I think that our culture requires us to live in many different communication worlds. When we are interacting with different people our groups, we may tend to modify our behavior in order to be accepted. For example, if I was to have a conversation with a professor, I may communicate differently than I would with my friends.

One of the best things about living in the Bay Area is the amount of diversity that surrounds us. Throught my life time, I have had many peers who have complained to me about something that another peer had said or done. The thing that they may not have understood was that it was not thier intention to cause such a negative reaction. In their culture they may have a different way of expressing themself than the other person may be used to. This does not make one person right and one person wrong. It just makes them different. By being able to detect such differences, communication between others may begin to improve.

In our culture, I feel like public high schools send out the message that you have to have a career in either math or science in order to be successful in life. If you are not good in either of such areas, then they make you feel like you will not be successful in life. In contrast, many other cultrures feel that the arts are the most important aspect of life. Some cultures, such as a Aborigional people of Australia actually used dance to communicate.

Since I am a dance and communication studies major, I often hear, "Well what are you going to do with that?" People in our culture automatically assume that since I am a dance major, I am taking the easy way out. In reality each of my two unit classes are two hours rather than normal three unit classes that are only an hour and fifteen minutes. On top of that, some classes are only offered once every other year, which means most semesters you are required to take at least 8 classes in order to graduate in time. In my opinion, my dance degree is much more difficult than my Communications Studies degree but most people in our culture will never understand that or appreciate the work that has been put into it.

In contrast, if I was a dancer in a culture that respected or admired dancers, then I may be viewed as very successful. Some cultures believe that happiness and spiritual growth are what determine success. Unfortunately, our culture believes that money equals success. Although I love going to school and being able to learn about my passion everyday, it is hard to hear that people think I'm going to be unsuccessful because I wont have as much money as a doctor or an engineer. Maybe one day people will understand that money doesn't always buy happiness.