When did you first become aware of your ethnicity?
What impact did it make on your academic experiences?
Monday, April 9, 2007
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Welcome to the Your World, My World, Our World blog. Thank you for your participation.
14 comments:
(UNCA- K. Cole Educ 310)
English 9-12
Art K-12
Elementary Educ.
The three of us went to schools that were mainly white, so we never had that much experience with diversity or contemplating our ethnicity. Being white never stood out to us, because we were in the majority group at our schools. We talked to people out of common interests (such as classes, clubs, and sports) not because of a certain ethnicity.
Recycling Bins (UNCA)
K-12 Reading, 9-12 English, 6-12 Sociology
Luckily, members of our group have not experienced any drastic, formative events that have made us aware of "what" we are, or how we are perceived by others based on ethnicity or other factors (see above Recycling Bins post). But what we have realized is that our academic experiences have impacted our perceptions of the ideas and views of those who taught and guided us into adulthood. At least we were exposed to these differences early enough in our academic careers that we have learned to look beyond them. Undeniably there is a connection between education and acceptance of ethnic differences. There seems to be a window of opportunity for children to either learn to appreciate other cultures or to discriminate against them. If in that window there is no positive experience of diversity then the consequences may be dire: children will learn prejudices, which they will act upon later in life and even transmit to younger generations.
BANJ
Only one out of the four people in our group feels she had a defining moment of ethnicity in her life. Overall, we all feel that we somehow lack any strong ethnic identity. The lack of ethnic relevance in our lives makes us want to go out and learn about other ethnicities because we lack any central, dominating idea of personal ethnicity. We are very aware of social ills and ethnic problems around the world and are compassionate about them because we've lived a life of comfort that makes us feel some sense of guilt.
Not having a strong ethnic identity has created a desire within us to have an open mind about other groups. We seek knowledge of all groups by learning about different cultures, learning new languages, and paying attention to as many cultural differences that may appear in education. In this way, although we lack our own powerful ethnicity, we can be familiar with many others and the struggles or successes involved with them.
UNCA- B-K, K-6
When discussing ethnicity, one must recognize their place in society due to their class, race, sex, and a variety of other factors that help decide your future. For us there was never a pinpoint time when we suddenly became enlightened of our cultural differences, but rather we always saw ourselves as being equal to everyone else. We grew up learning about all ethnicities and emphasis was never placed on being white.
Now looking back at early education as an adult, the separation due to circumstance clearly helped define ones future as a student. In schools in Miami, the higher classes contained mostly white children from at least a middle class family. This is difficult to see as fair, considering the immense latino population. At such an early age, stereotypes were and are present in schools which effects a lot of kids academic success. We personally were never tied down due to stereotypes or ethnicity, but we were aware that being white and coming from a middle class background did play a role in how we were treated in the educational system.
We felt that the nature of this question was too specific to be condensed into a group answer, so we decided to let individual members speak for themselves.
Drew had this to say:
It's hard to pin down my first experience with my own ethnicity; I think it'd be more accurate to tdescribe my first experience with someone else's. After all, how can you define something like ethnicity purely by your own experience? How can you define yourself, or anyone, in ethnically-based terms without knowing about the other ethnicities that are out there? I am reminded of Steve Martin in the movie 'The Jerk': "You mean I'm going to STAY this color?"
But anyway. When I was about 4 or 5, I was in a barber shop with my dad that was, Ice Cube-centric movies notwithstanding, heavily populated by African-Americans. Upon noticing this, I remarked, "Hey Dad... we're the only peach people in this place!" At the time, I defined people by what Crayola product they most closely corresponded to. I see now the potential that that comment had to offend, but I didn't know any better at the time, and I think that was understood by everyone around. I'd like to think that it's possible to adopt a more childlike attitude towards such things as a society, and not be so touchy.
Miranda has this to say:
I think that ethnicity is far to deep of a topic to try to define on my own as an individual. Yet, I believe that it is individual experiences that compose what ethnicity truly is. So here goes...
I grew up in a small community of Hispanics and Whites in Arizona, and as a small child I saw no difference between the two ethnic groups. My dad is Hispanic, my mom is white and it wasn't a big deal. I didn't notice that I was different until I moved to North Carolina and went to a small private school where my brother, sister, and I were the only kids of ethnicity. It was only when others noticed that I was "not white" and different that I noticed completely.
I've been raised as a middle class child, with certain privileges such as private school my whole life that many Hispanics in this area do not get to experience. I am at odds with my ethnicity at times because I'm not completely white, and I am not completely Hispanic either. Where do i fit in? Where is my ethnicity validated?
What do we plan to do, as educators, for those that feel out of place with their ethnicity in our classrooms?
For three of us in the group, we became aware of our ethnicities when we were in the second grade. A couple of us became aware of our ethnicities because students of other races were in our classes. I (Becca) remember being teased for being friends with an African American girl and my parents used this as a opportunity to teach me about those of other races/ethnicities. In general, my school was a equal mix of black and white students; however, I do remember students being somewhat segregated (by their own will). I do not remember any specific impacts my ethnicity had on my academics; however I am white and could have experienced advantages that I wasn't aware of at the time.
To be continued...
I don't really remember a defining moment where I realized that I was different from other people, though coming from white suburban north Raleigh, I was aware that my school in downtown Raleigh was more diverse than my neighborhood. I really enjoyed it, though. In fact, in fourth grade, my mom transferred me to our neighborhood school where I was absolutely miserable because all the girls there cared about was wearing "Limited Too". I transferred back to my magnet school downtown the next year.
For me ethnicity has always been a non-issue because I was raised within a household of many mixed children from all colors and backgrounds. My parents were foster parents and we always had at least 2 extra kids that became like brothers and sisters to us so we learned to view people on an individual basis and not on ethnicity. When I was about 4 or 5 years old my foster sister and I were out and she was of Polynesian/Afro American descent and a lady at the store asked us if we were friends and we both immediately replied that we were sisters and the lady went into an up-roar that we couldn't be sisters because we were so different. I remember how strange it was for us for someone to see our differences when all we saw were are similarities.
we've found that our first experiences and understandings of ethnicity began with the very first time we noticed difference between ourselves and the others around us. if cultural and ethnic issues are included in the curriculum, it definitely broadens your education, to one degree or another. and if it's not included in the classroom, one can still learn one-on-one with and from other students, with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
Most of us became completely aware of our ethnicity during school. It starts as a basic, "I'm different", an progresses to an understanding of the advantages our race has (white.) It tends to depend on the environment and school system you are in.
It impacted people in our group differently. Some gained compassion after learning about other ethnicities. We all became aware of stereotypes and how different groups behave in school. People tend to try to live up to there culture's standards.
BANJ
We're interested in the dialogue that may occur when Livingstone responds to what has already been said.
Many of the people who have posted already seem to have similar responses.
recycle bins
it is an interesting paradox. It seems that when we were all children and innocent we saw no differences. At first we saw no differences. Then we were taught that there were differences, and now we're trying to get back to where we started: with a child's color blindness.
mtngirls
UNCA Educ 310
K. Cole
Most of the posts seemed to come from people in the majority race/culture, so it seems to be difficult to be aware of defining ethnic moments when surrounded by similar people.
KCCC
Elementary K-6
Livingstone College
Most of us became aware of ethnicity at a young age. Our first experiences were based on the differences in our skin colors and our languages.
Our academic experiences made us more aware that everyone is not the same.
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