Classrooms and Schools as

Cultural Crossroads

Chapter Three

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.

Facets of School Culture

Student Culture

Teacher Culture

Culture of the School as a Whole

Student Culture: Diverse in Many Ways

Basis for association and identity:

Cultural: ethnicity, race, gender, classAcademic: Biology Club, French ClubInterest or Skill: choir, band, footballSocial: cliques, gangs

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

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

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.

Reshaping Cultural Identity

Given the diversity of today’s schools, teachers need to adjust to a new reality.

There are predictable patterns in such adjustment.

One such pattern is the U-Curve Hypothesis.

Diagram of the U-Curve Hypothesis (Figure 3.1)

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 one’s mistakes.

Home: One’s own cultural

identity has been altered; one feels “at home.”

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.

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…

Captures the experience of cultural differences from a variety of perspectives

EmotionalInformationalDevelopmental

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

Stages of Intercultural Encounters (Fig. 3.2)

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

Stage One: Understanding Emotional Responses

Anxiety: about appropriate behaviorAmbiguity: messages may be unclearDisconfirmed Expectations: what we think

will happen doesn’tBelonging/Rejection: we don’t know the

“rules”Confronting Personal Prejudices: we may

find that our previously-held beliefs are inaccurate

Emotional Responses in Intercultural Interaction

(Figure 3.3)

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…

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)

Relationship of the Group to the Individual: the importance of the individual and/or the group may be different across culture groups

Analyzing Unfamiliar Behavior (Figure 3.4)

Stage Three: Making Adjustments and Reshaping Cultural Identity

Changes and adjustments may occur in the following:

Categorization—the content and value of our categories

Differentiation—as we become more sophisticated, meaning is associated with more refined categories

Continued…

Ingroups and Outgroups—redefining who’s “in” and who’s “out” in meaningful ways

Learning Style—adjustments and expansions in our ability to learn effectively

Attribution: broadening the basis on which we understand the behavior of others

Ways of Processing Information (Figure 3.5)

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

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.

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.

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