Option #5: A range of academic interests, personal
perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your
personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would
bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that
demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
Diversity is
imperative to societal success; I have seen personally what happens to a
society that is not diverse. Paraguay does not embrace other cultures in
women’s rights, environmental issues, or individual preferences. Even in the
smallest aspects Paraguayans rejects cultural differences. In United States, by
embracing the ideas of everyone, a society can move forward.
Though
I have always been
mentally different than the average person, from my opinions, vegetarian life
style and personal hardships, back in the United States I fit in pretty well
physically; I am an average girl, blonde hair, average height, with a natural
tanned complexion. After spending three years of my life at Denver East High
school, one of the most culturally diverse high schools in Colorado, I decided
that I wanted to learn a language and see the world. I enrolled in Denver
Online High School and made one of the biggest, best and most challenging
decisions of my life so far, to go abroad with AFS Intercultural Programs to
Paraguay.
That is where I sit today, in Paraguay, in
the one hundred and twenty degree heat.
Coming from Denver and being a regular at Keystone and Breckenridge ski
resorts, an all American girl, not quite fluent in Spanish, and definitely not
fluent in the second language Guarani, let’s just say I do not quite fit in. I
have never missed diversity quite so much in my life. Here in Paraguay, the
people, for the most part are physically all the same: black hair, brown eyes
and average height. Generally when there is someone that looks different, it is
due to cosmetic alteration or to being a person from Peace Corps, AFS, or a
Mormon organization. With looks aside, the average person in Paraguay has the
same thoughts and opinions on many things.
Paraguayans do not
value the preferences of others´ opinions and tastes regarding food. For
instance, if I dislike a food it is because I hate their culture not because I
do not enjoy the food. My host father told me that it is a matter of choice if
I like the food because it is completely mental. He expressed that I am
rejecting Paraguayan culture by simply not enjoying tomatoes. In the United
States, I was a vegetarian. However, when I decided to move to Paraguay I did a
lot of research and learned that meat was a huge part of their diet. Therefore,
I decided to give up my beliefs for a year to better embrace the culture of
Paraguay.
Being a woman here is
hard, because when it comes to women, the beliefs are that they belong in lower
level jobs, or in the house, and are to be seen and not heard. When it comes to education, the men believe
the issues that are present are because there are too many women that are teachers.
When the women are asked about their opinions, they are too scared to voice
their own opinions around the males. Though life here as a women is very
difficult, it is astounding how tightly knitted the families are, because the
women spend a great deal of time in their homes and they devote themselves
primarily to their families. I embrace their value of the closeness of the
families.
One of the largest issues
in Paraguay at the moment is that Lake Ypacaraí has turned a repulsive murky
green color because of the trash and phosphate dumping. To the Paraguayans,
this is a governmental issue and not a personal one. Because the government has
not created regulations on dumping, the people do not think that it is their
responsibility. Therefore, they keep on dumping. The government is attempting
to solve these issues with the environment by banning certain chemical
concentrations, but it will take a lot of time given the attitudes of the
people.
Over the past seven months
I have come to love this country, yet I am giddy to go home in four months. I
am looking forward to seeing my family, friends, starting college and having a
variety of perspectives due to the diversity of people in the United States. It
becomes exhausting, while living in Paraguay, to have my opinions put aside by
the reasoning that either: I am a woman, therefore my opinion is irrelevant,
and I have no idea what I am talking about, or because I am from the United
States, so I must not respect any other cultures, therefore, my opinions are
not valid. It will be refreshing to be back in United States where the values
of women are embraced.
By comparing my hometown, Denver,
Colorado, to Paraguay, I see how diversity affects people and their
surroundings. In Colorado, people do not commonly reject new knowledge. Also,
people collaborate to design buildings and memorials, which then become more
than just a buildings or places, they become art. When people from diverse
cultures have produced something together, it is like art. By seeing how
different Paraguay and Colorado are, I understand the necessity of diversity. I
also understand that there is a lot that goes into building a successful
country. Diversification of a society is a huge
part of a country´s ability to move forward in the areas of environment,
psychology, and education.
I see more and more every day here
how diversity is so important, because it allows people to open their minds to
new ideas and concepts. Diversity brings openness, discussion, learning and
respect for people from different ages, cultures, colors and economic classes.
It also increases the intelligence in different sections of learning, by
exchanging different knowledge that the other may not be familiar with. I feel
that if Paraguay´s culture were more diverse, it would improve socially and
economically, as well as educationally. I will be sad to have to leave my
friends and life here in Paraguay, from the nice people to the relaxed
lifestyle. However, I am grateful to be returning to United States where
diversity valued.
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