Wouldn't you like some Culture Candy?

In the second course of my humanities class for junior year, I'm taking a class called A Nation's Argument. This class focuses on learning about the structure of an argument and also looking back at historical arguments that were written. The first unit of this course was called 1776 because we used the Declaration of Independance as a guide to teach us about how to correctly structure a written argument. The first action project for this course gave us a chance to write our own Declaration about which class we believe should be taught at GCE. When I first heard about this project, I knew I wanted to include travel and culture, so coming up with an idea wasn’t that hard. The only challenging thing for me was trying to display my passion for those ideas onto paper, but I overcame that challenge by sitting and thinking very carefully about which words to write. It took awhile but I’m proud of how patient I was. I hope you enjoy reading my declaration below!

I would like to declare that there be a class studying the many different cultures around the world. Knowing about many cultures and learning about how different they are from one another can teach people to accept differences, which would create a positive change in how some people see each other. There is a lot of unnecessary hatred in the world today, and most of it is because people can’t accept their differences.

The name of this course would be Culture Candy because I’m hoping people see this class as a treat. It would be a humanities course offered to the seniors during the spring term. I also want to include an aspect of traveling in this course, but to be more realistic, students would only be traveling around the city to get closer to the cultures we study. Students would really get the chance to explore and realize how many different ethnicities, races, etc have taken root in Chicago.It would be perfect for the spring term because it’s warmer outside, which makes traveling by public transportation both quicker and less painful. The guiding question is: “How will you use culture to better connect with people?”

Many people still do not understand other cultures and sometimes not even their own, and when they don’t understand, some are quick to judge. That makes it hard for many people to accept cultures other than their own. That is the one thing I want to get rid of. Once you actually have knowledge about another culture, you finally understand. Culture Candy would look into the history of some cultures and see how they developed into how they are now. 

I think this would be great for the seniors because it’s only going to be a few months before they go to college, and in college you meet many people coming from diverse cultures. There would be more cultural knowledge sticking with them. It would also work great for freshman. They’re going to be going to many different communities throughout their GCE career, so it would be cool if they had some background knowledge about some of those neighborhoods. It would also be a chance for them to learn their way around. Overall, my desired outcome would be that students come out of this class with an open mind, and instead of judging other cultures, they learn to accept them.  

To include the traveling part more, there would be 2 FE’s a week, traveling to cultural neighborhoods around Chicago such as, Chinatown, Greektown, Pilsen,etc. This would be a great chance for students to not only better connect with the cultures being studied, but to also learn their way around the diverse neighborhoods in Chicago. A teacher will accompany the students on 1 FE during that week, setting goals that need to be reached while exploring. The 2nd FE will be up to the students when it comes to figuring out what they want to do, but a teacher would still be there to supervise. 

I would definitely reach out to My Block, My Hood, My City, an organization that also focuses on the same goal as I do when it comes to exploring the city. I’d probably want to reach out to the Chamber of Commerce from each neighborhood that we visit to get some good history and background. Usually neighborhoods that are focused on one specific culture have a museum to celebrate that culture, so I’d like to partner with these institutions, as well. They can have hidden gems that are important to that culture's and community’s history. Going to libraries would also be helpful when it comes to research, because sometimes books can give you information that the internet can not offer. The Chicago Cultural Alliance would also be a great learning experience for students because they also focus on accepting cultural differences from first voice perspectives. The Chicago Cultural Center would also be a great place to partner with because of the art that exemplifies the culture of Chicago.   

P1: When you don’t understand a culture, it’s easy to judge.

P2: Once you understand, you’re prone to stop judging.

P3: Once you explore and do fun things to better connect, it’ll be easy to accept.

C: Culture Candy would be a fun class to teach and educate students on those topics.

RD. Syllogism diagram. 2016

I declare that there be a class that promotes traveling and teaches how to accept the many different cultures. This would give students an open mind and teach them to not be afraid to reach out to a different surrounding, along with getting to know other people, even if they are different from them. Imagine all the diverse people you’ll meet, along with amazing places you’ll go!