Question

Write about a cultural conflict you observed or personally experienced with people of a different background. That background might be related to age, religion, race, nationality, region, social class, or something else.

Answer 1

A culture conflict I have personally experienced was in Indonesia. Because we were in such a poor place, no one respected the people there because of where they live and what some of the people were like there. It wasn't fair to judge everyone by some other people's actions as well as where they live. In the movie Wonder, Mr. Tushman said that people can't change the way people look or live, but maybe we can change they way we see them.

Answer 2

This exchange student from Brazil had a really hard time. He comes from a really outgoing, friendly, and straightforward culture that wouldn't really fit the traditional values of the countryside city in which he was living.

Many times, his friendliness and loudness would be seen as rude, even though he was a very polite person. Same goes to his lack of personal space.

One thing that got him into a lot of trouble was his notion of what was offensive or not. He seemed to be very self aware, but he didn't really realize how sensitive people could be to offensive jokes, which caused conflicts constantly to the point of making all parties really upset about what he considered a minor thing and the others a big one.