Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Speaking with three others about the what diversity and cultures means to them was very interesting. While each seemed to offer a generic response that was safe in many ways, it was still intriguing to listen to each one form the sentences to articulate these definitions.

First, my sister defined culture as being your heritage and your background with diversity being how you are different from others such as your skin color.
Second, my husband defined culture as who you are and where you come from with diversity being your race.
Last, an old friend from high school explained culture as the "mannerisms and customs of those with similar backgrounds based on customs and beliefs" with diversity being "variety".   

While it seems to that who you are is your culture from not only the discussions and resources presented throughout this course, but this is also shared through the answers I received. Derman-Sparks & Edwards define culture as "how particular groups of people live" (p. 55). The three definitions above all lend to this same definition but with each persons own perspective or view of how it has applied within his or her own life. Diversity is also the same, it is a noticeable difference between you and others. Diversity makes you different from others but is not in a negative connotation.

Learning how much in-depth culture is, a lot of aspects have been omitted from the definitions provided by family and friends. Such as education, gender, language, values, religion, and community for a short list (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 56). While many may understand how all of these impact the culture of a person, these ideas are not readily considered when asked simply because we often only think of the surface as opposed to digging deeper. Thinking of diversity, the explanation of "variety" truly offers the insight of how different people are when defining this term. There is so much more than race or skin tone when it comes to diversity such as economic status, accents, hair color, or dialect for some quick examples.

As I was receiving each one of these responses, my mind was racing and thinking "oh you don't get it" because of the many discussions as well as learning resources offered to me through not only this course but also previous ones. Through this journey of earning my graduate degree, I have been offered the opportunity to learn on a deeper level of what makes up diversity and culture. I want to have conversations with each of these people and offer each one a deeper discussion of these topics to offer a chance to widen the view of these definitions of how each of these impacts not only the people the person encounters but also the individual. It is okay to dig deeper and reach those topics that many may be embarrassed to mention simply because of the potential for judgement from other.

Reference
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J.O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).