Louisiana College, being a private, Christian college has several rules that are different than other colleges or universities. Students are required to take classes on Christianity, attend a certain number of Chapel services per semester, and also to receive cultural credits. These cultural credits are earned by going to plays, musicals, recitals, and various other activities on campus. These events are often scheduled at inconvenient times, and sometimes sacrifices are made to receive these credits that are necessary to graduate. Also, to improve attendance, some events on campus are allowed to give cultural credits that have nothing to do with the criteria that the majority of other events fall under. Cultural credits should not be required at Louisiana College because of the amount of sacrifice needed to earn them, and the irrelevancy these credits have towards earning a higher education.
It could be argued that requiring cultural credits has a slight benefit in the students that attend the events. The Louisiana College Student Handbook states “Spiritual and Cultural Enrichment (SCE) programs of Louisiana College exist to support the total development of students, enrich learning beyond the classroom, and foster Christian community. Educational experiences, fellowship, renewal, and the celebration of individual and group achievement are also anticipated benefits.” A certain level of enrichment can be gained in the right environment and with students having the attitude of wanting to learn more about the subjects being presented. This, however, can only apply to a very small amount of students. Many of the students that attend these events are only there to gain the cultural credit that is given, and not to gain knowledge. Giv...
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...d fully appreciate the amount of sacrifice that the hosts of these events make. The negative attitude during these events is also accredited to the bad scheduling of the events. These events are placed during random times throughout each semester, whereas the spiritual credits are given every Thursday from 11:00-12:00 during the day. This bad scheduling and poor advertisement of events brings in many students that usually did not hear about the event until just minutes before it started.
Cultural credits have both many pros and cons, but the negative side of them far outweigh the positives. Bad timing, the need for sacrifice, pulling of attendance from other events, and the small amount of respect for the events all are very large issues. Forcing students to go to something that they do not find interest in is not the way to “enrich learning beyond the classroom.”
“In addition to giving special attention to the history and current situation of their own nation, [children should] learn a good deal more than they frequently do about the rest of the world in which they live” (6). In this method of education, students will be creating bonds with characteristics of cultures that they personally find good and worthy of upholding. Rather than upholding traditions of their own nation without the respect they where originally meant to give. In this way, you would find differences in other nations cultures and not see them as flaws, but as unique features you can appreciate and strive to
Some people may still think that being from a certain culture is strange due to the way that a person dresses, acts, or portrays themselves. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine how they may feel. They may be the only person out of all their peers from a different background. Culture should not be the foundation of life’s choices but, instead should be the opportunity to change minds for the good of
Ugbu, J., U. (1992). Understanding cultural diversity and learning. EDUC 160 Urban Education (Spring 2014, pp. 213-228)
...urses in high school. The purpose of having these requirements was to Americanize bilingual students during the 19th and 20 century. However, most of the times, it confused Chicanos more because English is a complex language and American history was greatly influenced by other ethnic groups. As Guadalupe San Miguel Jr stated, "Not only the language but the curriculum was foreign to most Spanish-speaking students . . . the public schools did not teach the traditional subjects of La Doctrina Catolica. Instead they emphasized secular subjects.” (Status of the Historiography of Chicano Education: A Preliminary Analysis pg. 528) This goes to show that Mexicans are not able to interpret religious or cultural texts because of the confusion transitioning form to distinct languages, along with not being able to distinguish the difference between Catholicism and Christianity.
Growing diversity within the public school has policymakers, curriculum specialists, administrators, and teachers seeking ways to reduce the achievement gap that plaques learners from culturally different backgrounds while continually working to provide multicultural curriculum and activities that promotes social acceptance, reduces racism, and cultural differences. Schools should recognize that they can serve as a significant force in countering discrimination and the various “-isms” that affect people from culturally diverse backgrounds, women, and the disabled (Manning & Baruth, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to discuss ways in which teachers can collaborate with administrators to revise the instructional approach to address the diversified cultural learning needs of the class. Further...
The world is made up of many different types of people, each one having his or her cultural background. Over the years, the United States has become increasingly populated with cultural diversity. This influx has prompted school administrators to recognize the need to incorporate multicultural programs into their school environment including classroom settings, school wide activities, and curriculum as it becomes more evident that the benefits of teaching cultural diversity within the school setting will positively influence our communities, and ultimately the entire nation’s future. The purpose of this paper is to share the pros and cons of multicultural education in the classroom. Additionally, I will express my views compared to those in the reading requirements for this assignment, as well as, new knowledge obtained through the research. Finally, I will share situations where I was challenged introducing a multicultural issue during a class.
“Cultural competence is a key factor in enabling educators to be effective with students from cultures other than their own. It is having an awareness of one’s own cultural identity and views about difference, and the ability to learn and build on the varying cultural and community norms of students and their families. It is the ability to understand the within-group differences that make each student unique, while celebrating the between-group variations that make our country a tapestry (National Education Association, 2015).”
... learned at CBU, in addition to ways such as challenging students to grow in their faith while learning. For example, I would suggest that they use ideas and scriptures that they learned in Bible study or in church within the past weeks of assignments. This will help to keep students engaged with the material and faith based concepts that they have learned within the weeks. Also, I think promoting attending CBU or church based activities for assignments can help students learn course material as well as grow in their faith. I believe that faith integration is an important component that CBU offers that many other universities do not. I can honestly speak to how beneficial it was for me to complete my program at CBU. I not only learned a wealth of knowledge in the counseling field but I grew as a Christian, which is something that I wish to pass on to future students.
When I first decided to take the Introduction to Sociology class I wasn’t quite sure what to expect or even what to think. I had never taken any classes on sociology so I was quite sure that this would be an adventure. Well, as things turned out it was an adventure, this class was fun and very insightful. This class taught me a lot about what the rest of the world is like and how the American culture is different from the cultures around the world. What america accepts as the norm is different than say what Germany accepts as the norm.
Cultural proficiency is seeing the difference and responding effectively in a variety of environments. Learning about organizational and individual culture, in which one can effectively interact in a variety of cultural environments (p. 3). In simple terms in which educators are not only able to effectively work with diverse populations, but also believe that diversity adds positive value to the educational enterprise (Landa, 2011, p. 12).
In taking the assessment she can learn about the attitudes she may have in order to begin to value the culture of others, understand John’s strengths and weaknesses and help him maximize his potential, while creating a nurturing environment for all her students regardless of culture (Obiakor, 2007). She can also start making changes to curriculum and classroom activities so that they are geared toward inclusion of every student in her class. For example, she can include literature from various cultures for the students to read and create activities that help them explore not only their own culture, but the culture of the authors and other in the class. She can incorporate poems and poetry, skits and role plays, in classroom activities. She can have community representatives from other cultures visit her class to address various subjects related to information studied in their literature. She can also have students share with each other aspects of their culture by assigning classroom presentations and work as
I have never really sat down and thought about my cultural identity, at least until I started this class. I never thought about how my identity was different than that of other members in my community. I also never put much mind to the communication challenges that I could face when speaking with members of my community. To be totally honest, there is more cultural differences that I have faced and actually paid attention to, and now I seem to understand the importance of how one culture differs from another.
Coming to the United States for college can introduce cultural differences that even the most prepared students might not anticipate. From campus life to classroom etiquette, US school can be quite a different experience from learning in other countries around the world. It is rather natural for students from other countries to join communities that somehow remind them of home and give them the opportunity to remain connected with their roots and at the same time bring the world a little closer to fellow classmates. By raising collective cultural awareness, organized expressions of diversity which create a cultural spillover from which we all benefit.
In class, we would always explore how other countries celebrated their holidays such as Cinco De Mayo and Hanukkah, We also had the opportunity to take foreign language,s and the foreign language classes you took also taught about the countries that speak these languages. The information we learned about other cultures was reinforced by our peers who were from these respective cultures through discussion. As much as what the teachers did to integrate diversity in the classrooms, much of our multicultural experiences was done outside the classroom. It sort of felt like a shadow you didn’t really notice until for some reason or another you looked right at it. The multicultural experiences took place everywhere. It took place in the lunchroom, when we were debating what culture had the best food (which is still debated to this day, I’m sure). It took place suiting up in the locker room for a football game, reminiscing about what it was like to celebrate the holiday season the year before. It took place in our hearts, when someone was sharing their pain regardless of what culture we affiliated ourselves with because human culture is
When evaluating myself on the Cultural Proficiency continuum, I’d place myself at “Cultural Competence” part on the continuum. This evaluation takes into account my experiences and practices while working in various schools and interacting with students of varied cultures, needs and ability levels as both a teacher and a learner. An effective educator is continually maintaining this dual role of teacher and life-long student in order to not grow stagnant within the classroom; this dynamic allows for growth along the continuum toward maintaining cultural proficiency.