I asked my daughter's teacher (who is Scottish) what culture and diversity is and, she hit the nail on its head. She said adults modelling good examples for children to imitate is one way to teach respect for diversity. Also she noted that children who are ELL may be given opportunities to speak vernacular in class as a way of celebrating their culture.
My French teacher said culture is the opposite of nature. She made an interesting point that we are not born with culture but learn culture. Secondly she said culture is what brings unity amongst a group of people.
My husband rightly said culture is what makes a particular group of people what they are.
All of these definitions tell me there is diversity even in the way culture is defined. Hence, culture might be too broad to give a definition as Taylor said. (Laureate, 2014)
One of the aspects we have discussed in class is that of letting children know and respect differences in culture or diversity
Also, I will agree with my French teacher who said we learn culture. Ngo (2008) also mentioned this, this week.
Emphasis is being made in class on unity in diversity so she is right to have said culture brings unity amongst people. All of these we have discussed in class.
My interviewees all defined diversity as differences amongst people.
I come to see now that culture encompasses everything about human beings since there are various and multiple definitions of culture.
References
Laureate Education. (2014). [Video] "Culture and Diversity". Retrieved from Walden University Early Childhood Studies Portal
Ngo, B. (2008). Beyond "culture clash": Understanding of immigrant
experiences. Theory into Practice, 47(1), 4–11.
Retrieved from the
Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database.
You got good responses on what the definition of culture is. I like the way that the french teacher stated that it was the opposite of nature.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the definition that uses culture to unite people because it makes me understand how much it also separates people from others. If people's culture differs from the dominant culture, they may be ostracized. However, when you break down the elements of culture and diversity, certain similarities will be found that should be able to act as common ground to create an acceptance of the elements that make us different.
ReplyDelete