Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I asked three people a couple of questions on culture. The people I asked to help me out with these questions were made up of a gay person, a religious person and a person from Pakistan. The following are the answers I received and not in order, see if you can chose who answered what?

What is your definition of culture?

Person #1-Culture is where you come from and how you live.

Person #2-Culture is heritage, beliefs and values.

Person#3-Culture starts in your immediate household; it is ethics, religion and your own perspective on the world.

What is diversity?

Person #1-Diversity is learning about different people other than you and embracing and celebrating the differences. A good place to start is sharing ones own culture with others and having them share back.

Person#2-Diversity I believe is someone that understands that people are different from us.

Person#3-Diversity is accepting everyone for who they are and not judging because they are different.

      We live in a diverse world and education is the key to open our young student’s minds. I found an article in a past course while attending Walden University, the article was, American early childhood education: preventing or perpetuating inequity, it is stated that the most important determinant for children is the quality of the faculty who work with the young children (Kagan, 2009). Qualified teachers are an essential component to all preschool programs. Children who are educated by teachers with higher educations in related fields of child development are more sociable, exhibit better language, and perform at a higher level on cognitive tasks than children who are not (Bowman, Donovan, & Burns, 2001). Quality education not only takes qualified teachers, it also takes much needed funds to support the programs. With all of these ingredients we can learn to share and embrace all cultures and teach them to our young learners.

   In the article American early childhood education: preventing or perpetuating inequity, it also sates six other inequities in early childhood education:

1. Inequity well before the starting gate-Children’s home environment can influence a child at conception. Family dynamics has a big influence on a child before they start school.
2. Inequity in who attends preschool-It is quit opposite for children in preschool and in public schools. Children’s access to preschool can depend on race, education, mother’s race, socioeconomic status of parents, English proficiency, and geographic location.
3. Inequity in state preschool investments-Early child education comes from a variety of funding state, federal, and parents’ contribution. There are many discrepancies in the amounts expended on early childhood education.
4. Inequity in quality-It does not matter what state a child lives in, studies have proven most preschool programs are either mediocre or poor in quality.
5. Inequity in the infrastructure that supports early childhood education-Policy makers are always looking for quick gains on investments and are more likely to support direct services for children which show visible constituents, than an amorphous infrastructure.
6. Inequity or merely differences-There are a number of inconsistent approaches to preschool from state to state and what we need to do is research if these inconsistencies are harmful or do they provide flexibility and flexibility for the parents and children (Kagan, 2009).

     Culture is a big part of our everyday lives and can have a strong influence on the way we think as human beings, however, I believe when there is a successful, effective and quality early childhood development program the ingredients include a quality staff, appropriate learning environment, culturally appropriate curriculum, consistent schedules and parent involvement. All of these components’ are important when trying to create an effective quality early childhood development program because this recipe includes the child, family, classroom, school and community.

References

Bowman, Barbara T.; Donovan, M. Suzanne; & Burns, M. Susan (Eds.). (2001). Eager to learn: Educating our preschoolers. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. ED 447 963

Kagan, S. L. (2009). American early childhood education: Preventing or perpetuating inequity? (Equity Matters: Research Review No. 3). Retrieved from Campaign for Educational Equity website: http://www.equitycampaign.org/i/a/document/9833_EquityMatters_Kagan_Final.pdf