A White Man's World (Well, country)

I cringe at the very title that I have chosen for this post. There are so many questions that I have, so many things that bother me, but so few answers. How is it fair that in order to be successful children of other cultures most learn to speak our dialect of "Standard English"? Even speaking of this I am irritated in the fact that I consider it our dialect. There is no denying I am a part of that culture where somehow, despite people's intentions, it seems to be set up for people of other cultures to fail. We say we want the same education for everyone's children, but in doing that we are setting the trap for the very thing we are trying to avoid. There is no perfect method. There is no practice that is going to meet the need of every child. It can't be done. A child will be left behind. Yet, somehow the immensity of this problem stands before me and I chose to face it.

I have come to the conclusion that in order to help my students and truly understand them, I must first admit that I don't. I must admit that I am a part of "the culture of power". Do I sometimes despise myself for that very thing? Yes. All the same, I simply must accept it and move on. I may not understand my students, because I have not grown up like them. I may try to be culturally sensitive and in the process demonstrate that my knowledge of the culture is nearly inconsequential. In my life, I have had the privilege of being understood by my teachers and understanding them, yet my students may not have the same experience. As I read through this book, I desperately sought answers to my questions on how to overcome my problem, or in a sense my culture. Then I had to stop, realizing that I am exhibiting the very thing in my life that I am trying to avoid. Whether I like it or not, I am a part of this culture and I've got to stop treating my culture as if it is a problem. Does my culture have problems? Oh yes. But the culture itself is not the problem, in fact, it is a part of who I am. So I simply must begin my discovering my own biases, do my best to understand others, and realize that I will never know or learn it all. I cannot change who I am and neither can my students.

The first thing that I found myself doing as I read this book, is trying to figure out what perfect method this author could give me. I struggled, toggling and attempting to balance what I thought about learning skills and learning processes. Then the author's conclusion begin to surface. This is a false dichotomy. I don't have to choose one of these as a best method. I have to find a way to synthesize these to best fulfill the needs of many students. I must accept these students backgrounds, but also accept the responsibility to teach in a way they understand. I can't give up because it's hard. Everything must be taught in a meaningful way, whether it is a skill or a process. Children must become experts, but they need our help to do it.

Communication can be the most difficult part of communicating across cultures. Each culture constructs meaning in a different way. As I reflect on this, I was attempting to decide how I construct meaning in my own communication efforts. I am a story teller. I love to tell people stories. I love to explain things through examples. Although, I do believe that we as humans are frequently story oriented, some people don't understand my approach of communication . I may describe a scene, an object, or an event in order to explain to someone what God has been teaching me in my life. To other people, I am simply abstractly talking about stair cases or cups. How we tell our stories can differ. I believe as a future teacher, I must learn to listen to story the way the storyteller him or herself would listen to it. In successfully communicating with me, their teacher, I hope that my students would begin to gain confidence in knowing that they have meaning, they have an expertise, and they have been understood. I don't believe that every student will always be understood. Some children come with an unfair advantage of already understanding the code that I speak, but by taking the time to communicate in a way that is relevant to the culture, it is one small part of a bridge being built between the chasm of our two cultures.