I didn't study culture until I had made my way serendipitously though several. And after years of research and reflection, I found that I was fairly unique in that I really didn't have one. The legacy of this adventure was that I came to believe that I could then create culture, and I could do it in the classroom. Believing is 7/8th of conceiving!
As in my classes, I would like to begin by providing some operational definitions of key terms in the arena of culture (Voltaire once said "Sir, if you wish to converse with me, define your terms"). Operational definitions are simply agreements about how a term will be used in a certain context - a way to move forward through concepts with a degree of consistency. Here are a few terms that I think are critical to this discussion"
Culture
Culture begins in a shared experience - a group of people that live together and share common experiences. This allows them to understand each other, as they observe how the experience affects them in specific and similar ways. This understanding becomes culture, which allows them not only to comprehend the world around them, but for them to predict their environment and the effects it will have on their lives. Culture then serves two primary purposes for the individual: Receptive and Expressive. Culture is receptive in that it dictates how we perceive our environment and subsequently or reality. The contexts woven by our shared experiences become a filter and decrypter for new stimuli and experiences. This is why two people can look at the same thing and see completely different versions. Culture is probably better know for its expressive tendencies, as it is these manifestations that dominate discussions on the topics: Culture dictates how we express our experiences and our concept of the world around us. We do so in our music, language, dress, food, thought, and beliefs. All of these are impacted to a large degree by the shared experience.
Heritage
Heritage is simply the specific sets of shared experiences we have inherited though our generation and those before us.
Ethnicity
More specifically then, ethnicity is that part of our heritage we choose to embrace. My cousin and I have exactly the same heritage but different ethnicities - he is German-American, I am American.
Race
Fifty years ago, before DNA insight, this term was simple - it was the biological differences between groups, and there were only three in the world: Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Negroid. Asian, White, and Black. Once we found out we shared virtually all of the same DNA this fell apart (it was also very difficult to explain why very, very dark Indians were White). If you have lived long enough, and if you have seen enough survey forms, you have seen the choices for race grow from three to more than a dozen, with the every present "other" for good measure. Yet we know race exists, because we can tell some people are Asians, some Black, some White. Race then is real, but what is it? Perhaps, at the risk of being vague, we can think of it as being a complex combination of biology and culture.
At this point, I hope you have been reminded several times of my favorite word in education, schema. You remember, your own personal bank of knowledge and experience. And recall how we use it when we learn (accomodation and assimilation), and what happens when a teacher assumes a student has a specific schema and may not. I would guess that ethics are also very culture bound. This brings me back to the beginning of this discussion - if we cannot count on students having the same culture, we can create a common one in our classroom!
Your Homework (Homefun)
Given the discussions we have had, make an argument for creating your own culture in your classroom, explain how you would go about it, and project how learning would change as a result. We are practicing a bit of "tolerance for ambiguity" here, another cultural trait. Thank goodness for google and Wikipedia I suppose. You can contact me for some more help, but not until you have wrestled with this a bit, fair is fair. You have until Friday evening please.
As in my classes, I would like to begin by providing some operational definitions of key terms in the arena of culture (Voltaire once said "Sir, if you wish to converse with me, define your terms"). Operational definitions are simply agreements about how a term will be used in a certain context - a way to move forward through concepts with a degree of consistency. Here are a few terms that I think are critical to this discussion"
Culture
Culture begins in a shared experience - a group of people that live together and share common experiences. This allows them to understand each other, as they observe how the experience affects them in specific and similar ways. This understanding becomes culture, which allows them not only to comprehend the world around them, but for them to predict their environment and the effects it will have on their lives. Culture then serves two primary purposes for the individual: Receptive and Expressive. Culture is receptive in that it dictates how we perceive our environment and subsequently or reality. The contexts woven by our shared experiences become a filter and decrypter for new stimuli and experiences. This is why two people can look at the same thing and see completely different versions. Culture is probably better know for its expressive tendencies, as it is these manifestations that dominate discussions on the topics: Culture dictates how we express our experiences and our concept of the world around us. We do so in our music, language, dress, food, thought, and beliefs. All of these are impacted to a large degree by the shared experience.
Heritage
Heritage is simply the specific sets of shared experiences we have inherited though our generation and those before us.
Ethnicity
More specifically then, ethnicity is that part of our heritage we choose to embrace. My cousin and I have exactly the same heritage but different ethnicities - he is German-American, I am American.
Race
Fifty years ago, before DNA insight, this term was simple - it was the biological differences between groups, and there were only three in the world: Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Negroid. Asian, White, and Black. Once we found out we shared virtually all of the same DNA this fell apart (it was also very difficult to explain why very, very dark Indians were White). If you have lived long enough, and if you have seen enough survey forms, you have seen the choices for race grow from three to more than a dozen, with the every present "other" for good measure. Yet we know race exists, because we can tell some people are Asians, some Black, some White. Race then is real, but what is it? Perhaps, at the risk of being vague, we can think of it as being a complex combination of biology and culture.
At this point, I hope you have been reminded several times of my favorite word in education, schema. You remember, your own personal bank of knowledge and experience. And recall how we use it when we learn (accomodation and assimilation), and what happens when a teacher assumes a student has a specific schema and may not. I would guess that ethics are also very culture bound. This brings me back to the beginning of this discussion - if we cannot count on students having the same culture, we can create a common one in our classroom!
Your Homework (Homefun)
Given the discussions we have had, make an argument for creating your own culture in your classroom, explain how you would go about it, and project how learning would change as a result. We are practicing a bit of "tolerance for ambiguity" here, another cultural trait. Thank goodness for google and Wikipedia I suppose. You can contact me for some more help, but not until you have wrestled with this a bit, fair is fair. You have until Friday evening please.
I think the teacher himself is units of culture
ReplyDeletethat stands in front of the students as we know young children and teens age always look for someone to imitate and mimic maybe an actor good looking one, sporty ,wears stylish fashions, a modern hair cut. students would be more proud of their teachers if their teachers were in good shape . ethics bound also should go side by side with the shape,honesty , calm personality .trust, keeping promises and dates etc..
students are monitoring you teacher they count all your movements.Once at school i was passing by some students i saluted them ( hello boys) they answered ( 16 ) i looked at them saying what !!..they told me : they were counting teachers who saluted them.
That culture in humans comes from several factors, acquired during his lifetime. There are positive factors and negative affected by it. Of positive factors that can affect positively on human good education is derived by a person through the home, community and religion, where we can not deny the role of parents in deepening the concept of culture positive at their children. At the same time can be factors play a role previous tuberculosis
ReplyDeleteIn understanding the culture in people. Sure that the teacher holds a clear vision of humanitarian and educational dimensions in education. This thing must be reflected in the education of students and deepen the mechanism of acquisition of their culture.