Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I asked three people in my life their definitions of culture and diversity, below are their responses.

• Sue is a friend of mine from college. She is of Asian decent and is a 8th grade math teacher. She responded: 
• Culture: is a way of life that you grow up learning based on your backdrops, location and those around you
• Diversity: is the meshing of different cultures.

• Meg is a friend of mine from grade school. She is Caucasian and is a speech and language pathologist. She responded:
• Culture: customs, beliefs, language and traditions passed down through generations that reflect heritage
• Diversity: differences in culture that make people unique and establish us as individuals. 
• Larry is a friend of mine from college. He is of African-American decent is a computer programmer. He responded:
• Culture: the behavioral or characteristic nature of how a group acts
• Diversity: made up of different or a variety of elements/backgrounds/items etc. 

All of the answers above included some characteristics of what we have learned is the definition of culture and diversity.  For example, Sue included that culture includes how you were raised, Meg included that it is passed down through generations and that it also includes beliefs, language and traditions and Larry included that it has a group component.  They all included that diversity has something to do with differences (whether it be of cultures or backgrounds). In the different definitions of cultures, they mainly focused on the surface culture. Meg did touch a bit on deep culture including language and beliefs in her definition.  However, they didn't include things like showing emotion, gender roles, health care, values or even the role of children as a part of the definition of culture. Meg also touched on the fact that diversity is not just a difference or a meshing of differences but it is also what makes people unique and establishes us as individuals. 

After looking at my friends definitions of diversity and culture it demonstrated to me how different each individual's views, perceptions and beliefs are.  In fact, it was a perfect example to me of culture and diversity.  It also intrigued me to want to start more conversations regarding these topics with my friends not just my colleagues to be able to get a better understanding of how everyone's personal beliefs can impact their views of others.