Thoughts On Identifying Cultural Differences

As I was looking for information on how culture affects teaching and learning, I began thinking about cultural differences and how we, as educators use them. I think there is a fine line between stereo types and cultural differences. Or perhaps I think there is a very real danger of turning the useful knowledge of cultural difference into stereo types that do not allow for any differences in behavior or individuality. While a person could be from a certain culture that person may or may not exhibit typical aspects of that culture. When I was pursuing my Undergraduate degree many of the International students commented on the fact that I did not act like a typical American. This brings me to the question that does knowing the culture of one,s students allow for greater understanding or encourage pigeonholing of students? The understanding of culture allows us as educators the opportunity to figure why a student may act in a certain way. That the behavior is cultural and not intended to be rude or disrespectful. I found this quote,

The danger in considering cultural differences is that of stereotyping people. All of us are unique. To say, for example, that “Russians do this” and “Vietnamese believe that” is both foolish and possibly dangerous. First, it is important to distinguish between stereotypes and generalizations. They may appear similar, but they function differently. For example, if I meet a Mexican woman named Maria and assume that she has a large family, I am stereotyping her. But if I say to myself, “Mexicans tend to have large families; I wonder if Maria does,” then I am generalizing. A stereotype is an ending point, and no effort is then made to ascertain whether it is appropriate to apply it to the person in question. A generalization, on the other hand, serves as a starting point.

This quote has been taken from an article: An introduction to cultural differences, by, Geri-Ann Galantil from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1070887/