Welcoming Families From Around the World

In preparation for this assignment, I thought about how I would feel if I moved to country that I knew nothing about and feelings that may occur.

The name of the country that the family is from is Japan.

The five ways in which I have prepared myself to be culturally responsive towards this family include:

Ø  Establishing personalized contact with the individuals of this family

Ø  Developing and using vocabulary of greetings and key phrases in the family's primary language

Ø  Becoming educated in cultural beliefs of this family and families from their country

Ø  Because I am not proficient in this family's native language, I will use a translator to ensure that communication is solid and the family feels comfortable.

Ø  reflecting upon my own cultural background because understanding one’s own culture is important because of the tendency to regard one’s own cultural group as the center of everything and the standard to which all others are compared

There are many benefits in being culturally responsive. Among the benefits is the ability to:

ü  foster more understanding of the person and how the person operates, feels, and

the ways in which they live their life,

ü  let people know they are thought of as individuals, as human beings,

ü  effectively communicate culturally sensitive choices and their consequences and

ü  be aware of many possibilities and respond appropriately

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

A time when I witnessed prejudice occurred when my husband was working for a small moving company. He was on a team of five and the only Caucasian.  The team worked well together, however when he went to the owner of the company to ask for overtime pay, he was fired on the spot. My husband was then told that no employee receives overtime. The owner then went on to explain that all the employees understood that they do not receive overtime. They get paid for time worked and that is it. Later we found out that certain employees did receive overtime pay. The employees who receive overtime pay were family members and African-American.

Equity was diminished in the situation because the employees were treated differently where their pay is concerned. Certain employees were paid overtime but others were not. In my husband's case, he was fired for insisting that he gets paid for the overtime he worked. Furthermore, the owner asked the employees to work the overtime hours, so he was aware that the employees were working ten and eleven hours in a day. 

I was extremely upset by this incident. It brought up feeling of unfairness and negative feelings towards this individual and his character. 

I feel as though the owner needs to change his work ethics. He needs to research labor laws. In addition, I think the owner must pay his employees fairly or have written policies and procedures in place. I do not feel my husband needs to change any of his behaviors where this incident is concerned.

Awareness of Microaggressions

A personal experience with microaggression I encounter happened between a co-worker and me. During a heated discussion about balancing work, family and school, this co-worker said to me "I did not go to college right out of high school like you did. I have to work and raise a family!" She assumed because I went to an expensive and traditional college that I completed high school and went straight to college.  I assured her that I knew the stress that is associated with completing college, raising a family and working. I was a nontraditional student while studying my undergraduate degree. I was married, had two children and worked part-time. 

After this discussion, I experienced several emotions. I felt as though I must carry myself in a way that made this co-worker think I was a traditional undergraduate student. Then I felt she only thinks that because I am white and that is the stereotype that her culture associated with young white woman who finished college.

I feel I am a very cooperative, respectful, and understanding person. I believe everyone deserve the same treatment. I respect all culture and in fact, I like to learn about other cultures. I think knowledge is power, so why would this person think this and pigeon whole me. I am not saying she is a bad person. I think I felt that way because I did not understand.

Looking back on this incident, I can how she might associate Caucasian woman and college. I think this is what she was told, what she experienced, and what her perception of young Caucasian women.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I talked with my mother, my husband and a family service worker that works with families at our head start center.

My husband's answer to the question what is your definition of culture is, family culture is like a family's heritage. I asked him what his definition of heritage is and he said it a person background and where a person comes from and where they grow up. I asked him if that incorporates beliefs and he said no that is for religion. His response to the question of diversity was diversity equals differences. 

My mother response to the question of culture was that culture represents someone's background and traditions. She described diversity as someone's ethnicity or outward appearances.  

  

When I ask the family service worker, she describes culture as a family's traditions, beliefs, customs, and can even involve a family's home language. She described diversity as the differences and variety among all families here (US) and around the world.

After evaluating all the answers from the people I asked, I do not think they are wrong. I think they are on the same page and have the same idea they just explain their definition of what thought culture is.

According to our book, culture refers to the way we live, what we eat, our traditions, and religious beliefs. Culture also refers to the way we raise our children (Derman-Sparks & Edwards 2010).

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

My Family Culture

In the event of evacuation, the three things I would take that I hold dear and represent my culture include my huge photo album, my mother's engagement ring, and my father's burial flag. I decided on the photo album because it holds MANY pictures of my family and family's traditions. This album holds many family memories and depicts our family's culture. I decided on my mother's engagement ring because it represents a love that lasted 30 years before my father's death in 2004. Not all cultures wear engagement rings and feel the ring is an example of a western culture. Lastly I decided on my father's burial flag because not only is it VERY dear to me but it represents how our culture shows respect for Veterans who served in our country. In addition, if someone would try to take any of these items I would be completely devastated and sad because these items mean so much to me.

I think I have decided on something of my mother's and something of my father's because they are whom I identify with. When my father passed away our family felt lost for some time because he was such a huge part of our family structure. He brought faith, strength and wisdom. My mother is responsible for many of my beliefs and morals because she is the one who taught them to me.

When I Think of Research...

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

I have learned to form a research question and set up a research plane as if I were the researcher. I discovered that there are standards in place to protect the participants and researcher.

In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

My attitude towards conducting research has changed by relieving some anxiety towards research because I have learned how to evaluate resources I find. I also learned how researchers conduct their research and the hard work and time the put in.

What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

I learned that you have to make a plan, perform prerequisite  research, decide on participants, collect gather and analyze data. Researcher also need to receive parental consent before conducting any research.