A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education

Vaughan M. Blaney
Director
BSc(UNB,Canada), BEd(UNB,Canada), TEFLA(University of Cambridge), MEd(HKU, Hong Kong)

Book: "A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education"

The Letter 'S'...

Socialization in a wonderful place
Learning to work hand-in-hand
Each from a different country
With the class as 'our common land'

So many differences, still all can agree that we:  

• appreciate the warmth of the sunshine 
• like to snack on treats that are sweet 
• feel sympathy when a friend is sick
• are curious about what's up there in space
• know that smog is not good for your health
• like the scent of Mom's home cooking
• know how to write a sentence
• have certain items that we hold sacred
• feel safe in the care of our parents at home
• know how to print the letter S

Though the essence of a group's culture is its pattern of shared, taken-for-granted basic assumptions, the culture will manifest itself at the levels of observable artifacts and shared espoused values, norms, and rules of behavior. it is important to recognize in analyzing cultures that artifacts are easy to observe but difficult to decipher and that values may only reflect rationalizations or aspirations. to understand a group's culture, one must attempt to get at its shared basic assumptions and one must understand the learning process by which such basic assumptions come to be. 

Schein, Edgar