The afternoon class is an advanced listening class
with about sixteen students from around the world: India, Japan, China, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Venezuela, Brazil, Russia, Turkey and France. We have discussed what it means to belong in
a group, the types of groups you can belong to, cultural standards for
marriage, family and how those are changing, and peer pressure. Today we talked about gender roles, and what
it means to be a male and a female in various societies. Sometimes I’m amazed that regardless of my
gender, my current role is to lead these conversations, learn from them, and
give my input when necessary, which is often. It's a beautiful exchange: we all learn about everyone's cultures, and then learn how they compare with where they happen to be: American society. This is the result of decisions
they made freely, even if they don’t all love New York City.
What about you?
Do groups influence how you think and what you choose to do?
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