1. I am a member of all of the following majorities within the class:
à Females
à People who are left-brained
à People who consider themselves to be quiet
à People who are of the Christian faith
à People who have had a full time job
2. I am a member of all the following minorities within the class:
à People who were born outside of Canada
à People who speak another language
à People who speak more than one other language
à People who feel that they have features that might identify them as being from a different society
à People who have been raised under a political system other than a democracy
à People who have a skin colour that can be identified as non-white
3. From the two lists above, it’s easy to see that I’m a minority in this society. Being such would affect the way that I function in the types of groups found in the work place. There are basically two types of groups to be found: heterogeneous groups and homogeneous groups. As Canada is a country filled with mainly Caucasions, and I am a minority, there would only be a very slight chance that I am a part of a homogeneous group in the work place. Participating as a member of a heterogeneous group, I will be able to provide the controversy and a clash of perspective that are needed in any group for optimal performance. I will help in the decision making and the creative thinking since I’m able to think and consider problems from a different angle than the other people in my group, due to the way that I was raised, the schooling that I had, and the experiences that I have accumulated in my lifetime.
4. In any part of the world, that is not perfect. There are stereotypes given to different people. As I am Chinese and a foreigner in this country, I have also known many of those stereotypes; some I’m not too upset about, others quite. For example, there seem to be a consensus that all Chinese people are good at Math and this has been said about me. Of course, like any other person who is sane, I’m pretty comfortable with this generalization. Other stereotypes exist also, such as that the Chinese are quiet, frugal, and not too sociable; they also work hard and play very little. I can’t say that I disagree with any of these stereotypes, because, funny as it may be, they all apply to me as an individual. Although these generalizations are true in me, however, I must stress that they are definitely not true in all Chinese People. There are so many, how can all of us be exactly alike?
