Analysis of Identities, Observations Made at Sagesse High School - Case Study Example

Analysis of Identities Task Analysis of Identities Introduction Lebanon is one of the countries in the Middle East with a leading education system that promotes the education and enlightenment of students across the entire country. The government puts emphasis on education and ensures that all children born in the country access the basic and formal education. In fact, education in the country is practically free in order to enable the students get through to school without many difficulties, especially hurdles related to finances. The Lebanon education system has five levels through which every child born and brought up in Lebanon has to go through as a directive from the government. The first level is the elementary school, a primary education that lasts for six years for children aged six to twelve years, going through grades one to six. The second level is the intermediate school, a middle education that lasts for three years for children aged twelve to fifteen years, going through grades seven to nine. This class is the focus for this analysis of identities within a Lebanese classroom setting (Nieto, 2009). Observations Made at Sagesse High School Sagesse High School is an Anglophone, Catholic, co-educational school that educates students coming from diverse backgrounds, motivating them to become life-long learners, as well as responsible citizens in the future who have strong ethical values. Furthermore, the school also provides its students with various enriched educational opportunities, as well as operating in an environment that promotes both compassion and tolerance. The school offers various curricula for its students, which enable them to grow wholesomely through education and development. Some of the curricula provided by the school include the Lebanese Baccalaureate Program, the International Baccalaureate Diploma, and the Professional Baccalaureate Program for business and computing, the American System program incorporating SAT 1, SAT 2, TOEFL, AP Preparation, and the ESL (English as a Second Language) program. As discussed earlier, students attending classes at this institution come from different cultural settings and backgrounds, which creates a multi-cultural blending within the learning institution. As such, both teachers and learners have to be cognizant of the fact that they come from different backgrounds, and as such, apply accommodative measures in order to enhance peaceful co-existence and co-relation amongst different stakeholders within the school. As for the classroom setting in grade seven, the students come from different background, but they all have the same goal and objective that takes them to school, which is to acquire knowledge and experience that would enable them become strong and independent personalities in the future. The observations provide that the students are aware of their cultural differences, and the school plays an imperative role in encouraging social cohesion and accommodation amongst the students despite their differences in ethnicity, religion, and/ or language. This enables the institution to churn out the best students as grandaunts at the school who end up being responsible adults and accountable citizens within the society who are peaceful, tolerant, as well as, accommodative of the their peers, neighbors, and fellow citizens within the society who have different cultural backgrounds. As a policy of the school, all students speak one language, which is also the main teaching and learning language used in the classroom, English, considering the school is an Anglophone school. The use of a single language in such a multi-cultural setting is to create a social blending into oneness, as this enables people from different cultural backgrounds and language settings to communicate fluently with each other despite their differences (Ramsey, Vold & Williams, 2002). Identities in Grade 7 The class, just like the rest of the country, comprises of a diverse mixture of cultures and languages. This is basing on the variety of backgrounds from which the students composing the class come. The school is an Anglophone school whereby the students have to speak English, and use it as a learning language in the classrooms. The classroom consists mostly of Christians considering it is one of the countable Christian schools within the country. However, it also has a number of Muslims, ranging from three to four in number. These Lebanese Muslims choose to go the school despite its Christian doctrines. Furthermore, the school also has a number of Syrian students, who come from both the Christian and Muslim faith, and mostly came to the country to seek asylum as refugees. The class also has a single colored student, showing the great composition of the classroom with students from different cultures and backgrounds (Ramsey, Vold & Williams, 2002). The students attending these classes also speak different languages, or come from different language a background, which also introduces the concept of linguistic diversities in a classroom setting. The Lebanese constitution, through Article 11, recognizes Arabic as the official national language of the country. As such, this is the teaching language used by learners in schools. However, a law determines the varied cases through which they may use the French language in official communication. Consequently, majorities of the Lebanese people are fluent speakers of Arabic, and in some cases speak English or French fluently (Nieto, 2009). Themes Adopted In the Class Considering the multicultural composition of the grade seven classes, it is imperative that both the teachers, as well as the students learn and adopt certain particular themes and concepts that promote social cohesion and acceptance. The class continually interacts with people from different backgrounds and cultural settings, which makes it impossible to avoid conflicts, especially in relation to racism, ego, as well as ethnicity. As such, the schools works hard towards promoting social cohesion in such a way that no student looks down upon the other student owing to their different backgrounds, but rather learn to treat each others as brothers from the same family. This will nurture them to become responsible adults once they graduate from school. Consequently, both the teachers and the students are aware of this need, and the teachers especially promote this social cohesion through various themes adopted such as equality and diversity, minority rights, culture and identity, as well as accommodation and acceptance. In order to promote social cohesion within the school, primarily bearing in mind the different cultural backgrounds of the students attending these classes, it is imperative for the teachers to adopt a number of themes and implement them through activities, bulletin boards, and decorations to promote social acceptance and accommodation, equality and diversity, culture and identity, and minority rights. Group work and teamwork activities is one great strategy that these teachers apply in developing social cohesion within the school, especially whereby the composition of the team comprises of students from different backgrounds. being in the same team, they will have to set aside all their differences to work together in order to achieve a common goal, such as making their team come first in a given class competition. This also enables the students to learn that their differences are only superficial and as such, have no influence of effect on their personality, development and progress (Ramsey, Vold & Williams, 2002). Decorations paint a picture of mixture, whereby it considers all persons despite their backgrounds. For instance, in a decoration comprising of Muslims and Christians as one, or residents and refugees as one, promotes a concept of cohesion and acceptance within the school. This eliminates any form of discrimination among the students resulting from their varied differences. The teachers can also make use of bulletin boards in creating an environment of social cohesion within the school in order to promote the themes of diversity and equality. This theme holds that even though people may come from different backgrounds and cultures, they are the same and equal before man and the law, and as such, require the same treatment. The themes promoted in this learning environment are those of accommodation and acceptance. As such, the Lebanese Arabs who form the majority of the population learn to be accommodative of the minority Americans, and students from other different races and religions within the institution, and learn to accept them. The instructor is also aware of this theme, and as such, promotes the acceptance and embracement of each student despite their different cultural backgrounds and settings. the instructor understands the fact that the students have to be one, in such a way that there are no major differences of divisions that arise that may disrupt harmony and peace amongst them, leading to disagreements, discriminations, fights, as well as oppression and prejudice. Socio-Cultural Theories Applied Socio-cultural theories assist these students and their instructors to develop the best strategies to adopt in order to accommodate their different identities, be it their religious backgrounds, their language identities, as well as their ethnic affiliations. Socio-cultural theories promote the interaction between developing people and the cultures in which they live, and as such promote individual development and growth (Nieto, 2009). Albert Bandura’s social Cognitive theory is one of the socio-cultural theories applicable in this institution. Behaviorism bases on the notion that people learn development, and environmental factors play a strong role in influencing this concept. As such, the social cognitive theory emphasizes the principle that cognition, environment and behavior operate together, with each aspect exerting equally the same importance influence as the others. This is also the case at Sagesse High School whereby through the Social cognitive Theory, students learn to be accommodative and tolerant of each other despite their diverse differences and cultural backgrounds. The school environment provides the right conditions for the students to blend at the same level and consider each other as equals thereby disregarding their fundamental differences. This develops a wholesome person who is aware of the cultural differences within the society, and knows how to embrace these differences for a stable social well-being. References Nieto, S. (2009). Language, Culture, and Teaching: Critical Perspectives. London: Taylor & Francis. Ramsey, P., Vold, E. & Williams, L. (2002). Multicultural Education: A Source Book, Second Edition. London: Taylor & Francis. Read More