Reflection On Diversity

Jopwell is a recruiting firm which connects the minority job candidates with the Tech companies in Silicon Valley. The main issue faced by the Tech companies is that the referral candidates are not serving the purpose and they can’t find talented minority candidates suitable to their companies. The companies are aware of the benefits like increased financial returns by having diversity in their workforce. Jopwell is currently serving 45 companies by providing them a pool of thousands of talented minority candidates and has been successful in placing a significant number of candidates in these companies. The company is focussing on diversifying the whole organization by filling the non-technical roles as well like finance, marketing,

Organizations are made up of people who are tasked to work together towards a wide range of goals and a good manager organizes and leads them to succeed while effectively managing the conflicts using cultural awareness. Mangers in organizations that embrace the conflict constructively can enhance innovation using different viewpoints, increase creativity, better competition and reduce the chance of group think. When I took the Personal Diversity Maturity Index one of the questions was “What is the most important reason to respond to diversity effectively?” The answer with the highest score was “It will make my company more competitive” which was the answer I chose because of what I learned during the research for this class. The success in making diversity an asset for an organization is understanding and learning from our differences. Studies have shown that conflict handling styles influence innovation, product performance and economic outcome (Gunkel, Schlaegel, & Taras, 2015, p. 568). Everyone looks at the world and interprets it through their own life experiences so the members of an organization have to strive to understand other perspectives and support diversity an inclusion of all team members’ ideas.

Did the Age of Jim Crow ever end? Americans see “race” as a defined, indubitable feature of nature. Racism- the act of ascribing bone deep features to people to then humiliate, reduce, and destroy them- inevitably follows from this inalterable condition. White supremacist ideals, for instance, espouse unfounded ideas that revere the white man and scorn those of color, while also serving as a nonsensical justification for practices such as slavery, racial segregation, and Jim Crow. In “The Trouble with Diversity”, Walter Benn Michaels dismisses the concept and veracity behind race, as if it weren’t a societal issue worth addressing. To ignore the reality of race would be the equivalent of ignoring the plight and shared experiences of minority groups. “The Trouble with Diversity” insinuates that “diversity” is incompatible with the society we live in; this does not mean that people of color should have to encounter racial prejudices, whether in subtle or discernible ways.

Diversity. What this means is being different from someone else in some type of way. I believe, this to have a positive effect in the world.

Diversity is defined as “the condition of having or being composed of differencing elements” (Webster Dictionary). Through my clinical experiences I have seen a lot of diversity whether it be different ethnicity, the family culture/make-up or students living with disabilities in the classrooms. Specifically, in my urban clinicals I saw more ethnicity and culture diversity differences between student to student and student to teacher relationships. However, in my suburban school clinical experiences I also saw diversity, but in a different way. Here I saw much more diversity in family make-up.

Diversity is more than a person’s ethnicity, it is about understanding the uniqueness in one another and not only embracing, but celebrating the levels of differences contained within each individual.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the diverse experiences that I have had in my personal and professional life. Fortunately, I have had a large mix of diverse friends and experiences in my life. This paper will discuss those diversities as well as the plan to expand on my current knowledge.

When thinking about my diversity, you could think that, since I grew up in small town Iowa, I would have very little experience dealing with diversity of any kind. Fortunately, my family has done many things to expose ourselves to different cultures and experience diversity across the world. Although I am still stuck with some of the prejudices and biases that come along with growing up in a small, primarily-white town, I think I have also been well prepared to deal with the diversity that I have encountered at Wartburg College as well as the rest of the world.

There I was, setting through another “Earth’s Ancient History” class among 72 thousand different beings. Could not wait to get back to my pod and run another 50 milotonics on my trackomatic. Then it dawned on me that I have not interacted with my birthing system(parents) in almost 4 nicktrills(4 years). I wondered if they were even still functioning. So much has changed in 1,400 years and when I think about how life must have been when 42 planets were in our spectrum or further back to when there were slaves and everyone spoke different languages. Must have been a confusing nuroblast. Not long ago we read about heritage and how in the early days there were all kinds of diversity, cultural clashes and harm afflicting humanity.

“Of course.” My father said followed by an eye roll when I read to him my course schedule for this Fall 2017 semester concluding with Teaching and Learning in a Diverse Society. My family was ecstatic when they discovered that I chose to go to Towson University as an Elementary Education major however, subsequent the good news came the warnings of the very “lefty” and “liberal” agenda TU holds. Growing up in a Republican mildly conservative family I, obviously, adopted many of their same beliefs and perspectives on politics and life. Their advice was to “push through” though there is a divide in my family between whether I should “please the professor” and “tell them what they want to hear” or “stay true to [my]self” and “stand [my] ground”. Honestly, I was dreading this class since it’s as though I’ve been lectured about diversity since middle school and have grown exhausted of discussing. However, to my surprise the class has become one of the most enlightening college course I’ve taken thus far because we analyze the history and factual evidence of social issues regarding race and white privilege, sex and gender discrimination, sexual orientation and expression, and religion while maintaining a judgment-free, open-for-discussion environment.

Ever since I came to ISU, I have noticed that there is not as much diversity as I would have liked. During my undergrad studies, at NIU, we had a huge population of international students from all over the world. We also had a strong Hispanic and African American population. ISU has been a challenge. I have seen two confederate flags here in Normal. I often walk to stores and restaurants with people staring at me making me feel extremely uncomfortable. Keeping this in mind, I realized that ever since I moved to ISU, I have contributed inequality towards white people. I assume that they do not like me, they know I am different, and they want me out of their town. This consumes my mind on a day-to-day and I am not proud of this. Because we are in the day of age, where racisms is still alive, it makes it easy for me to believe that every white person I meet is against me.

The implications and understandings developed in class were a gateway in applying it to real world work. Being given the opportunity to volunteer at The Continuum, I was able to understand the meaning of disability in the lives of others. I saw firsthand how access, knowledge, and care can transform a person’s daily life in all aspects. With educative modules on assistive technology, culture and care, family issues, and many others, I was able to transform my perspective and practice what I am currently learning in the classroom. The Continuum provides a ReGenerations Adult Day Club for “individuals who may deal with Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia, Traumatic Brain Injuries, Stroke Recovery, Parkinson’s disease, and M.S.”. This program is fundamental in providing an array of different care, and I found it to be beneficial for more than just their members. Through my 15 hours of volunteer experience with The Continuum, I analyzed how a person’s disability can be managed and addressed using a variety of techniques and methods, in caring for individuals.

The animosity that has become apparent in recent times has only served to remind us that the value of diversity has not been fully understood across the country. There is still such a lack of empathy for others, a lack of acceptance that plagues parts of America. This is particularly evident to me based on what my family has experienced in the past. While diversity is gaining increased importance in society, there are still so many who do not wish to accept that everyone is different. As a Sikh and part of the minority, I have been victim to different acts of discrimination and on the receiving end of cruel words. One encounter in particular stands out. I was only ten years old and walking to the checkout lane at Costco where my dad was standing when a man shoved me to the side and muttered harshly, “Go back to your own country! You don’t belong here!” At such a young age, his words made such an impression that I ran crying to my dad. Even years later, his words still carry the same harshness as that day.

In these days, I have seen the topic of diversity as one of the most common subjects in every industry and this includes healthcare, education, manufacturing, etc. It is a fact that individuals bring in different beliefs, views, culture or ideas and those are valuable assets that could contribute in a positive way for a company to succeed. These beliefs also, make the difference and could transform each scenario of life. In a mental health setting, the topic of diversity is not the exclusion. In this setting, therapists have their own opinions about how things should be as well as the clients. However, the mutual respect must be continuously present to maintain the professionalism. Besides, personally I have seen how the topic of diversity has changed my life and the perspectives I used to have of others simply because culture, religion, preferences, rituals, and many other areas.

In the United States, there is quickly growing ethnic diversity yet intolerance spreads at a ever quicker pace. Like a disease, discrimination and intolerance spreads from person to person unknowingly. The lack of appreciation and respect for all the different cultures represented in the U.S. has become the big elephant in the room that no one really wants to talk about. I was ten years old when I left California and moved 2,174 miles away to a small town in the South called Auburn, Alabama. I never really noticed people’s color much growing up but as I grew up in Auburn, I was both surprised by the sheer quality of diversity and excited to find a way to celebrate it.