Personal Narrative: My First Cultural Diversity Class

When I think about my cultural identity I find myself resorting to the word “normal”. I grew up in a town where everyone looked the same, everyone worshiped the same God, and everyone was in the same economic class. It’s interesting to really break down my individual cultural pieces to find that actually there are so many differences that I was simply too naïve to see. The culture that one grows up can be so different from one household the next, that there really isn’t a “normal” culture out there.

What is culture? Culture is the idea of what is wrong or right, the concept of what is acceptable within our society. Culture serves us as a guide, taking us to the "right way" and helping us to make sense of things that surrounds us. There are many different cultures around the world. A lot of them are similar in specific ways and others are just completely different, this difference explains why we think that people from different backgrounds are "weird".

In school we look normal to all people like nothing was happening i was gland that my sister and I were in the same high school but different floors. My school was mixed, Hispanics from Honduras, Mexico, Puerto Ricans, but mostly Dominicans, African Americans, etc. My teachers were A few African Americans, one Spanish, and mostly White Caucasians. All my teachers were so lovely except for one, he was African American and he was a history teacher. It was my freshman year and I couldn’t express myself properly in English, he asks me to read a page of a book, and I didn’t have the abilities to pronounce properly most of the words. The teacher lost his patience and shouted me “what I was doing in a school where no one speak Spanish” I responded

The area I live in offers few opportunities for improving race relations; in fact, there is very little racial diversity in my region. Nevertheless, I am ready to promote better race relations at every chance. Yes, the scale on which I work is small, but it still helps to push our society to become more accepting. I have never participated in a large event or social rights movement, but I still try to make my mark.

I come from a middle class background. My mother is a criminal defense attorney and my father is a neurosurgeon. I was fortunate enough to have parents who always provided everything that my siblings and I ever wanted or needed. However, my parents definitely put limitations on what all they would buy my siblings and I. For example, when I turned 16 I wanted a new car that cost around 30k. But, my parent’s thought that the car was too nice and too expensive for a 16-year-old girl to have. As a result, my parent’s ended up buying me a much cheaper car that only cost around 20k. Although I was annoyed that I couldn’t get the car that I wanted, I realized that I was lucky to have a car at all. I also feel fortunate that with the help of scholarships and my parent’s I’m able to pay for my college education. So, although I don’t come from a rich background I’m fortunate and thankful to not come from a poor background either.

After a quick glance at the image, the most prominent feature on my slowly-paling face is the black glasses that protrude from my slim face. Next-most prominent is my rather large nose and flowing light-brown hair, that frames my face and hides my ears. Combined, I am the epitome of a suburban Caucasian teen, where my northern European heritage continues to shine through generations of mixed ancestry and Americanization. But, my racial background allows any viewer to develop a myriad of correctly, and sometimes incorrectly, drawn conclusions. The photo allows the viewer to define me by stereotypes ingratiated in society. Knowing no background on this photo, I am surmised by my mundane appearance, clothing, and racial identity as a normal white

Growing up I did not have many experiences with diversity because I was a sheltered child. In elementary school, I use to think that people with disabilities were different because they were not in the classroom. I would see them at lunch at school and be nervous to go near them, or I would turn my head. As I got older, and went off to college I had the chance to experience being around individuals with disabilities through an exceptional children’s class that I took at York Technical College. While taking this class, I had the opportunity to go to a classroom to observe and interact with the children. I learned from this that they are not any different from me, and some are even doing better than people who do not have a disability. I loved

While growing up, I have always been around a cultural setting. Being of Ethiopian descent and living in the diverse area of Silver Spring, Maryland, I was always surrounded by culture. My best friends were Filipino, Salvadoran, Nigerian, Jamaican and Ethiopian, so I was constantly exposed to various lifestyles. However, I came from a predominantly black, low-income middle school, so moving to Bethesda and attending Walter Johnson was quite the culture shock for me. Nevertheless, I did not notice the achievement gap in my school until my sophomore year.

I grew up in a community where I rarely see people who look like me. What I mean by look like me, I mean Asians around my community. I live in Brighton Park, the southwest side of Chicago, where I am surrounded by Hispanics and no one else. I have gotten to learn about the Hispanic culture and their lifestyles since my entire life has been surrounded by their spirits. Even though I am not Hispanic, the community welcomes me and my family into their home like we are family. As much as I love my community, it is not very diverse, making me more ignorant since I do not interact with any other races.

I have had many life experiences which have helped me foster an understanding of diversity. When I was in the military I was stationed in South Korea and I experienced diversity on a major scale. For once in my life I was considered the minority. However, the strongest experience I have with diversity was growing up with a mother with a developmental disability, this life experience taught me to be accepting of others. It is a social worker’s primary responsibility to respect the inherent dignity and worth of a person. I believe that I had this social work value instilled in me when I was a child. From a young age, I have been very accepting of people with disabilities in the local community. The exposure to this world has also influenced

Do you ever feel like your culture is changing, or it is changing and you just do not know? Well mine does, and there are many elements that make up my culture, and this elements change. They change because I am introduced into a new culture and some aspects of that culture gets me interested leading me to change certain things about my cultural identity. My cultural identity is based off of three major elements. The first element is religion, my parents force me to do these religious things but then I end up enjoying them. The second element is art, I use art to impress others and hope on making new friends doing so. The last major element is social organization, I have a wide variety of friends and family contributed to the definition of me.

Despite growing up in rural Oregon, I have had numerous opportunities to experience diversity. In the small town of Dallas, Oregon, people are accustomed to close-knit groups. It is a town where everyone knows their neighbor, and where each individual has the same values as the next. At a young age, I never had the chance to realize the sheltered life that I was living.

I was only five years old when I first moved to to the small town of Latham (back when it was still small). As I grew up, the community grew with me, and we both embraced more and more cultures, lifestyles, and religions, evolving to have a special affinity for diversity.

My cultural idenity I’am not races i’am religious fashion and I like food my personalities are sometimes awkward and unlazyness the only things that I like in my cultral idenity is Fashion religious and Food personality what I like about food is that keep you alive and makes you healthy what I like about fashion is being decent and taking care of my self

The concept of globalization, which is the increasing integration and interdependence of different countries from one another in terms of economic, communication, and technological aspects, leads one to address the concept of cultural diversity or multiculturalism. Cultural diversity in the health-care system touches lives of many Americans in one way or another. No matter what our own cultural background is, when we go receive medical care, we may encounter a care giver who comes from a different cultural background than ours(Naylor 1997,291).. In the concept of cultural diversity, it can be recognized that two terms are equally important. The first concept is culture, which refers to the total way of life of individuals, and the unique