For this assignment I thought it would be fun to ask
my children what they though culture and diversity were. I started with my 14
year old. When I asked her what her definition of culture was she responded
stating that it was the way people lived and interact with their religion and country.
When I asked her to explain to me what diversity was she did not know. She is
about to go into 9th grade so I feel that she should know the
definition of culture and diversity. I explained what culture and diversity
were along with the difference between surface and deep culture was.
My son who is 9 years old came home from school and
I thought I would speak to him about this as well. I was curious to see where
he was in this subject. He did not know the definition of either of these
terms. I teach my children how to love and respect others no matter their race,
gender, appearance, disability, or ability. I am proud to say they have
displayed this respect in ways that teachers have praised them and I have been
communicated with about the events. It was harder to explain to my son the
definitions of these two terms. It seemed to delve too deep for his
comprehension levels. However, he understood that people have different
beliefs, dress different, eat different foods, and wear different clothing.
When it came to understanding deep culture that concept was too complex for him.
I skipped asking my husband because he was too up to
date with this area. So I called up my parents and asked what they thought.
They named mainly the surface cultures as well such as dress, food, and
celebrated holidays. The two deep culture aspects they named were religion and
language. When I asked them about the definition of diversity they simply
stated the act of being different. We discussed in detail about culture and
diversity. I explained to them how culture is who we are starting with how we
were raised and the environment we were raised in. I have to say they were less
than impressed. I am assuming that they just wanted to hold onto their
definition and leave it at that.
After talking to the younger generation and then the
older generation I realized that the topic is not discussed often enough
outside the realm of educational classes. The society as a whole does not have
a solid definition of either term. If this is true how can society respect
something that they do not understand? I
have said it before that education is the main component in a battle against
ignorance because ignorance is the root of conflict. We need to share our knowledge
of culture and diversity with our communities and express the importance of
respect whether we agree with their beliefs or not.
Hi Samantha,
ReplyDeleteI found the reaction of your parents very interesting. You also made a good point about we can't respect what we don't understand. I enjoyed hearing about the relation of child development to the understanding of culture and diversity.
Thanks for sharing!
Liz
HI SAMANTHA,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that this topic is not discussed enough. One person I chose to ask had to think about the diversity question for 2 days...crazy. Maybe it should be a class in high school or even grade school. I live in a multicultural city and though we interact with many, we all don't know, don't want to know or understand each others cultures. More information about each other would lead to better understanding of each other. Great post!
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ReplyDeleteHi Samantha, I think that ia is wonderful that you engaged your 14 years old child into the weekly studies. Development of these learning traits should start during the early years; I believe that if a child knows the difference between cultures and diversity, it helps in alleviating the unknown hidden surfaces, and in misunderstanding of diverse people. We are all different in some occurrences and we must learn to accept these differences in order to live a peaceful life.
ReplyDeletewow, Samantha this was a great post as you involved your children into it to see how they viewed themselves and their culture as well as your parents. The old, the now and the future. They all had different ideas of what culture means and what diversity consists of.
ReplyDeleteSamantha,
ReplyDeleteI have stated multiple times during these few weeks that I don't feel the topic of culture and diversity are discussed much at all these days. The only time it is brought up to children I feel that it is in school and not at home. I agree with you that we really don't know the true meaning of what culture is and diversity. Everyone tends to just mention what is surface culture, except for language and religion. If these are the answers that we keep getting we definitely know that these are topics that need to be discussed in more detail. It was great to see that you involved your children and used people of different generations to see either the differences or similarities in their answers.