Walter Mojica Mojica 1

Prof. Cross

Eng. 305 cmp

3/29/01

Growing To Appreciate Diversity

Now that I'm older I understand a lot more. For instance, I feel as if I can understand why people are so different. I think this is because while I was growing up I was introduced to a variety of ethnicities. I was "rich" socially growing up. This helped me throughout my school years as well. I think being "rich" socially, I was able to not worry about: feeling uncomfortable around different people, and I was able to focus on my education. I've noticed that some people feel competitive, or even intimidated towards different races. This creates distractions in a learning environment. It starts with teachers. Teachers teaching the importance of our differences to one another. In Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Rusziewicz's, The Presence Of Others, Adrienne Rich, and Mike Rose write about some of our differences, and their importance. For Adrienne Rich ethnicity wasn't the problem, it was her gender.

Rich feels as if she hasn't been able to find herself in today's educational system. She has found that almost all of her school experience has been about how men were so great and how women were great homemakers. Rich strongly believes that she is educated by how men wanted her to be educated. Though she doesn't hate her knowledge, and even calls it a privilege to be as educated as she is, Rich can see how the way she was taught is meant to teach her that men are dominant. She states, "This is a privilege, yes, but if you do not give up in exchange for it the deep

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knowledge of the unprivileged, the knowledge that, as a women, you have historically been viewed as existing, not in your own right, but in the service of men ("What Does a Woman Need to Know" 67"). In a sense women have been feeling "left out" since the beginning. Its only how, that women like Rich are starting to see that instead of moving forward, women are more in place than ever. There is this idea of tokenism that she talks about. Only a few women get by to the all-successful level, so all women have something to look forward to. In reality though, they are only "tokens." It teachers would have intervened sooner; this mental route would not be taken into acceptance. This is why the difference in people should be emphasized.

While I was growing up, there were hardly any moments I can remember my teachers including heroines in the day's lesson. It was always about men. I can only imagine how it is to be a woman in these conditions. There is no connection with any female heroes. There is no strong role model for women to look up to. They're out there, but they are not incorporated into today's teaching lessons. I was never taught the importance of the way women was misrepresented. If I felt the same passion towards women rights as some feminist do, as well as others (men), I think that women would be in a different level socially, economically and culturally. Women are not taught to fit in. They are taught that men are dominant. It's these differences that make women like any other minority group out there. Misrepresentation lead to poor output in education. If the formula is applied to

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minorities, the same outcome comes about poor education. The interest in ourselves isn't introduced to us, and we are forced to embrace this Americanization

way of thinking. Not that western civilization is bad, but if I had at least some learning of where the people around me are coming from I feel as if I'd be an even better person.

Mike Rose writes, "To have any prayer of success, we'll need many conceptual blessings: A philosophy of language and literacy that affirms the diverse sources of linguistic competence and deepens our understanding of the ways class and culture blind us to the richness of those sources ("Lives on the Boundry" 118). "I believe that Rose understands the importance of knowing where each of us comes from. He knows that culture offers a whole new way of looking at different things. For example, if a student couldn't grasp a concept in this American way of thinking, maybe if you were to teach that same student in say a French way, maybe he would understand the concept then. Rose also states, "At heart, we'll need a guiding set of principles that do not encourage us to retreat from, but move us closer to, an understanding of the rich mix of speech and ritual story that is America (Lives on the Boundry" 118). Again, Rose is talking of the importance of understanding the difference in one another. Rose is saying that once we start to learn to embrace each other (different ethnicities), we will be more encouraged to learn from one another rather than to compete with each other. It's a teacher job to incorporate all of these issues, as soon as early grades. If its reinforced throughout the years there would be

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a group of students that would be more aware of the issues, and have a range of mental awareness because of the exposure to the richness of other people cultures.

The teachers that I had were pretty good. I can remember learning about, African Americans, Whites, Asians and a whole lot of Mexican. I am a Latino. Not Mexican. My family comes from a Country in Central America called Nicaragua. Although I was exposed to many cultures. I hardly ever learned of my own culture. This lead to UN interest in other cultures. I think that it is part my fault though. I never really spoke out on how I wasn't a Mexican. There was a time when I felt completely un-comfortable with whom I was. I struggled in school, and I began to fail. I'll never forget though one time, I did speak up. In sixth grade my teacher was talking about Central America, and I happen to mention that I was from Nicaragua. My teacher the, with great enthusiasm, went into a two week lesson on how great Nicaraguan's importance in history is. My performance in school skyrocketed. I recently went back to visit him, and I asked him if he did that lesson to encourage me to learn. He said that he practically does it every year. He went on to tell me how he's learned about cultures that he didn't even know about. He learns from the children, as much as they learn from him. My pride increased, and I don't feel as if I was an outsider anymore and I owe it all to that one teacher.

Just recently I've started working as a T.A. in an elementary school. I have a student in the class that I work with that is from Nicaragua. When I found out he was from there I approached him, and he denied his ethnicity. He said he was Mexican. After a couple weeks of bonding with this student, he has shown a

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complete change in his study habits. When he found out that I was also from Nicaragua, he didn't feel left out anymore. He told me one day that I was one of his favorite people in the whole world because I make him feel as if he can be anything he wants. I feel that I tough him that his differences is what makes him special,

There is a connection here. The understanding of one another is a key tool to unlocking all of our potential in our learning environments. The system we have today gives us an adequate amount of knowledge to get by in today's world, but it's the knowledge of each other is what separates us from the basic student. Aside from learning just the facts about our culture that doesn't belongs to everybody, their needs to be a change. For Adrienne Rich, the importance of gender is a difference among one another that is un-ignorable. Mike Rose believes that if we embrace one another differences, the benefits would be endless. In my own personal experience I would definitely agree that we need to understand the differences among one another in order to be able to relate, and incorporate ourselves. For all of this to come together, teachers need to ask themselves, what's more important, a future full of confused, misrepresented children or a future of culturally rich Americans who will strive to enrich this Country such as myself?

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Works Cited Page

1). Rich, Adrienne. "What does a Woman Need to Know? The Presence of Others.

Eds. Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford, 2000.

65-70.

2). Rose, Mike. "Lives on the Boundry." The Presence of Others. Eds. Andrea A.

Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford, 2000. 105-118.