Compare and contrast differences and similarities among cultures.

There are many differences and similarities among all the different cultures. For example, in American culture obesity is a big issue. Many other countries do not have as big of an issue with obesity as Americans. We emphasize consuming fast, even though we know it is bad for us. Another issue, even the United States, is homosexuality. Depending on where you go in the United States and how you were raised, homosexuality can be accepted or not. Across the globe, gender roles have the same basic stereotype. The women stay home and cook, clean, do the shopping, and take care of the children. Women’s gender roles are stereotyped as housewives while the men go to work and make the money to provide for the wife and children. Men are also many times stereotyped as being strong and powerful. As men are stereotyped as being powerful, women are stereotyped as being weak and helpless. They are stereotyped as needing to be rescued and taken care of by men. Another difference among different cultures is they degree to which individualism is encouraged. Many countries, like the United States, encourage individualism. They encourage people to be themselves and to be unique. However, many other countries look down on individualism and encourage collectivism, for example, China.

What Cultural Diversity Means to Me Today

In my opinion, cultural diversity in any society is a must. As far as teachers go, being able to be a living example of how to deal with the growing number of diverse cultures in a classroom is essential. Children learn from watching others. Not only do teachers need to be aware of cultural diversity and respecting cultural diversity, but also everyone should respect cultural diversity. People need to show actions that are supportive of diversity and can lead by example. Teachers need to have open minds and should teach children to be open minded as well. In my opinion, being open-minded alone is not good enough. Teachers need to be willing to understand the diverse nature of different cultures and should research diverse cultures and new ways to help their students. All students are from different cultures and backgrounds and may not react or understand things in the same way. I believe that assimilation is not the way this country needs to be headed. I think that America needs to value that we are such a diverse group of people and use this diversity to grow so that people become more tolerant and understanding of people who may seem different from us. There are many places in this world where there are only a handful of different cultures present. Americans are lucky to be able to experience many different cultures from many different parts of the world including the ones developed right here in America, sometimes all in one day. Americans should nurture our cultural diversity as it allows people to respect their heritage and others’ heritages at the same time.