Diversity Story

As a white female I have always felt “culture-less.” I realize that being born in the 80s, bought up in Virginia, and being a part of Generation Y, have all contributed to the bubble that is my life. I am very much American. But there are many others that meet the above criteria, yet have something extra. These differences were made most apparent to me when I became close with my stepfamily, who are originally from Mexico. They have special traditions, different holidays, a whole second language, songs, and recipes that have been passed down for generations. They have culture. They can associate themselves with all things American, while at the same time being a part of a culturally rich world outside of the mainstream. I realize this is a double-edged sword. Many individuals find themselves caught between worlds, not fully a part of either one. I have not lived it personally. But from a “grass is always greener” perspective, I would welcome traditions and a community that extends beyond my immediate circle of family and friends.

There haven’t been many occasions before now which have forced me to think about my own culture. In fact, when a recent assignment required me to bring in items with personal cultural importance my first response was panic. Then I turned to Google. “What is white culture?” The results included the study of whiteness, an article about white supremacy, and posts filled with racist jokes. Not exactly helpful. While I felt this was a strange topic to turn to Google for advice on, I discovered that when one searches for Hispanic or African American culture the helpful results are countless. Did the lack of Google results when my racial category was searched indicate that my life was devoid of culture? Of course not. I have determined that culture is determined on a more personal, micro scale.  Something Google can’t me help with.

My family, my friends, my town, my experiences, the places I visit, and my education: this is what shapes my personal culture.  I have traditions. Every Christmas Eve my whole family gets together for dinner (aunts, uncles, cousins, the works) and after we’re done eating we sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Each person receives a figurine, glass, or paper with one of the Days on it and that is the Day you must sing. While this was completely horrifying the first time my now-fiancé participated, there’s nothing that bonds you quicker to a family then belting-out off-tune carols just as the tryptophan sets in.

Traditions with my friends are also an important part of my culture. We have a “friend Thanksgiving” held a week before the actual holiday where each of us brings our favorite dish. I’ve watched as the group as grown, not only to include more friends, but fiancés, husbands, wives, and babies. You can physically see us growing into “adults” when looking back on pictures from this event over the years.

My hometown is fuzzy by definition. Technically I was born in Southern Maryland. Due to divorce and other life events, we bounced around while living there. It wasn’t until I was nine, when my mother married my stepfather and we moved to Virginia, that I really discovered “home.” Home became a Northern Virginia suburb called Warrenton. If asked where I grew up, Warrenton is my response. By no means is Warrenton the most culturally diverse area, but luckily, it isn’t the least diverse either. I went to school with mentally and physically handicapped individuals, low SES students, individuals of varying races, exchange students, and had one openly gay teacher.  Considering the rural area where I grew up, I feel fortunate for this early exposure to diverse individuals.

I heard a statistic recently that only 10 percent of Americans have a passport. A heartbreaking statistic. Travel has allowed me to experience other cultures; experiences I believe are invaluable.  It is so important to see the world beyond our own front door. Visiting a new location, seeing the sites, trying the local cuisine, attempting to speak the language, interacting with locals and other tourists, are all experiences that build onto one’s existing worldview and helps an individual grow by expanding horizons beyond their day-to-day experiences. I have vowed to myself to capitalize on opportunities to explore new destinations whenever possible so that I can continue to add valuable, culturally diverse experiences to my personal culture and worldview. Currently, I am working through the discussion with my fiancé of where to visit for our honeymoon. The existing debate is between an all-inclusive beach resort or a trip that includes seeing historic sites and new cultures. You can guess which side I’m on.

My collegiate experience also contributed to diversifying my experiences with individuals culturally different than myself. I attended Virginia Tech, located in Blacksburg, Virginia. The school is overwhelmingly composed of white males. Diverse individuals made up the same percentage as in my high school: present, but only in small numbers. Since my undergraduate experience was so similar in terms of diversity to my high school experience, my time on campus did not help me grow as much as I might have in a more diverse setting. However, excluding the college, Blacksburg is a very rural town filled with many individuals who were born and raised in Blacksburg, and have no intention of ever leaving.  It was shocking hearing how closed-minded some of these individuals could be; especially compared to the very liberal atmosphere I was used to on campus.  Looking back, it was an opportunity to gain a valuable insight from another population’s viewpoint. Not all experiences with other cultures are positive and it is just as important to learn from these experiences, as it is the positive experiences.

A more extreme example of a negative experience dealing with diversity in the college setting came after the shootings that happened on campus at the hands of an Asian student. While this event is still painful for me to talk about, it does stand out as the most memorable in dealing with diversity in a higher education setting. Many racist remarks followed the attack on our school. As if one disturbed student represented an entire race. After white students, the Asian community is the second largest on the Virginia Tech campus. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to be an Asian student having to face racist comments on top of the pain everyone in the Virginia Tech community was going through at that time.  I have come to understand, though, that when people are grieving or scared they can lash out in inappropriate ways. I’d like to believe that the unfortunate comments made about and towards the South Korean and Asian communities during that time were not true feelings, just individuals without the proper coping methods, who hopefully regret their actions today.

By being an active part of my community, learning from others, and experiencing new cultures I believe I can continue to grow as an individual. The people I surround myself with and the experiences I choose to subject myself to have created my culture and will continue to shape it as I move forward in life. I have learned that culture is personally defined. No two individuals share the exact same culture. Even for those lucky enough to be a part of an extended cultural community, like my stepfamily, each individual still has different life experiences, family, and friends that shape their personal culture. I recently found this diagram from communitydoor.org that I believe is a beneficial, visual depiction of what goes into culture for each individual: 

Looking at this diagram it is clear that we are all diverse from one another. Race, age, sexual orientation, gender… are all singular pieces of the puzzle that make each of us. Especially as higher education professionals dealing with a diverse student population it is important to realize all the pieces that make up an individual. It may be easy to focus on one obvious element of a student’s culture, whereas we should be focusing on the overarching picture, where all three circles of the Venn diagrams intersect. When supporting students, I think it can be extremely helpful if higher education professionals can connect with students on a cultural element each have in common. As someone who never felt a part of a cultural community, I now realize the importance of connecting with others regarding a shared culture. Relating to others regarding shared experiences, mutual friends, and common traditions, creates the feeling that we are all a part of a bigger picture. A part of culture.

WHEN WE LOSE OUR CULTURE
When we lose our culture
We lose our identity
-Aldo Kraas

Images of Beauty

As a woman growing up in the 1990s and 2000s I have been subjected to today’s concepts of beauty. Of course I have heard that thinner, taller, blonder, tanner, and facial symmetry added up to this ideal of beauty; every popular culture medium has spouted these perceptions throughout my entire life. During my undergraduate career I sought answers regarding our culture’s concepts of beauty, a topic that was often discussed in my sociology courses. Why is body weight, dieting, and exercising such an issue today when it was unheard of only a few generations ago?

            Abra Fortune Chernik believes our society’s culture is to blame. She claims that society prefers women “starving, self-obsessed, and powerless.” While I agree that our culture is not helping the situation, it is certainly not to blame. The concept of beauty in Western society has changed in many ways throughout past generations. To assume our current society wants women skinny and weak now would suggest that society has always wanted women this way. That is not the case. In fact, women did not start altering their bodies to be skinnier until they began gaining power for themselves during the feminist revolution. This website helps illustrate the revolution in body image over the past 600 years.

            I believe we can go back even further to get a complete picture of beauty. This painting of Venus depicts a round, soft woman as the ideal image of beauty. These characteristics then meant wealth, health, and the ability to bear children.  It is my belief that these characteristics have remained important. It wasn’t until the 1960s, during the second-wave feminist revolution, that this image began to shift to a thinner ideal. Even then, the thinness was not sickly. I argue it was a way to shed the image that a woman’s sole purpose was to bear and nurture children. For a while, this was a healthy trend, leading to a fitness craze where muscles ruled in the 1980s. To be a woman was to be strong. As Linda M. Scott points out, “beauty through health and exercise” was advocated by feminism during this time. However, the past two decades have witnessed an unhealthy trend as women have begun to think “the thinner, the better.” Arguably, this image still reflects the “beautiful ideals” from ancient Greece. Today, being thin means wealth. Thin women can afford the time to exercise and cook a well-balanced meal. Being thin means health. In a society that breeds obesity, thinness indicates a lack of succumbing to our supersized culture. And while a thin woman does not automatically imply “child bearing,” with today’s technology and medicine it is becoming less and less of a needed attractive quality.

It must also be considered how women are viewing themselves today. We are no longer viewed only as child bearers. However, we no longer completely reject the idea in the name of feminism either. Women today are struggling with finding the balance after centuries of not having the power to decide for themselves. As Chernik implies, perhaps it is a reflection of women grasping for control in a world where men still have the majority of the power. It is unfortunate the unhealthy turn our body image has taken as a result. Although if history is any indication, we can be certain that this trend, too, will pass.

Executive Brief

Hispanic Higher Education in the United States
Hispanics are now the largest and fastest growing minority in this country.  Yet, this group lags behind in higher education access and completion.  While not comprehensive, this brief outlines some of the issues Hispanics have faced historically and continue to face today.

Today, there are 47 million Hispanics living in the United States, fifteen percent of the population. Of that group, only 12.9 percent of Hispanics graduate from college, compared to 30.7 percent of white and 17.5 percent of black students. With such a large portion of America’s working population undereducated, not only Hispanics, but America as a whole, could fall behind in economic success and future prosperity. Higher education is the clear path to progress for this population. However, there have been many obstacles to higher education attainment throughout history for Hispanics in the US.

History

• The US federal government did not create the classification of ‘Hispanic’ until the 1970s, limiting meaningful data collection about this group prior to this time period. Before the 1970s, reorganization was by Spanish surname.

• Hispanics began settling and participating in education in North America in the sixteenth century.

• Early discrimination from British colonists termed “Hispanophobia,” which refers to anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish discrimination. Today’s discrimination against Hispanics has its roots in the attitudes developed during this time period.

• Unlike African Americans, Hispanics were not explicitly prohibited from attending White colleges and universities in the late 1800s, but their participation remained mostly limited to privileged families or students from northern Mexico hoping to obtain a bilingual education. However, segregation based on skin color, accents, or surnames remained common.

• A successful push from the Hispanic middle class to enter higher education came with the formation of LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens, formed in 1929, which provided scholarships and contested segregation in colleges and universities and the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (the GI Bill) which allowed Hispanic veterans to enter postsecondary institutions.

• Civil rights activism in the 1960s and 1970s created a flood of Hispanics into colleges and universities. During this time, Latino Studies courses also began to appear on campuses. A field of study that is widely respected today.

• Hispanics identified as the fastest growing minority group in the 1980s, nicknamed “Decade of the Hispanic.”

• Due to a lack of familiarity with the Hispanic populace and the abolishing of programs aimed at minorities by the Reagan administration, advances made by Latinos in the 1960s and 1970s suffered a setback in the 1980s.

• In 1986 the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) was founded. The purpose of this organization was to promote development of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI’s) and to improve access and the quality of college-level education for Hispanics. Until this time, there were no Hispanic Serving Institutions, as there had historically been for African Americans and Native Americans.

• In 1990, President Bush signed an Executive Order directed towards educational improvement for Hispanics. The Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics has been re-commissioned by each Presidential Administration, most recently by President Obama in October 2010. 

Current Educational Issues

• Hispanic students cite financial troubles as the top reason to not attend college. Seventy-four percent of Hispanic students name the need to support their families financially as the reason they cannot attend.

• As of 2004, financial aid was still not equal for Hispanics compared to other minority groups. Hispanics received the lowest amount of financial aid, $9,000, compared to $10,500 for Blacks and $9,900 for whites.

• High drop out rates plague the Hispanic population. In four-year institutions, 54 percent of Latinos drop out, compared to 41.5 percent of white students.

• There is a disproportionate number of Hispanic students enrolled in community colleges compared to four-year institutions. Fifty-six percent of all Hispanics enrolled in college are enrolled in a community college and only 10 percent will transfer to a four-year institution.

• Deficiency in English continues to be a hindrance to higher education completion and success. 

Considerations when working with this population

• The terms Hispanic and Latino/a encompass individuals with Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or Latin American ancestry. It should be noted that these populations all hail from different countries with different nationalities, cultures, and racial-ethnic identities, yet are lumped together in a single classification.

• Fifty-nine percent of Hispanics old enough to attend college are foreign–born, compared to the 41 percent of native-born Hispanics. Sixty percent of native-born Hispanics aspire to attend college, whereas only 29 percent of foreign-born Hispanics share this aspiration.

• Hispanics tend to be more family-oriented than the general population, meaning a student determines success in terms of family approval rather than personal gratification.

• Throughout history there have been teachers who do not know how to deal with Spanish-speaking youth that often place these students in classes below their level due to their lack of English. Insufficient primary schooling means that very few can meet the requirements to attend college, which is a trend that continues until today.

• It improves retention and is overall beneficial to students and their families if colleges offer bilingual support and provide materials in Spanish.