How to cope with cultural dilemmas in an increasingly globalized world?
To answer this question which was raised in the session with Mrs. Staehr, it is important to define what culture means. I think that everyone has his/her own definition for culture. This mind map supports the various aspects which people take into consideration, when they define culture:
Every person in the world belongs to a certain culture. What all cultures have in common is their relation to time, the environment and the relationships to other people. A culture is formed due to interactions between people. They are connected by a set of same attitudes, assumptions and values within a culture. But of course, that doesn’t mean that everyone fits into these values. Especially important is that people feel connected and can identify with their culture – they have a group they belong to!
In today’s session we discussed the “concepts of culture”
- The evolutionary concept of culture
- The relativistic concept of culture
- The complex concept of culture
The question which was raised regarding these very different ways to interpret culture is: "Why is it important to be aware of and to have knowledge about the concept of culture, when working as a social worker or as a teacher?"
First of all, I find it very important as a future teacher to be aware of the different concepts to prevent classes from cultural dilemmas. I live in Berlin and it often happens that there’re classes with 80% immigrants. The variety of cultures in a class could lead to cultural dilemmas. Therefore, it is essential to be well-prepared as a teacher with knowledge, how to deal with these special class situations.
By knowing the concepts of culture I will be able to find out how children from a certain culture behave and why they are behaving that way. Furthermore, I get the chance to prepare my lessons effectively. The first step toward teaching culture is to get to know the children within a class and to inform myself about their culture. If you understand the kids’ habits and traditions, to sum it up their cultural background, you can easily integrate certain topics into the lesson (see: mind map). Every culture should therefore be included. As a teacher I can build up on my knowledge about cultural concepts and show as well as teach children to be tolerant and respectful toward other cultures. Therefore, it is very important to show similarities and differences of all cultures. Of course, it is absolutely necessary to present cultures objectively and without stereotypes.
The dilemmas which Mrs. Staehr gave us helped me to get a different view on other cultures. The situations given made me ask the questions why and what. Why do they have 24 hour kindergartens in Japan? Why did these social worker tie up the people? What means healthy food for people in the USA? and so on. Based on these questions and on my knowledge it is easier to understand the culture and be more objective and tolerant toward it because behaviour and habits develop for a special reason.
This task helped me to be more open-minded and I would integrate these dilemmas into my lessons, too. I think it is a very good method to show cultural differences and to make students aware of dilemmas.
