I have a dream...

[_BP_]

If there are two children growing up next door to each other and always over at each others' house etc how can they NOT be the same culture?

Like I said Vinny, there are some things that you actually do not understand.  Believe it or not.

[Young Esq.]

Well, I can see what you are talking about. I am adopted and my family is still in Greece, I am really starting to want to learn everything I can about them and the Greek life itself. My mom here says that she wants me to give it a rest and I am really not liking that.
But still, wouldn't I have the same culture as the people I grew up around? I did NOT  live in Greece my entire life like the rest of my family, so reading a book on Greece isn't going to make me just as cultured as someone here from Greece, now is it?
THis is why I am sayhing wjhat I have been saying abotu this idea.

Take this into consideration. What if the terrorist bombers were Greek. Even though you knew little about your culture, when people start stereotyping, you would feel Greek real quick. A lot of times it has nothing t do with who you are inside or what you know, It's how people perceive you that can make you turn to a level of wanting to understand why you are put into this group you know little about.

[ImVinny!]

This makes sense, I guess I would feel that way, like it was ME they were after.
But still, I don't understand how the scenario I give is not true? You are saying that poor black kids are poorer than poor white kids? Even in let's say the black kids are a tier above the white kids? Huh?

[Young Esq.]

This makes sense, I guess I would feel that way, like it was ME they were after.
But still, I don't understand how the scenario I give is not true? You are saying that poor black kids are poorer than poor white kids? Even in let's say the black kids are a tier above the white kids? Huh?

Didn't even mention being rich or poor. How did economics get attached. Im talking about culture. With blacks economics doesn't play a big role in culture.

[ThePerfectSoldier]

Culture has at LEAST an equal, and likely much more important focus on parentage, religion, and self identification than it does on location although location is important...living with people from other ethnic groups does not make you of the same culture as them.  I do not have the same culture as, say, a practicing Jewish person becuase I might live in the same neighborhood. 

[psr13]

Where is all this disadvantage and gripe stuff coming from? This is a completely different argument for AA. I said nothing about disadvantage. Some schools may want people with different cultures because people of different cultures will contribute different opinions and see things from a different perspective.

Culture is not race. I am white. I am from the same culture as many hispanics and Asians are from. There are also a few blacks from this culture.[b] My culture is that of central Garden Grove, CA. [/b] I dod not have different morals, values, and beliefs from people that were of a different color. We pretty much were the same in those categories.

Hilarious.  No, seriously..haha

Please explain to me how it is hilarious. I could make it an even narrower definition of what culture I am from if it would please you.

If you really think that you share the same culture and belief systems of someone because you live in the same neighborhood then I am at a loss for even how to begin to explain this to you.  You might just have to figure this one out on your own.

Thanks. I didn't know that you were an expert on me and the place where I grew up. If you were from there you would understand what I am saying. Culture has nothing to so with one's race. Yes, the people who I grew up with had pretty much the same beliefs.

[psr13]

Culture has at LEAST an equal, and likely much more important focus on parentage, religion, and self identification than it does on location although location is important...living with people from other ethnic groups does not make you of the same culture as them.  I do not have the same culture as, say, a practicing Jewish person becuase I might live in the same neighborhood. 

See, where I come from we had I think one Jewish family. Almost every family there is a part of some a Christian denomination.

[ThePerfectSoldier]

That's one thing.  How much of your community, however, was made up of people whose parents were immigrants?

[J D]

Where is all this disadvantage and gripe stuff coming from? This is a completely different argument for AA. I said nothing about disadvantage. Some schools may want people with different cultures because people of different cultures will contribute different opinions and see things from a different perspective.

Culture is not race. I am white. I am from the same culture as many hispanics and Asians are from. There are also a few blacks from this culture.[b] My culture is that of central Garden Grove, CA. [/b] I dod not have different morals, values, and beliefs from people that were of a different color. We pretty much were the same in those categories.

Hilarious.  No, seriously..haha

Please explain to me how it is hilarious. I could make it an even narrower definition of what culture I am from if it would please you.

If you really think that you share the same culture and belief systems of someone because you live in the same neighborhood then I am at a loss for even how to begin to explain this to you.  You might just have to figure this one out on your own.

Thanks. I didn't know that you were an expert on me and the place where I grew up. If you were from there you would understand what I am saying. Culture has nothing to so with one's race. Yes, the people who I grew up with had pretty much the same beliefs.

I think what BP was trying to say is that (in general) if you live in a very diverse community or city, then what you were saying could not be further from the truth.  I live in Miami.  Just because I live next to, and wor and study with, lots of Cubans, other Hispanics, Haitians, Jews, Asians, etc., doesn't mean we all have the same cultural attitiudes or traditions.  Maybe many of us will share or come to share a lot of things culturally, but our cultures still won't be the same.  Just because I speak some Spanish, am Roman Catholic, like Cuban coffee and pastelitos (especially cheese or meat; I don't care for guava at all), and know a bit about Cuban history doesn't make me Cuban.  Not by a long shot.

[Freak]

I get the impression people on this board are equating culture with practices.

When you live in the same location as anyone you are exposed to the same culture. If one family decides to follow different cultural practices that doesn't mean they are from a different culture. It generally means they understand both cultures, unless they choose not to learn the culture they are in.

The Greek example is poor. What others perceive your culture to be does not change your culture.

The diversity desired by Universities would be best accomplished by attempting geographical diversity (down to the neighborhood level) and reading personal statements. Experience based diversity benefits education more than cultural diversity. We can learn from the experiences of others (e.g. when you are a truck driver you know techniques for driving in adverse weather, when you wait tables you know how to tip); cultural difference exposure simply helps us to interact with different cultures, a single aspect of education.