"Celebrating the Diversity of Our Communities"
                                                 by Ken Bower, Ed.D.

As the population in the U.S. becomes more ethnically diverse, we find that our communities are changing as well.  To better understand the changes that are occurring, it is important that we learn how to study our own community so that we can provide for everyone in this changing population.  Not only are the students in our community changing, the staff members in our school districts are changing as well.  Learning to develop an open mind toward others who may be different from your can sometimes be quite a task.  But this task in an important one!

            The World View -Who are We?
Since these are no clear-cut divisions of people on the earth, some have divided people up into over 100 ethnic categories based upon physical characteristics, cultural experiences, languages, histories, values and current problems.  Human communities throughout the ages have banded together because of their likenesses and distrusted those who were unlike themselves.  (Robert Ardrey's- Territorial  Imperative, 1966)  Currently mankind speaks at least 2,796 separate languages with 7000-8000 different dialects.  This is down from about 10,000 in the past.

World Statistics in 1993

 

World Statistics in 2019

 

World Religions in 1993:

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2010 - Religious Populations of the World

In 1993:
6%   of the people in the world control 50% of the total world income
50% of the people are hungry on a daily basis
60% of the people live in shantytowns
70% of the people are illiterate     
 (Source: World Development Forum, April, 1990)

By 2019 it was estimated that:

The 26 richest people on earth in 2018 had the same net worth as the poorest half of the world’s population, some 3.8 billion people.

Around the world, 815 million people regularly go to bed hungry

About a sixth of the world's population — nearly 1 billion people — live in slums

Approximately 32 million adults in America are considered to be illiterate; about 14% of the entire adult population cannot read

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Population Shifts in the U.S.
In June 1987, the Hudson Institute funded by the Dept. of Labor examined demographic data and trends to get a prediction of the work force of the 21st. century, Workforce 2000:Work and Workers for the 21st Century predicted that:
 -15% of the new entrants to the labor force will be native white males
 - 61% will be women
 - 29% will be minorities

This differs from the past where most of the workers were native white males. There are obviously potential for problems in a community where these changes will occur.

•  It was projected that 5/6ths of the net additions between 1993 and the year 2000 will be made up of nonwhites, women and immigrants.

• The labor force was expected to expand by only 1% annually in the 1990's as opposed to almost 3% in the 1970's.

• With this continuing trend someday white Americans will become a minority group.

• 1 in 4 Americans already defines himself or herself as Hispanic or nonwhite.

• It was projected that with the current trends in immigration and birth rates, by 2000 the Hispanic population will have increased 21%, African-Americans by almost 12%, Asians 22% and Whites a little more than 2%.

• By 2056 the "average" American will trace his or her descent to Africa, Asia, the Hispanic world, the Pacific Islands, Arabia, but not Europe.

   More statistics:   In 1993
 • New York State had 40% of elementary and secondary students who belong to an ethnic minority.

 • In California, White students were already a minority.

 • In San Jose, the Vietnamese surname Nguyen outnumber the Joneses in the telephone directory 14 columns to 8.

At the Sesame Hut restaurant in Houston a Korean immigrant owner trains Hispanic workers to prepare Chinese food for a largely Black clientele.
(Source: William A. Henry III, "Beyond the Melting Pot", Time, April 9,1990)

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                      Aspects of Culture
•  Culture is important in people's everyday lives
•  A definition of culture is that it is all ideas, objects and ways of doing things by a group of people.

•  Culture is a set of rules for behavior by which humans organize and give meaning to the world.

•  Cultural characteristics:
   -it is acquired by people, you are not born with it
   -one acquires it as a member of society; each society has its own
   -it is a complex whole

•  Culture includes language, traditions, technology, beliefs inventions, arts and customs.

One of the most important things that a school personnel office secretary must deal with is effective communication with the community and staff.

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We must all be prepared for change, by learning how to communicate with strangers
• Interacting with people who are different is a novel experience for most of us.

• Our attitudes, prejudices and stereotypes create expectations that cause us to misinterpret messages we receive from people who are different and vice versa.

Research tells us that our prejudices are "a form of thinking in which conclusions are reached that may be in conflict with the facts because of prejudged conclusions"

Stereotypes are "standardized mental pictures that are held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, affective attitude or uncritical judgment" 

• Stereotypes create expectations regarding how members of other groups will behave. (have members of the audience give common stereotypes)

• Misunderstanding occurs when we misinterpret the symbolic clues of another culture. (In Roger Axtell's Do's and Taboos- ex. fingers circle-US means OK; Brazil is a vulgar sign, Japan signifies money in southern France means zero or worthless

• We remember more favorable information about our in-groups and more unfavorable information about out-groups.

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How can we be sure that we are being understood by others in our day to day communication?

We must take steps to know that we are being understood by others by:
1. Stopping to observe what we have experienced when we interact with other people.

2.  Looking for alternative interpretations.  The person that we are communicating with may have meant something entirely different from what we perceived.

3.  Assessing our effectiveness with others by seeking additional information (use the library, ask the other person, ask someone else in the other group, ask someone with experience in dealing with that particular group)

4.  Drawing conclusions as to how others interpret our communications.

5.  Incorporating our conclusions into our understanding of the other person or group.
        (Source: Gudykunst, William B., Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication,  Sage Pub., Newbury Park, CA, 1991. p.114.)

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It is important that we all know our communities.  Sometimes we still have the belief that our community is like it used to be.  Or we are unhappy about the changes that have taken place in our community and long for the "good old days" to return.  This affects our attitude toward others and whether we like to admit it or not it does affect the way that we treat others at work.  We must all realize how we feel toward certain other groups of people and guard against treating others disrespectful because of our own feelings about their particular group.
 
To be an effective school district employee in the changing world of today we must all be aware that change will occur in our communities whether we like it or not.
You have chosen a profession that serves the public. If you can't deal with that reality you need to change your career plans now.
To stay in a situation where you are always unhappy or frustrated is not conducive to your good mental or physical well being and does not contribute to harmony for your office staff.

The opportunity that you have to work with others who are different from you should be perceived as something very positive.  After all, you have the chance in you job to make a difference in the lives of the many people that you come into contact with everyday.  Let each of them know that you are accepting of them and have the attitude that you celebrate their differences and value the contribution that they are making to your community.

Remember, always treat other people the way you yourself want to be treated by others

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Return to Multicultural Understanding

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