Cultural Issues in Public Schools - Essay Example

CULTURAL ISSUES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS IntroductionPublic schools form one of the basic entities within which people, and especially pupils and students acquire new cultures, or have their cultures re-instilled within their system. Public schools engage people in promoting cultural competence, as well as, linguistic necessary exchanges. The diversity of students, teachers, and workers; present a complex set up of people with varying languages; complexion, cultural values, personalities; amongst other differences.

Anthropology is entails scientific study of human culture as well as their biological relation. It tries to define what human beings are, by either through historically, socially, and biologically. Culture has been defined with a wide range of behavior patterns and knowledge learned and acquired by a society of people. One of the institutions that promote culture is public schools, where cultural sensitivity in public schools is attributed by mainly race, age and color. Some of the cultural conflict experienced in public schools include-role of women in family decisions as well as practices and symbol systems among cultural groups.

Cultural anthropology helps us gain more understanding cultures, especially the complex setups of cultures. The discipline also assists in learning how we can help every stakeholder in a given cultural setup appreciate cultural diversities and run with the right values only as he/she discards values which cannot build such a person. The Cultural Scope in Public Schools.Public schools are institutions where core values of a culture are acquired.

Such institutions can determine one’s culture through supervision of the teachers, where teachers have the responsibilities of making instructions that is cultural responsive to all students without favoring one group over the other. Mainly, people from minor culture suffers from enculturalization, where situations force him or her ascribe to the major culture (s). Such instances are evidenced as one learns another group’s tongue and can communicate in it as though his/her native language.

Often than not, a culture with a strong and influential power always determines the latest life style within the public school, and thus, such a culture is esteemed the benchmark. Usually, valuable cultures of minor cultures are rarely appreciated since they are rarely exposed to a point of gaining popularity. On the other hand, major cultures may override other cultures’ values, thereafter introducing bad cultures into minor cultures. This is mainly evidenced in the way teachers wear; lower class teachers; on the basis of financial worth, tend to wear in an inexpensive manner, while the high class teachers with a lot of wealth tend to wear luxuriously.

Students also may learn good manners on how they can respectably interact with each other and learn from and with each other. They also learn how to respect their parents and other authorities within various systems including in the school, religious sectors, and within the society. Governments should act from the front to define culture through public schools, as they are will define culture of a nation to students who will live to define them to the other generation. Public schools should also have reformed kind of education that can promote students with good values such as social change open to cultural identity, their freedom of cultural practice, promotion of cultural continuation and student’s traditional moral values.

And apart from academic learning public schools should have a flexible and a more responsive way to promote social change and problems so as to be a multifunctional and also multipurpose institution. The teachers being the students role models they should try and encourage students to develop social intelligence and it can be achieved by applying in their teaching curriculum, also promote share of ideas, and open discussion among themselves and also with the teachers.Teachers and students should be involved in generating curriculum.

Such consultations will ensure that only right and the necessary materials are contained within the teaching guide. ConclusionPublic schools are avenues of culturalization, with a great composition of persons with various cultures, personalities, values, tongues, amongst other differences. Great attention is called for to ensure that such a complex set up is managed, and right values instilled within the core-target, pupils and students. There is thus need of looking beyond the academics within primary schools.

Work Cited:Henze, Rosemary. (2002). Leading for Diversity: How School Leaders Promote Positive Interethnic Relations. Corwin Press. Belinda, Williams. Closing the Achievement Gap: A Vision for Changing Beliefs and Practices. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2003Yamada, Yutaka. Cultural Anthropology. www.anthja.com. Retrieved November 22, 2011, from http://www.anthja.com/CA3.html