On Wednesday, October 6, 2021, I attended a conversation with Dr. Rouech to discuss our upbringings in order to better understand ourselves and others.

 

I learned about this event because my TA recommended it to us. She said that it was one of her more enjoyable PDP events and wanted some of us to attend as well. Once I had heard about it, I thought that a conversation like this may force me to think about aspects of my life that I never had before. The conversation revolved around the idea that it can be difficult to describe who one is and what one believes; so if we can pinpoint some of the ways we were raised and how they influenced us, we can better understand ourselves and use this to better understand others. 

 

We started by filling out a backpack of all the things that can describe who we are as a person and how we see ourselves. The backpack represents the things we take with us everywhere we go. After sharing some of our own ways of describing ourselves, we answered some questions about how our family life worked growing up and what our schools were like. This exercise allowed us to compare with one another how certain values were held and upheld growing up, and how our school systems may have influenced the ways we see and perceive things. For example, I came from the most diverse school district in the state of Michigan, and the fourth most diverse district in the nation. This, along with the size of my school allowed me to meet many people of varying beliefs, ideologies, races, ethnicities, cultures, religions, and socioeconomic statuses, giving me a broader perspective than most. Many came from smaller, more homogeneous schools, with either richer or poorer kids, so to hear the experiences of others was somewhat of a shock for them. For me, the most shocking thing was that they had not really been around people dissimilar to them before. It was interesting to see how different everyone’s experiences really were. Something I have never had to think about before is that those who come from places with less diversity in views can lead to it being difficult for them to be able to express themselves. In my community, many people have felt comfortable expressing themselves in ways that clearly were not acceptable in some other communities. Even though it does not directly impact me personally, I was still fortunate to be in a community that was at least as open as my own.

 

This experience for me was a little eye-opening because I had not really thought of what life would have been like for someone in a community and school district that was significantly different from my own. One of my peers mentioned that she had attended private school so learning about CMU’s issues with food insecurity is a shock for her. In my school district, there were widespread financial statuses among families, so it was not as common but not foreign to me. Some of my peers mentioned that their life at Central is the first time that they have been able to experience other perspectives and see what they believe. For some, it is their first opportunity to feel comfortable expressing themselves. While my time in college so far has not been my first time challenging ideas, it was interesting to think about how others may have had a background far removed from my own.