Journal 3

The environment we grow up in affects our identity and who we are as people later in life.  Our parents raise us with their values and beliefs in mind.  Usually, this installment of values and beliefs in our minds will stay with us into adulthood.  Statistics show that most kids share the same beliefs as their parents once they grow up and are on their own.  Even if they disagree with their parents when they are still adolescents and growing up, most people will return to sharing the same beliefs as their parents when they move out and start their careers.  Our identity is unique to ourselves but others around us help to shape it.

            As college students, some of us disagree with our parents’ beliefs.   This may be because we want to rebel against our parents, we want to experience new things, or we truly believe they are wrong in their beliefs.  This fact is reflected in our responses to the activity we did in class.  For the most part, our parents tended to be more biased, racist, or judgmental against people that are different than the traditional “white American.”  They especially did not want their daughters or sons to date someone who was different, but were more lenient when it came to living next or being friends with them.  The prejudices were still present, however.  Our responses for the most part were very accepting of people that are different from us both ethnically and physically.  We were more likely to answer yes when asked if we would date, be friends with, live next to, and accept others that were different.  These results determine that at this point in our lives, most of us have an identity separate from our parents.  It also shows that we tend to be more accepting of differences than our parents. 

            At this point in our lives, many of our responses reveal our independent identity from our parents.  We want to go on our own path and make our own decisions.  I think that once we grow older and have more life experiences most of us will turn back to sharing our parents’ beliefs and values.  However, some people will stay firm in the beliefs that are different than their parents through adulthood.  Everyone’s identity is unique to themselves; their values and beliefs are shaped by both their parents’ direction and their own.  Whether the person decides to follow their parents’ direction or take their own path, their identity is still partially shaped by their parents.