Multi-culturalism

[heart of peace]

How important is multi-culturalism to you and what you intend to teach your child?

It is very important to me for many reasons. One reason is because I was raised in a very diverse area culturally and I loved how people were not homogeneous. I appreciated being exposed to different traditions, foods, religions, et cetera. I loved having an ethnic culture of my own growing up (apart from being an American). I want this for my child as well. I don't want him to think that the world is only one type of person, one type of SES level, one type of race, one type of religion, et cetera.

 

[lucypevensie]

It's important to me as a parent that my kids are at least aware of the differences out there. Not everyone is a Christian, not everyone was born in America, not everyone has white skin, not everyone speaks English, not all families consist of female mom, male dad, and children. This is important if only because that's just the way the real world is.

But I will still teach them that Jesus is the only way to God even though others disagree, and there are right and wrong ways of living. Some aspects of multi-culturalism reek of political correctness, which we steer clear of.

But yeah, we eat brats because we've got German blood in our veins, and it's fun to say "uff da!" because of Great Grandma's Norwegian heritage.

 

[~Mrs. A2J~]

It is important to a certain degree to me. I grew up in London, England which is a very diverse place and I enjoyed the different cultures. The thing I liked most was that you could sample the different cultures without having them shoved in your face. Unfortunately where I live now the US the "other" culture is shoved in our face daily so what could have been an enjoyable experience and learning opportunity has become extremely off putting and I struggle not to have animosity towards it. But worse I struggle not to pass that bad feeling on to my kids. They do/will know about other culures/people though as my side of the family lives in another part of the world and has also married into other cultures and races. So I'm glad my kids will be exposed to that.

 

[Christdefinesme]

Incredibly important to us, that is one reason we love living in the inner city, our kids are exposed to many different cultures in our area, there are somthing like 26 different ones within a 6 block radius. We love that our kids are exposed to this, and we are the minority in our neighborhood.

Makes for some mighty fine food, too! Very authentic ethnic restaurants every where. YUM!

 

[jgonz]

I'm not so concerned... but then again DH is Mexican/American and is completely bilingual (Eng/Spanish), we live on the Border of Mexico in a large city, and there is a Huge ethnic culture here. If anything my kids don't get to see "middle America" much. MY parents are pretty foreign to them~ very very white. lol I think it's going to be a good experience for them all to move to Oklahoma next year and see a different part of the country...

 

[GolfingMom]

It's important to me as a parent that my kids are at least aware of the differences out there. Not everyone is a Christian, not everyone was born in America, not everyone has white skin, not everyone speaks English, not all families consist of female mom, male dad, and children. This is important if only because that's just the way the real world is.

But I will still teach them that Jesus is the only way to God even though others disagree, and there are right and wrong ways of living. Some aspects of multi-culturalism reek of political correctness, which we steer clear of.

But yeah, we eat brats because we've got German blood in our veins, and it's fun to say "uff da!" because of Great Grandma's Norwegian heritage.

I agree.
I speak a few different languages and have a multi cultural background. I enjoy cooking/baking the different foods and speaking to them in different languages. It helps that both sets of grandparents live nearby so they can also share their culture with the kiddo's.

 

[Robinsegg]

We are currently using a curriculum that teaches us about 16 different countries, the peoples, culture, religion, climate, etc. It really gives my kids an idea of what peoples live in the world

We also take opportunities to learn from the people around us, and that it's ok for others to be different
Rachel

 

[heart of peace]

But I will still teach them that Jesus is the only way to God even though others disagree, and there are right and wrong ways of living. Some aspects of multi-culturalism reek of political correctness, which we steer clear of.

I completely agree. Exposure to multi-culturalism does not mean one stops teaching one's child about one's culture, religion, traditions, moral beliefs, et cetera. It merely is a way to expose your child to the fact that humanity is heterogeneous and there are many wonderful people in the world who may or may not do things similarly to the way you do in your particular family.


A concern I have is that the school district I am currently in is considered one of the best in my area but it is extremely non-diverse. The class racial makeup is around 90% white, 5% asian and the remainder being black/hispanic. This is a bit off putting to me especially because my son is bicultural.

 

[~Mrs. A2J~]

A concern I have is that the school district I am currently in is considered one of the best in my area but it is extremely non-diverse. The class racial makeup is around 90% white, 5% asian and the remainder being black/hispanic. This is a bit off putting to me especially because my son is bicultural.

It's like that in our area. It's 98% Hispanic, 1.5% white and 0.5% Other so there's not much diversity. We homeschool though but unfortunately it's totally flipped the other way in our homeschool group with it being 98% white families. Seems like we can't really find any middle ground.

One "good" thing about hurricane Katrina though has been that a few more black families have moved into the area. It's still rare to see black people in our area though. The first 2 or 3 years I lived here I think I only saw 2 black people in all that time!