Culture and Context - First Reader

It is indeed timely that we should be reading chapter 12 at a time when culture in general, and sexual orientation in particular, has dominated the headlines and placed North Carolina at the forefront of a national controversy. Much of what is being discussed has to do with education specifically as policy makers grapple with how bathroom facilities in schools will be designated. As Merriam and Bierema point out, “culture can be examined from several perspectives in adult education including positionality, privilege, context, and power” while positionality is “a visible or invisible attribute such as ableness, age, class, culture, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, language, and so forth” (Merriam and Bierema, 2014, pgs. 239-240).

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Many have reported through the centuries that nature will not leave a vacuum- someone or something will fill it in. Adult learning does not take place in isolation either, but is rather processed through a vast system of filters that we begin establishing from birth. The context of what we learn, and how we apply it, must be a primary consideration in matters of curriculum and teaching. Two potent determiners, as the book explains, are privilege and power.

Privilege

Both at Guilford College and Lenoir-Rhyne, as part of the education studies curriculum, I have been tasked with teaching courses in multiculturalism. Some of the most emotionally charged and impactful discussions that I have ever had in my classes have centered on the issue of white privilege. In order to explore both conscious and unconscious opinions I have often used the work of Dr. Peggy McIntosh, whose 1990 essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” encompasses a long list of statements such as “I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed” or “I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented” (McIntosh, 1990). I divide students into groups and have them openly discuss whether or not these statements are true in their own personal experience. The results are often quite jarring. They rarely realize how much they take for granted based on gender or ethnicity, and some quickly become defensive. The tension frequently increases as we move beyond the surface level assumptions and begin to explore the depths of competency.

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More broadly I spend the semester helping these future teachers to achieve what has widely been referred to as "cultural competence", which Jean Moule defines as "the ability to successfully teach students who come from cultures other than your own" while understanding that to do so "entails developing certain personal and interpersonal awarenesses and sensitivities, learning specific bodies of cultural knowledge, and mastering a set of skills" (Diller and Moule, 2005, p. 2). To Moule and others this competence is best regarded in the context of a continuum and as part of an integrated system that Merriam and Bierema believe "shapes the thought and action of people within a particular setting such as a classroom, school, organization, community, or nation" (Merriam and Bierema, 2014, p. 241).

Power

Moule makes an important distinction between two terms that are often used interchangeably and much too loosely - prejudice and racism. The tipping point is power. "Prejudice" refers to negative feelings, expressed or unexpressed, that we all have (Diller and Moule, 2005, p. 29). These may or may not have anything to do with race or ethnicity and primarily affect us personally. "Racism" begins when we have the "power" to act on those feelings and negatively impact the lives of others (Diller and Moule, 2005, p. 29). As our chapter reveals, in a broader application, power "is the ability to influence others or to bring about change" (Merriam and Bierema, 2014, p. 241) in a manner that is not inherently positive or negative. Whether we teach adults in a school setting or in the workplace, the dynamics of how we structure curriculum and pedagogy pivot largely on how we view power structures and the effectiveness of our instruction, as chapter 12 mentions, will rest upon how those we teach perceive power.

Culturally Relevant Teaching

As our text discusses, and I learned first-hand when teaching students in China as an online instructor, Western and Eastern theories and norms about teaching and learning vary greatly. While Western educators tend to divide and subdivide subject areas as well as the mind and body, Eastern thought is more holistic in nature. Meriam and Beriema urge us to see the connections and the "benefit in merging the cultural practices to achieve highly effective, varied learning for diverse learners" rather than becoming mired in maintaining "dichotomous approaches" (Merriam and Bierema, 2014, p. 246). Further, we must establish clear and firm connections between theory and practice while at the same time recognizing that there are "cultural differences and power struggles when it comes to defining the relationship between theory and practice" (Merriam and Bierema, 2014, p. 250).

Framework for Learning

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Recognizing that our world is becoming more culturally integrated would seem to lead to the realization that our views of teaching and learning must also become more connected and "cognizant of the intersecting roles the educator, learner, process, and context play in the design and facilitation of learning" (Merriam and Bierema, 2014, p. 253). I have not found this to necessarily be so. Too often I see people in all fields of endeavor "circling the wagons" of dogma and tradition. Some of this tendency can be traced back to cultural contexts that the chapter articulates. Certainly, power structures are firmly entrenched in our society with an eye towards maintaining the status quo. As educators both in the classroom and in the workplace, we shoulder an awesome responsibility to teach others to see the cultural contexts, connect them to what we are teaching, and provide practice in applying those insights. As Merriam and Bierema remind us in their parting words, education and learning cannot be exclusive because "our future depends on more holistic, inclusive theories and practices of adult learning for all learners" (Merriam and Bierema, 2014, p. 255).

References

Diller, J. & Moule, J. (2005). Cultural competence: A primer for educators. Belmont, California: Thomson. 

McIntosh, P. (1990). White privilege: Unpacking the cultural knapsack. Independent School, Winter issue. Retrieved from: http://www.deanza.edu/faculty/lewisjulie/White%20Priviledge%20Unpacking%20the%20Invisible%20Knapsack.pdf

Merriam, S. & Bierema, L. (2014). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice. San Francisco: Jossy-Bass.