1. Gender, Diversity, and Family Dynamics Monkey Shankar

2. Agenda Share sunny and cloud of the week! Share sunny and cloud of the week! Meditation (for some of y’all) Meditation (for some of y’all) Bio experiment on the Koala clan Bio experiment on the Koala clan DISCUSSION! DISCUSSION!

3. Topics Core Curriculum Goal is “To better prepare students for a changing world by making sure they graduate with the flexible skills they need” [2A] to be leaders in our communities,”* and better able to deal with [2C] a state and country that are more culturally diverse;*Multicultural Perspectives and Diversity [2A2] ETHICS [2A2] The second goal of the required leadership/ethics flag courses -- learn to make real-life ethical choices -- is closely related to the core purpose of the University of Texas, to transform lives for the benefit of society. It is also one of the basic education requirements of U.T.: “have experience in thinking about moral and ethical problems.” Our ethics goals are 2A2f] To practice replacing fear and greed with love, compassion, tolerance, and the sympathetic imagination. [2A2g] To practice tolerance for diversity for personality types and races/ethnic groups (African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian-Americans our prime examples), thereby advancing the goals of the Multicultural Perspectives and Diversity required flag courses [2C].

4. Themes As much as everybody can identify with being different, nobody can identify with feeling like an immigrant. Identity comes from within and shouldn’t be based on your labels, but rather who you ARE Everyone expressed empathy for the individuals in the essays. It’s unfair to make assumptions about people’s character based on their background, race, or gender.

5. Discussion Questions What is something that you wish you weren’t automatically associated with? (Based on your culture, gender, religion, etc.) What do you think should define a person? (Tiger, I know you talked about this) Has your identity changed over the course of college? What do you think influenced this? Do you think college embraces or regresses in appreciating diversity and individuality? (Elephant/Wombat) Why don’t we like feeling different—even if it’s in a positive way? (Vulture/Spider) Do you feel different than members of your family? (Butterfly) How have you grown to accept who you are? What advice would you give to someone that is struggling with identity issues? Do you feel like Miguel didn’t do enough to assimilate himself into the culture (Cheetah)