Before taking part in my SLT, my opinion was that ethnic diversity inherently conflict. Looking back on the discussion now, I can still say that the opinion I held prior still stands as it was. I greatly appreciated, however, the new perspectives that were brought to my attention through the discussion I arbitrated. The discussion that was facilitated throughout my SLT was interesting and intelligent, if not a tad too idealistic for my liking. Some points contention recurred throughout the seminar’s small group discussion, spurring meaningful debate within the group. One of these was the idea of a balance between integration and assimilation in a society. We discussed the difficulties of culture clashes; the divide between the values of
Diversity in the united states in not something new here but in fact spans back many generations. Diversity is everywhere and no one can truly get away from it, but by accepting it a person can learn how to lead a better fuller life with variety of understanding for the people that come in contact with. I feel that the biggest thing I learned in this call about diversity is not that there is diversity but that there is a lot of work to be done to farther the peace action between the groups of people knowing this make me realize that the us is not yet a unity but is trying and gives me more
In order for assimilation to occur a minority group becomes an integrated part of the majority group; this assimilation results in non-distinguishing of one group from another by cultural characteristics. In order for this process to be complete, it must entail, not only an active effort by the minority group to shed all distinguishing actions and beliefs, and also complete unqualified acceptance of that individual by the dominant society.
In American society, there are multiple cultures and races exist. Since immigrants bring the various cultures to America, Americans face a highly controversial problem. Some of the Americans believe all of the ethnic groups assimilate into a common culture can help Americans distinctly identify themselves. Others argue that ethnic groups should not abandon their cultural heritages background. As a result, merging different cultures into one new culture will cause America lose its cultural diversity which is one significant charm of this country. On the contrary, if every ethnic group only focuses on building their own community and resists communicate with others, it will aggravate the separation of a nation. Although people often argue about these two ways which one is more appropriate to Americans, I think Richard Rodriguez's idea is more realistic in nowadays American society. Rodriguez resists the idea of the melting pot, and believes that assimilation is inevitable and reciprocal. In the essay Does America Still Exist?, Rodriguez explains his thought to us through his experiences.
Nowadays, racism, politics, and prejudices are the cause of boycotting, riots, and injured people lately, but racism is not the issue. We are constantly surrounded by several different types of race, skin color, and culture. Today, people do not pay attention if a person is different because we are all equal, but with different background and we are worth the same. We have all spoken to a person with a different heritage and shared several different priceless moment with at least of person who is different. Cultural pluralism is the best hope for a just and cohesive society.
The materials this week dealt with the assimilation theories: classical assimilation theory, new assimilation theory, and segmented assimilation theory. Some others were summaries and critiques of those theories.
Lawrence W. Levine approaches the issue of ethnic relations in a slightly different light in his book, “The Opening of the American Mind”. He focuses on the two central components of the entire matter: One-way Assimilation (the melting pot ideology) and Cultural Pluralism, given that the two other models (Ethnic
Essentially, every culture has a specific basis, native language, religion and custom that reflects its history, values and beliefs. These conceptual constructs represents the total reality of life within the community of which is commonly known as “Culture”. Culture is not only a race, but is a way of life. In the United States, there are many different races that integrate with the American race and culture. However, these individuals often times may have difficulties adjusting, adapting or maintaining their heritage. How well they acculturate and adapt to the process can have an impact on how well the individual is able to integrate or engage to one or another culture.
The increasing accommodations directed toward immigrant culture worries many Americans. Americans fear the special treatment granted to immigrants will affect the unifying force of the country. Today, the trend is toward multiculturalism, diversity and adapting the newcomer, rather than on the newcomer adapting himself or herself to a diverse society (61).
From my knowledge of previous courses I have taken in the past and sitting in cultural diversity, I have come to realize that at first these different ethnic groups did not originally get along.
The concept of cultural pluralism suggests that immigrants should assimilate to American culture by enriching American traditions with those that other cultures bring with them, expanding the American cultural landscape of art, cuisine, education, history, law, music, language, medicine and other aspects of life.
In America, finding yourself in situations where communicating with someone of a different background than yourself is common. We are a melting pot of different cultures, backgrounds, and identities. Throughout the semester we have learned many ways to avoid conflict when engaging in intercultural communication. The most important aspects from the semester is the idea of generalization and ethnocentrism. These two ideas were displayed in the movie Crash and how the effects of it can lead to misunderstandings among everyone involved.
Virtue ethics is a family of theories that unlike other ethical theories, promotes ideals of character, not moral duty (SL,255). Virtue ethics references to a type of person, the virtuous person, to determine whether an act is right or wrong. This is called the standard of right action, which states “an act is morally right just because it is one that a virtuous person, acting in character, would do in that situation” (SL, 255). A person of true virtue is the moral exemplar, they are the model and are what we, normal people, should aspire to be.
Our group consists of four unique students: Lakendria Gibson, Veronica Williamson, Macalia Owens, and Brianna Coleman. Since we had the pleasure of picking our own groups in class, we were more than happy to be working with each other. We all have different strengths to contribute to the group including communicating with each other, researching the topic, putting the paper together, or maintaining the stocks; therefore, we decided to use everyone’s different attributes separately to complete the project. That way, everyone had something to do and no one would be disengaged with the project or given a grade they did not earn. Maintaining the balance of the group was not easy though we can’t say we didn’t enjoy working together. Overall, if we had the opportunity to be in groups again, we would continue to work with each other.
Leadership development is defined as formal and informal training and professional development programs designed for all management and executive-level employees to assist in developing the required leadership skills and styles to deal with a variety of situations (Human Resources, 2011). A lack of effective leadership development programs usually comes from organizations thinking that senior managers need continuous training and development. However, great leadership development is essential to all employees and managers in an organization. Executive mangers are important to the success of any business but, building leadership skills on all levels can develop a culture of employees ready to take on leadership roles at any time. In my organization, we develop and hone leadership skills by focusing on team intelligence, managing up and down, succession planning, and performance problem solving.