A student's education can be influenced by a number of
factors which include culture and identity. School can be a place where an
individual explores and is exposed to other cultures. Being exposed to other cultures as well as exploring our own culture,
education can affect the way we approach and perceive culture. Australia in particular is quite
multicultural, meaning education can also equip students with the ability to
interact with and integrate into different cultures.
I personally went to a co-ed selective public school, and so
I was surrounded by a variety of cultures. Being exposed to different cultures
all my life, there was not major shift for me. With no one major culture to
adapt to, I just surrounded myself with people from my culture. But being
Australian-Born I did not act, dress or eat like them. But as funny as it is,
through the 5 schools I attended K-12, no matter which school I went to, there
was always a group of Koreans I could join.
Coming from an Asian background/group it was assumed that I
was having difficulty with English and excellent at Mathematics (which was true
actually). I would be approached for help in mathematics and given extra
attention in English. It was quite competitive in Mathematics between the
Asians, motivating me to study harder which made a significant difference to my
results. The extra attention in English also assisted me in achieving fairly
good results. But the school itself being selective made my education quite
competitive in general.
Our school was disliked by other schools though, as we were
seen as the “nerds”. As we were the only selective school in a significant
radius, our identity as the “intelligent students” did put pressure on us to
excel.
It was really interesting to see groups form purely by
culture, and then to see those groups join to become almost geographically
correct. Each respective group would eat, play and study together, with the
occasional crossover to compare marks or organize extra-curricular activities.
The groups were given titles such as “the white boys” or the “Silver Benchers”.
Racial comments were rare and only used in a friendly, humorous context.
At UNSW it is quite multicultural with no major issues
regarding that. Students are comfortable meeting and conversing students from
other cultures with different customs.
Culture and identity therefore majorly affects the
educational experience in both positive and negative ways. Hence the importance
of culture and how we educate our generation to perceive it is crucial to an
effective educational system. In
conclusion, my upbringing in a multicultural environment allowed me to compare
and distinguish myself from everyone else, creating a stronger sense of
individuality.
Reference
Boyd, R. Pudsey, J.
Wadham, B. (2007). Culture and Education. Sydney: Pearson Education Australia.
Chapter 1: What is culture?
No comments:
Post a Comment