Cultural Biography

Cultural Biography

Cultural backgrounds can change the way we define ourselves, other people, and all other things. Cultural backgrounds can shape how we view the world, and must be taken into account when teaching students of different backgrounds in our classrooms. I will define my own cultural background and how it affects me, and then I interviewed someone, Curtis from (and currently resides) Chicago, from a complete different background. I grew up in Charleston Illinois for the most part of my life. My family was middle class and was made up of 3 brothers and 2 sisters. I put a lot of emphasis on class when thinking of my background and how prepared I have been for things in life. Usually this indicates that I am less aware of class; but since I have already gotten my bachelors in Sociology, I have studied class and am very aware of differences in class and how they can help or handicap an individual. Also, historically, students from middle class have a good work ethic with confidence in academics. Because of this I am more able to work “the system” to get things I want. Curtis is from a lower class family, mom was a single parent, where he has 2 sisters. He puts a whole lot of emphasis on his class and believes it to be a huge disadvantage. Like most people from lower class backgrounds, he believes that he is not capable of getting good grades and getting a better (higher paying) job than his mom. Although he says he wasn’t that much lower class, but he feels disadvantage, which has subsequently turned him to being paranoid of the government. He is very liberal in his belief system due to this. When teaching I will need to make sure and instill confidence in all my students, teach them that they can achieve anything and everything with hard work. I am Irish American. I don’t feel that this is important what so ever in my cultural background. I didn’t even really know what I was until I asked my parents. Curtis is African American. He feels that this, along with class, is the most important foundation of his cultural background. He feels that you can’t help these two, yet these can impair or help you. Race, however, we both feel has no factor in either of our cultural backgrounds, or with the way we perceive the world, and neither one of us had anyone in the family with disabilities. All of these will be important in the classroom, depending on how important it is to each individual student. Language can be different due to any or all of the factors already mentioned; however, myself and Curtis both speak English even though we have very dissimilar backgrounds. Language is not important, in me and Curtis’s eyes, because we live in a society where this is the only official language, so there is no need to speak anything else. Some students don’t speak English or it is their second language. These students will need special attention and methods in order to help them learn at the same pace and level in my classroom. Both our ages are twenty three. We both feel this is very important in our backgrounds, due to life experiences and experiences with other cultures. After both of us attending college and meeting a lot more people with a lot different backgrounds than our own, it has opened our eyes (so to speak). Life experiences are an essential part in the learning process. When teaching you must use methods that relate to your students; therefore, age would be crucial when trying to relate material to a student’s everyday life. I grew up Catholic. My dad was Protestant, while my mom was Catholic. Religion was more important to my mother so we went to a Catholic church every Sunday. As much as a hate to say it, religion was just not a factor at all in my cultural background. To tell you the truth I think religion is based on an already instilled cultural background and it only refines or defines existing culture. I don’t really base anything I do on religion and actually have come to look at it sociologically. One of my favorite quotes: “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him” (Voltaire). Now this doesn’t mean I don’t believe in God, but it still rings very very true. I don’t think religion has shaped me at all. Curtis, on the other hand, believes his religion has a little more relevance to his cultural background. He grew up Christian until his switch to Islam in high school, or at least that he now considers himself Muslim. When talking about his religion it seemed he didn’t know much about religion really, why he made this switch I don’t know. The switch most likely was due to peers and his paranoia of the “Christian” government. I would say he is very anti-establishment. So he says that it is moderately important, but I don’t believe that it has that much of to do with his cultural background. It is very important not to bring religion into the classroom, but it does not mean you should not be aware of your students’ religious beliefs (especially if they were that important). As you can see there are many differences in people’s backgrounds and how people’s backgrounds shape them. Subsequently, teachers must make sure to take these things into account when trying to effectively teach students in public schools. Our country is becoming more diverse as the years go on, only adding to why we must do this and come up with better, and more effective, methods of teaching. We must not leave students from different backgrounds behind.