Perspectives

For this blog, I asked 3 individuals with varying backgrounds in education and life experiences.

40 year old Canadian born living and working in the US:

Culture – someone’s values and beliefs, the collection of what they believe, their actions and behaviors based on their upbringing, ethnicity, religion etc. 

Diversity – the different types of cultures and ethnicity, genders, religions, all the things that make us different from each other.  Diversity means there are different characteristics in a common group of people such as at work or school.

53 year old African American female:

Culture – the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people of experiences, beliefs, values, and attitudes.

Diversity – recognizing and appreciating the variety of characteristics that make individuals (people of different races or cultures) unique in an atmosphere that promotes and celebrates individual and collective achievement.

21 year old Caucasian college graduate:

Culture – the race, beliefs, and values of a group of people.

Diversity – seeing differences between the people of the same culture.

The responses from these individuals captured many of the terms that I have studied thus far in the course (race, beliefs, values, upbringing, differences, and individuality). Some definition that was insightful for me was “promotes and celebrates individual and collective achievement.”

This exercise gave me a chance to “see” others perspective on such broad terms. At the start of this blog I mentioned that these individuals have experienced diverse journeys and activities in their life; I believe their definitions demonstrate such. With each year we live and each experience, we build our knowledge on any topic. I am positive that my 40-year-old and 53-year-old friends define culture and diversity as they do as a product of their experiences.