Arielle Franks

Professor Beadle

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English 113B
February 15, 2016
True Identity
The way society is protruded in the year 2016, cultures rule the world. There are multiple
cultures that are encountered on an-every day life that are coming together as one. Society takes
a huge role on cultural space as well as to finding ones true identity. It can be changed based on
what kind of atmosphere you are brought upon. We use different parts of our brain for numerous
of things. Our right side of the brain we use for calculations and logical abilities. Along with the
left side of our brain, we use to express our knowledge on English. This is what makes the world
we live in such so beautiful because it makes you want to explore more in life and experience all
different kinds of cultures that are not brought up on a daily basis. Cultures are what make
people so unique and special in their own way, as to how one can express their own ways
through a culture and not be categorized by a stereotype. The world has its pros and cons but
exploring your inner-self within cultures of your own as well as others over weighs all.
With an experience that I had, it was brought to my attention from different cultural
spaces and identity changes, transitioning from my Math 93 class to my English 113B had a
magnificent change with the way I act, as well as my persona. My math 93 class is very quiet,
right as you walk through the door it is as if the atmosphere is very closed in. Nobody knows
each other in that class compared to my English 113B where everybody knows is familiar with

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one another. In Math 93, unless you have a peer from a pervious class or had introduce yourself
to one another, this makes me and I am sure with others feel socially awkward. With this
atmosphere, it tends to make things undersized because the energy that are given off of the room
make you feel uncomfortable. Because math is such an common unlikeable topic, people usually
attend class just to get it over with and not fully enjoy and take in the material that is being
taught to them. It is such a straight forward topic with usually multiple ways to find one specific
answer, compared to English where there is never a wrong answer and various ways to express
the way you feel. Which could be a reason why English is more of a relatable subject because of
the way you can express your knowledge and not feel under pressure to being wrong; with
English there is never a wrong answer. The cultural space in Math 93, puts myself into a distant
space as to being very standoffish which I usually am not. The change is so drastic that I had not
been in a leeway so closed in before. Quoted by Ronald Jackson in his article Self Identity and
Culture he states, Understanding self identity is important to inter/cultural communication
because as you learn who are you, you learn how to communicate effectively with others. With
that being said, as well being put into other words, my perception of the quote is once you really
find who you are and what you like or dislike, it becomes much easier to face different spaces.
After being in math 93 I noticed that my English 113B shared a different atmosphere.
English has a cultural and self identifying that changes drastically by emotion and
communication skills. Those skills allow me to be more talkative and joyful which helps me feel
more comfortable and have more personality; as for math I am more closed off. Being closed off
in my math class puts me into a position of being antisocial and makes me feel doubtful if I do
not get the answers right. Feeling more intellectual and confident about yourself helps with work
ethics. Having someone around who I am close to helps me stay focus. An enjoyable

environment that keeps the energy high keeps me interested as well. Ronald Jackson states As
you learn more about cultural identities; you learn that some aspects of who you are remain more
salient then others, some seem more universal seem strange. (Jackson 118) Compared to my
math, my English peers I share more similar thoughts with them. Hispanic culture was a popular
topic talked about with them which brought us more together as one. We discussed differences
and similarities that we do as in our Hispanic culture compared to what others do in theirs. These
thoughts and ideas lead to an interesting discussion. Having cultural things in common with
others brings people together and leads on to other topics. Cultural space and self identity are
two main groups that bring people together.
In math there are numerous ways of solving problems that create confusion. Students are
taught based on what the professor knows but more then half the class may not understand; and
hesitate to ask questions. They are afraid of being wrong and not having the right answer and
most just do not understand the given steps. Students then ask for a second example so that they
grasp what the problem is asking for, specifically. The second example may not be on a higher
level of understanding but broken down step by step into simplest form. Once the problem is
broken down students then find understanding in the new example although it is the same thing
just presented differently. People understand math as to only having one specific way to finding
what equals to x which could be a reason why this topic is unlikeable to some. Math is a very
frustrating topic, to where people feel the need to push themselves over the limit just to prove to
themselves or others that they are smart. Nobody should be judged or deprived over a simple
topic that we are taught in school. Some people are naturally born with the knowledge of math
and others need practice but it does not give the right to judge one another based off of it.
Everyone has their strengths and weaknesss but should not feel to compete with one another.

Having diversity around, influences new ideas shared from different perspectives. Cited
by a article of What is Cultural Space? written by Brianna Schmall, she stated Every living
thing has a visible physical boundaryits skinseparating it from its external
environment. This visible boundary is surrounded by a series of invisible boundaries that are
more difficult to define but are just as real. These other boundaries begin with the individuals
personal space and terminate with her or his territory. These ideas allow groups to form new
ideas and problem solving. If there was no diversity everyone would view everything the same.
This helps deliver new ideas and conversation between groups; allowing new topics to come
about. Putting people into groups or in pairs, is a great way of forming friendships. People come
into contact with others that they have never known before. All groups share a variety of skills
each person adds something different. Each person in these groups take on different rolls; and
then you have the leader of the group. The leader of the group is someone who keeps everything
in order and makes sure the group is functioning right. All groups should be able to get along and
perform well with each other; but because there is so much variety the group has different
opinions on things. These different opinions can lead to arguments and debates on what is right
and what is wrong. In the end the group is able to come together and put their ideas together and
be as one.
To come to a conclusion, cultural space ties in with self identity. Comparing my Math 93
to my English 133B both classes have different cultural space. The two both helped me come to
a conclusion of how culture plays a huge roll on self identity. As we get older, we realize more
and more who we are and understand the roots of where we come from. Math and English are
two completely different concepts and can be deprived by the cultural space. The two help make
this world mix and helps people get along better with what we all have in common, culture.