Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Responsibility
I feel that as an educator I have the responsibility to know and understand other cultures. It is my job to teach students from these cultures therefore I must have a good understanding of their cultures, but I am not sure how comfortable I must be with these cultures to teach them. Understanding and being comfortable with other cultures, to me , seems quite different. I think that I want to make every effort for both students as well as their parents feel comfortable and welcome in my classroom and I want to accommodate their individual cultures, but the fact remains that I have my own culture and beliefs that make me as individual as those from cultures other than my own and you can't force anyone to be comfortable with different cultures.
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2 comments:
You make a very valid point! I hadn't ever really thought of it. Understanding and being comfortable with a culture are two different things. Understanding is the easy part, and we may never be comfortable in another culture, but we can respect another's culture. The example I've been using is that of the Navajo culture. They don't look you in the eye, which drives some people crazy. They think they are trying to hide something, when in actuality they are showing respect. I was never comfortable with it, but I respected it, and knew enough not to be offended.
Respect is just the word I was looking for when I was turning this over in my mind. Thank you for turning on my light bulb!
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