Final Reflections
My educational journey began with an unconventional early childhood curriculum on my grandparents’ farms. My daytime stays with my grandparents while my parents worked consisted of identifying letters and numbers on farm reports, counting seeds, beans, and tobacco leaves and reading rain gauges and bible passages. However, when I entered kindergarten my parents reported my early childhood education as “none.” Education is often too narrowly defined. It wasn’t until my experiences in UNC-Greensboro’s Master of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) program that I realized the true value of my past and current interdisciplinary education.
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In May of 2018 I entered the MAAS program ready to further develop my critical thinking skills and regain some of the tolerance, effective communication and problem solving skills that I had lost. When I graduated from my small liberal arts university, UNC-Asheville, in 1996, the extensive humanities requirements had prepared me for the working world. I could engage in conversation with anyone, listen carefully, look for common ground and devise solutions. These skills served me well for many years. Gradually, these skills began to diminish as I became established in a government job with many policies that were black and white. There was a right answer and a wrong answer. This allowed me to excel at my chosen career, but it seeped into my personal life. The changes became very apparent to me in 2016.
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On the eve of the presidential election for the United States, I decided that I no longer wanted to hear viewpoints different from mine. I went through my social media pages on Facebook and Instagram and blocked my contacts with very open views that differed from my own. Later, I declined an invitation to a holiday party because the host had a strong stance on abortion that was different from mine. Luckily, I was able to see that my sense of tolerance had slipped away. I talked with my husband and lamented that I did not want to be that type of person. He praised me for realizing that it was happening, but could offer few solutions. One day it hit me! Education had led to my awakened consciousness so it could resuscitate me now. The MAAS course of study seemed to be a perfect fit and I began my journey with Global Intercultural Engagement.
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I could not have asked for a better course to begin my journey. As early as week one of my journey, I was confronted with these questions, “How do culture, identity, and context impact world view?” and “What is ethnocentrism, and how might it affect your personal and professional life?” Several impactful texts were introduced to assist with these questions – Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Critical Multicultural Social Work by Sisneros, Stakeman, Joyner and Schmitz. After a discussion about the shared culture of Coates and me as African-Americans, I then discussed our similarities and differences in how we see the world.
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I concluded that though it can be similar, each person’s identity, or view of oneself, is unique because no two people can have the exact same culture, feelings, and experiences. Context is a great influencer of our world view and the part that can be refined through education and experiences. Using context, a person can frame experiences and interactions, reflect on them, and discover why certain behaviors are exhibited and evaluate if intentions are just. The goal is to become a more conscious being and mold a more perfect worldview.
I also confronted the concept of ethnocentrism and concluded that ethnocentrism is harshly defined as cultural ignorance. Ethnocentrism is dangerous because it does not value other opinions and cultures. Only the opinions of one’s own group is correct and worthy of consideration and respect. Without proper self-reflection, one can begin to consider the way of his group as the only right way to do things. Ethnocentrism can permeate one’s personal and professional life and can impact career choices, who you accept as your peer group and consequently, will determine who you will befriend or guide your children to choose as friends.
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When we draw within our own group we are less likely to be able to effectively handle conflict because we will not seek to understand others and accept that there are other worldviews. This is what I was beginning to exhibit before my journey, and now I knew the proper term for it and its far reaching implications. By the conclusion of this course, I had engaged in serious self-reflection and defined changes that I could make to impact my future actions and growth. It has become a lifelong commitment of mine to learn more about the world around me and work for positive change. Learning more became a commitment early in my journey, but I quickly discovered that this commitment had many complexities attached.
The interdisciplinary nature of the MAAS curriculum allowed me to expand my views through studies in history, literature, economics, statistics, specialized training, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and arts. Necessary considerations in my quest to learn more emerged during my journey. These included: the impact of historical memory, the reliability of data found on the Internet, my selfish actions that could impede my positive changes and the importance of primary and secondary sources in interpreting history. Additional tools such as new ways of approaching problem solving through systems thinking and design thinking made the application of the learned skills seamless.
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My journey revealed that questioning the accepted history of a place and time is essential to full understanding. In “Voices in Latin America: The Modern Period,” the role of historical memory is shown. The most poignant example was in Chile. Two documentaries of the revolution and genocide in Chile, The Battle of Chile and Obstinate Memory, demonstrate how this works. The first documentary was filmed during the atrocities in 1973 and the second was filmed twenty-three years later and recorded the reactions of a generation that did not know the true history of their country. The students were visibly shaken when confronted with irrefutable proof that the accepted historical narrative was at best incomplete, but most likely false. The vast majority of Chileans had believed the false narrative that the democratically elected socialist president, Allende, had to be replaced by a military regime to reestablish traditional order and democracy. The people favored a dictatorship to restore order and saw it as “salvation,” but history shows that the chaos was funded by the United States and manufactured by the administration of the dictator, Pinochet. The historical memory of the oppressed led to truth commissions that investigated the genocides and mass disappearances. I thought about the role of historical memory in the United States.
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Most African-Americans, including me, have stories from slavery that have been shared through generations. My great-grandmother often shared the story of her great aunt’s infant dying of hunger because the mother was forced to only breast-feed the infant of her master. No altered history book could convince me that slavery was “not that bad” because I have history personally shared with me that refutes that claim. However, my Native American history “facts” were blurred for many years as I read my Little House on the Prairie books with stories of the brutal savages and watched countless Western movies that showed the same. The Trail of Tears history was not known by me until my teen years. I cringe when I think of the many decades that I celebrated Columbus Day. Recent awakening on this issue has led to many states and municipalities in the Americas celebrating Indigenous People’s Day instead of Columbus Day now. Understanding the truth can lead to awareness that spurs changes.
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During “Voices in Latin America: The Modern Period” and “The Contemporary World” the interference from the United States in Latin American affairs is discussed often. An extensive electronic portfolio that I completed on Haiti, gave me a new perspective on this country and I learned how it has been prevented from governing itself since its slave revolt in the 1804 that made it the first and only black republic in the Americas. Many U.S. citizens see Haitians in a very negative light and President Trump referred to Haiti as a “shithole” country last year. Learning the full history of the Latin American countries has caused me to question everything. “The Contemporary World” stressed the importance of having primary and secondary sources when interpreting historical events. World events such as Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, the U.S. invasion of Panama, and the continuing conflict in the Gaza strip, were examined from both points of view and my prior stances were either strengthened or changed completely. After these two courses, “learning more” meant approaching history as an interpretation of the past that required a critical examination. Whereas I had become intolerant of views different from my own, I now knew that these divergent perspectives were required to “learn more.”
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What shapes many of my views? I wanted to believe that I was fully in charge of my thoughts, actions, and behaviors, but during “Simple Living” I had to reluctantly admit that consumerism had become a puppet master who controlled my actions, but unbeknownst to me. The inundation of advertising had made me a slave to consumerism. I consumed more and more without full regard to the health of the environment, me, or my family. As I developed a website and blog for the course, I involved my family in making decisions that we could sustain. All of the changes we implemented are still in effect and we have even added new goals.
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Awareness is the key factor in combating consumerism. I can now recognize the “symbols” of status for my social group and avoid purchasing items for merely those reasons. As we have embarked on a more intentional life, we question each purchase and social engagement. It was important to identify the unconscious factors that make us want to buy more and consume more. Our amount of food waste has greatly decreased in the past few months and my nine-year old daughter has already announced that she only wants two items for Christmas this year. This particular type of learning required an open mind because it’s difficult to admit selfishness and shallowness. Questioning long held routines and practices can be stimulating and uncomfortable at the same time.
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Questioning also extends to data that is used daily when receiving news of current events. In “Understanding Data” I learned how to analyze Internet data sources for authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, coverage, and appearance in order to deem the source reliable or not. An evaluation of the data available on a topic that interests me, work requirements for public assistance recipients, showed me how different the data can be on the same topic and that some data is highly unreliable. Again, the need to diversify information sources is essential to true understanding.
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While I entered the MAAS journey for mainly personal development, I also received many skills that became valuable assets in my professional life such as the ability to effectively interpret data. “Understanding Data” taught me the importance of data visualization and I have incorporated many of the skills learned in presentations in my recent promotion to department director. A systems approach to policy discrepancies in my department, led to a complete revision of the administrative enforcement portion of our policy manual and a streamlined process to refer customers to employment services. Without “Systems Thinking” I would not have developed this process and Stroh’s Four Change Process has been utilized many times during the past year as I transitioned into the new leadership role.
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I have a copy of the four steps in my desk drawer that I refer to as needed: Stage 1: Build a Foundation for Change, Stage 2: Facing Current Reality: Understanding, Accepting, Stage 3: Making an Explicit Choice Commitment, and Stage 4: Bridging the Gaps – Focus, Momentum and Correction (Stroh 85-89). The process requires engaging stakeholders, finding common ground, encouraging people to develop their own analysis based on quality data, evaluating the status quo against benefits of change, making a choice and establishing ongoing outreach and engagement of the stakeholders along with refined data collection. These actions have become a hallmark of how my department does business. We are widely heralded among our partners as excellent collaborators and creative problem solvers. Another problem solving strategy was learned in “Design Thinking” and this has been used for resolution of complex issues within the department.
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Design thinking puts the user first and requires an empathetic understanding of the users. During the course, I was able to use this method to address a very sensitive issue: establishment of a lasting memorial for a young co-worker who died in 2018. Through design thinking, we moved from inspiration, to ideation, to implementation very quickly and a memorial scholarship was established and presented to a graduating senior within six months of the first discussions. The conversations are ongoing, and the scholarship has the potential to become an endowment scholarship within five years. Without the design method that calls for immersing yourself with your users to identify the needs, framing the design challenge, and rapid prototyping, this important project would have continued to stall.
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My desire to become more open-minded was strengthened by the design thinking process as I engaged in brainstorming sessions with the team, developed a prototype, pitched the idea, reacted positively to feedback, and created indicators of success with the team. This is a continuous process, so we have referred to our established indicators of success as we move forward with new phases of the memorial scholarship. While I had no expectation that my MAAS journey would even address this complex issue, I consider the creation of the scholarship one of the biggest successes along the way.
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I can confidently state that I have regained many of the positive attributes that had become buried within me. My quest to be the responsible global citizen who can affect change in the world is back underway. Through my MAAS journey, I have certainly learned more that will help me personally and professionally, but most importantly, I have gained skills that will help the generation after me. The knowledge gained through this journey is meant to be shared. It has included: developing and following a plan for a more intentional life with my family, implementing design and system thinking concepts with my co-workers, fully interpreting and sharing history, and understanding data that I share with others. My respect for an interdisciplinary education that builds the whole person has been ingrained in me since my early years on my grandparents’ farms. As this leg of the journey is coming to a successful close, I look forward to developing the next itinerary.