Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week, I am asked to call, write to, or talk to at least three friends, family members, acquaintances, and/or colleagues, to ask each person to share their definition of culture and diversity.

The three colleagues, Ann, Al Joseph, and Cheryl, are from different countries with different cultures. One of them, Al Joseph, is a male teacher and almost every Sunday will go to church. Cheryl has a same religious belief with Al Joseph. I asked them to share their definition of culture and diversity and they were so supportive. Their definitions are as follows:

Ann Lopez, an early childhood teacher with 4-5 years old children, she responded:

"Could you imagine the world without diversity? Diversity that makes us different and adds color and spice into this challenging and transforming world we live in. There are a lot of differences in our beliefs, culture, and traditions, but these should not to hinder us from being good to one another. In addition, diversity makes us unique individuals who contribute and find solutions to the issues we face in the school, community, or even the nation that we belong to, and most of all, the difference we make to others" (Lopez, personal conversation about DIVERSITY, November 13, 2014).

" For me, it is the culture that made me. Through culture, I learned what is right and what is wrong. I live with the saying that 'Do not do unto others what you do not want other do unto you'. In addition, through culture I have learned how to meet my needs. So, as teacher I greatly respect student's unique culture and their learning styles, and bringing it in to the classroom makes learning more meaningful and lasting. An example, is celebrating uniqueness during International week. We invite families to share about their culture and experience things just like we are in their home country" (Lopez, personal conversation about CULTURE, November 13, 2014)

Aljo Cruz, shared his insights of what culture and diversity meant to him:

" For me, culture is what a person, or a group of persons are accustomed to do. an activity, activities or way of life that is unique to an individual or a social group. It can be as profound as worshiping on temples or churches, celebrating a certain event or as simple as having lunch together every day or having karaoke or massage weekly. it is something practiced and have been set in stone as something a group of people do. Diversity is the wonderful realization of the state that different people or groups of people have different cultures, different taste in music, different inclination to certain food, different way of life. it is a beautiful thing" (Cruz, Personal conversation, November 14, 2014 )

Cheryl shared her definitions of culture and diversity from the perspective of being an early childhood teacher:

"Culture is the total collection of a common belief, tradition, moral concepts, art, music, clothing, food of a particular group of people/society or era. The environment plays a very important role in the formation of a society's culture - as it will dictate how the people will adapt in order to survive & live amicably within the group. Diversity, from the word 'diverse' it means different. Diverse culture means a collection of many cultures in one environment. Fortunate enough to work in an international school, I relish the opportunity to learn about the diverse cultures of the children who attend our school. While it is important to learn about & understand each culture, as an educator in an international school, it is imperative to RESPECT and TOLERATE each unique culture to better serve this culturally diverse community. We also have to remember that aside from recognizing the diverse ethnic cultures, we should also be mindful that each family (though may be ethnically the same) also has their own home culture which will be different from the school culture as well. An educator's ability to embrace (with respect & tolerance) a culturally diverse community will greatly benefit the students - the main reason why we are here in school" (Cheryl, personal conversation, November 15, 2014)

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?

Some aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answer I received, such as the surface culture, the deep culture as well as the family culture. For the surface culture, Al Joseph and Cheryl mentioned that culture includes food, music, clothing and so on. For the deep culture, the three colleagues mentioned that culture is also about the beliefs, traditions, moral concepts, ways of life, and so on. For the family culture, both Ann and Cheryl mentioned that as early childhood teachers, we should pay attention to the family culture, to know about it and as what Cheryl said, to embrace and tolerate diverse family cultures. 

Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission?

Actually, I think the three teachers are aware of not only the surface culture and the deep culture, but also the family culture that makes diversity. However, when they talked about diversity, they did not mention the importance of diversity to the formations of social identities.

In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics?

Thanks to my three colleagues, they strengthened my understanding of culture and diversity. In the same environment, groups of people gather together with different diverse social identities, which result from their own diverse cultures especially the family culture. Therefore, early childhood educators should pay attention to children's family culture that to most extent forms their personalized social identities. To better support the development of children's self-identification, one thing we should do is to get to know the family culture.