Reflective Essay On Cultural Diversity

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Reflection, Renewal, and Resolution on Cultural Diversity
As society evolves and changes with the times the concepts of diversity and culture have transformed into a melting pot of ideas. One must take into consideration how a person’s cultural identity, education, economic status, language, and religion shape their perspective of how diversity and culture influences their life.
In unit one of this course I was asked to analyze cultural identity within the educational realm. I was challenged to think out of the box to define what culture meant to me as well as how society views culture. Nieto (2008) states that “The term culture can be problematic because it can mean different things to different people in different contexts” (p. 128). …show more content…

Culture is the customs and traditions that a person practices, that provide an insight on what he or she believes. Every culture or ethnic group has their own individual cultural identity that is expressed through the music they create and listen to as well as the social norms they acquire by interacting and communicating with each other. As a society we need to be aware of others’ cultural identity. Promoting cultural acceptance will allow individuals to break stereotypes and build relationships with people of other nationalities and races in their school or work …show more content…

I came to realize how language influences culture. The way you speak provides an insight into on how other individuals perceive you. Language can cause misinterpretations among students and teachers. As an educator, I need to respect and take into account a child’s home language and not judge on the bases that they may use slang or have a dialect that does not fall into the social norms. Reading the book The skin we speak: Thoughts on language and culture in the classroom. by Lisa Delpit and Joanne Kilgour Dowdy provided even more insight into language as it relates to the classroom setting. This book also helped me connect how society wants language to be used and how various ethnic groups want their language to be

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