This does not mean that culture excuses a student from learning -- far from it -- only that teachers need be mindful of the specific values of different student's culture when imparting specific batteries of knowledge. It is also important to remember that because culture does attach meaningful significance to identity issues such as race and gender, and what is remembered generates meaning, that our culture remains lopsided in its inequitiable treatment of women in prominent fields is. A 1996 survey of major American newspapers revealed that 85% of front page stories were about men. (Cited by Moyer, 1997, 1) When participants in a study were asked to 'remember' on the spot ten prominent people, the figures were mostly Caucasion and male. However, with appropriate cuing, a 1995 study found that instructions intended to activate either a category of famous men or a category of famous women succeeded in altering participants' estimates of how many men's or women's names subsequently appeared on a list presented in the laboratory. (Cited by Moyer, 1997, 1)

Cultural and immeidate personal pressures thus can modify memory. The cultural pattern memory itself, even in the larger context of a potentially biased culture can be changed with outside pressures. Also, more meaning can be conferred onto meaningless objects, such as more meaning given to female personas, which translates into different performance of the same group's memory and recall. However, the effects of aging upon the memoery process are more sobering. For example, "Pezdek (1983) found that only younger adults benefited from the organization of array objects into blocks of phonetically or physically similar items." (Cited in Cherry & Jones 1999, 1)

The inexorable limits of cognitive impariment of age are biologically...

It is thus more difficult to 'repair' negative cultural associations, such as a poor assesement of one's memory based in low self-esteem, as noted by McDougall, or a poor esteem of a group based on gender. However, this is all the more reason that more research regarding cultural stereotypes and the effects of culture and memory upon the performance of marginalized groups be undertaken. Memory affects the consumption of the modern media, the way subjects are learned in school, and ultimately the way that culture evolves, as every fascet of culture today is a memory in tomorrow's collective conciousness.
Works Cited

Cherry, Katie & Martin W. Jones. (Jan 1999) "Age-related differences in spatial memory: effects of structural and organizational context." Journal of General Psychology. Retrived 27 Jan 2005 at http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2405/is_1_126/ai_54626720/pg_5

Lutz, John, Amanda Briggs, Christy Cain. (April 2003) An examination of the value of the generation effect for learning new material. Journal of General Psychology. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2405/is_2_130/ai_101939295

McDougall, Graham J. (2004) "Memory Self-Efficacy and Memory Performance Among Black and White Elders." Nursing Research. Sept./Oct. 2004. 53(5), 323-331. Retrieved from Medline 26 Jan 2005 at http://intapp.medscape.com/px/medlineapp/getdoc?ord=1&searchid=2&have_local_holdings_file=1&local_journals_only=0&searchstring=McDougall+white+and+black+elders+memory

Moyer, Robert S. (Oct 1997) "Covering gender on memory's front page: men's prominence and women's prospects." Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. Retrived 27 Jan 2005 at http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2294/is_n7-8_v37/ai_20383104