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| Christ and Children from around the World (Christ with Children), by Del Parson |
To all the family, Saturday, Nov 11, 2023
The Self-Study Paper is assigned to heighten awareness of your own identity and cultural groups. It addresses the questions: Who am I? Who do others think I am? How do I imagine others see me? What judgments do I imagine they make about what they see? How do I feel about others’ reactions to me? Who would I like to be or how would I like to be seen? You will describe your cultural background, values, and beliefs associated with your group identities, and discuss how these attributes and dimensions of who you are influence your attitudes toward and interactions with others who are “different” as well as their attitudes toward and interactions with you. Your paper should conclude with a discussion of how your personal history may impact your work in the helping profession. A detailed description of this assignment follows.
Objectives:
· To heighten awareness of your own racial, ethnic, cultural, and identity groups, background, and values.
· To understand how your racial, ethnic, and cultural and identity groups influence your attitudes toward and interactions with others, as well as your professional practice with persons who are "different."
· To attend to personal qualities or factors that may help or make it difficult for you to relate to persons of a different race, age, ethnicity, cultural or identity group.
· To understand how your personal history may impact your work in the helping profession
To guide your thinking, research, independent reading, and the development of your paper, you are asked to consider some (not all) of the questions that follow, as well as to address other matters that may be more relevant for gaining an understanding of your diverse identities. You are to devote no less than one well-developed paragraph and no more than about one and half typed pages for each dimension.
Grading: For each dimension of diversity, 10 points are assigned (10*8=80 points). Also, another 10 points are assigned to your conclusion part (with a discussion of how your personal history may impact your work in the helping profession) and mechanics (writing style, grammar, punctuation, and standard formatting rules) respectively. Obviously, some dimensions of diversity will be more central or salient to your identity than other dimensions of diversity. Thus, you are not expected to give equal attention to each dimension. You will not be penalized for elaborating more on some dimensions. But, you will lose points for each and every dimension of diversity that is not addressed. Standard formatting rules (Use complete sentences, 12-point Times New Roman or Calibri font, double-spaced, and 1-inch margins) apply to your 6-7 pages paper. You also should cite at least four sources using the APA format. Among four sources, you must use three peer-reviewed research articles; textbook can be counted as one. As for another one, you can use any other book, or a government/policy report, but online forums (or blogs) should not be counted.
a. Gender /Sex b. Ethnicity/Nationality c. Race/Color
d. Sexual Orientation e. Ability/Disability f. Class
g. Age h. Religion/Spirituality
To all the family, Saturday, Nov 11, 2023 (later)
For example, if I were to rank in order of importance the designations that could be applied to me, I would say: First, I am a child of God—a son of God—then a son of the covenant, then a disciple of Jesus Christ and a devoted member of His restored Church.
Next would come my honored titles as a husband and father, then Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All other labels that have applied to me—such as a medical doctor, surgeon, researcher, professor, lieutenant, captain, PhD, American, and so forth—would fall somewhere down the list.
Now, let us turn the question to you. Who are you?
First and foremost, you are a child of God.
Second, as a member of the Church, you are a child of the covenant. And third, you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Tonight, I plead with you not to replace these three paramount and unchanging identifiers with any others, because doing so could stymie your progress or pigeonhole you in a stereotype that could potentially thwart your eternal progression.
For example, if you are identified mainly as an American, those who are not Americans may think, “I know everything there is to know about you” and attribute erroneous beliefs to you.
If you identify yourself by your political affiliation, you will instantly be categorized as having certain beliefs—though I don’t know anyone who believes everything that their preferred political party presently embraces.
We could go on and on, rehearsing the constraints of various labels that we put on ourselves or that other people place upon us.
Some might label me as an “old man.” But I’m a lot younger than Adam was—and Noah too.14 Ageism, racism, nationalism, sexism, and a host of other “isms” are universally limiting.
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