Perspectives of Diversity and Culture

The first person I asked their definition of culture and diversity is a teacher who works at the same facility as I do.  She is from Thailand and definitely has different cultural beliefs than myself.  She believes culture to be the existing appearance of a specific society’s established beliefs.  Basically peoples way of life and how they do things.  She explains diversity of knowing every person is distinctive, and identifying our individual dissimilarities.

The second person I asked a definition of culture and diversity is my Aunt who is also a teacher.  She believes culture is the features of a certain cluster of individuals, clarified through many things such as: Language, religion, habits, and etc.  Her definition of diversity is in a nutshell the inclusion of cultural and individual differences of others.

The third individual I asked to define culture and diversity was my good friend and old college professor.  He sees culture as a shared inheritance passed on from one generation to another and shared, composed of skills, beliefs, knowledge and products that are generally joint by tons of individuals and transferred to children.  His definition of diversity is the differences in racial and ethnic, socioeconomic, environmental, and educational backgrounds.  Diversity in his mind is basically the openness to differences among people, cultures and viewpoints.

From talking with my friends and relatives I was able to grasp a comparison of what I have learned in the course so far on culture and diversity.  The word culture refers to how particular groups of people live (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  The idea of culture alone is commonly measured as many noticeable actions like the food people eat, music listened to, celebrations, holidays, dance, and even dress attire.  Each of the individuals I talked with basically defined culture in this term of thought.  Society is a structured group of people.  It involves individuals who hold a different and constant living style.  From what I have learned about diversity it is all about including other cultures and accepting the difference of other people.  Everyone is different in their own unique way.  “We must respect the dignity and preferences of each family and to make an effort to learn about its structure, culture, language, customs, and beliefs” (Gonzalez-Mena, 2008, pg. 12).

As far as the three people I talked to definition of culture and diversity nothing really changed of my thoughts and views because it is how I see the two as well.  Both definitions are so broad that many different things can be put into them that are correct.  Just looking at diversity, I believe it combines people from many circumstances that hold essential skills that simulate organizational competitiveness and growth within society.   

References

Gonzalez-Mena, J.  (2008).  Diversity in Early Care and Education (5^th ed., pp. 8-13).  Boston,

            MA:  McGraw Hill.

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards O. J.  (2010).  Anti-Bias Education for young children and

            Ourselves.  Chapter 5, “Learning About Culture, Language, & Fairness” (p. 55-60).