Challenging Cultural Myths Is an Introductory Preface

¶ … Challenging Cultural Myths" is an introductory preface to the seventh edition textbook Rereading America, published in 2007 by Bedford/St. Martin's Press and edited by Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle The authors believes that becoming a college student is one of the most challenging experiences of your lifetime. For most students, it is the first time you have been independent, which can be exciting but scary.

If you are living in a dorm setting, you are dealing with totally different people that you have never met before and they have completely different backgrounds, some are from other areas of the country and some are from foreign countries. Also there are increased expectations, you will have to read more and do more coursework than you have done before and most of them are all due on the same day.

Another thing is that you are practically required to question your very beliefs and value systems that you grew up with. The authors questions what makes up a critical thinker. He believes that they are someone who actively uses knowledge, not just reading and regurgitating facts and figures but soaks up the knowledge like a sponge. To become a critical thinker you have to step outside of your comfort zone and see the world from other's perspectives.

The best way to do this is to try and put your self in another person's shoes and see how things look from their point-of-view. Culture shapes our lives and based on our culture it colors our perceptions on what makes sense. To become a critical thinker, we have to look beyond these myths. Most people associate the word myth with ancient Greeks. We talk about Greek myths about gods and heroes. These myths are considered to be true not in a literal sense but because they reflect cultural beliefs.

American myths are just as strong. America has the "American dream" which states that everyone can attain their dreams when they get to or live in America. Cultural myths become powerful because they insinuate themselves into our psyche. Cultural myths can even change the complexity of our thinking and academic mores. The authors gives an example of a poem that was read to the class about a child's love for his working-class father who had dirt on his hands and whiskey on his breath.

The class as a whole thought it was a poem about an abusive father and heavy drinker. One of the problems that first-year college students have due to their cultural myths is when they take classes that discuss Freud's ideas about children's sexuality. Also, philosophy classes that discuss beliefs that state that there is no God, this can cause problems for students brought up in a home that revered God and religious beliefs. Recognizing contradictions lies at the very center of critical thinking.

Reflection, discussion and research are the essence of good scholarship. You have to ask yourself if all the different perspectives be true or valid. The authors used an example of "the melting pot" which is associated with the United States as everyone embracing each other's cultural background, while people of an ethnicity other than Caucasian do not feel embraced. The authors have designed this textbook in such a way as to help students develop the habits they need to become critical thinkers.

The book has six chapters and each chapter addresses one of the dominant myths of American culture. The first chapter covers the model family, the second chapter covers education, the third chapter covers the American dream of money and success. The fourth chapter covers equality, the fifth chapter discusses gender roles and the final chapter.