Professional Hopes and Goals

I hope to help end the negativity associated with diversity in the course of career. I hope to help children who are seen as different and help them be accepted by everyone. I plan to make moves in the communities that have never been attempted before. Children are very special to me and I have a passion that burns deep as it relates to children and a fair education.

I would make a lot of changes in education dealing with diversity, equity, and social justice. I would ake sure that all educators dealing with students who are diverse are very open and welcoming. Making the children feel as comfortable as possible so that they can do the best that they can. Being open and understanding can really make a difference.

I would like to THANK each and everyone on my colleagues for a very successful eight week term. I have enjoyed reading your many posts and commenting on them too. This class has been very interesting. Learning about diversity has been the best subject area I have studied so far.

Welcoming Families Around The World

The name of the country that the new family is from is Fiji.

There are so many ways to prepare myself with the proper knowledge about this family. The things that I am going to do are:

1. I will google Fiji to actually read about the country and thier ways of doing things.

2. I will make sure I learn everything I need to know about thier culture so that I don't do or say anything that is disrespectful or insulting.

3. I will get to know the family, each person individually so that I can relate to them on a different level.

4. I will be very open to the differences we have in our cultures opposed to thiers and the way they do things.

5. I will also be very sensitive to thier beliefs and way of life.

I am hopeful that this will not only benefit my family, but the family from Fiji as well. I want my family to be aware and open to the very diversified world we live in and able to adapt to any situation without being bias.

The Personal Side of Bias, Predjudice, and Oppression

I remember going to a store called Plato's Closet with one of my close friends. This is a store were people bring gently worn really nice clothes and sell them to the store, who in turn sells it to it's customers. Well my friend brought in some really nice clothes, and at the same time this caucasion lady brought in some stuff also. They have a list of brands that they take, and my friend had some of them all. My friend dropped off her bag and started to browse. Not even a minute later she was paged to the front of the store and the young lady told her that they couldn't use any of her stuff. She even had items that still had tags on them. There was another young lady that worked there that was sitting on the floor going through the caucasion lady's bag very thoroughly. My friend didn't get upset, she got her bag and left.

The way my friend was treated at Plato's Closet was very prejudice. Because she was African American the store workers assummed that her clothes weren't good enough or even worth going through the bags for.

This incident brought about a lot of different feelings for me. It took me back to the days where African Americans were considered less than other races.

I don't know if things will ever change. Everyday I think things are getting better and better, and there is always a situation as such that makes me feel differently.