Analyzing Cultural Diversity Experiences in Education: An Essay

This essay reflects on a student's internship experience as a teacher in an urban school with a culturally diverse student body. The student initially struggled to connect with students due to a lack of understanding of cultural diversity, leading to ineffective teaching methods and communication issues. The essay details the student's journey of self-discovery, highlighting the importance of acknowledging cultural differences, creating inclusive classroom environments, and addressing issues like stereotyping and in-group/out-group dynamics. Through various strategies like individual interactions, discussions about stereotypes, and fun activities, the student learned to foster respect, understanding, and effective communication among students from various backgrounds. The essay emphasizes the significance of intercultural education, the impact of cultural misunderstandings, and the need for teachers to adapt their methods to accommodate diverse student needs, ultimately creating a more inclusive and effective learning environment. The student's reflection underscores the importance of cultural competency in education and its profound impact on student success and overall classroom dynamics.

Running head: CULTURAL DIVERSITY
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Culture is one of the most vital parts of an individual’s life, it shapes an individual’s
identity and influences behavior (Jenkins, 2014). Therefore, when working with people or
building a relationship with people from different cultural background considering the cultural
background often helps in understanding their perspective. In this paper, I will discuss the
cultural experience I have had and reflect on this to learn the importance of cultural diversity in
our life. The incident will be described and elaborated since I consider it as one of the important
experience that helped me learn regarding the significance of culture.
The incident selected for discussing in the essay is a reflection on my internship as a
teacher. I consider it as a valuable experience since it has changed my perception of culture and
cultural diversity. I was raised in a place where I did not get the opportunity of interacting with
people belonging from another cultural background. Hence, this experience has provided me
with in-depth cultural insights and understandings regarding culture as a vital factor.
The incident:
After my board examination, I had days to figure out my career interest. During that time
I decided to teach in a school as an intern. Since the school was in the center of the urban city,
the place had the best schools. Children came from various places to get the best education with
the best resources. I was thrilled to interact with the children and work as a teacher since it was
my first internship. I was preparing myself for giving them the best I could for which the school
was known widely and well recognized. However, regardless of all my preparation, I could not
provide the best to the children as I wanted or thought.
Understanding diversity cannot be taught, and it is something that begins at a personal
level. It can go wrong if the concept and its significance are not understood. Before an individual

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explores the cultural dynamics and group differences, it is important to understand the
importance of culture in our lives (White & Gunstone, 2014). We largely depend on culture and
our culture shape our perceptions. It took me very long to understand the flaw in the teaching
method. It lacked the value of cultural diversity which I realized a significant issue. Culture is
one of the vital tool of the business and that can be applied to any form of communication. It is
the most crucial part of intercultural communication which can cause several disaster if not taken
care appropriately (Samaha, Beck & Palmatier, 2014).
It is not surprising that cultural diversity is highly relevant in every country due to
increasing globalization and mobilization. In the central part of the city, children come from a
varied background including immigrants from different countries, children from the indigenous
background and many other backgrounds (Benería, Berik & Floro, 2015). We need to be aware
of the fact that a classroom can be inclusive of people from a diverse culture which may include
bi-racial, adoptive, step-families, adoptive, gay, financially weak, belonging from a single parent,
white, black, Asian and anything possible. Today, in the 21st century it is widely common and
acceptable. However, I was unaware of the fact as I grew up in a place that was explicitly
involved solely by people of my own community. I never had the chance to get involved with
other culture.
I would prepare myself to teach the student about a chapter from a day before and explain
with every detail. I would break every concept in order to make them understand and the
response that I received was nodding. The mock tests that would take in order to understand
whether the students have successfully understood only gave me disappointing answers. It took
me a while to understand that it was not the children however it was me who failed to understand
the students. When discussed with a co-worker I realized my actions and thinking was dominated

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by my culture as well. My teaching method was lacking the most basic factor, effective
communication. The language, expression, and communication were the major problems of the
way I carried out my job. I taught in a way that was shaped by my culture such as speaking
English. Insufficient use of the more expressive ways of communicating, its academic use, oral
and written expression was some of the basic flaws. In general, my use of language as a tool for
communication and construction of knowledge was different than my student which demanded
fast amendments.
The discussion on education and socio-cultural diversity needs to be encapsulated within
the framework of intercultural education. There can be four main approaches to intercultural and
multicultural education: the approaches will involve affirmation of the host country’s culture, it
can be as a prospect for the integration of culture, it can be to acknowledge plurality and lastly it
can be to cultural asymmetry (Dervin, 2015).
After being aware of the factors that lead to the culture gap I began to work on it. I began
interacting with the students on an individual basis. Each student had a different environment,
family structure, and place of origin, different values, festivals and many more. While few
students were fluent English speaker, few were faced with difficulty. There were not one but
many issues within the four walls that demanded attention. Children are naïve who imitate and
learn. They learn what they are taught by their teachers and family (Cooley, 2017). Since the
class was full of children belong from a different background, the first basic thing was to create
bonding between all the students. Relationships are very powerful and when the one-to-one
connection is built, it becomes the foundation for change. Building a relationship with people
from a different culture is the key to making diverse communities which are not only powerful
but also strong enough to achieve any goals. Therefore, before they began their class, I did a

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small introduction section where each child introduced themselves along with their hobbies. In
this way, students got to recognize their classmates and their interest that made them talk more
often. Through this way, when two children from different cultural background speak to each
other, they become aware of the cultural difference and learn to respect them. Often learning
cultural competency is vital as well as challenging as an adult (Isaacson, 2014).
One of the issues in the class was stereotyping which was surprising to some extent to
me. Since children are the utterly innocent and straight thinker, the stereotype was an uninvited
problem. However, it took some time to realize that children at first take their time to interest
with people from different background. Identifying stereotyping is classroom is a serious threat
(Wasserberg, 2014). It can spread negative feeling among people who are the victim of
stereotypes such as girls, indigenous, black, economically backward or Asian children (Gregory
& Fergus, 2017). Often success among these people would surprise other children as they were
not expected to do better. As soon as I became aware of the fact, I skipped a class to make them
understand the concept of stereotype and its impact on us along with the way it can harm people.
Addressing and learning about stereotype helped the children understand social equality. In-
group and out-group is a matter of favoritism, and although it was not a prominent issue in class
it can be severe (Kurzban & Neuberg, 2015). I knew this was in the mind of the children in some
way, specifically among the children who were from a different cultural or racial background.
Since many students felt I had a different attitude towards people with whom I have cultural
similarities, I felt the need to explain the terms to them and the criteria that would make me favor
them, such as hard work and excellent result. The in-group in the class consisted of a few
children who were aware of the cultural similarities between them and me. In some way, they
felt they felt empowered for being culturally the same. Also, the children who belonged from

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different background felt people who do not identify with the group who identifies with me.
Hence, they felt socially isolated and underprivileged. A teacher can teach various things through
her skills, and it was one of the classes where through a fun activity I explained to the students
the in-group and out-group created by them were absurd and instead they need to create groups
on academically good, sports good and event organizing right.
When a class is full of students from various areas with a different background, it can
become difficult to understand their expected behavior. However, it is not something unusual
which I realized later. Since cultures shape our behavior, it is well known that people from a
diverse cultural background will have different behavior pattern. In this way, it is significant that
we understand the culture of the other person. I was helped by a senior in the workplace who told
me to make the children write about their friend’s culture that may involve festivals or any other
cultural aspects. By doing this they will gain an insight to their classmate’s culture making them
understand their behavior pattern. I was often misunderstood by my students or I would
misunderstand my students. It was certainly a cultural misunderstanding. Certain behavior’s that
play vital roles in shaping our cultures such as gestures that show respect, gestures that are signs
of insults or disrespectful, friendliness and many more (Taylor et al., 2014). A person may say
yes, and the other person may think of it as no due to cultural misunderstanding. Therefore, it
was something that required me to work on it. I took time understanding my students and taking
initiatives of interacting with their parents. This made me better at understanding my students
and act accordingly.
Prejudice is unfair and unreasonable opinion without the appropriate of adequate
information (Gellman, 2017). If not all, but most of the students may feel they are the victim of
prejudice. In the multicultural class, discrimination is a common phenomenon. However, it is the

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job of the teacher to ensure such phenomenon do not occur. Every student is assigned with their
basic human rights and they are entitled to their basic rights. They can raise their voice when
they want and to speak their mind. However, for several social factors, it is not always carried
out in the same way. Often discrimination and prejudice are not deliberate, and yet it is observed
that acts as an obstacle for some to perform their best. Therefore, it was vital for me to address
the discriminations that were against the indigenous student and other minorities. To reduce
classroom prejudice, I mentioned and made the students understand about my expectations. It
was essential to make a strict decision against discrimination. I began responding immediately
towards insensitivity every time I encountered. Also, I discussed about making posters with the
head of the department with contents that are against discrimination, it was widely encouraged.
Student learned from the activities much more than they did solely through texts.
I began teaching with digital devices which would not only help them translating certain
concepts in their own language but also gave better understanding with graphical representation.
Along with time, I understood students were liking my class and get better with the subject by
understanding it in better ways. They would come with issues and perform well in the mock tests
as well. Through culture, a person’s ‘way of being’ is formed. Culture involves shared values,
language, beliefs, values, norms, and behaviors along with materials objects that are passed
down from the old generation. Cultural diversity has been playing a strong part in people’s lives
as it influences our views and our values.

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Dervin, F. (2015). Towards post-intercultural teacher education: analysing ‘extreme’intercultural
dialogue to reconstruct interculturality. European Journal of Teacher Education, 38(1),
71-86.
Gellman, R. (2017). Fair information practices: A basic history. Available at SSRN 2415020.
Gregory, A., & Fergus, E. (2017). Social and emotional learning and equity in school
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Isaacson, M. (2014). Clarifying concepts: Cultural humility or competency. Journal of
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