Most people I talked to thought of culture as relating to a group of people, a country, a civilization, or a specific group such as a religious group. They indicate that they believe these are a set of norms, traditions, beliefs, values, or customs that have been accepted and are typically followed by those in the group.
I see culture as more encompassing than that, and more individualized than that. It is everything that makes up who you are. It is the traditions your family holds, the patterns of behavior, the ways you deal with certain things, and the morals and values you uphold. Culture is also the roles you take on each day, between being a family member, a member of your community, and how you fit in and act in your work environment. Culture is what makes you who you are. It is not what is on the outward appearance, but what is felt deep down, what you come up with through your experiences and learning, it is what defines you as unique, special, and individual. Part of my culture was rooted within me as a child, but other parts of my culture were created through my experiences, associations, and gained knowledge. While I believe some things with culture can pertain to a certain group of people, I see it really coming down to the individual and the way they typically behave and feel that defines their culture.
As I asked about diversity, people referred to diversity looking only at ethnicity and race and seeing these being mixed in one geographical location. One person I asked did go beyond ethnicity and included religions, interests, political beliefs, and things they enjoy doing in their free time. I felt this last answer was getting closer to being diverse.
One of the things I took pride in when my center became NAEYC accredited, was the inspector told me we had the most diverse staff in our center that she had ever seen and she had been an inspector since NAEYC began. At that time I thought about diversity. I could tell what she could see from the outside. We had people working for us of all ages, from the young twenties who were college students to the veteran who had been there almost thirty years and everything in between. We have both male and female staff. We have several different ethnic backgrounds and languages spoken by the staff. I have teachers of various physical abilities. This outward diversity was easy for others to see. I also began to realize the large amount of diversity that was present through observations. The ways the teachers are the same, and the ways they are very different. Our curriculum allows the teacher's own style to come out through a framework that guides their teaching, but doesn't have everyone do things the same way. The classrooms are all arranged differently, they study different themes, they focus on different areas, and run their classrooms and activities differently. This is diversity, looking at all the ways we are the same as someone else as well as all the ways we are different. It is taking those pieces of our culture and being able to see how much we are alike when we may seem very different.
As I talked with others, I was actually surprised at the vagueness that came from their responses. I spoke with someone of the opposite gender as myself, someone much older than myself, someone of a different ethnic background and who came from another country than myself, and another person just slightly older than me but in a very different profession. To me, this was a diverse group of people, but it seemed like their answers were very similar. The person who was much older than myself had a much broader view of culture and diversity. After talking with these four people I wondered, Do people see culture and diversity on the surface rather than really individualizing it to a person? I grew up in a family of ten, but we still have a lot of diversity within our own family culture and the way we do things. I think this is to really recognize how different everyone is and understand that just because one person of a certain group does something one way, doesn't mean everyone in that group will act or feel the same way.
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