Community in Diversity

To aid those who have not had the opportunity of reading the text:

Summary Points from today's reading:
~ commonalities among humans are numerous
~ culture is always with us and shapes how we process this world
~ past, present, and PROPOSED simile depictions of the United States
melting pot, mosaic, salad bowl, STEW
~ objective culture: visible part; most easily recognized and
changed
~ subjective culture: internal part; motivations, beliefs,
worldviews
~ factors affecting degree and speed of change in objective culture
age, community, religion/faith

Today was our first meeting and interaction with the book, A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO CROSSING CULTURES: MAKING FRIENDS IN A MULTICULTURAL WORLD by Patty Lane. Other than reading, comments were quite limited. What follows are threads of thought -- separate, disjointed, yet perhaps interrelated.

Early Childhood professionals are counseled to "see" the "sameness" in children. For example, they should view atypical children first as children -- more like their peers than different. The differences evidenced within the lives of these children generally fall into the physical, cognitive, and emotional domains. Can an analogy be made to the "objective part of culture" discussed by Lane in chapter 1? If so, then still influencing each of these children (of which we need to be continually aware) is the presence of "the subject part of [their] culture," the family and community in which the child lives.

Differences are the result of God's handiwork. It seems only appropriate to study the Creator's book to get a grasp on how to "do" differences. As we join the journey with author, Patty Lane, let this not be an end in itself but simply a beginning to discovering Biblical truths about building community in diversity.

What are some things we know about people in general?
~ each was created by God, in His image, and are known by Him
~ each person is unique
~ each one is loved by God
~ the Bible says all have sinned
~ Jesus died for sinners
~ people have the same developmental needs
~ relationships are important
~ communication is important
~ this list is by no means exhaustive

One word that we gave emphasis to from our reading today was the word "assumptions." One such assumption was brought to our attention: the assumption that because a person's objective culture changes (i.e. manner of dress, language used, foods eaten -- visible aspects that are easily changed), his/her subjective culture has changed as well (beliefs, values). We need to spend time in personal reflection to determine if that is true of our thinking. It will be interesting to explore, maybe even discover, some of the assumptions we hold about people of other cultures as we live in this college community.

Lane presents a different perspective of the "head, heart, hand" philosophy of Pestalozzi relating it to cultural learning. She offers this "novel way of thinking" as originating with the Crator referencing Scripture (Deuteronomy 6) in demonstrating the interrelatedness of these three factors in the relationship between God and His people.

There are several spheres of influence that have shaped me into the person I am: the time period of my life, my family, other specific people, religious beliefs and schooling, and cultural beliefs, traditions, and values. But, we will leave that to another time and another post.