Cultural Paradigms.

For a long time I worked in construction, and one o the most stressing jobs in it is remodeling. People want part of their houses to be new, without changing much, they would say things like "I want my house to feels the same but not be the same". How do change something without making some concessions to introduce the new ideas?

We have heard time and again that we are all different, and much of what we are comes from the way we were raised and the place we were raised, so whenever we try to assimilate a new idea we must face the possibility of making some concessions in our views in order to accomplish change.

I never cared much for ketchup, in fact in my culture is a topping seldom use in everyday meals, but on my first trip to the United States, one of my friends took me straight from the airport to Arby's.

He bought what I thought was the biggest serving of potato fries I've ever seen, and before I could do anything, he literally bathed them on ketchup and told me "Enjoy!"

He didn't know I didn't like that flavor but he was assuming that because in his culture most people do, I would like it too. In a split of a second, I tried to think about what to say not partake of the feast laid out in front of me without offending him, but I couldn't so I ate a few chips with my eyes as open as I could, and to my surprise they were good. 

You see, I was unfamiliar with the idea and because of it I just dismissed ketchup as a food-related item.

In education, much like with new food, if the source is reliable you should at least be open to receive it and test its potential to add value to your life. 

When we talk about paradigms we usually say it like it is something restrictive in education, but it might be an asset in some cases. 

I'm LDS and so is my family. A  few years ago my daughter was in school and her teacher shared with all her students the "good news" that same-sex marriages were now legal in Argentina. My daughter raised her hand and said "yeap, but is not legal to god" and they all laughed at her.  

Her paradigms were such that this new idea was rapidly blocked in her young brain because one of her paradigms was her faith. To the teacher she was wrong, to me she was brave. 

So, every time we try to learn something new we must decide what to do with what we know already. whether is ketchup or a radical idea, what we know already will determine the values we grant to the new things we are exposed to, and if we want to add these novel concepts to our lives.