Internationalism and Culture in Today's Educational System

The gap between culture and multicultural education is one that can no longer be ignored. The discussion and the implementation are two completely different things and are not going to be an easy task to accomplish. There are countless theories and many suggestions, but there is not a solid, concrete foundation that any teacher can use to make sure that all the students are able to be exposed and taught about the unlimited number of cultures that make the world what it is today. Whether it is clothing, food, religion, or even holidays, the cultural awareness is still in the dark ages with a faint light at the end of the tunnel.

It is my belief that culture is the meanings, the customs, the beliefs, and the traditions of a society. It is learned behavior from growing up with family and friends that are representative of the customs and traditions that make up the culture from which they hail. It is the influence and exchange of ideas and knowledge that causes cultures to continue, grow and adapt. Also, culture is a large part of what makes up a person's personality and socialization skills.

In working with this idea of culture is the concept that multicultural education is a new form of education for children to learn about. It allows for them to have the opportunity to gain acceptance of the people around us that create this society and this world. It is a difficult lesson to teach students because of the unlimited number of difficult cultures in society. Yet, the concept of multicultural education is important to teach. We need to be able to give the children in today's society in order to foster the needed understanding and compassion of the other people and children around us.

Culture is actually defined many ways, by many different people, but the most common definition is "the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group ; the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc." (dictionary.com, 2007). In other words, culture is a quality of life that is associated to a specific group that is learned, influenced or shaped by those around them. Many people base their values and ideals off of their culture; their beliefs, and many times they do this without realizing it. Our cultures have become a natural part of who we are from birth and that is what makes us blissfully unaware of it.

There are many things that can cause culture to change, grow and adapt, but for some these changes are sometimes difficult to accept. Cultures are created and altered everyday through the different factors of society, technology, weather, professions and even genders. Changing one trait, one little thing, can make a huge impact on the other traits of a culture, changing this one thing can cause a chain reaction in a change of culture. As individual as each trait may seem, they are all interconnected to one another and impact one another greatly ( O'Neil, 2007).

This is the reason why may cultures resist change; because one little change can cause major changes without intending to. For instance, when the professional world changed and allowed women into the workplace, lives, and cultures changed. Women were no longer home to care for the family, keep house or even have dinner on the table when the husband came home from work, because they themselves were in the workplace helping to provide for the family.

Another influence in cultural changeover the years is the technological changes in society (O'Neil, 2007). As we "speak" someone, somewhere using a computer (me!), a cell phone, a PDA, a television, a game system, a satellite radio, an MP3 player, but fifty years ago, these some of these things were unheard of. These things were not a part of the culture of that time, electronics were not the primary form of entertainment. Families were important and their own entertainment; they read books, they went to the parks, they did things together. When the television entered the commercial market, it was not in every household, not because they were costly, but some families did not see the need for one. Once the television entered the homes, a families culture, traditions, routines changed; family schedules became adaptive to favorite shows (there was no TiVo© then) and things like family outings and dinner together at the table became something that faded away.

A person's gender can be a large influence of the culture of a society. In some cultures it is considered to be immoral and offensive for women to have any flesh showing and/or be out in public without a make escort, Muslim for instance. Where in the United States, women are not chastised for wearing a t- shirt and shorts and walking through the mall alone (O'Neil, 2007). Currently, a major world culture is going through a similar change; the Muslims countries in the Middle East. Their society, their men, women and children are being given rights and freedoms that they have never had before. Women are being given the right to walk down the street without their veils, men, and especially women, are being given the right to vote, to speak their opinions. This was unheard of a few years ago.

Our children, in the United States, are not aware of the ideals, traditions or rules of cultural societies in our own country, much less around the world. A teacher of today's society will have many questions when the various topics of culture come up in a classroom discussion. How is a teacher supposed to effectively discuss and answer the questions that the students ask of us to answer. We cannot, there is no true way to teach the students about every culture, in every society around the world. In order for teachers to effectively teach the students on a multicultural basis, teachers themselves need to adjust their own view of multiculturalism (Hanley, 1999). Teachers need to first learn to personally accommodate the cultural differences before they can encourage the academic aspect of them.

It is obvious that multicultural education is in the best interests of our students. Yet, there are many things that prevent the teachers from actually teaching this into the curriculum standards that are required. There can be much said about discrimination, but unfortunately, which so many cultures and the vast diversity among them, it is impossible to teach on them all. The world is constantly and continuously changing, with that key aspect, it displays the impossibility of the full integration of multiculturalism into the curriculum.

Yet, on the other hand, when the teacher introduces a classroom discussion, students tend to gain interests and ask questions; not every question can be addressed, but the idea that the students are thinking and listening and opening their minds to the possibility of other cultures is a step in the right direction. The students are becoming more sensitive to the idea that their culture is not the only one that exists in today's society. To avoid the issue of discrimination, a teacher should work with the cultures that are present in the classroom and then, if necessary, extend the lessons from that point, touching on the ideals of other cultures as we are a diverse and complicated multicultural world.

In looking back at the notes and the research, I found that my opinions and thoughts of culture and multicultural information are match well. I contribute much of this to the fact that I work in an International Baccalaureate (IB)elementary school in Hampton, Virginia. In fact, we are the only IB elementary school in Hampton and we have the honor of being in the first in the state to be approved for this program. For the last five years, I have been involved in the implementation of the programme within the school. The purpose of the programme is to help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world (IBO, 2007). In fact, the IBO programme mission statement is:

The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

I cannot honestly look at my notes and say that my thoughts of culture and multiculturalism are any different than those of the researchers that I read for this paper and the IBO programme is the reason why. In order to become proficient at my current position, an Instructional Assistant, I have had to learn and adjust my thought process to understand and accommodate the mission of this programme. I have found that through this process, the students in are more open and understanding to their peers in our school with the diversity that we have. Approximately, half of our student body is military and in some form, many of these students represent a culture that is unique and diverse from the majority of the student population.

The impact of this programme is apparent throughout the school and throughout the lessons that are taught in each and every classroom. The teachers have to structure lessons into a particular framework: "What do we want to learn? How best will we learn? and How will we know what we have learned?" to teach the students that each person learns on a different level, in different ways. Teaching the lessons in the context of these questions, encourages the student to look at themselves with understanding and encourage them into lifelong learning. The three essential questions are important because of the manner in which they encourage the student to look at themselves and understand how they [the student] think and learn. We integrate many cultures into our school and our lives each day.

In the manner of ESL/ELL students, where teachers usually label the door with a sign that reads "chair," some teachers, do the opposite and label the door with a sign that reads "la silla" as we have Spanish language classes for the students as a weekly resource class. Also, the art and music teacher teaches international and culture arts. The fifth grade students last year each created an African mask in their art class to use in conjunction with the African music that they learned in music class. There are many cultural influences through out the school and they are implemented daily. This is the training that I have had, and will continue to have, while I am teaching at this school.

This is a unique teaching strategy that has really made me realize that we all learn on different levels and that we have to learn to adapt and overcome the cultural (among many other) differences that make us uniquely- us. In order to be a teacher, not only at an IBO school, but anywhere, we have to understand that there are differences in culture; that they are all in the same place, here, and they are not going away, but instead they are increasing and changing daily. We, as teachers, need to encourage and foster that same cultural awareness into each student that comes into our classroom and make sure that it is solidly instilled for the world that the future holds.

REFERENCES:
(2006). A Baseline Definition of Culture. Retrieved August 18, 2007, Web site:
http://wsu.edu/gened/learn-modules/top_culture/culture-definition.html

Banks, J. Multicultural Education: Goals and Dimensions. Retrieved August 18, 2007, Web site:
http://depts.washington.edu/centerme/view.htm

Culture. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved August 18, 2007, from Dictionary.com website:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture

Gorski, P. C. (2006). The Challenge of Defining "Multicultural Education". Retrieved August 18, 2007, from
Working Definition: EdChange Multicultural Pavilion Web site:
http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/inital/html

Hanley, M.S. (1999). The Scope of Multicultural Education. Retrieved August 22, 2007, from New Horizons
Learning Web site: www.newhorizons.org/strategies/multicultural/hanley.htm

International Baccalaureate Organization, (2007). Quality education for a better world . Retrieved August 18,
2007, Web site: http://www.ibo.org/

O'Neil, D. (2007, June 15). Human Culture: Characteristics of Culture. Retrieved August 18, 2007, Web site:
http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/culture_2.htm

Wilson, K. (2006). Multicultural Education. Retrieved August 18, 2007, from Research Room: EdChange
Multicultural Pavilion Web site http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/keith.html