In her TEDxUF talk, Diana Moreno explored the issue of facilitating diversity in the US educational facilities. Being an immigrant from Ecuador and moving to Florida as a six-grader, Diana was excited for her new experience in a foreign country. She naively expected her life to become similar to the episodes of Full House, where tensions based on race or socioeconomic status did not exist. Unfortunately, she was wrong. Shortly she realized that despite being a bright child, her teachers and classmates did not consider her worthy. Moreno talked about how she had to repress her identities as an immigrant Latina woman from a working-class background to fit in with society’s demands.
The essential parts of the talk included the speaker reflecting on her experience as an immigrant and explaining the practice of engaging diverse students in a dialogue about their identities and personal narrative. On the one hand, it was interesting to hear about how the speaker engaged with students of different backgrounds and helped them overcome identity issues that limited their happiness and well-being within the society. In addition, Moreno offered a set of guiding rules that anyone could follow when creating an environment for mutual learning and understanding. Overall, it was evident that the speaker was sincere in her intentions and wanted to contribute with her knowledge and experiences.
On the other hand, Moreno gave very few examples as to how identity mapping worked and was very vague in explaining the actual conversations that occur during the sessions with her students. The rules such as “step up/step back” or “agree on expectations” may be useful in general terms, but the speaker failed to provide at least some examples of how these rules work. It was confusing to hear Moreno speak about identities as if they were labels and each person had to have them to function in society. While the audience learned that expressing oneself could be possible through interacting with others and communicating one’s experience, creating identities just for the sake of creating them is ineffective and may ruin the conversation about diversity and equality.
When it comes to the criticism and questions for the speaker, it must be mentioned that Moreno had a dismissive attitude to children from upper-class families. She said, “you have upper-middle-class children who see themselves reflected in their neighborhoods, schools, television. And they might assume that nobody has to worry about paying the bills on time […]” (“Real Talk: Mapping our Identities Through Personal Narrative”). Talking about people from privileged backgrounds should not always be associated with making them seem insensitive to the issues and struggles of others. Questions that I would ask Moreno on this issue can include “What is your personal experience with upper-class individuals? Why do you think that these groups do not struggle with identity issues? Does socioeconomic status mean that people will not experience identity problems?
The TED talk allowed me, as a viewer, to get to know about the experiences of diverse individuals first-hand. Talking about diversity and pushing the boundaries that our society has established is important for encouraging growth and development. However, Moreno’s talk did include some instances of prejudice toward upper-middle-class people, which can limit the understanding of diversity and put people into unwanted stereotypes.
Work Cited
“Real Talk: Mapping our Identities Through Personal Narrative. Diana Moreno.”Youtube, uploaded by TEDx Talks. 2017, Web.