Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I asked three of my friends to tell me their personal definitions of culture and diversity. On the surface they are three very different people. The first one (I’ll call her Any) is a very loud and outgoing, white, middle class, married, preschool teacher. The second one (I’ll call her Many) is a quiet, very small statured, single, African American, female, preschool teacher. The third one (I’ll call her Some) is a tall, very happy, quite religious, single, white, female, from Serbia. They possess many surface similarities as well. They are all female; they are all working in the education field, and they all had very similar definitions of culture and diversity.

Any’s definitions of culture and diversity are as follows: “Culture: a group of people that share similar views on things such as family, religion, work ethic due to geographical closeness. Diversity: I guess it would be anything that is different from your own personal beliefs and being.”

Many’s definitions of culture and diversity are as follows: “Culture is a group of people that have the same beliefs and can relate to one another about their belief; or they participate in certain activities that they agree on such as religion or holidays. Diversity is combinations of people that are not from the same background and do not have the same beliefs. People are combined for whatever reason but may not have the same beliefs.”

Some’s definitions of culture and diversity are as follows: “Culture: encompasses all that is thought to make up a group of people... it includes specific foods native to the people, languages, customs, i.e. I am who I am today because of my culture's influence on my life through upbringing, faith, work ethic, etc.... and Diversity? ... Diversity is everything that makes us different from one another. Diversity is the word assigned to the fact that America is no longer the stereotypical white, European, etc., but rather a melting pot of the nations that make up the world.”

The final definition of culture is one that hits on surface culture. She describes foods, languages and customs as particular things that make up one’s personal culture. The other two definitions of culture discuss how culture is your similarity to others. We define our own “social identity” (Deaux, 2001) by placing ourselves into blanket categories that cover one general part of our identities, but not the specific subcategories that lie within it.

For as much as ethnicity is placed on the definition of culture, not one of these definitions of culture touched it. Nor did any of the people I asked about culture consider themselves in the dominant culture (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). All three of them related the dominant culture to males. When I asked if they ever felt like the dominant culture was pressed upon them, they all answered no. In understanding more and more about the dominant culture, it seems to me that they may be unaware of any pressure on them, but it is more than likely happening.

This idea that everyone has their own unique and personal idea of culture and diversity seems a little fantastic to me after receiving the somewhat similar definitions from my friends. They are all educators, which makes me wonder how, with our limited views on culture and diversity, we can provide the necessary support to children and their families. This view encourages me to find further information and understanding on other cultures and about the diversity of the families with whom I work, in order to educate other educators and provide the best care and support possible.

References:

Deaux, K. (2001). Social identity. In J. Worell (Ed.), Encyclopedia of women and gender (Vols. 1–2, pp. 1-               9). Maryland Heights, MO: Academic Press.

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).