Reflection Essay-Final

Reflection Essay

Tally Ann Bringas

Intercultural Communication/COM 40164

Prof. Undraye Howard

December 8, 2011

Sadly discrimination is not something that will end in my lifetime or my grandchildren’s lifetime either. This realization is disheartening, but sobering at the same time. As the world's population is approximately 6.8 billion, the current United States population represents a mere 4.5% of the world's population so about one in every twenty people on the planet is a resident of the United States of America (Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division, 2011).

With this vast amount of diversity it is amazing that the situation is not a more positive one. As citizens of this earth we all occupy a portion of the time spent and are ultimately responsible for our contributions before we pass. In this day and age with the amount of diversity we are experiencing far more than our parents and grandparents ever have (Nakayama, 2010).

 This brings forward some new hope for the future and what we need to teach our children in order to be prepared for the future to come.

            With the workforce making a serious attempt to diversify there staff and brand the “diversity” mindset within their organizations it is interesting to see that institutional discrimination becoming more of an issue at the place of work. This form of discrimination has always has always existed, however there is equal attentions being paid to our school systems and teachers. Recently there was a study conducted on black and minority ethnic teachers facing an "endemic culture of institutional racism" in schools (Kershaw, 2009). About half of black and minority ethnic teachers say they have faced discrimination during their careers, according to a study by Manchester University and Education Data Surveys. And seven in ten black and minority ethnic teachers and school heads believe it is harder for black and minority ethnic teachers to gain leaderships jobs in schools (Kershaw, 2009). This study examined the experiences of more than 500 black and minority ethnic teachers working in state schools in England to analyze how discrimination affected their careers and chances of getting senior posts. It concluded that the majority of black and minority ethnic teachers did not believe that the teaching profession was inclusive (Kershaw, 2009). NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: "This report reveals the true extent of the problem of racism and discrimination which, regrettably, is still all too pervasive in our schools (Kershaw, 2009).  "This research is an important start in unlocking the way in which discrimination operates and should help in identifying what needs to be done to create greater fairness and transparency in the way that teachers' skills and potential are recognized and rewarded (Kershaw, 2009). This attempt to correct this openly obvious inequality is only able to correct itself with communication and awareness. Should this situation continue and be sensationalized by the many celebrities we see on the television, than there may be hope.

            Today we are surrounded by media and pop culture icons that have a great deal of influence on our own culture and our identities as a Nation as well as individuals. Should the inequities in the schools systems form such a powerful ally than there may be hope for a revolutionary type of change? Unfortunately today the pop culture influence machine seems to be behaving as a spoiled teenager would and is locked in her room texting and tweeting all day. The change and growth we should b experiencing in our cultural identities are seemed to be lost in pop culture within the celebrity and reality shows. The influence a television show or the vehicle we drive are forms of conditioning we have placed on our selves to fit in, or meet an expectation for ourselves. Objects such as a certain vehicle can not be consider pop culture as it is a consumption item, it can however be associated with a cultural atmosphere that depicts an affiliation of sorts.

            There are choices we make on how popular culture can influence the formation of our cultural identity, this can be something as simple as turning off the television form a particular show that does not bring value to our lives (Nakayama, 2010). There are magazines for sale in stores that build their business on influencing out thoughts and occupying our lives with imagines of pop culture or celebrity individuals. This is an opportunity to bypass this nonsense and show our children by example that there is no validity to these articles. These will in- turn will allow our culture to be formed by our traditions and bot outside influencers. Should we make correct choices and lead by example we may not have the insecurities to compete amongst ourselves in life and provide our own canvas for our cultural identities. This is possible by avoiding items or circumstances such as pop culture shows that would derail us from meeting our expectations we have set for ourselves.  This is possible by only participating in activities to better ourselves by having a strong education and occupation or career.

When discussing work in relation to intercultural communication it is obvious the importance of having an open mind and understanding on what each individual brings to the work environment. This is ever present in all facets of work and companies as there is a forced collaboration with individualism and collectivism. These forces if ideas bring some work place conflicts that can be avoided by understanding the different mindsets and cultural norms.  When you have an employee who works better in the environment that is based on individualism (bonus structure and metrics based) you can run into issues when their needs to be a collaborative work group or team. It is important to weigh in all factors and assure that the task at hand is balanced with the relationship of the staffers. This balance needs to be set and understood as a form of operation expectations in a team environment to allow for all styles of communication and group interactions.

This understanding is how I believe all groups can be more interculturally aware and savvy in their everyday lives. With the simple task of wearing the “Thinking Hats” these six different and assigned colors have a meaning and allow everyone to step outside of their comfort zone and be an equal participant in tasks regardless of the their level of expertise (De Bono, 1985). I use this to allow everyone to have a say regardless of his or her cultural identities and communication styles.

Examples of the six different “Thinking Hats” (De Bono, 1985):

*      Information: (White) - considering purely what information is available, what are the facts?

*      Emotions (Red) - instinctive gut reaction or statements of emotional feeling (but not any justification)

*      Bad points judgment (Black) - logic applied to identifying flaws or barriers, seeking mismatch

*      Good points judgment (Yellow) - logic applied to identifying benefits, seeking harmony

*      Creativity (Green) - statements of provocation and investigation, seeing where a thought goes

*      Thinking (Blue) - thinking about

This seems to bring everyone on the same page regardless of our cultural beliefs or communication styles. This exercise provides input and a collective agreement to one thing and that is solving the problem at hand. This tactic can be used outside of work as well, as I just attempt to place their (the person I am communication with) hat on me and think of a better way to solve an issue or slow down to understand better.

            There are times when I am speaking with someone that does not speak English or Spanish and I find myself attempting to draw from his or her body language and non-verbal cues as well. If the language is Latin based I can usual pick up enough of the language to understand the just of what the person is trying to communicate. Should it not be Latin based I rely heavily on body language, tone, and the current surroundings. This allows me to collect all of the information and communicate the best I can. I have not yet attempted to do this in an environment that was completely foreign, it works in theory; however it is not truly tried and tested.

I should hope that in the near future we are better off than we are now in terms of understanding other cultures. It is only our ability to be open and honest about our shortcoming when we can truly understand any other culture or ethnicity. There is no superiority in any race or ethnicity only a perceived sense of ownership to who we are. When this is taken or challenged I would like to see what the world would be like without races, or ethnicity just humans.

Reference

De Bono, Edward (1985). Six Thinking Hats: An Essential Approach to Business   Management. Little, Brown, & Company.

Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (2011). World Population Publication 2010 revision. United Nations. Retrieved 2011-12-07.

Kershaw, Allison, 2009 Teachers face ' institutional racism claims' Press Association http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/teachers-face--institutional-racism-claims-1816209.html

Nakayama, T. (2010) Experiencing Intercultural Communication: An Introduction. McGraw Hill.

Nonverbal Messages

Nonverbal Messages

Tally Ann Bringas

Intercultural Communication/COM 40164

Prof. Undraye Howard

November 19^th 2011

In 1996 I graduated High School and joined the U.S. Navy. I joined the Navy based on my lack of preparation after high school and my inability to measure the importance of education. At the time I was not serious about my future and felt as if I had no other recourse but to join if I wanted to accomplish anything I went off to boot camp and participated with ease and actually enjoyed the physical aspect of its trials. It was when I was sent to my duty station where I was challenged and found myself unprepared for what I would soon be facing. My first duty station was in Naval Air Station Pensacola Florida. With being assigned to the Helicopter Landing Trainer (HLT)  this once Army supply ship in Vietnam  was moth balled than revived and gutted to become the IX-514 HLT and given a simulation flight deck for naval Hilo pilots to receive their deck qualifications without killing actual sea time with a real ship. Our sole purpose in live was to qualify these pilots and push off the pier daily for these qualification runs. We ran constantly in the Pensacola Bay, and this term during the navy was considered neutral duty not sea or land.

My intercultural non verbal experience comes from this time on this ship. The work that was done was something short of amazing with the time and equipment provided.  I have no negative experiences to offer only positive ones that can be only experienced when you serve with such great people. My misinterpretation came from ship board fire training that with limited ability to communicate you need to rely heavily on non verbal cues. We were tasked with going up a narrow bulkhead with heavy equipment and when I did I was supposed to see one of the trainer’s signs of fatigue and reaction to smoke inhalation as a warning that the location just excited was not safe and I proceeded anyway. This is when I missed a very important task of scanning my environment for dangers and allowing my shipmates to enter in a location that was dangerous. Should this have been a real situation than I could have cost them their lives, thankfully it wasn’t and I was than properly instructed on how to run the drill correctly. What should I have been looking for, the drop of posture, eye contact, look of struggle, all of the signs that they are in trouble. These are the same nonverbal cues we can use every day for ourselves and individuals surrounding us. If we are in a meeting and a co-worker falls over we don’t need a sign to tell us that they are in trouble. Its eye contact or no eye contact at all, what we have in our minds as what is acceptable may not be for other cultures. I for one like to see what other cultures accept and tolerate and this can be a sign of their openness and understanding of other cultures and counties. I am a firm believer that non verbal communication is the most important form of communications it can have the most impact with minimal effort.

Gran Torino

Gran Torino

Tally Ann Bringas

Intercultural Communication/COM 40164

Prof. Undraye Howard

November 23, 2011

The film provides the audience with an insight to three different worlds, one of a Korean War Veteran grief stricken by the loss of his wife and left alone in a changing world, a coming of age young Korean youth,  and a struggling neighborhood attempting to hang on to its former glory.

Gran Torino is by far one of the best films I have seen in quite some time. There are multiple struggles taking place in the main character Walt Kowalski as a Korean War veteran neighborhood is being overrun my other cultures mainly Korean. He finds himself surrounded by “gooks” and as he is aging he is becoming more aware of the situation. He has his age, current health condition as well as the declining neighborhood to deal with. There are many cultural conflicts within the one movie; Walt is dealing with a completely foreign culture with his neighbors’. This was shown numerous times in the movie, but there are a few scenes that show Walt scanning the neighborhood and absorbing the changes that have taken place.  The age and cultural difference with his own family is displayed in the scene when his son and daughter –in-law come to wish him a happy birthday. The come by themselves without the grandkids and bring brochures of assisted living facilities as well as some “tools” he may use to help him get around (phone with huge numbers/ top shelf grabber) these things only upset him and there is an obvious disconnect with his family and the cultural difference with the stages of his life. Finally there is the cultural conflict of the gang and Thao, this is a constant struggle as the gang assumes the right to force their way into people’s lives and had been successful prior to dealing with Walt. This is the largest main conflict as it drives the plot of the movie and depicts a lot of what continues to go on in less affluent neighborhoods and environments.

What I appreciate most about the film is the candid scene in the barbershop as well as the interview process with this young man. I find it refreshing to hear the banter (as offensive as it might seem) between the characters in the move, as in real life this is how many people communicate.  The odd banter is what reminds you of the importance of intercultural communication as it relates to English and our current globalization. There are those who speak English as a second or third language and the literal sincerities are what make our communication work in situations like the barbershop are what makes American English apart. In the barber scene it is difficult for Thao to communicate and convey the same message Walt did with such ease. This is because of the cultural norms set in place of American males, they are both around the same age and class level therefore they are able to relate to each other culturally as well. When Thao attempts to use the same verbiage used by Walt it offends the Barber and he picks up a shot gun. This is only understood as they are both of the same race and class “White” and this is so difficult to understand. I can relate to this situation the most based on my time in the military and the harsh way we address each other, that others may considered rude and vaguer. This type of communication is common in much of America, but is a struggle to understand if you are not accustomed to this type of communication.

                  After a few days of “Training” Thao lands a job and is able to contribute to the household and avoid the street gangs. With time the situation turns heated and Walt assumes the role of father and protector of these impressionable teens. This task was difficult based on the main characters personality and rash way of communicating. The young Thao picks up quickly which shows his ability to assimilate and learn from this disgruntled old man.

I found that I related mostly to Walt as he was set in his ways, but with time and interaction was able to change his perspective and mindset. He may have done it in a harsh or less diplomatic way than most; however the effect was more powerful coming from him. In reference to Pop Culture there are the comments made by Walt and the way he addresses the neighbors in the beginning of the movie. The common things we associate these foreigners’ with are what we understand based on what we have seen and heard. Walt has a completely different perspective alone with the pop culture reference he has his views based on his interaction and history with this particular culture. Throughout the move he is attempting to understand and try and “fix” the current issues as he knows how, but ends up offending or separating himself even more. This form of isolation brings him comfort as he feels he is not losing control of the situation as well as his environment. Understanding others cultures beings about a level of uncertainty and discomfort as we are opening ourselves to the unknown. This is what he does towards the main portion of the movie and this is what makes his own transformation so powerful.

                  The final scene of the movie when Walt dies and they lawyer is reading is last request, I feel is the best scene in the move. It reflects Walt’s last statement about his Gran Torino, and his expectations for the condition he requested it remained. This was refreshing to see the disappointment of his granddaughter as she was never involved or present but expected to get it anyway. That is the assumption of many people with a sense of entitlement. Thao was dedicated to him and improving himself as well as reaching past Walt’s tough exterior, something no one in his own family could do. There is a sense of loss time in the movie as he makes a statement about being friendlier with his neighbors and spending more time with them than he does his own family.

With the ending of the film it was apparent that throughout the film Walt was struggling with an illness or close to his last days. He main corn in the end was dying with purpose and protecting Thao and Suzie. He accomplished this by forcing the gang members to shoot an unarmed man with dozens of witnesses.  This forced the police to have witnesses and placing those gang members as the murderers would secure their place in jail and away from Thao and Suzie. The ending was appropriate as Walt wanted to die with purpose and “Fix” the situation. In our current world Walt knew that society would be out raged that a Korean Veteran was killed by gang members and would most likely be put away in jail for some time. Based on the current environment in the movie and the fear of the community I would have agreed with the way the movie ended as those individuals in the community would have allowed more of the same from those gang members.  With Walt finishing them off in that manner he guaranteed they would be held responsible for his death.

   Reference

Gass, R.H., & Seiter, J.S. (2011). Persuasion, social influence and compliance gaining.  (4^th ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon

Nakayama, T. (2010) Experiencing Intercultural Communication: An Introduction. McGraw Hill.