Running head: POST TEST RELECTION ESSAY

Post Test Reflection Essay

Jamie R. Wilson
Georgia State University

Author Note
This paper was prepared for Dr. Karen Watkins Cultural Diversity Class at GSUAlpharetta Campus.

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Post Test Reflection Essay

As my culture journey this semester comes to a close, I have learned many different
things about becoming culturally competent that I normally would not have taken the time to
learn. I recall on my pretest that my scores were 83 on the first part and 205 on the second part,
both of which put me at a level 2. Recently taking the post-test I am proud to say that my scores
have greatly increased to 131 on part 1 and 286 on part 2, which moves me to a level 4 with my
cultural competency. Although my scores represent that I am culturally competent now, I know
in my heart and mind that I still have a lot of work to do in order to help my clients throughout
my social work professional career. It has been a long, tough journey but well worth the effort I
have put in along with the efforts of my classmates.
Feelings
Along this journey to being a more cultural competent social worker, I have learned many
things such as understanding the culture and heritage of others is essential in becoming a better
social worker as well as becoming a better humanitarian. In taking the pretest, my scores were
pretty low because I didnt have the knowledge that I have acquired in this class. I was shocked,
to say the least, but understanding that becoming culturally competent is a process just like
everything else in todays world makes it more tolerable. I, honestly, thought I was pretty
knowledgeable when it comes to other cultures because my father was military. Being raised
around many different cultures, and living in many different states makes you think that you
would be more culturally competent, but not getting to know the differences in the cultures of
those individuals around you makes you less culturally competent. Just being around people
doesnt necessarily teach you about the heritage and family background. I am so thankful for this
class and the opportunity to learn about other cultures.
Self-Awareness
In the beginning of this journey, I didnt know very much about my own cultural
background. Being culturally aware of ones own family and history is an integral part of
becoming culturally competent. According to Doman Lum (2011), cultural awareness focuses
on the cultural self-awareness of the worker and the cultural other awareness of the client ( p.
125). In order for me to help clients from other cultures, I first need to learn more about my own
culture and background. I still face the dilemma of Americanization which involves being
American in character, manners, methods, and ideas and the assimilation of the US customs,
speech and other characteristics to the point of excluding your country of origin(2011 p. 140141). I still have to learn more about my own culture to become more culturally aware of my
future clients. I intend on finding out as much about my heritage and background as possible
throughout my journey to becoming a more culturally competent social worker. In learning about
my heritage and where I come from will help my future clients as well as my own self-awareness
of my culture.

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Diverse Groups.
Learning about other cultures is imperative to becoming culturally competent. Helping
others is essentially my goal with my professional career choice, and I know without learning as
much as I can about the heritage and background of my diverse clientele that I will be unable to
give them the proper assistance that they so desperately need. I have learned that you cannot
assume that everyone needs the same resources. There are always going to be barriers and
obstacles to overcome when dealing with individuals of other cultures. There will be religious
barriers, language barriers, and cultural barriers that make it difficult to give the client the proper
attention and resources that is required in order to better their lives without the proper education,
and training in cultural competency. Being open-minded and having a willingness to learn and/or
change is your best chance in helping our clients.
In conclusion, I have come a long way in becoming more culturally competent but I
know that I still have a long way to go to becoming the best social worker I can in order to help
my diverse clientele in my professional career. In the future, I intend on taking more classes that
can help me become more culturally competent. I, also can become more culturally competent by
being open-minded and having a willingness to learn about other cultures. Understanding that all
individuals are different and that difference makes the world go round is the best way I can think
of to becoming a more culturally aware society. It takes all types of people to make the system
work. We all could being more understanding and helpful to people that come to our country and
need assistance. Having knowledge about other cultures helps us become better social workers.
This course has taught me a lot of things about my own cultural identity and needing to learn
more is going to help me in this journey through life and career. I would love to work with
victims of substance abuse when all is said and done. I know with the way drugs are evolving
and the groups of individuals that fall victim to this lifestyle being completely diversified that
continuing my education, even after I complete my bachelors degree and my masters degree, is
the best possible way for me to be able to keep up with the ever changing world we live in.

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References

Lum, D. (2011). Culturally Competent Practice. Sacramento: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.