Diversity and Equity Interviews

I found this week's assignment very insightful and in the process, realized I needed to avoid some touchy items due to my cultural beliefs. I interviewed three of my staff this week on what their ideas of diversity and culture meant to them and the differences. While two of the people I interviewed were newer to the field, one was a veteran teacher who is compassionate about diversity and equity. The veteran teacher shared everything we have learned so far about the differences in surface culture and deep culture. She shared that culture is "everything we are and everything we aren't". To her, diversity is comprised of the differences amongst our characteristics, but she did not feel that special needs traits were included in diversity. I did not understand why she felt this way as a special need could also be considered a social identity. I knew I needed to acknowledge that we felt differently, but also needed to respect her thought process.


Interestingly, the newer staff members I interviewed focused more on the surface traits of culture such as food, clothing, ethnicity, and skin color.  Each of them talked of the differences we possess in socio-economic levels, relationships, and beliefs, but equated that more to the term of diversity.


I had a lengthy conversation with my veteran teacher on the terms which caused me to reflect on some of my own beliefs. She shared with me how she is agnostic and wrote a senior paper on why God should be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance. I am a Christian and believe that the government rests upon His shoulders. I wanted to understand why she felt that way and she explained that she learned that God was added to the Pledge to help differentiate children and people on their religious beliefs. It was believed that if they did not say God, they were Communists and would be killed. I had not considered that this was a possibility. We also went on to discuss our country's foundational beliefs. She believes that America is the land of opportunity and freedom and that anyone from any country should be able to make a better life for themselves here. I see her point, but also see the strain that this puts onto our system. I shared that we cannot financially take care of the people who currently live here, but she retorted what if America felt that way when our ancestors came over? We wouldn't be here either. This exercise has made me question my own belief system. I was once the person who thought that culture was only what you can see. I am beginning to understand who much deeper culture actually is.