The article by Boutte and DeFlorimonte contained six parts.
The first part
discussed the question, "What is culture?" The second and third
parts
looked at cultural differences and school and home synchronization.
The
fourth part addressed the challenges of biculturality and the fifth
and
sixth parts examined cultural learning styles and the competence of
cross-cultural teaching. All together the article worked towards
the
central statement; "Understanding students (and thus teaching them)
requires deliberate and conscious attention to both cultural and
individual differences." Too often teachers overemphasize cultural
generalities as the norm for all students. And too often teachers
do not
even consider cultural information as a teaching guide. Individual
and
general cultural information must be used together.
I chose this article initially because the title caught my attention.
It
turned out to be a very informative and useful article for me.
I
recommend others check it out. The following are questions I
came up with
after reading the article:
1. With the great many cultures in the world, which should be taught
in
school?
2. What is a good way to teach about these cultures?
3. How do you deal with family cultures that do not put an importance
on
learning?
4. Are there programs out there to help teach about cultures?
5. Are there other definitions or opinions on cultural learning styles?
Submitted by Steve Miller