edwkoc
Jan 3, 2012
Undergraduate / 'Filipino' - Boston University- The Importance of Diversity around the world [2]
BU attracts students from more countries than are represented in the United Nations. Our global presence and reputation are important and are reflected in the perspectives, opinions, and experiences of our students. Why is this type of environment important to you?
My experiences on the other side of the world have helped attract me to Boston University because I have learned to embrace the diversity I have as an individual of many different perspectives. As a "Filipino American" who celebrates the Lutheran religion, I am a minority in a country where being part of a minority in some way is simply "the norm." In other countries however, this is not the case. In the Philippines, I learned that mostly everyone not only has similar physical features, but people also all come from a similar way of life and have a shared perspective. Therefore, during my trip, I enthusiastically anticipated to be perceived as a member of the Filipino majority.
In my efforts to do so, I became my Filipino cousin's shadow and followed her everywhere she went. Yet, although I hoped to blend in the crowd, when I sat in her classroom among thirty other pupils that Friday morning, I immediately noticed that I was the un-uniformed sore thumb in the room. Again in mass on Sunday, her whispered translations of the morning's Catholic prayer were followed by glares from nearby families. Even in places where there was nothing I did to draw peoples' attention I still got stares and I soon learned why. Although I had inherited the Filipino brown skin, chocolate eyes, flat nose, and round face, one of my inherited features didn't match up-my curly German hair, which again made me a minority in a place where I had hoped to be part of the majority.
I soon became jealous of my cousin's life because, unlike her, I have never been able to share similar, if not the same perspective as everyone around me. And my curiosity came with never ending questions. "What's it like living on an island?" "Do roosters always wake you up?!" She giggled at my naivety but what always surprised me were the questions she asked me in return. "Do maple trees make syrup?!" "Is snow real?!"
And then it hit me. I realized that my cousin was to me the same that I was to her: a source of diversity. I was the only person in her life that offered something other than a Filipino perspective and vice versa. Even though I was again a minority in the Philippines, my diversity was something I could share not only with her, but with everyone else as well. In fact, it was something that made me different from the crowd in a good way. So, the next day I asked to talk to the younger students at her school. I taught them American games like Hide and Seek and Simon Says that may have been redundant to me, but exciting for all of them.
In my experiences in the Philippines, not only did I gain a perspective on the importance of diversity, but I also found confidence being a member of a minority both in the Philippines and in the United States. I realize now that without minorities, diversity would not exist. Therefore, while diversity found in the BU community is very important to me, I think what is even more important is being proud to be part of a minority and willing to share that diversity with others-a role that I would proudly fulfil as a student at Boston University.
BU attracts students from more countries than are represented in the United Nations. Our global presence and reputation are important and are reflected in the perspectives, opinions, and experiences of our students. Why is this type of environment important to you?
My experiences on the other side of the world have helped attract me to Boston University because I have learned to embrace the diversity I have as an individual of many different perspectives. As a "Filipino American" who celebrates the Lutheran religion, I am a minority in a country where being part of a minority in some way is simply "the norm." In other countries however, this is not the case. In the Philippines, I learned that mostly everyone not only has similar physical features, but people also all come from a similar way of life and have a shared perspective. Therefore, during my trip, I enthusiastically anticipated to be perceived as a member of the Filipino majority.
In my efforts to do so, I became my Filipino cousin's shadow and followed her everywhere she went. Yet, although I hoped to blend in the crowd, when I sat in her classroom among thirty other pupils that Friday morning, I immediately noticed that I was the un-uniformed sore thumb in the room. Again in mass on Sunday, her whispered translations of the morning's Catholic prayer were followed by glares from nearby families. Even in places where there was nothing I did to draw peoples' attention I still got stares and I soon learned why. Although I had inherited the Filipino brown skin, chocolate eyes, flat nose, and round face, one of my inherited features didn't match up-my curly German hair, which again made me a minority in a place where I had hoped to be part of the majority.
I soon became jealous of my cousin's life because, unlike her, I have never been able to share similar, if not the same perspective as everyone around me. And my curiosity came with never ending questions. "What's it like living on an island?" "Do roosters always wake you up?!" She giggled at my naivety but what always surprised me were the questions she asked me in return. "Do maple trees make syrup?!" "Is snow real?!"
And then it hit me. I realized that my cousin was to me the same that I was to her: a source of diversity. I was the only person in her life that offered something other than a Filipino perspective and vice versa. Even though I was again a minority in the Philippines, my diversity was something I could share not only with her, but with everyone else as well. In fact, it was something that made me different from the crowd in a good way. So, the next day I asked to talk to the younger students at her school. I taught them American games like Hide and Seek and Simon Says that may have been redundant to me, but exciting for all of them.
In my experiences in the Philippines, not only did I gain a perspective on the importance of diversity, but I also found confidence being a member of a minority both in the Philippines and in the United States. I realize now that without minorities, diversity would not exist. Therefore, while diversity found in the BU community is very important to me, I think what is even more important is being proud to be part of a minority and willing to share that diversity with others-a role that I would proudly fulfil as a student at Boston University.
