How culture impacts education
Being a commuter at a PWI was the weirdest thing. I legitimately felt like I was living two lives because of how seemingly different both places were.
As many of you know, I identify as Filipino-American, so living in a Filipino-American household and then transitioning to a white environment was like stepping into a whole different universe. The school that I attended was a college town, a very small one; there are only a handful of commuters and we all sorta knew each other because of that connection.
I'd step onto that campus and I'd just feel like I don’t belong; I went there for four years and that feeling never changed. If you didn't fit in, then you'd have to just find your way. I think it also felt so different because, well for me at least, I was really only there for my education. That is truly the only reason I stayed all four years. I honestly just didn't care about the social life that much. It just wasn’t the best experience for me.
As for many other people, and other people who didn't have the option to commute, the social life was a big part of college. Don’t get me wrong, it totally is. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, not at all, because it was definitely a huge part for me. It helps strengthen identity and character and makes you realize who you are, kinds of people you f*ck with, kinds of people you don’t, etc.; the social life is just so important at this age, don't get me wrong. I tried so hard to fit in and to feel like I belong, and I mean I did, but I didn’t; I mention the rest of my story here. However, where the difference is, is how that social life impacted me and why I felt like school and home were so different.
I’m definitely grateful to have attended the university that I did, don’t get me wrong, and I am also grateful for the time with my family, being at home and all. I didn't necessarily need to bridge that gap between home and school because I learned how to navigate both in a way that works for me, but it makes me think about children in public schools. Children who essentially have to live that "double life" without knowing how to navigate it. These aren’t things that we normally think about, but it’s important that we do. By bridging the gap between home and school, it would help to create community; it would help to create an inclusive environment; it would help us strive for anti-bias goals. Ultimately, it’ll help create an environment where we strive towards equality, inclusivity, and social justice because their lives would be integrated in the classroom.
Imagine having to enter a classroom that speaks a completely different language than home. That’s the life of a lot of students in public school. It can make marginalized groups feel like the “other” and feel “different” and ultimately, that feeling can become internalized. Schools are trying to perpetuate and normalize dominant ideologies, whether we recognize it or not. Schools create an environment where it becomes an “us versus them” framework; we are taught how to act and how to obey, which is a direct parallel to today’s society. We need to stop perpetuating these ideologies and create positive learning spaces.
In order to do so, we must first learn and understand that culture impacts everyone’s life; culture impacts how we move through our world, it’s a big part of identity. In other words, how can someone be themselves in an environment/space that doesn’t allow them to? In a space that doesn’t make them feel like they belong? The simple answer to this question is, they can’t. It becomes survival mode, and the burden becomes on the victim, the student. They have to, essentially, assimilate to the dominant culture that’s been thrust upon them. This can have a lot of implications for well-being, especially when having to shift through two different worlds: home and school. It can feel like two different identities, and it becomes hard to find the bridge to both; to just have a cohesive life where we don’t have to think about code switching or this double-consciousness (first brought up by W.E.B. Du Bois).
If we don’t bridge this gap, we end up failing our children. It becomes hard to succeed when children are not seen as whole persons, when a part of their identity gets stripped from them and they are forced to act and behave in ways that aren’t authentically themselves.
Experiences like these shape the future, not just their own, but everyone else around them as well.
xoxo,
kaels
too bad ain’t me<3
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