L08 : Deep Culture in the Elementary Classroom

What can we possibly gain by learning about other cultures, or even teaching about them in a classroom? Well, the answer is as simple as it is important to the health of societies everywhere: Progress. 

It's been established that, by even learning a second language, physical and cognitive changes in our brains allow us to process information in a more effective way.

Similar results can be found in history, by studying the reasons why some cultures strived and evolve, and others were simply conquered by the first ones. 

It was the inclusion or assimilation of ideas and culture, what proved to be detrimental in the fields of innovation and change on the superpowers of the day. They simply took the best from other cultures, and turn them into opportunities for, among other things, territorial and political advancements. 

Back when I was in school, deep culture meant to point the Tower of Pizza in Italy on a map, or describe the seemingly primitive people in Africa in a picture, but we would never discuss anything beyond a colorful aspect of a distant society. We never talked about why a Muslim woman on her traditional attire was considered odd while seeing a Catholic nun, dressed almost identically, was normal.

Tolerance and understanding are illiteracy's first victims.

I understand the need to go beyond this. It is always overwhelming to see people cry, or to laugh hysterically, regardless of what country they are from. There is a human connection made between us by witnessing these situations, that reminds us that we share not only gestures, and physical features, but also the pursuit of values such as family, peace, love etc. 

At the same time, two people can have a different perception of the same event. Why? Different conditions may have played a role in each individual's life. These paradigms can create a wedge in both subjects, or provide the opportunity for growth and betterment, but only education can guide the two to a proper outcome. 

The school has a privileged seat in the child's development. It would be unfair to elude this opportunity, to provide the students with the first encounters with other culture but at an age-appropriate level. 

This last concept needs to be addressed, since the material intended to be thought-provoking in middle school, would not be helpful in kindergarten. 

The ultimate goal of going deeper in describing other culture should be tolerance. The more we talk about other people's values can only show us that we should respect those ideas and ways of living, and the simple act of making sense out of them is literally making us better prepared to deal with ourselves and others.  

L07: Cultural and Psychology

Prof. Ivers talked about how cultures create the "Ought self" and how this influence the "Real self." The relationship between this two concepts will play a significant role in the most important aspect of our student's opportunity to succeed: Self-esteem.

I think that the what is not what makes you sick sometimes, but rather the how. How can I be or have...? So our mental health depends on the things that we are after.
One of the most stressful times of my life happened right after my mission.
Being LDS, my well-intentioned leaders, reminded me every Sunday that what was next for me now was to find a good LDS girl and get married. The how was killing me.
So, while my understanding LDS culture, in the end, brought me joy, the pressure of family, and friends, to be or to have certain things or to fit specific criteria that come from living where you live or by being part of a specific group,  can be overwhelming.

This is a pressure felt by many in the same situation, and for some is just one more thing on our to-do-list, but there are those who feel in the middle of a cultural dilemma.

In the LDS culture starting a family is paramount to progress, while outside people perceive this notion as mistaken, to them a good education and temporal accomplishments should be reached by individuals long before tiding the knot. These two ideas can exert a great weight on the minds of young people sometimes.

The Church can not feel or should be held responsible for every ill interpreted commandment, or instruction received by any members, and yet I feel that all of us in each ward worldwide understand that at a certain age there are things expected from us.

The only way I've found to cope with this anxieties is to try to develop a healthy dose of patience.

Albert Einstein said: “Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it's stupid.” We might not all be borne to be Einsteins but that is a great thing. Can you imagine if Einstein would have tried to pursue a career in Futbol or rock climbing? Chances are, you are the Einstein of your own life.

A classroom might present many challenging personalities, but student share the most important thing, they want to do better.
What each of them considers progress might differ from one another, and their expectancies may vary, so I think a teacher should be ready to help students to set their goals and to work towards them with a healthy dose of patience.

Patience is what calms the nerves when things don't happen according to what is expected from us, and tells us that, sometimes, we need to change the speed but not the destination to achieve the best version of ourselves.

L07: Differences in Manners

I heard time and again: "Is not what you say, but the way you say it what matters the most"

Like we just read and saw on this lesson so far, there are countless cultural expressions in every society, each one of them carries a message or convey a distinctive meaning that we should respect and value. Yes, some might seem very different than our set of cultural rules, but understanding this codes is fundamental to set the basis for understanding and communication.

Our lives might not be in danger anytime that we misread a gesture or a manner, but it would be healthy to approach each student, or individual, with politeness and empathy, even though we differ in the ways we express our ideas or feelings.

No matter what is considered acceptable in your crowd, chances are that they would look or sound alien to other people or culture. We saw the example of this in brother Iver's lesson, when he mentions about how staring in Bolivia is a common practice in public places and a very acceptable one. 

Even in Church people differ in their manner of expression from one ward to another.

I've been in situations when cultural manners made me feel awkward or even confused during my mission, in my own country but I learned that this contrasts in the way one perceives life was designed to help us progress and accept each other, not to create unpassable boundaries.

 But how do we help students from vastly different cultures understand that they are, in reality, an asset to each other in the classroom and not a problem?

In a classroom, my challenge would be to help the students understand this idea of acceptance. Like I mention before, some cultural gestures might be offensive without intending to do so, and in a room generating ideas the possibility of conflict can be real.

I just know that diversity should be foster and not censored and that, in the end, we all pursue that same notion of progress and happiness regardless whether we greet people with a kiss or a handshake.

L07: Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom

One of the many questions I have about my future classrooms is, how much cultural tolerance I can accept before that tolerance interferes with the overall student's progress.

It is clear that we were all created equal in the eyes of God, and in the occidental way of education. All the students should be afforded the same opportunities regardless their backgrounds, and most importantly, regardless their culture. 

But, what if some of this cultural differences feel threatening or disrupting to others? Greeting people as enter a classroom might be a simple act of respect in some cultures, while in others it would feel meaningless. This is the kind of situation that might feel divisive in a classroom and the kind that we'll have to navigate for sure. 

Should I look for a consensus and try to steer all the students to my cultural paradigms, or allow them to express themselves uninterrupted?

I went to school to a very diverse high school but, regardless who you were or where you came from, teachers would tell you that there was one way and it was their way. Some people struggled to adapt to new cultural and educational values and their capacity to do so was the difference between success and failure. Many fell behind.  I know better than to try this eclectic approach and to sacrifice my students chance for self-expression for the sake of unifying school polities.  

I'm all for inclusion in all the aspect of society, but I'm worried that by fostering inclusion improperly, I will create a confusing ambient in the classroom. 

It is difficult for me, to imagine a future classroom when I'm not even a teacher yet, but I sure hope that all the information from this lesson will be close to mind when the time comes, to help me create the right conditions for learning and progress.