Autobiographical Diversity In El Dorado

Autobiographical Diversity Paper

1. Environment:

I grew up in El Dorado, a midsize town in south central Kansas about 30 miles from Wichita.

I used to refer to El Dorado as a small town until I came to Kansas State and met many other Kansans who were from towns with 500 or 1,000 people. That made El Dorado, with a population of 13,000, seem pretty big so I call it a midsize town now. Although it has 13,000 people, it still has a small town feel because it seems like everybody knows everybody. I had 127 people in my graduating class and I knew all of their names, most of their parents and siblings, and most of the community leaders. El Dorado has a predominately white population. The Hispanic people who reside there make up most of the minority.

The first time I went was when I was in fifth grade. That was the first time I had ever been a minority before. Amarillo is predominately black and Hispanic. I remember my Uncle telling me not to go to certain parts of town because "people there aren't afraid to put a hole in a white boy." As a fifth grader, that obviously scared me a lot, so I definitely did what I was told. Granted, Amarillo is a rough town with a high crime rate. However, going back when I was in high school made me realize it was nowhere near as bad as my Uncle had described. It bothered me for a long time that he put that image in my head and made me think the world was a scarier place than it really was, but I also realized that's how minorities might feel when they are in mostly white

My experiences growing up did not help me develop my diversity consciousness as much as I would've liked. Getting a college education and learning about diversity in this class and my human resources class have helped me develop an understanding that people and businesses must understand that the world, and specifically America, is diverse and we must learn and grow to help make it a successful achievement.

The most difficult challenge for me will be stepping out of my comfort zone. I'm not exactly a hermit, but I do like to keep to myself a lot of time. I will need to put myself out there, ask questions when I don't have any clue what I'm talking about, and be more open to talking to different people. I've spent 21 years living in Kansas and when I leave I think that will allow me to experience different cultures and learn about other people.

The other area I will need work on is checking in on ourselves. I need to make sure I'm not naively applying the knowledge I have to situations and think that I am always right, because this is a process of learning that will probably go on