Labelling essay
Labelling in high schools is a common phenomenon to almost all the high schools. Personally being a victim of the circumstance. Mentioning about labelling always reminds me of my second year of study in high school when the Maths teacher labelled me as a Slow learner. My classmates laughed at me and braded me the nickname “Quake”.
The experience negatively affected my interaction with them by lowering my self-esteem. It created a sense of learned helplessness and made me feel stupid before the rest of my classmates. In any case I felt inferior in arguments involving mathematics and could not even contribute at all.
Given a chance to change the “slow learner” label I would not have hesitated to rebrand it considering the adverse impact it caused on my attitude towards Mathematics. I developed a hatred attitude towards the subject which translated to failure even in my final exams. If only the teacher encouraged me to put efforts instead of labeling me, I guess I could have considerably improved on the subject.
Studying abroad was one of my dreams since childhood until I got a scholarship to study in Australia. Encountering cultural practices similar to my home country was my expectation just as it would be for every person. Contrally, this was not always the case. My biggest cultural surprises were;
Revealing clothing being common without necessarily implying that the wearer wants to have sex but just the culture of the people
When a friend invites you out for dinner, both of you are expected to share the bill not considering who invited who
It really took time for me to adapt to this culture. For instance, I could be invited by a friend for a meal and be reminded to give my contribution towards the bill every time since according to my culture the person who invites is supposed to pay for the bills alone
I chose not to assimilate to wearing revealing clothes because it was against my cultural belief. As ladies, wearing revealing clothes diminished our reputation. Not assimilating to this cultural practice helped me escape the punishment I could get from society elders by trying it at my home country during holidays.
It is a fact that the United States will soon become a majority-minority country. In accordance to the 2014 census it was projected that more than 20 million children under the age of 5 years in the U.S, 50.2 percent were the minorities. According to the U.S bureau of census, the percentage has kept a considerable increase in every year. This means that soon the whites with Hispanic origin will be the largest minority.
This is a good trend as it points out to a more diversified world were rates of intermarriages are increasing to encourage intercultural links which will encourage peace and harmony
Chauvinism simply means exaggerated or aggressive patriotism. The problem with chauvinism is as a result of promoting one group over another. This makes the underrated group feel inferior while the promoted feel superior. As a result this promotes antagonism between the two groups
We should be proud of our national cultures and pour out the individual co-cultures as this will give a sense of belonging and promote peaceful co-existence regardless of differences.
Chauvinism is good because an individual is just having a different personality, which by the way is natural. Being proud to be who he/she is and firmly believing on what he thinks is right, without overly offending others.
According to Martin Niemoller, nothing like the Nazi roundup of those who were different could ever happen again. The overall message of Martin Niemoller was that everyone should be instinctively cared about, everyone deserves attention and protection. It is moving reminder today not to forget the lessons of the past.