A reflection of my own experiences of culture and identity at school

An individual’s experiences at school can be directly or indirectly influenced by their cultural and identity groups that they are associated with or choose to be. However, at the same time, schooling experiences can shape and mould an individual’s identity, primarily from the exposure to different groups of students and people; school can shape or change one’s sense of identity. However, it is important to understand that whilst educational experiences may be subjected to culture and identity, vice versa, a student’s experience at school ultimately depends on their relations and interactions with their school community.

I studied in a single sex public school in the western suburbs of Sydney whereby students of Asian descent populated the school. There were a high number of LBOTE students within the school. For me, this meant an easier transition from Hong Kong and also a schooling environment that appreciates and understands the cultural background of Chinese students. However, when I enrolled in the school I realised that it was otherwise. Within the school, there was an obvious segregation between student’s backgrounds, the Lebanese students stayed together, the Anglo students stayed together and also there was an obvious outcast of the Chinese and Korean students that did not play sport nor spoke English. When I first came into the school, I decided that I would be a lot more comfortable sticking with people from my background, to speak my home language at school.

However, this did not really help me in my schooling experiences, being a relatively active kid, I was always eager and keen to play sports, however, I found that the group that I hung around with rarely went to sport, and classes in general, as their truancy rates are really high, I recall having truanted for about 3 weeks.  I woke up to myself and decided to be more engaged in school, begin to learn the Australian culture and also the slangs; from there I started playing rugby and formed new friendships with other students from a plethora of different cultural backgrounds.  This opened my world up a whole new level and having friends from different cultural backgrounds really have shaped the person that I have become today. For example, we might go to one of our friends’ homes and every different home I visited I was treated extremely nicely with respect and also had an overview of the different practices at home and different values. This multicultural experience expanded my views and outlooks upon society and also of the people around me.  After year 12, the whole grade has pretty much befriended each other except for the odd few, not due to any cultural differences, but instead the identity that the individual student has chosen to uptake, for example, being  arrogant, aggressive and a snob in school would mean that you would be outcast from student groups.

Therefore, it is essential to recognise that whilst culture and identity shapes the schooling experience, it does not define how your schooling experience should be. Instead, it is how a student carries himself or herself within the school community (Boyd et al., 2007) that shapes the experience of school and the schooling experience will also in turn expose and shape the student.

Reference

1.      Boyd, R, Pudsey, J & Wadham, B 2007, What is Culture?, Pearson Education, Sydney.