Classrooms%20and%20Schools%20as%20Cultural%20Crossroads

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Chapter Three
Classrooms and Schools as Cultural Crossroads
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Schools and Classrooms Where Cultures Interact

• In schools, as perhaps nowhere else in American
  society, people of many different backgrounds are
  forced to come together for significant periods
  of time.
• When they arrive, they find a culture of the
  school itself that may be very different from
  their own familiar cultural milieu.

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Facets of School Culture

• ?Student Culture
• ?Teacher Culture
• ? Culture of the School as a Whole

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?Student Culture Diverse in Many Ways

• ?Basis for association and identity
• Cultural ethnicity, race, gender, class
• Academic Biology Club, French Club
• Interest or Skill choir, band, football
• Social cliques, gangs

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Teacher Culture Predominantly Homogenous

• 70 percent female
• Historically working and middle class
• Relatively low status in the adult social system
  of the school
• 90 percent European American

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?Culture of the School as a Whole

• Overwhelmingly middle class in values
• Purpose is to transmit the cultural beliefs,
  values, and knowledge affiliated with the
  dominant society
• Interested in social control
• Often sees diversity as a problem, not as a
  resource

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Teachers as Cultural Mediators

• A new role for teachers mediating cultural
  similarities and differences
• Be knowledgeable about the role of culture in
  teaching and learning.
• Be skillful in addressing the educational needs
  of diverse students.
• Be prepared to engage students in content and
  activities that enable them to handle
  intercultural interactions with others.

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Reshaping Cultural Identity

• Given the diversity of todays schools, teachers
  need to adjust to a new reality.
• There are predictable patterns in such
  adjustment.
• One such pattern is the U-Curve Hypothesis.

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Diagram of the U-Curve Hypothesis (Figure 3.1)
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The U-Curve Hypothesis

• Honeymoon
• Excitement at dealing with new people
  preconceived notions
• Hostility
• Frustration when preconceived notions do not
  produce desired results

• Humor
• If frustrations are conquered, understanding
  begins and one can laugh at ones mistakes.
• Home
• Ones own cultural identity has been altered one
  feels at home.

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Reshaping Identity Takes Time

• It may be as long as two years if a new language
  is involved, it may take up to seven.
• It is difficult, though not at all impossible, to
  alter deeply-held beliefs about others.
• In order to take full advantage of diversity,
  both teachers and students need to think
  seriously about reshaping their own cultural
  identities.

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A Model of Cross-Cultural Interaction

• Is designed to be universal adaptable to any
  cross-cultural encounter
• Recognizes that people have similar reactions to
  cross-cultural encounters
• Builds on a desire to analyze, understand, and
  improve intercultural interactions

Continued
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• Captures the experience of cultural differences
  from a variety of perspectives
• Emotional
• Informational
• Developmental

• Does not prescribe specific courses of action
• Relies on the individual, empowered by
  culture-general knowledge, to inquire into causes
  of problems and propose solutions

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Stages of Intercultural Encounters (Fig. 3.2)
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Stages in Intercultural Interaction

• Stage One Understanding Emotional Responses
• Stage Two Understanding the Cultural Basis of
  Unfamiliar Behavior
• Stage Three Making Adjustments and Reshaping
  Cultural Identity

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?Stage One Understanding Emotional Responses

• Anxiety about appropriate behavior
• Ambiguity messages may be unclear
• Disconfirmed Expectations what we think will
  happen doesnt
• Belonging/Rejection we dont know the rules
• Confronting Personal Prejudices we may find that
  our previously-held beliefs are inaccurate

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Emotional Responses in Intercultural Interaction
(Figure 3.3)
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Stage Two Understanding the Cultural Basis of
Unfamiliar Behavior

• ?Communication and Language Use understanding
  verbal and non-verbal expressions, gestures
• ?Values deeply held, may be quite different
• ?Rituals and Superstitions may be viewed as
  silly by one group or another
• ?Situational Behavior the rules of behavior
  may vary in the same situation

Continued
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?Roles knowledge of appropriate role behavior
may also vary across culture groups ?Social
Status markers of high and low status with
respect to roles may vary ?Time and Space
differences in conceptions of time and space may
vary, as well as differences in appropriate
behavior regarding time (e.g., punctuality) ?Relat
ionship of the Group to the Individual the
importance of the individual and/or the group may
be different across culture groups
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Analyzing Unfamiliar Behavior (Figure 3.4)
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Stage Three Making Adjustments and Reshaping
Cultural Identity

• Changes and adjustments may occur in the
  following
• Categorizationthe content and value of our
  categories
• Differentiationas we become more sophisticated,
  meaning is associated with more refined
  categories

Continued
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• Ingroups and Outgroupsredefining whos in and
  whos out in meaningful ways
• Learning Styleadjustments and expansions in our
  ability to learn effectively
• Attribution broadening the basis on which we
  understand the behavior of others

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Ways of Processing Information (Figure 3.5)
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Applying the Culture-General Model

• Allows people to build a common culture-related
  vocabulary around differences
• Provides a tool with which to better assess the
  nature of intercultural interactions

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Identifying Commonalities

• The goal of the culture-general model goes beyond
  simply negotiating differences.
• It is intended to help individuals search for
  commonalities, to build bridges to one another,
  so that all may feel sufficiently comfortable
  that they can confront differences with
  equanimity.

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Identifying Differences

• Equally important to identifying differences
  between groups is the ability to identify
  differences within groups.
• Such variations as social class, geographical
  location, sexual orientation, or religion are not
  easy to see, but may be important in the way
  individuals perceive the world and approach
  learning.

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Something to Think About

• It is often hard to learn from people who are
  just like you. Too much is taken for granted.
  Homogeneity is fine in a bottle of milk, but in
  the classroom it diminishes the curiosity that
  ignites discovery.
• --Vivian Gussin Paley