Reflection on Diversity Essay

I used to have a colleague in college who happens to be born into a royal family but was very humble and down to earth. She never wanted to be treated like the princess that she was and did everything possible to fit in and be like every normal student. Most people couldn’t stand her because they felt she was misusing her opportunity and others were jealous of her and as a result of this most people started to avoid her and criticize everything she did and tried to make her life miserable by playing pranks on her and calling her names but she never retaliated because she was different from the rest of us. Instead she treated everyone nicely even when they treated her bad. This made me sympathize with her because I couldn’t understand how some people can afford to dislike somebody else so much just because she was different in a good way. It made me realize that no matter how good we are and treat others well, we shouldn’t expect to be treated nicely by everyone e lse because at the end of the day, what really matters is that we have a clear conscience. From the article â€Å"To Be Asian in America†, when the Asians arrive America they began to realize that they are different. â€Å"Identities get challenged and they have to deal with what it means to be American or resident Alien†, says John Kuo Wei Tchen, the founding director of the A/P/A Studies Program and Institute at New York University. Some Asian Americans relied on assimilation (a process where some of the majority group’s cultural aspects are absorbed in such a manner that the home cultural aspects get lost or mitigated) as a means of blending in with American society as an attempt to escape anti-Asian sentiments that heightened during World War 11. â€Å"The question about how much they wanted to or did assimilate is a question of how much they were permitted to assimilate†, says Gary Okihiro, director of the center for the study of Ethnicity and Race and a professor of International and public affairs at Columbia University. Today, ties to home remain strong for new Asian immigrants; however , many families  experience acculturation- the process of assimilating new ideas into an existing cognitive structure – with U.S.- born generations. â€Å"Parents would like to think their children are going to be very embracive and very welcoming of their of the parents’ own culture†, says Franklin Ng, a professor in the anthropology department of California state University – Fresno. â€Å"Parents may have these kinds of supportive mechanisms, encouraging them to go to a temple, or ethnic church, so their children will become familiar with their ethnic culture but the youth are having their own trajectory. Looking at Social Class: The fiction of Meritocracy, The most popular measures of class are income and wealth. It is also measured by educational achievement and occupational prestige. Classism results from prejudices based on false assumptions. Despite widely held perceptions, social class mobility in the United States is far from fluid. Those born with few resources face serious obstacles in their efforts to achieve higher economic and social status. Those born into privilege are given a head start in life with many extra boosts along the way. Once it is recognized that merit has only a small role in determining one’s place on the social ladder, the foundation of classroom crumbles. References Harvey, C. P., & Allard, M. J. (2012). Understanding and managing diversity: Readings, cases, and exercises (5th ed.). Upper saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Devry University (2014). Week 3 Lecture: Identity and Difference SOCS-350N. Retrieved from www.devry.net