I asked three people, My brother Mark, my friend Carla, and a student of mine. Below are their definitions of culture and diversity.
Student (age 15):
Culture: "When I hear the word culture I think of a lifestyle or another country who does something different than here in the U.S."
Diversity: "When I hear the word diversity I think of the different people/race of people in the world."
Mark (age 23):
Culture: "I think of people's backgrounds, ancestors, and family traditions."
Diversity: "Multiple interactions of cultures."
Carla (age 27):
Culture: "The behavior and characteristics of a specific group or society."
Diversity: "It's multi-cultural, not the same, variety of characteristics, unique."
Looking at what I have studied so far in this course the people I talked to had pretty much the idea of culture is one groups way of life and behavior. They consider culture to classified as specific group. When looking at diversity I feel that the their responses were similar in a way of that it's different among people, and each person is unique. I feel Carla's definition of diversity basically saying we are all unique. I also think Marl's definition of culture also is good talking about how its tradition and passed down from generations. It withstands the length of time.
One thing I noticed was with culture is the people didn't mention that culture was a person's was of thinking, values, behaviors, and traditions. They thought of culture more as a group as a whole that act the same. When looking at the difference in diversity, I wasn't surprised my my student's response saying diversity is people of different race. Diversity is so much more than just race. It can be gender, religion, class, abilities, values, traditions, interests, etc., the list can go on and on.
After looking the my three people's definition of culture and diversity I realized that we all have a different perspective on what we think culture and diversity are. It made me realize that diversity is what makes us unique from one another. Not one person is like the other, and that is how diversity is created. If everyone was the same, there would be no diversity. I also learned that culture is something that is withstanding and takes time to develop. By talking to people about their ideas of culture and diversity I now have a better idea of culture and diversity and my definitions had been developed deeper.
Abby, great post! Did you have an issue finding someone "different" than you? I had to think hard about who was different than me in ways other than race and ethnicity. I like your definition of diversity being what makes each of us unique from one another. It's true that none of us are exactly like another and that those differences are what make us unique.
ReplyDeleteAbby,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your blog sharing, I have learned a lot after reviewing your blog. I agree that we all have a different perspective on what we think culture and diversity are. As early childhood educators, we need to teach and support children to respect the differences in all people. We can teach children to respect and value people regardless of the color of their skin, their physical abilities, religious, or the language they speak.
Hi Abby, I also noticed that with the age differences the more expanding of the definitions of culture and diversity were. I also asked my teenagers whom are 16 and 18 years old and the responses were similar to the 15 year old student. It's amazing how children define culture and diversity. Thanks Abby for sharing your blog post.
ReplyDeleteHi Abby, I noticed that regardless of the age of individuals their definitions were similar. However, as the age increased the definition became more detailed. Age does not define culture, it gives more specific of what culture means to them. Thanks for sharing your post.
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