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Cultural Orientation

  • We have talked about culture and it’s definition, and how culture influences how we communicate and our values.
  • Now, we are going to talk about cultural orientation-the world view of different cultural perspectives.

Cultural Orientation

  • In general, there are 2 ways of viewing the world through the eyes of culture- individualism and collectivism.
  • These are two vastly different, and many times, opposing views of the world.
  • Let’s look at each one and how it impacts how we live.

Cultural Orientation

  • Let’s take an example:
  • You and your husband are working and trying to save for a house. Your sister and husband call and need money to pay bills. They are not good at saving money and you know that this will not be the only time they want money. You also know it will never be paid back.
  • What do you do?

Cultural Orientation

  • If you said that you would not give them money, because they are not saving money and cannot ever pay you back, you have an individualistic view of the world.
  • If you said that they are family and you need to help them out, even though it will put you behind in buying a house, you have a collective view of the world.

Cultural Orientation

  • Let’s take another example.
  • You are dating the person you want to marry. You talk together and decide that you will get married.
  • What do you do?

Cultural Orientation

  • If you said that you would have them meet your parents (if that hasn’t happened already) and/or if you said you would tell your family that you all are getting married, you have an individualistic view of the world.
  • If this is a non-issue, because your family has already approved of the person as a marriage partner, and you would not decide to plan to get married without your families input, you have a collective view of the world.

Cultural Orientation

  • Can you see the differences between these two views of the world?
  • Can you see how these different views can cause vastly different behaviors to the same situations?
  • But what exactly do we mean by “individualistic” and “collective?”

Cultural Orientation

  • An individualistic view of world means that the culture values individuals and uniqueness.
  • A collectivist view of the world means that the culture is concerned with the group and how that group functions. For example, family.

Cultural Orientation

  • Which view point is typically American?

Cultural Orientation

  • If you said individual, you are correct.

  • Think of a culture that might have a collective viewpoint.

Cultural Orientation

  • Many cultures from Latin/South America, Asia and Africa have collective viewpoints.
  • Some of the readings for this week focus on East/West views. This is the same viewpoints shared here.
  • West is individual.
  • East is collective.

Cultural Orientation

  • How do these different views of the world translate into behaviors that might influence communication?

Cultural Orientation

  • When we discussed communication earlier in the semester, many of those communication issues can be influenced by our world view.
  • For example:
  • If I view the world through a collective point of view, then I am not thinking about myself as the important factor- I am thinking about the impact on my group (group could mean family, work group, culture, etc.)
  • That means I want a win-win situation for both parties involved, or I am willing to do something which may not be beneficial for me if it helps my group.

Cultural Orientation

  • If I view the world through an individual point of view, however, then I am the important factor in the equation. My satisfaction, opinion, or view is what is needed for a positive outcome.
  • Can you see how this might cause some conflict in communication and/or when trying to solve problems?

Cultural Orientation

  • Finally, I want you to think about how this might impact communication with children and their parents.
  • What types of conflicts might this cause for the child if the parents view is collective and your view (the school and teacher’s) is individual?

Cultural Orientation

  • Remember the activity you did on communication with parents?
  • I have listed the scenarios here again.
  • Now I want you to think of them from this cultural orientation perspective. If you need to, go back and look at your answers. (This was from Mod 5 Assignments)

Cultural Orientation

  • Scenario #1

  • You have a new student in your kindergarten classroom from Mexico. He speaks no English and you do not have any other Latino students in your classroom. He falls asleep every day before lunch and when awake, he wanders around the classroom. You discuss this with the principal, and a letter in Spanish is sent home asking the parents to come in for a conference. The parents do not respond.

  • Questions:
  • What are 2 issues which may account for the child’s behaviors? Make sure to discuss each issue and explain why it may account for the behaviors.
  • What are 2 issues which may account for the parent’s behaviors? Make sure to discuss the issue and explain why it may account for the behaviors.
  • Give 2 examples of what you can do for this child in your classroom to help him adjust and learn. Make sure your examples are detailed and specific.
  • Describe 2 examples of what you can do to communicate with the parents. Make sure these are realistic (and legal) for a public school classroom/school and for a classroom teacher.

Cultural Orientation

  • Scenario #2

  • You have 2 siblings from Nigeria in your childcare center, ages 2 and 4. The 2 year old has difficulty playing with the other 2 year olds in his class, and always wants to be with his 4 year old sister. The sister is very bossy with the other 4 year olds, and often becomes loud if she does not get her own way. You are concerned about both children’s adjustment in their classrooms. When you discuss this with the mother, her solution is to let the children be together in the same room. When you discuss the older sibling’s behavior, the mother does not see anything wrong with her behavior.

  • Questions:
  • 1) Discuss 2 cultural and/or family issues that might be involved in this situation that you need to think about. Be sure to be specific here and explain how each issue may impact what you see happening in your center.
  • 2) Discuss 2 ideas of what you can do for the children to ensure they are learning and are comfortable in your center. Make sure to have ideas for each of the children.

Cultural Orientation

  • Scenario #3

  • You have a child in your third grade classroom who is often either late to school or absent. In the first quarter alone (9 weeks of school), she was late 15 times and absent 12 days. In addition, when she is in school, she seems very tired, sometimes not very clean, and often does not have her homework completed. You are very concerned that she is not mastering the third grade curriculum and will have to be held back. You have sent many letters home and have called and talked to the mother. The mother has said that they will try to get her to school on time, but that she has a lot of late nights, and gets tired. The mother has not come in for conferences, and the school system social worker has been unable to schedule a visit. Although your student seems to speak fluent English, you know that they moved to the US when she was a preschooler from Niger. You know little about their home life, as your student does not talk about home very much or in detail, and you have only had a few brief conversations with the mother.

  • Questions:
  • 1) What might be 2 possible issues (cultural or others) which are causing this situation to occur? Make sure to discuss the reasons why each issue may be causing this situation.
  • 2) Discuss 1 strategy that has not yet been tired in this scenario that you can use to communicate more effectively with the mother. Be specific and realistic as to what you, as a classroom teacher, can accomplish here.
  • 3) Describe two things you can do to assist the child as her teacher in addressing the issues which affect learning and the classroom.

Cultural Orientation

  • Adding in what you now know about cultural orientation, does it change your answers at all?
  • If so, how?

Cultural Orientation

  • For scenario #1, many of you said that the child is staying up late due to culture.
  • That is correct, but why is the child staying up late due to culture?
  • One factor could be that the family meal is late in the day when the whole family can sit down together and eat.
  • Another factor could be that the evening is family time and bedtime is late for that reason.
  • Of course, there could be many other reasons, and many may have no relation to cultural orientation.

Cultural Orientation

  • In scenario #2, cultural orientation is probably playing the strongest role (out of the 3 scenarios).
  • Most likely, the family has a collective viewpoint, and therefore individualism is not encouraged. Siblings are encouraged to look out for one another and are each others major playmates.
  • In addition, many of you said that most likely the older sibling was accustomed to taking care of the younger sibling and that is why she was bossy. That may be reflective of a collective view.
  • From the mother’s perspective, having the children separated and the younger one growing up away from the older one (i.e. separate classrooms) is not appropriate nor desirable. In a collective viewpoint, individual growth is not as desirable as maintaining the group.
  • It may be that a family childcare setting may be preferable to a larger center for this family, so that the children can be together.

Cultural Orientation

  • Finally, in scenario #3, a few of you mentioned that possibly the child was babysitting younger siblings or helping mom out at home.
  • If true, this could be due to a collective orientation. It is more important to help the family out than to attend school.

Cultural Orientation

  • Should cultural orientation change how you deal with a situation?
  • The answer really varies from situation to situation.
  • In the second scenario, understanding the cultural orientation might really help reach a win-win solution, or at least assist the mother in placing the children in a setting better to their family style.

Cultural Orientation

  • In the other scenarios, understanding the cultural orientation may help you frame the discussions and give you some insight into the situations, but your actions might be the same.
  • For example, if you feel that the child is in danger (neglect) in the third scenario, you MUST report the family to social services as your professional duty. Even knowing the reasons why, does not change the fact that this is neglect in the eyes of the US system. You can explain that to the mother, but if the behavior does not change, then you must do your professional duty.
  • Remember, however, that there are many steps which would need to be taken (by you, as the teacher, and the school-guidance counselor, nurse, principal, PPW worker, etc.) before it would be appropriate to report the mother.

Cultural Orientation

  • Your book discusses some specific situations that might occur with parents where culture can play an issue: eating, sleeping, separation and attachment.
  • You should think about these situations and what you know about culture, cultural orientation and communication.

Cultural Orientation

  • Your book does a good job with these, but I just want to add a few thoughts.
  • Your book does not really address the issue of the “family bed.”
  • The family bed is where children sleep with their parents in the same bed with their parents until age 10 or more.
  • In some cultures, the children may transition to another bed (or the floor) but sleep in the same room until age 10 or more.
  • In some cultures, children can sleep with their parents until they choose to sleep in their own bed, so this may occur earlier than age 10.

Cultural Orientation

  • This family bed concept is gaining popularity in the United States and Europe (although mainly for younger children), but has been prevalent in other countries for centuries.
  • Many Americans think this is due to lack of room, but in many cultures it is due to the collect view of the world. Aloneness is not a desired thing.

Cultural Orientation

  • As your book points out, having children nap individually in cribs or cots may cause trauma for those children accustomed to sleeping with their parents and/or older siblings.
  • One interesting note: some new research has shown that children raised where they can sleep in their parents beds/rooms until they decide not to, has shown that these children have less incidents of nighttime wetting, nightmares, and sleeplessness than do children who are taught to sleep in their own rooms at early ages.

Cultural Orientation

  • For eating, also keep in mind that types of foods and times for eating change with cultures.
  • Many cultures eat around the parents’ schedules and/or there are no snacks during the day. Not because of a lack of food, but because it is not part of the culture.
  • In many cultures, children (esp. girls) are included in the preparation of food from an early age and may have specific duties related to eating.

Cultural Orientation

  • Other issues with eating include who eats when.
  • In many cultures, the men are served first, then the women and children. This may not be “sexist” as seen in US culture, but because the men have been engaged in physical work all day and need to eat first. The women may also fill everyone’s plate for them, including the men. This may be due to making the food last for everyone or may be due to what your book discusses as interdependence.
  • Finally, children may be served dinner separately and before the adults. There may even be two meals cooked- one for the children and one for the adults.

Cultural Orientation

  • In terms of attachment and separation, your book does a good job of discussing these issues, but also think about these issues for older children.
  • Again, if a child is missing school, it may be part of their cultural view of attachment and separation.
  • Dating is also one of attachment and separation. In many cultures, dating is not casual and is not done at an early age. Parents must meet all persons of the opposite sex prior to any type of dating occurring. Older siblings will also be involved to serve as chaperones and/or to monitor the relationship.
  • We will also discuss attachment and separation when we discuss play in a few weeks.

Cultural Orientation

  • As you think about everyday situations that take place in your school or child care center, think about them in relation to culture and cultural orientation.
  • This may assist you in gaining some additional understanding of a situation and/or assist you in dealing with a particular situation.
  • Remember that there is not a right and wrong cultural orientation. Each is just different and may color the way parents, teachers, and children view their place and role in the world.