If you are to travel the world, going to different continents and countries one would make a discovery that a primary culture stands out. The prominence of a culture is associated with specific actions and behaviors from people that differentiate themselves from the next group of people. The way the culture is set up influences how things operate and an example is, education. Education is a universal word, but the way an individuals` culture effects their education can be different. Culture influences both spheres of education formal and informal education. Moreover, seeing things from a different perspective can influence our learning patterns to become different. Conclusively, its becomes an underlying fact that either hinders our education or enhances it.
What exactly is culture and why would it influence our education? People who come from different countries have a specific mindset. Children in Asia see the world in different terms, so do the children of America. By seeing these different terms each child`s educational journey is affected. In the Korean culture, education and respect go hand and hand. How you approach, talk and relate to your teacher has to do with the respect that you show. Whereas, in American culture education is just education; respect is not really needed it can be offered, but it`s not intertwined like the Korean culture. But culture doesn`t only depend on what country you live in it can also be different for each person in the same country. Our culture is like a bridge for our individualism to come out. Indeed, when we look at culture we see it as religious traditions and specific holidays. But culture is more than that; it`s about the individual experiences that are acquired in a lifetime. By individual experiences I mean, unique incidents that define how a person see`s the world and how that person develops his or her identity. Our cultural tendencies impact the way we engage with our education. In some ways it can impact a child by the situation that going on at home. A child who comes from a home where the culture permeates studiousness would most likely take their educational journey seriously. Under the circumstances, where a child who lives in a culture air of educational depravity; having parents that are inactive in the child`s studies and fail to encourage the child in their studies tends to not focus to much on their education. Sometimes our culture cannot be controlled; it`s what we were born into and sometimes what we create.
Education affects all who succumb to it. Educators are in a state of experiencing many cultures from the students they encounter each day. Educators tend to treat all learners in the same manner despite the maybe not so obvious cultural differences. Sometimes there are physical differences that help a teacher to understand how to help the child. In 2001, I came to the United States from Sierra Leone, Africa. The culture back home for me entailed a dialect of broken English but encouraging parents. Going to school, here in America, I had difficulties with my studies because I had to catch up and learn a somewhat culture of America to be able to thrive. The teacher that helped me gain my confidence noticed my different culture and took the time to show me how to do things accordingly. The culture that I came from could have limited my ability to succeed in my education but I did not yield to that standard.
Our diversity in culture is what makes education great. Although we have different mindsets and experience different things we are still able to come together and receive an education that can take us to new heights. Race and ethnicity often play a role in defining what our culture is. However, when we discover that our different cultures influence education it can become something greater than we know.
