Blog #1
What I learned from these two assessments is unfortunately what I believe to have already known about myself, about my life and the lack of diversity I’ve experienced. I say unfortunately because I’m hoping to become a teacher, a profession in which diversity exists on every level and I’ll have to know how to deal with that diversity.
I don’t believe or take too much away from a multiple intelligence survey which is only giving me back “reflections” and “suggestions” in to my intelligence. Intelligence varies, everyone has strengths and weaknesses, no one I perfect and that’s a given.
But, as I considered my background and whether or not my past was multi-cultural and the extent of my interaction with individuals with disabilities, I’ve lead a very closed off life. Born and raised in a strict Italian household, best friends with the same 4, Caucasian, girls throughout high school, into college and even now. My first exposure to a diverse group of people was in college where I still managed to befriend only one person who was of a different race. Even in the workplace, I still feel as though I work within a diversely built institution but I still don’t know if I can consider myself diverse.
What I do know is that both these assessments have proven to be truthful, as truthful as any assessment/survey can be, when it comes to my life.
Suzanne C.'s response,
ReplyDeleteIt seems like we are all beating ourselves up because we haven't lived diverse lives. I'm wondering if being classified as diverse should actually be our main goal.
So what does it mean to be diverse? The survey measures diversity by how many interactions we have had with people outside of our cultural group. While we or our parents may have had a choice in where we went to school or grew up, I don't think they should blame themselves because people of other cultures didn't attend the same places.
Therefore, maybe our goal should not be to see how multicultural we can be according to the survey, but rather how open we can be to other cultures and diversity. I think if we examine this quality in ourselves, we'll find that we may still have some work to do, but that we would rate ourselves much higher than we did on the survey.
Alison's response to Daniella:
ReplyDeleteI feel as though, once you are thrown into a situation with a diverse group of people you will know how to deal with it
(diversity). Yes, it is something that some people become accustomed to if they grow up amongst a large quantity of diverse people. But, I also believe that it is something that comes with character. It doesn't matter that most of us are in the same boat regarding growing up in suburban areas with little to no diversity. I am sure there are a lot of teachers who are in the same boat as us, and still know how to act in a professional environment.