Education and Cultural Relevance

¶ … educator to be properly responsive to other cultures, he or she must understand his or her own culture, and the beliefs and attitudes held about that culture and others. Without a good understanding of culture, the educator can develop inappropriate stereotypes about other cultures. Stereotypes are attitudes and beliefs about other people based on their race, culture, or some other characteristic, and they are often inaccurate (Hilton & von Hippel, 1996).

In some cases, these stereotypes and other ways of typecasting people can be harmful because it makes entire groups of people appear unequal (Ewen & Ewen, 2006). There are, however, ways in which educators can let go of these kinds of biases and stereotypes and handle their jobs better by avoiding preconceived notions of their students. For me, the preconceived ideas I hold are mostly about race and culture. These are a product of the way I was raised.

I try not to allow them to get in the way of being open to people, but sometimes I find myself thinking things about people that are not appropriate or accurate. The literacy of students is very important, and they need an educator who is behind them all the way and who can encourage them to be successful. When people have preconceived ideas about the quality or ability of another person, they might not be as encouraging to that person as they should be (Ewen & Ewen, 2006).

As an educator, I want to make sure I am treating all students equally and encouraging them all equally, as opposed to assuming that a particular student cannot do something (or do it as well or as quickly) because of the culture they come from or the race they belong to. That is not the right way to look at things, but it is difficult to ignore something that has been ingrained into you by parents and a lot of society growing up. With awareness, though, it can be changed.

By recognizing my own biases, stereotypes, and preconceived ideas, I can keep them in check and avoid treating students inappropriately because of my own thoughts about their race or culture. It also helps to make me more sensitive to my own thoughts, so I can learn to break the habit of thinking of people in terms of anything other than their own individuality. I do not want to see people in stereotypical ways, but it takes work to change something I have been taught for such a long time.

Being more aware of it will help me and help my students, because I can learn just as much from them as they can from me. I will teach them literacy, and they will teach me how unique each person is and how things like culture and race do not have anything to do with who a person is on the inside. The breakdown of cultural and other stereotypes is very important, not just in education but in other areas of life, as well.

The more open people are to one another as individuals, the more they are able to learn from one another (Hilton & von Hippel, 1996). That provides a lot of value for everyone involved. In order to alter the stereotypes and biases I have about other people, there are steps that can be taken. These include recognizing that there is a problem or a concern that needs to be addressed, and then remaining aware of this as I go about my day as an educator.

When you know you are doing something you should not be doing,.