Cultural Paradigms

 I took a psychology class about twenty years ago while working on my Associate's Degree.  The instructor was Mr. Christensen.  I don't remember a lot of my teachers from back then, but I remember him.  He taught me a lot about life and helped me see things about myself that are key to who I am now and how I view the world.  One of those things is the phrase "all you know is all you know."  It is so simple, and yet explains much about why each of us makes the choices that we do.  Each of us only knows what we know.  We only know the paradigms, or models, that we have developed in our own lives as a result of our personal cultures, families, and surroundings.  Unfortunately, we are so used to the world being only as we view it that it can create a bias in us that we don't even recognize.  Some may call this implicit bias, which is we have attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them without our conscious knowledge. This is what came to my mind this week as we watched the videos about cultural paradigms.

Carlos Fuentes said, "We shall know each other or we shall kill each other."  To me, this means that if we don't take the time to understand each other, then we will never have peace in the world.  There is a lot of talk about unity in the United States right now.  Unfortunately, I think many people misunderstand what unity means.  In 1 Corinthians 12, we are taught to be like the "body of Christ."  The verses go on to teach how every part of the body is different, but all have their purpose.  I remember someone once saying "unity does not mean sameness".  It made me think of this set of scriptures.  What makes a body so amazing?  It's all of the different and unique parts.  I think this is something that needs to be kept in our hearts and minds as we venture into our classrooms.  Particularly in TESOL classrooms, there will a large amount of diversity.  As a teacher, it would not properly serve me or my students if I try to ignore this.  It may be even worse if I force my class to assimilate to my culture.  There are rich treasures of knowledge of all kinds in the world.  Why not seek to understand and celebrate them with our students?

One thing I feel is important is to do what I can to get to know my students, and even put some extra time into studying their culture.  I need to be open and caring to all my students and understand their culture will help make sure I am doing it appropriately.  I was really saddened by the video of the young men from Africa when they talked about people in the United States not being friendly.  Unfortunately, some of the cultural paradigms that many Americans have cause them to be afraid of those who look and sound different.  It is interesting to me that in a country full of diversity that these fears are so prevalent.  I think it is this fear that leads to unfriendliness.  There is no room for an attitude like this in a classroom.  As I watched the video of these boys, I was intrigued to know their story.  Why were they coming to the United States?  How long would they be staying?  They seemed excited and happy to be there. Then to hear that the people in the community didn't want them coming to the store together broke my heart.

How can we fix it?  How can we be better?  The answer is to get to know people. Everyone has a story.  There is a Ted Talk called "The Danger of a Single Story."  The danger lies in hearing a single story, then creating cultural paradigms, especially toward people, based on that story.  That is just one person's story and we should allow all students the opportunity to tell theirs.  

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