Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

     In preparation for this blog entry, I interviewed three individuals.  Although all three are family member, one is much younger that I, one is a different gender, and one is younger and teachers in a high school.  All three interviewees agreed that culture is about family, values, and upbringing.  This definition is the basis of what this course is about.  We are learning the importance of empowering children to value their family culture while learning a new, dominant culture (Laureate Education, 2010).  Sarah further explained that her definition of culture includes “what is socially acceptable within the social ‘norm’”.  Culture has more to do with socio-economic status than with race even though race plays a part (Sarah, 2012).  She provided an example of a playground that many of her students talk about at school.  The homes around the playground have furniture and couches on the sidewalk where people sit and drink beer all day.  Children must earn their way onto the basketball court.  Drugs are a big part of the scene.  Sarah explained the importance of understanding this type of culture in order to know what each family values before calling home to report that a student is not doing well in school.  For instance, it is important to know the extent to which the parent values their child’s education or if the child is attending school just to get a meal (Sarah, 2012).  The culture Sarah described is different than what we have learned thus far in class because the students are older and the emphasis is not on race, ethnicity, religion, language, family structure, or sexuality (Gonzalez-Mena, 2008). 

          Defining diversity, the interviewees named ethnicity, language, dress and religion as part of the definition, as well as how individuals from different cultural backgrounds interact with each other (Lee Ann, 2012) (Brian, 2012).  Sarah defined diversity within her school as teachers knowing and understanding what different families’ values are and introducing cultures from all parts of the world into the classroom; as well as students respecting each other’s cultural backgrounds and not having “clicks” or a hierarchy of popularity such as “cool kids”, or “popular kids”.  She explained that it is quite a challenge to be culturally diverse, and feels her school is successful in making “the playing field” more even for the students (Sarah, 2012).  The definitions of the interviewees correspond with what we are learning in class in that we learned that diversity is rooted in the assumption that there are many different kinds of families in the United States and around the world (Harris, 2008); and children need to feel their families are acceptable to their teachers (Gonzalez-Mena, 2008) and that they fit in with the dominant culture (Laureate Education, 2010). 

          My own thinking about culture and diversity has been validated by the viewpoints of the family members I interviewed.  My understanding of the importance of getting to know every family, regardless of culture has been broadened by my interview with Sarah.  Her teaching experience exemplifies that putting into practice what we are learning can reap great rewards.  Sarah attended a high school that was not culturally diverse yet had many social hierarchies such as “cool kids”, “jocks”, and “popular kids”.  The students in the school where she now teaches are quite culturally diverse.  Because of the hard work of the administration and teachers there is not a clash of cultures (Ngo, 2008), but an acceptance and harmony.  Conducting these interviews has been very rewarding to see the potential for a continuum of cultural and diversity acceptance throughout a child’s schooling. 

References

Brian. (2012). Retrieved from a phone interview on March 17, 2012

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2008). Diversity in Early Care and Education (5th ed., pp. 8–13). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

Harris, S. R. (2008). What is family diversity? Objective and interpretive approaches. Journal of Family Issues, 29(11), 1407–1417.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the SAGE Premier 2010 database.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Culture and Diversity [Video webcast]. Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com

Lee Ann. (2012).  Retrieved from a phone interview on March 17, 2012

Ngo, B. (2008). Beyond “culture clash”: Understanding of immigrant experiences. Theory into Practice, 47(1), 4–11.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database.

Sarah. (2012). Retrieved from a phone interview on March 17, 2012.