The Meaning of Culture and Diversity

The Meaning of Culture and Diversity

        

           As I embarked on my assignment of finding out what others knew about culture and diversity, I expected them to mention aspects of surface culture.  What I found is that the people I asked knew very little about what culture and diversity are.  When I asked my hairdresser about these two terms, she said that culture was about ancient times and how they lived.  She thought diversity was one person thinking one way and another person thinking another way.  A male friend of my husband’s came over for a visit.  He said that culture was the way a particular group lived—like the Mennonites.  He had to think for a while before saying that diversity was how people change their thoughts after learning about something.  I think he was thinking about diversifying instead of diversity.  Then I asked an elderly neighbor her definition.  She said that culture was the way we live our lives, and that diversity is how we are different.  Her answers were the closest to the definitions we have learned about in our studies thus far.

            If you look at the definition of culture given to us by Janet Gonzalez-Mena “culture is unconscious rules that govern everything we do”, my elderly neighbor is closest in that definition.  My husband’s friend was on the right track as well.  Even my hairdresser was thinking about how people from ancient times lived.  However, they merely scratched the surface as most people do when they think about culture.  They did not talk about extended family relationships, their ideas about education, those who may have migrated, what they do for recreation, etc. (Derman-Sparks, L. and Edwards, J.O., 2010, p. 56)  Diversity was a much more difficult concept for them to explain.  Each person I asked had to reflect for a while before answering.  I liked the definition that I found at the University of Tennessee website:

Diversity is a commitment to recognizing and appreciating the variety of characteristics that make individuals unique in an atmosphere that promotes and celebrates individual and collective achievement.

Examples of these characteristics are: age; cognitive style; culture; disability (mental, learning, physical); economic background; education; ethnicity; gender identity; geographic background; language(s) spoken; marital/partnered status; physical appearance; political affiliation; race; religious beliefs; sexual orientation.

In this definition it is clear that culture and diversity are related.  The people with whom I spoke used general terms when talking about diversity, but they did not explain specific details about how we are diverse.

          After doing these interviews this week, one thing is clear.  We, as educators, must do a better job of making people aware of what culture is and celebrate the diversity of the United States and, indeed, of the world.  Perhaps if we put more effort into understanding and appreciating people from cultures different from our own, there would be more harmony in the world at large.  It will not be easy, however, because people/nations want to be in control, to have power.

          I look forward to learning more about culture and diversity so that I can do my part to make the world a better place!

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer) (2010). Culture and Diversity. [Course Media].

            Baltimore, MD: Walden University.

University of Tennessee, (2003). What is Diversity? The University of Tennessee Libraries

            Diversity Committee.  Retrieved from the University of Tennessee website using the

            Google database:  http://www.lib.utk.edu/diversity/diversity_definition.html