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We Have Work to Do!. by Joan Zanders Director of Financial Aid Northern Virginia Community College Chair, VASFAA FOCUS Committee. Lest any one of us feels that we work in isolation or are the norm for our own universe, please consider the following information.
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We Have Work to Do! by Joan Zanders Director of Financial Aid Northern Virginia Community College Chair, VASFAA FOCUS Committee
Lest any one of us feels that we work in isolation or are the norm for our own universe,please consider the followinginformation.
If the world were a village of 1000 people (mid-1990s statistics): • 584 Asians • 124 Africans • 95 East and West Europeans • 84 South and Central Americans • 55 people from states of former Soviet Union • 52 North Americans (not exactly a majority) • 6 Australians and New Zealanders
Communication would be difficult because: • 165 speak Mandarin • 86 speak English • 83 speak Hindi/Urdu • 64 speak Spanish • 58 speak Russian • 37 speak Arabic • The other half speak 200 other languages
More Recent Figures for World as Village of 100: • 61 Asian (20 of those Chinese/17 from India) • 14 African • 11 European • 9 Latin & South American • 5 North American • Not enough from Australia, Oceania, Antarctica to register
Of those 100 villagers: • 50 male & 50 female • 75 non-white and 25 white • 27 under the age of 15; 7 over 64 • 53 would live on less than $2 US per day • By end of year, one would die and two would be born - net 101
Of those 100 villagers: • 33 Christians • 20 Muslims • 13 Hindus • 6 Buddhists • 2 atheists • 12 non-religious • 14 – Other religions
Fifty years ago, over half of immigrants to U.S. were still from Europe. Today…Mexico, the Philippines, Jamaica, El Salvador, Haiti, Vietnam, Korea, India, China, middle-East, African countries, and many developing countries.
A sense of greater differences! A defensive move to even stronger Ethnocentrism:Believing, as a people group, that our own solutions in developing a culture are superior to any others and would be recognized as superior by any right-thinking, intelligent, logical human being.
As a people, as a country, as individuals, we have work to do!! Consider the following concepts. Elaboration will follow in future columns.
Concept #2: People respond based on their socialization, not mine--or yours.
Subtitles for future articles:“Things I Have Had to Learn Over and Over Again….”
“An individual’s mind—once stretched —can never return to its original size.”
We can’t put it back the way it was—no matter what that “was”! Per Dr. Steven M. Covey, the goal is synergy, the creation of a culture that is so much greater than the sum of its parts.
Creating that culture is not easy; it is hard work. You are an important part of that work. Diversity is about everybody. This work is about me—and you, whoever we are.
