When interviewing three
different individuals concerning what culture and diversity are, I received a variety
of answers. Interview 1 stated: It just means valuing that there are a multiple
opinions in the universe, and that not everybody has the same beliefs, religion
or customs. Interview 2 stated: People
from different countries or a different race.
Interview 3 stated: People that are different in their ethnic
background, race and religion. All of
these answers when put together do fit into what culture and diversity
mean. Whereas we could add a lot to
these three definitions, these individuals are not currently studying
perspectives on diversity and culture. These
three individuals were however early childhood educators. This shows me directly the importance of continuing
education. It is essential as early
childhood educators that we have a real sense of what diversity and culture
involve and how to facilitate the vast differences in families and children in
our programs. All of the aspects of culture and diversity discussed
have been studied in this course, but we have taken the information and dug
deeper and looked closer at diverse meanings of diversity and culture. None of these aspects have necessarily been
omitted however we look deeper into such things such as race or ethnic
background. By evaluating how other
individuals think of diversity and culture it has made my feelings strengthen
in the importance of education on these topics.
We must open our minds and hearts to the multiple meaning of both of
these words and to understand that we are each and every one different and
diverse.
I too spoke to two people who are in the early childhood field with one of them being a current student. It is very interesting to say that most people view diversity as culture. Nice posting.
ReplyDeleteBrooke-I always find it interesting how you can ask three different people the same question, and always come up with three different answers. In addition, when talking about culture and diversity, it goes to show how everyone thinks about it in different ways, yet if you put all these thoughts together, the answer is usually correct.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the more educated you are about these issues, the better you will be about understanding and respected the differences we all have.
Donna
Brooke,
ReplyDeleteI found that I had to expand on what my interviewees send too. However, what they all said was nothing wrong but , I just found it could have be expanded on because culture,as we know, is complex.
Thanks,
Kelly Banik