Assignment 3 - Catherine Lucier - Diversity of Perspective

My dad works for a subcontractor of the government, and thus, my family has moved around more than some. I was born in Fairfax, Virginia, then when I was a year and a half old, we moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, where my sister was born. We moved away from there when I was four, but I have many clear memories of the house and my preschool. I even remember a few things from before my sister was born, when I wasn't even 2 years old. Then we lived in Tooele, Utah, just outside of Salt Lake City for 7 years. I still think of that as my home, and I miss it so much. I maintain that the school I went to from 2nd through 5th grades is the best education I have received. Of course, everyone was Mormon, and the population of non-white people was incredibly low. Everybody had a bunch of kids and was kind of poor and if you were surprised all you could say was "Oh my gosh!" or "My goodness!' because they were scandalized at anything else. You couldn't wear tops that showed your shoulder, and your shorts had to come down to your knees. I would like to clarify that these weren't rules that were enforced by any law officers of any sort, but they were enforced by the social stigma and the looks people gave you and the obvious discomfort they were in if you were in public like that. 

So you can imagine what a change it was to move to Kentucky. I remember the thing I was most astonished by on the first day of 6th grade being black people. I knew they existed, and I had learned about them in school, and I had been around them occasionally when I would visit my family in Los Angeles, but I had never seen them in this population. Another thing was the ability to wear anything you liked and not be given disapproving looks, and the same with cursing. It was such a strange thing learn about the culture of the real world after being so sheltered for so long (by no fault of my parents; they took us traveling to places all over the country because they knew how small and protected Tooele was). 

Additionally, that school that I went to provided an incredible basis for the rest of my education. Every student in the school, Kindergarten-8th grade was evaluated and placed in a math class and a reading class with others of a similar level to them, regardless of grade level. In addition to that, there were three core subjects that each of the 3 teachers in each grade specialized in. In 5th grade, I was in an 8th-grade math class, and a reading class where we just read and wrote papers on novels; Ms. Phelps taught history, Mr. Olsen taught science, and Mrs. Toale taught core math. Believe it or not, in my AP classes today, I am finding things that others have never learned, but I learned in elementary school. This may also be attributed to the fact that every student in my school had science and history classes. I was shocked to learn from my younger sister that Fayette County had taught science and history in a strangely limited capacity until middle school. 

This is all a very roundabout way of describing why I bring a different perspective to the table. Admittedly, it is not as unusual as some people's perspectives, but a diversity of perspective includes every level of uncommonness.