Awareness

Speaking of diversity, one teacher mentioned that there was no diversity among kids.  As teachers, all kids are equally important.  I agreed.  Another teacher mentioned that some kids have special needs.  That's diversity.  Teachers have to be sensitive towards individual students' needs.  I agreed.  Here was another one: A certain ethnic group of kids have typical similarities in their behaviors.  Perhaps, family values take a large part of our cultural representation as well as when we speak about diversity.  It sounded like participants enjoy sharing their diverse ideas of their own.  Diversity can be categorized as large as ethnic groups, yet as small as wearing glasses or not.  But why is diversity in education so important in our society?

I grew up in Japan not knowing much of ethnic diversity nor of any other kind.  Students had been discouraged to look different.  If you extend the length of your uniform skirt, you would be punished in the behavior room.  If your hair was touching your shoulder, you would be asked to braid or cut it.  It was not so fun to be controlled by someone, but I didn't necessarily question it. I cynically admitted that this whole nation preferred not to have diversity; they were comfortable enough to simply be, act, and think the same way, rather than looking for their identity.

When we talk about serious bully cases among Japanese youngsters, I think of the country's historical background.  They can't discriminate against any color of skin, but there are always reasons to put down from a bully's perspective.  In Japanese history class, I learned about Shogun's hierarchy system based on their business.  Samurais, Farmers, Technicians, then Merchants are in the order.  The government put farmers in the second hierarchy because the high rank would compromise their hardest physical work, which was not a successful tactic.  It was clear that the farmer's sacrifice-their hard work, yet lowest pay among others-was not only putting them down in society then, but still continues to affect people's view of farmers.  Some people really want to feel superior by putting other people down for any reasons, even if these reasons are apparently not reasonable at all.  It is a complete and unfortunate lack of cultural and self-awareness education.

Linda Sue Park's amazing juvenile novel, When My Name was Keoko opened my eyes on how to look at my own culture as well as different cultures.  I wish I could have read this book when I was in Japan.  I believe all Japanese youngsters must read and learn of perspectives that are different than those written by Japanese authors. I never knew how the Japanese military and government treated Koreans during my formal schooling in Japan.  Yes, Japan was the victim of the atomic bomb, which is a significant historical fact, but they also to add that their invasion impacted people's lives in several Asian countries, because these two pieces of evidence are the reasons Japan will never participate in the war.  During World War II, Germany, Italy, and Japan bullied other countries.  The Japanese, Korean, and Chinese all look the same, but cruelty against different ethnic groups sadly escalated during that terrible time.  If the world doesn't want to repeat that terrible experience again, we have to promote more education about self-awareness and cultural-awareness.

First, you must know who you are and where your family value is coming from.  Respect elders, but know that you don't have to sacrifice your wishes because of it.  Respect your own just because you are as important as other individuals.  If you know yourself, you will become resilient no matter how much pressure you receive from fellow peers.  You must represent yourself.  There should be plenty of opportunities to explore what you are good at, with these opportunities appearing as early as in your primary school age.  There should be many discussion opportunities to exchange your opinions over social issues with your peers and appropriate teachers' guidance.

Then, you will grow room for others in your mind setting.  By learning their cultures, values, and history, you can find several alternatives to cope with their differences.  That is the true 21st century international citizen.  Diversity can be the strongest tool for our society.  From the personal level to the large ethnic level, open your mind to learn each other.  True 21st century citizens don't blame on or make excuses because of diversity.  True 21st century citizens have the ability to solve problems by their own contribution and knowledge of diversity.