A work in progress.... Blog #1

I grew up in a pretty mono-cultural middle class environment. But I don’t believe that defines me. I know that the vast and varied experiences in my life have had a much greater impact on me than my neighborhood. After undergrad I moved to Rochester and have been here around 6-7 years. I currently live on the edge of the city and I work in the city for a company which does much of its business with minority groups with whom I interact with daily.  In my six year career in insurance I worked in a diverse office with many African American co-workers as well as other minorities such as Asian and Indian.  I became what I felt was “well-off” and felt comfortable in a middle-class setting. I ended my career to begin a new one where I felt that I was making a difference instead of just making money. My assessment results label me as a mono-cultural person moving into a multi-cultural direction. I call myself a work in progress because I haven’t stopped learning about myself and the larger world that we all live in.

I want to do the best I can as a teacher for all of my students, no matter the gender, race or range of disabilities. I used to worry for my niece who is a three year old with a physical disability. Children already point out to her' the way in which she is different.' But so far in her pre-k experience the young children are able to see past that and see her for who she is.
_Beth

Not Surprising

Looking at the answers I put, I will be honest, I'm not surprised. Over the past few years I have come to realize how monocultural my world is.
Going to college there were far more people of different backgrounds than I was use to. One of my friends of that time, drove the point home of how 'white' my world was, by making a comment on how there were more African Americans at her high school than there were at the college we were both attending. At her high school she was one of the few white students.
Even with this self awareness I could count the people I know who are 'different' from me. A few sorority sisters (including my much loved little) would be classified in our society as 'non-white', a family friend who is wheel chair bound, some co-workers who speak english with accents. Compare this small number to the much larger number of people I know who aren't quite as 'different' from me, shows just how monocultural I really am. Would I like more diversity? Sure, if I get along with the person, that's all that matters to me.
Susan Schuler

And I thought I knew me....

     Upon filling out my personal inventory, I realized that my life is much more open and diverse than I once thought.  I have never thought of myself as a “multicultural” person, even if My Life Experiences assessment says otherwise.  On the scale of assessment, I scored in the slightly multicultural, something that was shocking to me.  I felt that many of the things in my past, like where I worked, schools I attended and exchange students my family has hosted, was more of a common thing.  It just made me realize how much my parents did behind the scene to build me as a complete individual.
     One thing I did not find that shocking was where I fell on the survival chart.  I have always found myself to be uncomfortable in the “higher” wealth society.  I find the lower-middle class/middle class to be something I have always gravitated towards because of my family and who my friends are.  I’m very proud to be who I am and what I have become what I am.  To me, wealth is not everything.  Happiness is the real goal in life and being comfortable where you are, and for me, that is middle class.

- Dominick Mancini