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| Diversity Word Challenge: Can You Pass the Test? |
| Over the last several months, and years, I have heard and read these words: diversity, race, multiculturalism, ethnic and ethnicity, culture, multiethnic and cultural diversity. I bet you have seen these words published, heard them spoken and possibly used them as your very own. Am I right? If I were to ask you what each of these words or terms meant, would you know how to answer? I decided to challenge myself. I sat down a minute to jot down, separately, what I thought each of the word definitions were. Take the challenge. Take a few minutes and do it yourself. What do these words and terms mean, individually, to you? Let's have a look at what the words mean from a source many of us use today, the internet dictionary (www.dictionary.com) Here's what www.dictionary.com said: (Printed below are the A and B definitions as listed on their website, www.dictionary.com, 2005.): 1. Diversity – A. The fact or quality of being diverse; difference. B. A point or respect in which things differ. 2. Race – A. A local geographic or global human population distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics. B. A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution: the German race. 3. Ethnic or Ethnicity – A. Of or relating to a sizable group of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage. B. Relating to a people not Christian or Jewish; heathen. 4. Culture – A. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. B. These patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population 5. Multiethnic - Of, relating to, or including several ethnic groups. 6. Cultural Diversity – A. Denoting or deriving from or distinctive of the ways of living built up by a group of people: of or relating to the shared knowledge and values of a society; "cultural roots" B. relating to the raising of plants or animals; "a cultural variety" Now that you have taken the challenge, how did you do? Were you surprised that many of these terms are used interchangeably yet they relate to very different things? Let's be honest. If I ask you, “do multicultural and multiethnic have the same definition?”, or how about, “are the terms multiracialism and multiculturalism interchangeable?” would you immediately know how to respond? And after re-reading the definitions above, would you feel comfortable responding with solid, positive, and justifiable answers? I know, that by now, you are either feeling confused (which I must confess I sure did after reading and re-reading all the definitions, comparing my thoughts with the actual definitions, their use as nouns and adjectives) or overwhelmed. Or, maybe you feel very confident in utilizing these terms, interchangeably, as they relate to the environments you are part of, the classrooms you create and the programs you administer. Whatever confidence level you have reached, or are admitting to at this moment, you have to agree with me that the terms we have minimally explored together, diversity, race, ethnicity, multicultural, multiethnic and many varied combinations of these terms, can be confusing. Today, more than ever before, many of us are required to embrace “multiculturalism”, or be “multiculturally sensitive” and better yet, teach “diversity in the workplace,” or if you are in elementary education, incorporate “diversity in the play place.” Why can't we just make it easy on ourselves, and everyone around us, and when asked, “Is your program ethnically diverse?” we simply respond, “We believe in ALL people and include everyone.” And if we, individually, were to ask ourselves, “Do I embrace diversity and immerse myself in multicultural environments?” how would you answer? Can I quote you? |
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