Culture & Diversity

To fulfill our assignment this week, I took it to Facebook.  I asked my friends about their definitions of culture and diversity.  The answers themselves were as diverse as each person.  Ten people gave me responses.  Out of the ten:  one has a special needs son; one has a Hispanic husband that speaks no Spanish; one is from a country other than mine; another is a psychologist working with high risk teens; one is an owner of a childhood fitness program that works within childcare to teach children about nutrition and exercise; three work for the State of MS as trainers within childcare centers; one is an early childhood professional, and one is a regular middle-class white female.

#1 Business Owner:  Culture:  similarities in traditions, language, food, beliefs, ethics, and behavior within a group. (i. e. geographic location or within a group).  Diversity: A population containing people from different cultures

#2 Psychologist:  To me, culture is a way of life or belief system for a particular society or group of people.  Diversity is encompassing the differences of others within a culture. (E.g., religion, gender, socioeconomic status, physical or mental abilities or limitations, race.) Personally, I believe they go hand-in-hand since there are many diversities within cultures

#3 Lives in Different Country:  Culture: are all those things you do within a particular group you belong to. (beliefs, celebrations, food, music, rituals, etc.)  Diversity: is a mixture of different kinds of cultures.

#4 Hispanic Husband:    I made the assumption when meeting my husband that he was Hispanic and Spanish was his 1st language...he is 1 of 5 children, grew up in Ohio with wonderful parents who, @ that time thought it best to only speak English-no Spanish. Subconsciously, I believe his parents wanted them to grow up breaking culture diversity. With changes today culturally, Rich wishes he was fluent in Spanish. It has been @ times embarrassing

#5 Special Needs Son:  I have a child with CMV. There are those who believe that he should have been institutionalized.  He has had many surgeries, ports, wheel chairs, accommodations made, serious illnesses (where we almost lost him), and friends with the same disease pass away.  They would rather have had him put into a hospital, one in which I would only have been able to frequent occasionally, than to raise my own child.  Mothers know their children and are their children’s best teacher.  He is 22 years old now, has graduated from high school and is thriving in a world he was not supposed to be in.

#6 Friend with Same Culture:  Culture seems to be based on nurture. Your parents’ traditions and basic thought processes, your husbands’ family traditions and basic thought processes, how and where you live and work, and what is important to your family and you.  Diversity is when you expand from nurture. More open-minded. Accepting of differences in your core beliefs and expanding your mindset.

#7 Dr. (Trainer with State of MS):   Culture is the norms or expectations of a society or community. Diversity is the inclusiveness of different cultures, perspectives, histories, languages, etc.

#8 Trainer with State of MS:  Culture is a broad and narrow term. When thinking about culture, one must look no further than their only family unit. Culture is broad as it relates to different countries, people groups, and religions. However, culture is also narrow and can be found within regions or states of a country and within different sectors of a family group. Culture is what makes each family unit unique and a part of society. Culture is the customs, beliefs, and practices of others that one can embrace and learn.

Diversity is so much more than the color of one's skin. Each person has the capability to step out of his or her own box and experience the world as others experience it. Diversity requires an open mind to new things, a broad spectrum of how others live, function, and contribute to society. Diversity is being accepting of others for who they are, where they are and how they are without the need to inflict another's opinion on said person. Diversity requires an open mind and a non-judgmental attitude.

#9 Trainer with State of MS: Culture is what you are born into, for example, how holidays are celebrated, special celebrations, & etc. Diversity is how the environment interacts with your culture.

#10 Childcare Professional:  culture is the world around you, community, society, and family – the way you were raised.  Diversity is the differences within culture.  Diversity is usually used as racially-based term but it is so much more.  No two people are the exact same.  Beliefs are different, life morals may be different, etc.  To me, what this says is that we, as Christians, serve a very creative and colorful God.  He gives people the choice to choose him no matter what lifestyle you choose, where you live, what race you are, etc.  Culture and diversity is how you see an individual and accept them for who they are ant not what you think they should be.

This week alone we have looked as invisibility, discontinuity, and deep culture.  There are examples of each in these definitions from my friends.

              I believe that #5’s experiences show cultural invisibility.  Others were very uncomfortable with her special needs child.  They tried to get her to give up on him (or not acknowledge him), instead of supporting her whole family.

              Discontinuity is shown in #4’s experiences with her husband.  His parents felt it best to discontinue and forget about their own culture when immigrating to the U.S. to have their children “fit” in.

              My friend #6 has no early childhood education or specialized training.  However, I thought she had the best definition of “deep culture” of everyone including the educators.  Nurture has not been said but makes sense because we are getting our culture from those around us who are caring for us – parents, family, community, schools, etc.

After reading ALL of these definitions, I fully believe diversity was thoroughly defined.  I liked many of the words used to describe diversity – accept them for who they are and not who you think they should be; open and non-judgmental attitude, inclusiveness, how the environment interacts with culture- they spoke volumes and gave specific attributes for diversity. 

My favorite definition was from #6: “Diversity is when you expand from nurture. More open-minded. Accepting of differences in your core beliefs and expanding your mindset.”  We have to be willing to admit that what we believe is not the only thing out there or not the only "right" thing.  If we can add to, tweak, and expand our differences and what we believe, we will be able to achieve true cultural responsiveness and responsibility to our families and children.