I grew up in a small, rural town. My neighbors to my left were cows, and my neighbors to the right were about 750 apple trees. I was white, and poor, and everyone else I knew was white and poor. I went to the only high school within 30 miles with about 60 other students who looked just like me.
But then, I went to undergrad.
I experienced for the first time in my life a group of people
with different views than mine. I noticed that people had different accents, different styles, and thought about issues differently. It wasn’t a huge school, either, being one of the SUNY schools. I’m so grateful I got to experience living, working, and studying with people of different backgrounds, as I was on track to be the stereotypical rural man, viewing anything other than my limited experience as strange and wrong.
Let me give a specific example. My first year at school, I was a communications major (before switching to education). I was involved in a group project for my introduction to communications class in which I had to discuss the cultural implications of communication. I, being isolated in my hometown, was confused at the assignment. What do you mean the cultural implications of communication? Everyone communicates the same way, except for maybe the language they use? However, I was paired with a culturally diverse group of people, and I learned what it meant to communicate in their cultures. I learned how ethnicity plays a role in how younger and older people talk to one another. I learned how different cultures view folks outside their own. I learned that my way of communication wasn’t the only, and it probably wasn’t even the best. My mind was blown! As I continued through my educational journey, I had more and more experiences like this one. When I transferred my major to education, my network of teacher candidates gave me excellent insights that I would not have thought of had I not gone to college.
GreggU. (2020a, October 11). Cultural Communication [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBYD09CfcIg&feature=youtu.be
I’m grateful for the education that I received when I went to school, but I’m almost more grateful for the experiences I had learning, working, and laughing with other unlike-minded folks along the way. I sometimes wonder what my life would be like if I didn’t study and live at school during undergrad.
Hi Ayden,
I found your story very interesting, I was in pretty much the exact opposite situation when I went to college. I live just outside NYC so I understood that different groups of people have different cultures, but I did not understand that not everyone gets the same privileges automatically. If you live in Westchester County you're kind of automatically well off, property here is insanely expensive. Before going away to school I had only interacted with other people in the same situation as me. We didn't think we were well off though, within our frame of reference we were average. As you may have guessed, this did not make me the most tolerable person.
I went to school at SUNY Oswego, moving there was a huge culture shock for me. It was very strange to live in a small-ish town, and it was even stranger to realize that my experiences were not universal. I had started my adult life with a huge advantage over most other people. I went to a good high school, my parents were college educated and were able to guide me through college applications, I didn't need to have a job in high school, and I had access to tutors as I needed them. This realization did a lot for my levels of empathy and understanding. It's a lot harder to judge others when you realize that they did not get the same assistance you did.
Did you find that moving away to school made you a better person? Because I would definitely be insufferable if I hadn't done it.
Hi Ayden,
I appreciate the vulnerability that exists throughout your post. Having lived in both the suburbs and city myself, before now teaching in an extremely rural farm town community, I can appreciate the differences that exists within. I see the way that the students within my district all have similar views, values and experiences to lean on, knowing that they may only experience diversity and other types of people and cultures after they graduate.
Do you think you are better from this growth? If you could go back and change that aspect of your upbringing would you? Why or why not?
Hi Ayden,
Thank you for sharing your story. I can personally connect to your story as I grew up in the small town Hilton, NY. Although my neighbors were not cows, they were horses. People that grow up in Hilton tend to stay in Hilton and I was not cultured and accustomed to life outside of the town. That was until I made my first trip out to Fort Collins, Colorado. I learned so much, saw different ways of life and different points of view. I realized not everybody thinks like we did, I felt for the first time that I was able to create my own opinions and views on life, which felt freeing. I ended up moving to Fort Collins for a while because I loved the way of life and differences so much. Though family drew me back to NY, I will always be grateful for those experiences that I had that helped me to become more cultured, well rounded, and open minded.
Thank you for sharing a story that I was personally able to connect to.
Brenna Hibbard
Hi Ayden,
I can appreciate your final paragraph where you state that you are grateful for your education. I share this gratitude. While, I did not have the opportunity to have an on-campus experience, I attended one of the highest international population colleges in the country (UB) and I was able to make friends from all over the world. I feel truly blessed for the friends I made and the perspectives they were able to share with me during college.
Angela