CULTURES CULTURES CULTURES

Where do I begin?

The first video spoke about the importance of education in different cultures and how each culture views education to hold a different level of importance, depending on the culture. The example the video used was if there was a death or a marriage the entire family would attend and if the child missed school then they miss school. As educators we are expected to be accepting of this fact and help the student. I personally believe the opposite. In the educational community of OUR culture, missing school comes with consequences and those consequences should be enforced. Missing school regardless of the reason would result in having to make up the work or be punished for missing class (depending on the circumstance) and that should be how it is. In our culture we take education to be in high regards and I personally believe the more we allow education to become less of an importance the worse off we will be as a culture, nation, and world.

The second and third videos spoke about Manners and body language, and verbal expressions. I believe that it is important to be understanding of what these aspects of society mean to different cultures and embrace them. It is important to understand that the Indian student in our class may not look us in the eyes and we should be accepting of this fact and work with the student to help them realize it is okay to look the teacher in the eye. The whole basis of understanding is tolerance. I believe we should be, as educators tolerant of these differences but at the same time, it is important to educate the student and have the student realize that they are apart of our culture as well. Thus, assimilating to the culture in the classroom, or educational community is important for success. It is important to explain to the student that while it is important for you to keep your cultural values, at other times it is important for the student to assimilate into our culture.