Beauty in Diversity, Individuality, and Exceptionality
MODULE 3
PROMPT FOR YOUR EJOURNAL: Do you recognize your unique individuality as a learner (or as a member of a certain social circle)? In what ways have you experienced that your individual uniqueness has been recognized by others and your needs correspondingly addressed? In contrast, have you had experiences when your specific needs were not recognized because diversity, individuality, or exceptionalities are not valued and respected, or perhaps misunderstood? How can such a situation be rectified in concrete and doable terms?
The skills, experiences, and confidence that I gained throughout my life made me into who I am today as an individual and as a learner. Although there are some complications that I encounter along the way due to external factors, I fully recognize my individual uniqueness as a student.
During my elementary and high school years, I was always given the privilege to lead and serve others. I was often labeled by my classmates and teachers to be someone who often takes initiative in accomplishing activities and projects. Because of their kind comments, I began to be more trusting of my own capabilities, which led me to be given more opportunities. Being sent to interschool competitions together with some of my batchmates and even the upperclassmen helped me to broaden my knowledge in different fields of expertise such as in communication and people management. Aside from sending us to competitions, my school also trains us by conducting and joining conferences that tackle effective leadership. With these experiences, I believe that my unique individuality was properly honed.
Even when I was younger, I already had a heart for helping others whether in terms of their academics or life situations. I feel recognized whenever my friends, who are often older than me, come to me to ask for advice with their problems. Sometimes others even call me “Ate” despite them being older than me because they feel like I am their older sister who they can talk to about anything anytime. There was a time during my junior high school when a classmate of mine, who was not that close to me, asked for help regarding a Math lesson. I willingly helped her and explained how the solving works. After a brief explanation, she was able to easily understand it. She told me how she found my explanation clear and concise. There was a similar instance during senior high school when a new student messaged me from time to time because he did not understand some topics. Our other classmates did not like him and seemed to be irritated with him since they thought of him as someone who is slow on the uptake. However, I did not find him irritating since I believe that I am patient enough when it comes to teaching others. I also thought that it is essential to keep in mind that not everyone has the same level of learning capacities, which is why they should not judge him just because of that. This classmate of mine is currently enrolled in one of the country’s top universities and I am proud of his efforts because I was able to help him grow through my small actions. I believe that the opportunities I received that respected, developed, and let my individuality shine through allow me to see the value in giving the same treatment to others and celebrate alongside them whenever the upholding of these principles result in a better quality of life not only for myself but also for those around me.
As I previously mentioned, not only in this journal, but also in my previous journals, I am used to leading communities or organizations. However, there is also a part of me, which prefers doing individual tasks. In my perspective, individual assignments or projects are better because there is no need to rely on others. It means that through my independent efforts I can achieve the activity assigned or given to me. I view individual work as an efficient and effective one since there will be no one who may possibly delay the progress of the task at hand. Individual activities may be viewed as difficult by other people since the person alone is the only one who will work on it, which means that if they do not take action nothing will happen. In most cases, I find this normal because this is also what happens in group activities. Being the acting leader in most activities may sometimes be taxing since it feels like I am not allowed to rest or take a break because if I stop working, the others will also do the same.
Group work, especially with undependable members, stresses me out more than individual activities. Being accelerated by three grade levels made me younger than most of my batchmates. I never felt looked down or disrespected during my elementary and high school years, even though some of my batchmates are three or four years older than me. However, during this first year of college I experienced disrespect from certain adult classmates. This was contrary to my expectations wherein high school students tend to be more critical of others, while college students, especially in a university that celebrates diversity, are expected to be more open to the uniqueness of each individual. Instead, it is in this environment where I experienced my individuality to be disrespected.
I believe that it is unusual for most 17-year old teens to have industry-level skills in coding and creating a user interface design, or even to initiate the simple act of leading a group. In a group activity, just this academic year, I had two adult group mates who seemed kind at first. However, after they found out about my age and when I explained that the assigned tasks to them were not correctly done, a feeling of disrespect started to transpire. Their words became rude and belittling. This even ironically worsened after I was able to successfully deliver my own tasks using my above-mentioned skills despite having to quietly rush them to compensate for others’ late output as respect for other members’ unique holiday schedules and considerations as employees. I was faced with one member reacting with patronization instead of appreciation for my individual contribution. Despite initially being the ones to bring up the topic of me being the de facto leader, certain members began displaying blatant disrespect and one explicitly showed how he does not acknowledge me as the acting leader or even as a member of the group despite me being the one who not only formed it but also who created the concept of the entire team’s project in the first place. This is annoying instead of saddening because the situation merely stemmed from an individual trait: age. It is not my fault that they were unable to accomplish what was assigned to them even though they are way older than me and are thus expected to have a better sense of responsibility, and even though I aligned the tasks with their supposed skill sets in consideration of each member’s individual uniqueness. Yet somehow, I ended up bearing the brunt of it because of others’ false sense of keeping the peace with elders translating into an excuse for incompetence and somehow, a free pass to mistreat those who are younger than them despite the lack of merit.
The differences among our ages are also beyond my control; each person’s treatment towards another with due respect to their diverse qualities is their own to control. I believe this can be addressed by making simple and concrete adjustments to grading systems such that students are graded individually despite being in group settings. This reminds and pushes students to perform meritoriously of their own accord without the promise of a group-grade safety net, thus focusing the attention of team members to objective and measurable metrics such as concrete contributions to the group, away from prejudgments that hold no place in an environment that embraces diversity such as, in this case, age-related biases. This will allow learners to appreciate how differences between individuals can come together for a greater good when everyone is given equal opportunity to showcase one’s own uniqueness to the fullest.
