For example, myself, when I was in high school my Mother passed away my freshman year. Nothing could be worse than losing a parent your first year of high school. You think about all the exciting things she would miss out on during those four years. But instead of being depressed, I decided to dedicate high school to her and do everything I could to make it the best four years of my life. My Father and Mother had always instilled in my sister and I that getting an education was the right thing to do and to have fun doing it. And I did. I got good grades (12th in my class) I became a class officer for my class, from 9th to 12th grade, (got to sit on stage for Graduation because of that) joined Cross Country, Track and Softball. The point is that my family, especially my Mother was a major influence on my education. They both were very supportive and always wanted my sister and I to have better than they did.
But sometimes culture is not always such a positive influence. Some children are raised in families that believe getting an education is not the answer to being successful. Some families own businesses and the parents depend on the children to run the business instead of going to College. Other children are influenced by friends and people who turn to bad things like drugs, alcohol and etc. They feel the pressure to do what their friends say instead of what they feel is right.
Some children are influenced by religion and are led to something else in their lives beyond education. Which of course isn't always a bad thing. (Priesthood, Nun, etc.)
My point is that culture can be a negative or positive influence in learning, depending on how the child is raised. If they are raised believing learning is negative, then they believe it's negative. If they are raised believing it is positive, then they will believe it's positive.
I think its great that you included that culture doesn't always have a positive impact on an individual. Sometimes its hard to understand other culture perspectives besides our own. As future educators we should be aware that there are different cultures, and they can affect students negatively. I like how you brought up Peer pressure as well, because children, teens, and even adults can be heavily influenced by peers, which can change their culture.
ReplyDeleteI agree--culture doesn't always have a positive effect on a person. That is why I think it is so important to teach our students using lessons that involve real-world application. This way, we are able to show students, to prove to students all the ways that education will be valuable to them in the future.
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