I was initially very disappointed in the score that I got. I placed myself in acceptance but got minimization- “an orientation that highlights cultural commonality and universal values and principles that may also mask deeper recognition and appreciation of cultural differences.” I guess I thought I was more accepting of other cultures than the test found. There was a “meaningful difference” in my perception of myself and what the test found. Reading the description made me change my reaction to the score I got. David had said that it was not a good/bad scoring test but I still saw my score on the scale and I just saw it as bad, even though it know it was not what the test was showing. The description made it clearer and sort of removed the self-imposed stigma. I also saw my own actions in the example given with Ellen. I’ll make sure to think about this when I get to England and try to catch myself from just glossing over meaningful differences between cultures. Thinking about it, I can think of instances where I stress similarities between people rather than the differences, I just did not think it was a bad thing to do. I will focus more on the differences between people as ways of increasing understanding and acceptance of others. The trailing orientation does make sense, as I am often critical of the U.S. when learning about other cultures and places. I think the reason I did not score very high on the cultural disengagement scale because I am not quite sure of parts of my cultural identity. I seem to identify with only certain parts of them or in certain situations. Going through my IDI plan, something that really stuck out to me was that I should “identify strategies to check [my] perceptions about others so that [I] can confirm that [I] have truly discovered similarities and not assumed common values, perceptions, values or behaviors”.
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I am most excited to leave the country and experience the world! I want to experience these places that I have learned about and see the history in person. I also want to see what it is like to live away from my family and friends. That is also something that I am anxious about. I have never really been away from home in a large capacity, and never without my brother and/or sister. I’m hoping I won’t be homesick but I very much rely on my siblings when I do anything new. I’ll definitely find out new things about myself on this trip and I’m so excited for it!
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