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diversity and multicultural education
Key principle of multicultural education
Key principle of multicultural education
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I was born and raised in America, and though I grew up like most middle-class children, I spent my summers visiting Europe. There, I learned my family’s languages and cultures, Spanish and Portuguese, which have become sacrosanct to my identity. The myriad of experiences I’ve had because of my heritage are an important part of myself and a key reason why I would thrive at Rutgers.
It’s because I identify so strongly with my culture that I have devoted several hours a week to attending Spanish School since sixth grade. This commitment is one I have chosen in addition to an already rigorous course of study in the Culinary Arts Academy of the Morris County School of Technology. I credit the ALCE program, (Agrupación de Lengua y Cultura Española,
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We understand each other, and all know what it’s like to straddle two cultures: to go to Spain every summer and explore ancient streets, trying to learn more about the country’s history, as well as getting home from school in America and have to switch gears from English to Spanish. /// My multicultural upbringing is why I feel I belong at Rutgers, where, according to University Communications, “diversity is an everyday ingredient of university life and one of our greatest strengths.” Having spent entire summers in Europe, I’ve developed close friendships that have given me a link to worldwide …show more content…
Spending time with them has given me a much less Americentric view of the world. It also gave me a unique viewpoint in the United States, where I have found myself applying it to countless social situations. For instance, last year, a friend of mine said that he could not attend the junior prom because he didn’t have the money for the ticket, suit, and ride. A girl in the room said that she thought it was, “The dumbest reason to not go to prom.” I told her it was actually the most legitimate reason a person wouldn't be able to attend. Her comment taught me that not everyone understands that others must live in circumstances different from their
Living in between cultures is something that I have had to struggle with, for much of my life. As a second generation immigrant, I have found myself negotiating between two cultural identities. On one end I identify as an American, and on the other as a Latina who is Nicaraguan and Dominican. Throughout my life my identity has come under attack from both sides. I have been called too American by my immigrant family while also being called too Latina by peers and academia. As a first generation college student and second generation immigrant, I have faced the stressors of living in between cultures. I have received both acceptance and rejection, as well as experienced stress relating to my mother’s status in this country and my responsibility to help her navigate daily activities.
Self proclaimed philosopher, english writer, and novelist Aldous Huxley wrote the book Brave New World. One of the issues in the novel is how uniform the society is. There is no diversity in the in Brave New World. Huxley carefully examined on why society is the way it is. He wants the audience to understand the philosophy of a unique society different from a normal society.
The life of a college student is really amazing and diverse. In fact, a person can expect to live with people from different cultures, background, and histories that it is a mix of diverse multicultural experience. Even more when a student can talk with another student from a different part of the world with totally different culture, this was my case when I interview my friend from Nigeria.
Dental professionals have a commitment to respect diversity and create equity of access to dental care for everyone (GDC, 2014). Diversity describes any dimension that can be used to differentiate an individual from others. It requires understanding that each individual is unique and accepting and respecting these individual differences (QCC,2013). These differences could be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender, age, socio-economic status or other ideologies (QCC, 2013). Understanding the impact that these differences may pose is vital in dealing professionally with people from diverse backgrounds and delivering equal treatment for all. Equality refers to identical treatment in dealings quantitates and values (Braveman, and Gruskin, 2003). Thus, creating equality for all might not mean that there are no disparities between different groups. Equity on the other hand refers to fairness and the equality of outcomes and involves recognizing aspects of a system that may disadvantage a certain group and correcting them (Braveman, and Gruskin, 2003). Therefore, in order to overcome potential pitfalls that may create inequity to access, there is a need to explore the different factors encountered in our diverse society that may create these issues. As an example, patients from different ethnic backgrounds may be faced with barriers accounting for the less frequent use of dental care (CQC. 2010). This group will be used as an example and some of the issues behind this inequity of access will be looked at further.
In such a multicultural world, being knowledgeable and understanding of not only your cultural background, but that of others is essential. Building my awareness on cultures different from my own, and how it shapes an individual’s identity, will foster my personal and professional development. Subsequently, I conducted a cultural interview with an individual whose cultural background differed from my own. Several similarities and differences between our cultures were apparent in the interview, specifically in the areas of race, ethnicity, language, values, and worldview.
As a multi-cultural Japanese and Chinese individual and an international student at MSU, I have had many experiences that enhanced my personal cultural awareness. Michigan State University embraces students with different cultural backgrounds and ethnicities. Here I am able to participate various events with people carrying different life stories. For example, I have worked as an intern with refugees in the Emergency Management Office of East Lansing via the MSU Global Internship Program. I volunteered in the Red Cedar International Elementary School for their “One world, many stories” program with families and children from more than 16 countries. I also conducted a survey titled “Family Resources for MSU international parents” supported by the MSU Family Resource Center. In addition, I advocated for international children living in Spartan Village so they could get a playroom. These experiences with a variety of cultures have made me a more caring and open person.
Coming from a full Puerto Rican background, I have learned to truly appreciated my culture and influences. Through personal experiences, I have noticed how Lehigh emphasizes the importance of multicultural students in adding an overall diverse atmosphere. Particularly, I was able to attend a production by the cultural clubs at Lehigh called “Platanos and Collard Greens” last year. Initially, I did not expect Lehigh to be thriving with both Latino and African American students. After the experience at the play, I was certain that I want to add to Lehigh’s diversity and cultural clubs.
As stated in my Week 3 Journal Entry, at one point I was helping in a classroom with a child who speaks Spanish. Instead of trying to force the child to speak English, I tried to use some basic Spanish when I worked with them in order to make the child feel more comfortable. I believe by making this small effort to speak the child’s native language that the child was more willing to participate in class and try to learn English. An additional example of making a relation from the text to a personal experience is when I was in elementary through high school. I did not realize until reading Spring’s book how little cultural diversity was taught in my elementary, middle, and high school. I went to school in a very Scandinavian county, and we did not have a lot of diversity. There were several students in the district who came from Hispanic, Asian, or African decent—but they were very few. I cannot recall a day when a teacher spent time to discuss a one of these student’s cultures, which is utterly ridiculous. With the amount of time spent in school and the amount of diversity in the world, it seems illogical to barely speak of ethnic and cultural diversity. Even though there were only a handful of students in the district from different cultures, it would have been beneficial to learn more about the rest of the world because when high school is done we all go out into that diverse world. I know I will take the time and make the effort to teach my future students about the beauty of diversity and
The term racism means inequity or injustice based on race. It can also be the principle that talks about the differences in human personality or capacity and that a specific race is absolute to others. This can be as a result of language, traditions and customs, or any feature that the person possesses. The idea of racism has been in existence in the history of humans for a very long time. For the past years, racism of westerners towards those who are not from that region has had more impact than any other type of racism. The most well-known instance of racism that occurred in the West was enslaving Africans. One vital feature of racism, particularly concerning the
Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between people in an organisation, Diversity comes down to acceptance, respect and understanding of one another in the workplace, even when you may disagree, you need to be understanding and try your best to relate to everyone and embrace their unique differences.
I was climbing up the stairs when I saw her outside her door, always kind, delicate, looking great.
Going to school with many different cultures is exciting. I get to learn about cultures I have no clue about, such as Buddhism, Chinese, even Japanese. Going to a school that is very diverse makes me able to talk to others and learn about their cultures, and maybe even make friends with people I thought I would never make friends with. It also goes to show that everyone was not born the same, and no matter what a person’s differences are we should respect them and have no problem conversing with them. As with me, I consider myself a diverse person. My mom is Irish/American and my dad is Lebanese, so coming from a family where two cultures come together is really interesting. We celebrate Ramadan which is the fasting during the holy month for Islam, and we also celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ in Christianity. Getting the best of both worlds is really intriguing, because I can celebrate two totally different holidays from two different religions and now how to respect both. I know for a fact that I do bring diversity to University of Toledo because not most people know an American-Lebanese.
Garcia, E. (2002). Student cultural diversity: Understanding and meeting the challenge (3rd Ed.). New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.
It is hard to believe that my yearlong multicultural odyssey, which started on that sunny Canadian field, ended at an international science fair. Meeting so many young people from around the globe made me gain a fresh perspective of my own cultural experience, as well as that of others. It opened my eyes, and I learned that we each have our own unique cultural identity, which is constantly being shaped and hopefully, enriched. Such cross-cultural encounters inspire an appreciation of diversity, strengthening a real human connection we all share, and how significant a lesson that is for me, at only 17 years of age, to have learned.