Cortney and Matthew

Dear Classmates,

We want to begin by thanking you for all the time and thought you have put into making this experience as fulfilling for us as possible by sharing your stories. It was phenomenal to be able to speak to our peers who came from such diverse and beautiful backgrounds, and it was even more interesting to be able to communicate with you while some of you were in other countries.

When we initially signed up for Multiculturalism, we had expectations that differed slightly from what we achieved and experienced. Matthew went into the course thinking it was impolite to generalize people based on culture. After learning about things such as the platinum rule, he came to see how some assumptions can be helpful to establish meaningful connections if the assumptions are backed by legitimate cultural knowledge instead of something derogatory such as stereotypes. Meanwhile, Cortney was interested in multiculturalism in Canada, and through the connections this course facilitated was able to understand and appreciate the value of multiculturalism outside of her homeland, and exactly how subtle culture can be as a phenomenon in people’s day to day lives.

Through speaking with and listening to you all, we have finished this course with refined perspectives and new understandings of the impacts and importance of culture and of multiculturalism. We have also been given guidelines and knowledge on how to ensure that we are always acting with kindness, especially when it comes to cultural differences. Finally, a major acknowledgment that we have achieved, with help from the Laurier International Cultural Conversations and our professors and instructors, is how the iceberg rule functions—a metaphor for culture where we only see the ways of which a culture has encouraged people to do something, but not the ways of which a culture has influenced a person’s way of thinking or being.

We both have examples of the iceberg metaphor. Matthew’s example of his iceberg rule has to do with food. He cooks and eats a lot of Italian food which can be connected to his Italian Canadian background. This has led him to think of Italian food as what is typically normal food for his diet and has thus influenced his cooking and food purchasing habits. Cortney’s iceberg analogy has to do with prioritizing financial stability due to being part of a cultural setting where money was difficult to come by, and this has influenced how she weighs the cost and benefits of a decision when it comes to spending, as well as her spending habits.

Our different cultural backgrounds, and our exposure to each other’s experiences and how culture impacts their lifestyles in ways which we did not consider before, have brought with them knowledge on sensitivity, consideration, thoughtfulness, kindness, tolerance, and respect. Speaking to all of you has encouraged us to engage in deeper thinking when it comes to how we interact with our surroundings and with other people whose culture we share or differ from. We will always be appreciative for the values and lessons we have learned from you and from this course which we will continue to apply in our daily lives.

Thank you so much! Sincerely, Cortney and Matthew

Cortney Amaral, HR261, Human Rights and Human Diversity, Brantford

Matthew Marzetti, HR261, Law and Society, Brantford