At Marie Curie 158, I believe that many people feel like they fit in, and all of them on some basis feel like their culture and heritage is represented in a good way. However, there have been instances where some people feel like their culture is not as heavily represented as others, or to put it in other words, people make jokes about stereotypical accents, looks, or descriptions.
Although Marie Curie has a wide selection of clubs helping people learn about new cultures, such as Asian Cultural Club, I feel like some kids go out of their way to make fun of other people. For example, I have heard kids making fun of the stereotypical “Indian accent”.. and in a certain instance when an educational science video with an Indian guy talking was put on the board, everybody broke out into laughter and made fun of the accent. It’s not only the accents that people make fun of, it can even go as far to an individual's looks from diverse backgrounds. In my opinion, Marie Curie 158 teachers, administration, guidance and Principal McHugh have done a wonderful job representing all different kinds of cultures, and many feel like they fit in because of the adults in the building.
The environment of Marie Curie is very inviting, but I also think that we should make kids at our school more aware of how their words impact our community. I think there are ways that we as a school can try to prevent this from occurring as much on a daily pattern. For example, we could put a video or a paragraph on the Morning Meeting explaining why we should embrace diversity and how our words cannot be taken back, and most likely will leave a mark on someone, whether we know it or not.
It should be acknowledged that people’s feelings about the subject of their heritage or culture can be quite important, and all of us should respect that. Remember, words are potent weapons for all causes, good or bad.