Culture and Education

We've talked a lot about this topic in Language and Culture in the Classroom classes. How the ethnicity and the cultural background of a student can affect his academic success? Most people think that if a child has a different culture at home that the one used in the class, has all the chances to fail; but some studies show that it isn't true.

Teachers have to build a bridge between the two scenarios (home environment and school environment) in a way that each one complements the other instead of replacing it.

To be able to do it, the educator has to research about the child's culture in order to know important facts of his daily life, such as: how do children learn (through watching, doing, listening...), which status has a teacher in his culture, if both genders are accepted in teaching roles, which ideas are taboo…

Being aware of the differences between the two cultures will allow the educator to choose the best methodology that fit with the student's needs, as well as it'll provide him clues about how to plan the classes.

As I said, adapt to the new culture doesn't mean leaving the own.

When a child is young isn't aware of the importance of the cultural facts, so he only desires to fit in the society at any price, even though if it means to lose and forget his roots and family history. Unfortunately that's what happens most of the time and it's a shame because then, when the child has grown he realizes all he has lost because of his previous ignorance.

I could experience this fact in the Refugee Parent's Panel, when Brigitte talked about his son. I observed that here in the US most people adapt themselves to the culture in order to not being socially marginalized.

I really think that diversity is a beneficial fact, and that everyone should hold affirmative views about it. In this way the world will be culturally richer and we'll be able to consider other points of views about a topic.

As I said before, an educator must be socioculturally conscious, I mean, he must be aware that the majority culture isn't the only one, because if not, he will rely on their own personal experiences to make sense of students' lives and it leads to misinterpretations and miscommunication.

Providing feedback and having high expectations for the newcomers are some of the most powerful tools to enhance their achievement. The students must feel that they have someone to rely on and that cares of them at any time.

Here in the US I've experienced that the kids who have a different culture receive many support; the school provides them the opportunity of being in a separate classroom during one semester to learn the language and adapt their selves to the new culture, and I think that's a really good idea, because in this way, after a short period of time they're prepared to understand the mainstream class content.

Spain doesn't have many problems about this topic because most of the immigration we have is from Europe. That means that they have a very similar lifestyle and they don't have many problems to fit in the society or the school environment because its culture doesn't differ very much from ours. However, they receive help and special classes from school if they need it.

In the near future, all the classrooms will be multicultural due to the travelling facilities and globalization, so as I teacher I'm aware that I must be prepared to front this situation. I hope to use all the practices that are in my reach to overcome the student's cultural barriers and prevent this from being a problem to reach academic success.

Race/Ethnicity and Education

How race can affect the academic success of a child? Nowadays, if we looked the classrooms most of them are multicultural; there are kids from many nationalities and different skin color; and it doesn't suppose a problem.

However, the race and the cultural fact are much related, so when a child is from a different ethnicity than the majority, usually has a different culture behind him too. Here's when the problem starts: when the cultural background of a student differs from the one used in the school. When it happens it's difficult for the child to adapt himself to the schooling because it doesn't worked as it's used in his home country. What's more, this situation can get worse if he isn't able to understand the language neither.

As I could realized, here in the US there are many organizations that help the newcomers to adapt their lives to the new culture, and we had the opportunity to visit some of them, such as Jacob's Well or the Refugee Parent's Panel. In that projects there are people who help the students and their families without expecting anything in exchange, just because they are aware of the social problems their city has. I was really amazed on how the community is involved in these types of projects.

As I could learn with the ESL Workshop, here in the US there's a state program in the public schools that provides the opportunity to the newcomer students of being in a separate class. In that, there's a special teacher who helped them to adapt to schooling as well as learning the language. In this way, they receive a personalized education that fits perfectly with their needs and when they finish this project, they are able to follow the mainstream class content without any problems. I really think that's a great idea that we can adopt in our countries.

In Spain we don't have many problems related with the race or ethnicity issues because most of the immigrants that arrive in the country are from Europe, so they belong to the same ethnicity. Even though, if they need help to adapt their selves to the culture, the school provides them a special program, but it varies depending on the child, the school or the situation; we don't have a general plan to cope with it as happen in the US.

As I said before, being from another ethnicity I don't think it's a problem that affects seriously the academic success of a child, instead of that, the culture plays an important role and it can have many consequences. I firmly believe that there are other facts that have more impact in the schooling life of a child such as the language, the background or the disabilities.

Even though, as a future educator I'm aware that I'll have to cope with these types of problems related to ethnicity, and I hope to use all that's in my hands to help the students and that the race doesn't influence in their academic success and their future life.

English Language Learners and Education

Coming from another country to the US without knowing English is a problem for everyone, but this situation gets more complicated if we're talking of kids because when they arrive, they must be able to understand the classes in order to acquire knowledge.

I realized that in the US the government is very involved to solve this problem and that's why it provides help and resources to the families who have just arrived to the country. Thanks to the visit in Kennewick Public Schools and the lecture of Mea Moore at the Professional Educator Standards Board I've been able to know which are the steps that must be done for the newcomer pupils to reach an English level that allow them to follow the classes without problem. It's a four-degree system in which the student exceeds levels as his English is improving; it is supposed to last four years (one degree per year) but it may vary depending on the needs of each student. I really think that's a good restraint because in this way, there are some specialized teachers that care about the progress of the children and they ensure the learning of the language.

Being able to listen some experiences of people who had serious problems for adapting themselves in the US because of the language (for example in Jacob's Well, in the Parents Refugee Panel or in the Global Neighborhood) made me realized how difficult it is for the newcomers to reinstall their lives in a different place, as well as, it helped me to be aware of the real problems which they have to cope with in their daily life.

In Spain, the situation is quite different; there is not much help. When an immigrant child arrive in the school and he doesn't know the language he has to put all his effort to understand the class content by himself; of course he receives help from the teacher and specialized staff who take him out of the regular classroom to practice with the fields he has more difficulties (spelling, pronunciation…). But it's not enough; what's more, this practice has lots of detractors who claim that's a bad system because while the newcomers are in these "special classes" they're missing the mainstream curriculum, so they will be always behind the rest.

Sincerely, I share the two points of view, I mean I think that the students who can't understand the language must receive support and special classes but I also agree that they shouldn't miss the regular class content. That's why I believe that the best practice is to do extra classes after the school program; in this way they receive the help that fits with their needs but they aren't in disadvantage.

Compared with my home country, the main difference is that Spain doesn't have a general plan to cope with this problem as within the US, but instead, each school has its particular program. That's an advantage, because as we know, what works in a child may not work for the other, so in this way, the education is more individualized and focused on each student and his needs.

Once again, I realized that here in the US the community is more involved with the problems that affect the population and that's why there are centers such as Jacob's Well or the Global Neighborhood that offer help for the people with few resources.

Related to this problem, we can talk about the bilingual education. In America there are some schools which use this methodology to promote the learning of two languages (most of them English and Spanish). I think that's a really good idea because there some reports (Laura Ann Pettito, 2000) that show that the children who know more than one language, has a higher IQ level as well as is more prepared to front complex problems in the future.

The ways to reach this goal are different depending on the school methodology: the pupils can be mixed by their mother tongue (so when they interact they must know the two languages), or the teacher can teach half of the subjects in Spanish and the other ones in English…

In Spain there are few bilingual schools and the teaching methods they use are quite old: they only transmit the content in English, because it's supposed that they learn Spanish in their daily lives outside the school. Until now, only the private schools offered this type of education, so, if you wanted your child to be fluent in two languages you hadn't had another option than pay for a good center, but nowadays it has changed: the government is promoting the bilingual education providing money to the public schools.

I firmly believe that if the content is taught in a good way (with innovative resources…) the bilingual education is a great practice because the students reach the same goals as the other students but also they acquire another language at the same time; so they have more knowledge and it leads them to have more changes to succeed in our globalized world.

As a future educator I'm aware that the language may become a real problem in the academic life of a child, so I'll try to put all my efforts to help the newcomer students and make sure the fact of not knowing the language wouldn't be an impediment to their future success.

Disability and Education

All of us have heard lots of times that for being a successful teacher we have to be aware identify and cope with disabilities. Nowadays exist lots of problems related with the children's learning process, from the simplest ones like dysgraphia or lack of attention to the most complex ones such as cerebral palsy, autism or dyslexia.

Thanks to the classes and the visits we've done, I've been able to discover many disabilities that I didn't know. I have also realized that almost every child have some problem related with his learning process.

However, one of the things I like the most is being aware of the amount of tools and resources we can have as a teachers to adapt the class content to these disabled students.

I really enjoyed the visit to "Domino's preschool"; there I was surprised by the number of teachers in the classroom: there were 8 students and 8 teachers (so, 1 teacher per student). This organization leads the teacher to offer a personalized education to every child and allows him to do an exhaustive monitor to check his evolution.

In Spain doesn't exist these type of schools, there are "special centers" for students with disabilities but I have no knowledge of any exclusively for autistic children. I really think that's a great point because in this way they receive a better education that perfectly fits with their needs.

The workshop we did in the Easter Seals Disabilities Centre was very worth too. As I said, I was fascinated on how the hi-tech can be used in the educational world, and I discovered the I-pad as a powerful tool to promote the child's motivation.

One of the things I enjoyed the most was hearing Dorothy experience as a mother of a disabled child: how is her daily life, the situations she has to cope with… because it allowed me to become more conscious of the needs and problems that they might have in the real life.

If I compare this situation with my home country I find lots of differences between the US and Spain. First of all, I think that here in the US the government worries more about this issue and provides more support and financial resources to the families with disabled children.

I realized that the American community gets very involved in these problems too. That's why there are many centers like "Easter Seals Washington" where people give their help without expecting anything in return. I believe that's the attitude we've to promote in Spain because in this way all the people are aware of the social problems and know how they have to be treat them.

Another thing that I would like to share is that, according to Dorothy, here in the United States the teachers are more sensible and prepared to cope with disabled children. In Spain, the mainstream teacher doesn't have much knowledge about how to adapt the class content or the resources he can use to promote a meaningful learning, so his task is only identify the problem because once is diagnosed, is the specialized teacher who has to cope and work with it.

Finally I also observed that here the high technology is widely used in the Education world. I think that's a very important thing because with this system, the learning is transmitted in different ways so each child has the opportunity to understand what's taught. I was really surprised on how the hi-tech (that we think that its use is limited for important jobs) can help the disabled children in their learning process. My country is far behind this situation: the most advanced technology used in schools is the laptop. I have no knowledge of any mainstream school that uses I-pad, screen enlargers or special keyboards.

So, to sum up, as a future teacher I'm aware that in my classroom I'm going to find with many problems related with disabilities and I hope I'll be able to cope with most of them. I firmly believe that each child can learn all the content, so with this belief always in mind, my knowledge and my efforts to find the right resource and information, I think I'll be able to do it; because in these three weeks I became consciousness that there's any problem you can't solve if you really want to take it.

Socio-Economic Status and Education

In my university classes we've talked many times about this topic and its consequences in the academic life of a child. However thanks to the classes and the visits we've done here in USA I've been able to experience it by myself; so I realized that the socio-economic status and the background of a child affect directly to their academic performance, but I also realized that the school (with the help of the community) can do many things to decrease these differences.

We've all heard that the pupils from lower economic status have more chances to drop out or to work as a construction worker, and on the other hand, that the wealth students are supposed to succeed in schooling.

This point of view is not new, some years ago (during the 60's and 70's), Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron did a research and studied this fact, which was later named as "Reproduction Theory" (the child end up in the same status that his parents because schooling couldn't do anything to control the cultural and social differences between the students).

What's sad about this situation is that most of the times the family is not involved in their child's academic task because they aren't able to do it; I mean maybe they're immigrants and they don't know the language (as we experienced with the Refugee Parents Panel), they don't have enough time due to their job timetable, or maybe they cultural facts are so different that they become a barrier between home and school.

I really think that the socio-economic differences and its consequences is a widespread educational problem around the world. The Spanish government is making great efforts to avoid it, but even thought it doesn't get results. The huge immigration wave that the country has suffered during the last few years emphasizes even more the existence differences. Another problem of the Spanish Education system related with this topic is that there's a lot of difference in the schooling results (outcomes) between the public and the private schools. The second ones get greater marks than the others in the standardized tests and that's why the government is promoting the public education by offering free laptops, a bilingual education or regulating the number of immigrants in the classrooms.

However if I compare the Spanish problem with the American one, I can observe a big difference: here in the US the people and the community are more involved to overcome the population differences and problems and that's why there are some projects as the Global Neighborhood or the Riverfront Farms, where people help each other without expecting anything in return.

I think that's the challenge that Spain has: to put this mentality to his population.

As a future teacher I'm aware that I'm going to have a great diversity of students in a classroom and that I'll have to find the way for everyone to learn the class content regardless its differences and backgrounds. I also know, that it isn't an easy task, but I'm sure that if I put all my efforts and I have high expectations for all my pupils I can get it.

In my opinion one of the most powerful tools to address this issue is to promote the diversity and make students understand that being different it's a positive thing because it allows us to consider different points of views.