we never really get to learn about the "real" person.
ReplyDelete