Several Paragraphs Essay Example

Part 1

Culture is the unison of customs, rituals, ideas, and beliefs of a particular community of people or society. Culture plays a very important role in shaping the identity of a person. The concept of diversity opines that each individual is unique and people have differences at the individual level. Diversity can be based on religion, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, and so on. Thus, a study on diversity would mean comprehending the characteristics of an individual in difference to the rest of the people.
Four aspects of diversity that have contributed toward shaping my identity are religion, sexual orientation, gender, and ideology. All these factors have worked in unison to create my personal identity.
Gender and sexual orientation are two aspects of diversity that are governed by dress which is one of the observable characteristics of culture. I like dressing up in blue that is considered to be a masculine color. Apart from that I avoid colors like pink that are associated with femininity. I try to look good in any dress I wear so that I can come across as impressive to the opposite sex. Thus, my gender and sexual orientation are two aspects that are expressed by this observable characteristic of culture.
Conversational pattern is one non-observable characteristic of culture that expresses the two mentioned aspects of personal identity. The words used by me are signifiers of my gender as I tend to express my masculinity in the way I converse. I talk about gender roles that comply with the cultural perspective of gender. Moreover, my attraction for the opposite sex is expressed in my words.
Once I met a person from India who was a Hindu. He was not too well conversant in American English. It was difficult for me to understand his pronunciations. However, this man was very fluent in Hindi and Sanskrit. It was difficult to converse with him. Our languages were the markers of our cultural difference. However, I came to realize that he was educated and well-versed with regard to his own cultural identity. His education in Sanskrit and Hindi were the proof of his competence. I learnt to respect the diversity of language after the meeting.
Three aspects of diversity that can play a major role in the school community are race, religion, and ethnicity. Students from a number of races can very well study together and promote the concept of anti-racism. Moreover, students from different religions who study together can work together to promote the ambiance of respect toward other religions. Ethnicity is related to the culture of a student. Students with different ethnic identities reading in the same school can help in the inculcation of cultural aspects from different cultures.
It is highly important for educators to engage in diversity education. This can increase a sense of respect among students acknowledging the fact that the other person can be different. Apart from this, it would mean having a broader perspective about life devoid of bias. Diversity education would focus on holistic development, and no student would be left behind in the process of imparting education.

Part 2

In the present day scenario, the population in the United States is seeing higher diversity ratio among people. The demographics that can be noticed among the school community including teachers, staff, students and families are language, ethnicity and race. According to the article, ‘Asian-Americans Are Fastest-Growing Racial Group,’ “Between 2000 and 2010, Asian populations experienced the most growth.” (p.1) There are many people who are Asians by their race in the school community. According to the article, ‘2010 Census Shows America's Diversity,’ “The Asian alone population grew faster than any other major race group between 2000 and 2010, increasing by 43 percent.” (p.1) Moreover, the ethnic groups these people belong to are Bengali, Punjabi, and so on. These people are well-conversant in English, but they opt to converse among themselves in Hindi or Punjabi or Bengali- their mother tongue or native language. This trend of demographics is uniform across the nation with so many Asians coming to settle down in the country. As they come here, they bring their cultural richness to the land of America. An increase in the demographic diversity can work in favor of the education and world view of the people. People would come in contact with others having different languages, customs, practices, and race. This would enrich their intercultural experience right from the level of school, and would facilitate them as persons in the world that is getting more and more globalized with each passing day.
Two culturally based communication practices are teaching in the native language of the country in the school. Thus, the students from other cultures have to learn in the dominant language of the cultural community of the country. Apart from this, the Catholic schools talk about religion of the cultural milieu of the country that can be termed as culturally based communication.
Two stereotypes of intercultural communication that can be noticed are about Asians and women. It is believed by many that Asians are not well-conversant in English. Hence, the Americans believe that the communication process would be tough. The women are seen to be more passive and shy. The American have a belief that women from Asia are more conservative and engage in indoor works more that the westerners.
Diverse nonverbal behavior on the part of students is one barrier to intercultural communication. This results in misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the students. Apart from this, this may lead to the misconception that the student is disorganized. Another impediment in intercultural communication in school is diverse verbal communication. Diversity is ignored in the teaching process. Apart from this, insufficient attention is given to student speech.
Two ways to serve the diversity needs of the school are to have a faculty with diverse ethnic or racial identities. This would help in broadening the perspective of the teachings imparted to the students. Apart from this, there should be classes on gender sensitization that would make the perspective of the students regarding gender much better. The school can employ teachers from different cultural identities, and organize for gender sensitization seminars and discussions. These initiatives would work to develop respect for people of other races. Apart from that, there will be lesser influence of patriarchy and bias about gender roles.

References

2010 Census Shows America's Diversity. Retrieved from
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb11-cn125.html
Asian-Americans Are Fastest-Growing Racial Group. Retrieved from
http://www.diversityinc.com/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-and-inclusion-asian-americans-fastest-growing-racial-group/
Barriers to Intercultural Communication. Retrieved from
http://sydney.edu.au/business/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/90351/Study_intercultural_comms.pdf
Definition of Diversity. Retrieved from
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~asuomca/diversityinit/definition.html
Lehtonen, Jaakko. Cultural stereotypes. Retrieved from
https://www.jyu.fi/viesti/verkkotuotanto/kp/vf/jaakko.shtml
Problems That May Result From Culture and Communication Conflicts in the Classroom. In
maec.org. Retrieved from http://www.maec.org/cross/table5.html