Saturday, May 24, 2014

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture


Renee - Fellow co-worker, mother, Canadian, Mormon, white female, 55 years old.
Culture is the way a group of people live their lives. Whats important to them are their traditions, holidays and their family structure.  

Diversity is the differences in language, in culture, in race, in religion, in their socio economic way of life. 

Amber- My friend a surgical tech, lutheran, American, white female, 28 years old.
Cultures is peoples beliefs and the knowledge that they learn from their family and friends. 

Diversity is being well rounded. Willing to learn about other cultures but still have your own beliefs. 

Kenzie- Sister, doctor, lutheran, American, white female, 23 years old.
Culture is a group of people’s way of life. Its the beliefs, values, customs, attitudes, religion and possessions that is acquired over the course of generations and passed down through imitations and communications. Culture can distinguish one group or category from one group of people to the next. 

Diversity is understanding, accepting and respecting the fact the each individual is different and unique. These differences could include gender, race, religion, sexual orientations, economic status, political beliefs and other ideologies. The concept of diversity means to embrace the differences and to enjoy the uniqueness of the world. 

These are the three people that I interviewed. There are some answers that are similar to what I have learned in class and some are different. Some examples of similarity are that Kenzie and Renee talked about culture being a persons way of life. Kenzie and Amber talked about how culture is passed down through family. Kenzie and Renee talk about diversity being about race, religion, and so on, and Amber adds being well rounded. I feel that those are things that I have learned about in class, but those are all surface culture things. 

Some things that have been omitted is the deep culture understanding. Kenzie brief talked about attitude, and that is a part of deep culture, but they left out how their raise their children or how they talk, how they interact with other people. Those are some of the things they left out. They are all important to culture and to diversity. 

When I listened to their definitions on culture and diversity I feel that, We all have an understanding of each of them, but it just touches the surface. Like them before this class those would have been my definitions. I know now that there is more to both of them and as a person and an educator I feel that it is my responsibility to know more and have a better understanding of culture and diversity. 

Saturday, May 17, 2014

My Culture


If I had to take three things that represented my families culture, one thing would be a painting that my grandpa painted of the hills where we live. It shows what the area looks like and it is a piece of him that has been passed down to my mom and now to me. The next thing I would bring would be my bible. It teaches me to have faith and to believe and it is a part of my family, and its their when I need a moment of peace.  The final thing that I would bring is the American flag. This represents where I come from, and the  rights, freedom and honor that brave men and women fought for to help protect and to serve. 
When I got to my new “home” and was told that I could only keep one of the items now that I brought and hold dear to me. I would feel angry, sad, I wold feel like hope is lost and I would feel torn now as to what item that I should keep. It was already a struggle to to pick these three items. I would keep the American Flag. It still represents my family and the hard work that we all put in. It represents who I am and were I came from. I can remember bible verses and I can use my memory to paint another picture of the land around my house. 
From this exercise I learned that it is hard to pick three things that represents who I am and who my family is. Where I come from and what represents our culture. I am more then these three items and so is my family but to chose just three things was tough. As long as I still have my family though thats what those things are, just things and we are more than that.