The Color of Culture

"Let's get down to business...to defeat the Huns."  Every time I see the classic film Mulan, I cannot help but sing every word to every song as I root for the heroine to overcome the war and restraints in her culture and "bring honor to us all." She is one tough Disney princess.

One of the main reasons I love this movie is the unique culture is portrays.  Mulan paints a glimpse of history and the Chinese way of life and customs such as matchmakers, praying to ancestors, men fighting in war, eating on the floor as a family, and the value of honor.  Even the animation hints at Chinese artwork and architecture. Despite its genre as an animated family film, Mulan follows several powerful points on the left side of the power of movies chart.  Mulan serves as a fearless and self-sacrificing role model, and the film addresses sexism and gender stereotypes and the nightmare of war.  It also emphasizes the hope that one person can truly make a difference in the world.

Cultures give the world color.  Exploring them through films, books, and especially travel and meeting new people increases our knowledge about life and about ourselves.  Intercultural communication is key to learning about others' perspectives and histories.  One of my suite mates is from Panama, and when she first came to Henderson last year, she spoke only some English.  I wish I had learned Spanish, so I could communicate with her more at the time.  I cannot imagine moving to and attending school in a different country where people speak a completely different language, and the experience made me realize that I often take my own language for granted.  Amazingly, she became fluent in English by the end of the semester.  The brain possesses an amazing capacity to learn languages.

Traveling to France and Italy last summer also served as a humbling experience.  I will never forget stepping off the train in Paris and feeling overwhelmed by the jumble of letters on signs and the gibberish spoken by the natives.  I took French in high school and remembered a handful of words, but fluency in that language would have greatly enhanced my trip there.  As a future teacher, I believe other languages and cultures should be introduced to all children at a young age and emphasized throughout the education system.  Children need to learn tolerance, communication skills, and the ability to view the world from various perspectives. 

Like Mulan, we must bravely break out of our comfort zones, embrace our uniqueness and the uniqueness of others, and make the world even more colorful.    

We Got Skills

At an after-school program, I squatted in a sandbox with several preschoolers as we made "cakes" and "pies" out of sand.  We baked them in an imaginary oven and even decorated them with leaves and rock sprinkles.  A rambunctious three-year-old named Turner kept jumping in and out of the sandbox and running all over the playground trying to get the rest of us to chase him.  At one point, he hopped into the box, and I asked him if he wanted to make pies with us.

"Those aren't pies," he said.  "That's sand."
"Don't you ever use your imagination?" I asked.
"No," he said and bounced away again.

I know that he uses imagination at least some even without realizing it and that I can't judge America based on one three-year-old, but his low value of imagination and creativity surprised and disappointed me.  As a little girl with a brother ten years older than me, I often played in the background by myself, but I invented an array of characters to join me in an array of magical places.  I think imagination is one of the beautiful traits of childhood, but that skill is squandered by our society and by education.
Imagination leads to creativity and innovation, which also assist in problem-solving and critical thinking—several of the major 21st century skills critical in today's global economy.  All of the 21st century skills, which also include collaboration and communication, emerge early in life in basic forms and thus should be fostered and enhanced throughout a child's education.

As an early childhood educator, I must practice these skills as well as teach these skills.  Teachers practice creativity, innovation, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills when they plan meaningful curriculum, engage students in learning, reteach material in a new way if students misunderstood it, and enforce positive behavior.  They establish behavior and academic expectations and use the skills in their arsenals to help all students succeed inside and outside the classroom.  They must constantly adapt their lessons and practices to meet students' needs.  Educators also utilize collaboration and communication skills and cultural awareness when working with parents and coworkers.  They must build respectful, trusting relationships with parents and fellow teachers to create a school community.

One of the focuses of the Common Core State Standards, the new frameworks by which teachers teach, involves helping students become college and career ready.  All teachers need to incorporate 21st century skills into their everyday instruction in order to prepare children for the real world even in elementary school. "Students can master 21st century skills while they learn reading, mathematics, science, writing, and other school subjects." Educators can no longer simply teach to the test and tell children how to think.  Students must learn to think for themselves.    

I will serve as a role model for students, so I must acquire these skills through various experiences and develop them through practice.  Ways to do so include reading, research, trying new things, meeting people, going places, and simply practicing an open-mind.  We are all life-long learners, so we must all be open to every opportunity and educational experience.  We will never possess all the knowledge, but the pursuit of knowledge and the skills we develop along the way are what make us great.

A New Pair of Glasses

All people develop their own perspective of the world—their own pair of lenses—based on their heritage, their experiences, and their culture.  The lenses of most Americans, I believe, are black and white.  We see diversity and the new and unknown in black and conformity and what we know in white.  Things are difficult to see through the black, and white is typically a more friendly color. My own biggest anxiety whenever I travel is the fear of stepping out of my comfort zone and not knowing what to expect.

However, cultural lenses are unavoidable and not necessarily a bad thing.  Taking pride in one's culture creates unity and patriotism within that culture.  The problems, like ignorance and discrimination, arise when we refuse to take them off or try on a new pair or at least consider that other people are looking through their own lenses as well.  No two pairs are exactly the same.  I think we Americans know this, but we have to learn to accept and even celebrate the differences.

I have a couple of friends that want nothing more to attend college close to home and eventually end up back in our hometown working and living right down the street from their parents.  One in particular possesses no desire to travel farther than the Grand Canyon or Branson and believes this wonderful country she calls 'Merica is better than any other place in the world.  On the other hand, I have friends who long to escape the confinement of Arkansas and travel anywhere and everywhere.  My roommate and I often speak to each other in foreign accents and created a bucket list of things we would do in other countries, like drinking tea in London, riding a donkey in Greece, or learning to play bagpipes in Scotland.  Unfortunately, the issue of money has kept her and many other eager college students from traveling.  I have yet another friend, however, that began traveling the world as soon as he graduated from college.  I have heard that he backpacked through Europe and even started a business in Hawaii, and he is in a different country every time I hear about him.

Now people don't have to drop everything and travel the entire world to expand their horizons.  Lens shifting is more about a change in perspective, a change from cultural ignorance to cultural competence.  We live in a competitive, individualistic society in which success revolves around money and productivity.  We make jokes about the French being prideful and arrogant about their country, but I think Americans can be even worse.

A "my way or the highway" attitude is engrained in us from a young age.  Many elementary schools focus too much on boosting children's self-esteem and not enough on mastery of skills and collaboration with others.  We rarely learn about other cultures in school, and when we do, the material is presented from an American bias or we celebrate one little holiday like Cinco de Mayo.  We only take a language class for one, maybe two, years of our entire school careers, an insufficient amount of time to learn a language.  Language barriers play a significant part in keeping Americans from traveling.  However, many people in other countries, especially those working in tourism, know English.

Americans need to live up to the title of their country, "the land of the free and the home of the brave," and free themselves from the fear and pride that darken our lenses and bravely explore this diverse and colorful world that we all call home.

  

Going Global

A Chinese myth called the Red Thread of Fate claims that the gods tied a red thread around every one of our ankles and attached it to all of the people whose lives we are destined to touch.  I learned of this legend from Touch, an underrated show about a boy who can predict the future and see numbers and patterns that most people cannot.  His father is played by Kiefer Sutherland.  The show focuses on the interconnectedness between people around the world, a concept that sounds quite similar to  globalization.

Globalization began when a man embarked on a journey to a foreign land and brought home something new and exciting that everyone wanted—possibly silks from China or spices from India.  The expansive trade that followed led to the spread of goods as well as ideas and influenced movements such as the Renaissance.  Globalization grew by foot then by horseback then by ship and eventually by trains, planes, and automobiles.  This expansion caused Europeans' "discovery" and settlement of  North America, so without it, the United States would cease to exist.  

During my lifetime, globalization increased technologically more than geographically.
For example, in the 1990s, people only possessed cell phones to call other people, and everyone's phone included an antenna poking out of the top and buttons for numbers.  When I first convinced my parents to buy me a Motorola Razr, only a few of my friends and I could text, and I thought this was the coolest thing ever.  Now, cell phones serve as phones, mp3 players, gaming devices, televisions, and computers, and somehow still fit in our pockets.  We can access the entire world from any place and any time we want.  As a result, cell phones play a critical role in our culture, especially my generation.  I can safely say that most Americans are addicted to their phones and that Apple could control the world.

The Internet itself expands with globalization.  My generation witnessed the emergence of social media particularly Facebook and Twitter.  People can communicate and share events from across the planet in a matter of seconds.  We can find information on virtually any person by simply doing a little research.  Printed books, magazines, and newspapers are nearly irrelevant, because they can all be accessed online.  The Internet opened a world of endless information.  The power to manipulate the Internet, however, can produce issues like plagiarism, spreading of false facts, and leaks of private information.

Globalization is also strongly related to immigration.  America's richly diverse culture grew from the immigration of people from all over the world, and it continues to grow every day.  Hundreds of languages are spoken in the U.S. by people from a wide variety of races, ethnicities, and cultures.  As a teacher, I will work with many students from other countries and languages, and I am working on obtaining my English as a Second Language licensure.  Unfortunately, globalization and immigration have sparked discrimination and hatred among people across the planet chiefly as a result of ignorance.  I believe in extinguishing such hatred and spreading an appreciation for diversity among our students.

Globalization, whether through technology, immigration, transportation, economics, or the simple spreading of ideas, is a powerful concept that constantly shapes our world and connects and intertwines us by more and more red thread.  We truly live in a world without walls.
  

Exploring Below the Surface

A man clad in a plaid kilt, his head engulfed in a flaming red beard and mop of hair, stands atop an emerald hillside surrounded by sheep while playing "Oh Danny Boy" on his bagpipes.  He spends his nights in a village pub drinking Guinness, eating fried potatoes, and frequently dancing a jig.  He greets his friends with a "top of the mornin' to ya" and answers "aye, laddie" when asked if his favorite color is green.  In his spare time, he collects four-leaf clovers and searches for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and the Loch Ness monster.  If he ever led an army into battle, he would recite William Wallace's entire speech from the movie Braveheart.  

I imagine such a person whenever I think of an Irishman or Scotsman.  Most Americans probably picture Lucky the leprechaun on the box of Lucky Charms cereal or the small, bearded, green men waving from floats in St. Patrick's Day parades.     

The media thwarts our images of other cultures.  Movies, television, games, books, and consumer products portray cultural stereotypes which represent only the very tip of the iceberg model of culture.  Cultures encompass a multitude of rich characteristics beyond food, music, language, and festivals.  To truly understand and appreciate another culture, we must dive below the surface and explore it, and the best way to do so is travel.  

When arriving in Paris during the honors college Europe trip last summer, our group expected the French to behave rudely and to strongly dislike us Americans.  We even tried speaking in British accents expecting them to act more politely toward us. However, most French people we encountered seemed quite friendly especially the street artists we met near the Sacre Coeur cathedral who were eager to talk to us about their work.  In London, people were also kind and helpful and often offering us directions in busy areas like the Picadilly Circus. 



Cultural awareness develops from interacting with people from other cultures, becoming aware of our own cultural dynamics and behaviors, and recognizing both the positive and negative aspects of cultural differences.  I am working to obtain a license to teach english as a second language, and every one of my ESL classes emphasizes the need to celebrate diversity.  I greatly look forward to immersing ourselves in the true Scottish and Irish cultures and exploring our similarities and differences.

My Story

The glass windows stretched upward like widening eyes.  They covered the facade of the airport, the sun glinting off their surfaces.  Dad slowed our white Honda Accord to a stop, and he and Mom twisted to look at me in the backseat.    
"Ready?" he asked with raised eyebrows.
  I stared at my sweaty palms in my lap, my stomach churning.  I imagined joining a cluster of faces near the check-in counter--some familiar yet some completely foreign.  Stepping out of the car meant embarking on a trip on my own for the first time with a group of people I barely knew.  Mom and Dad pulled my suitcase out of the trunk while I sat frozen to the backseat.
"Come on, Kate.  You can do it," he said as he opened my door.
For a moment, I contemplated refusing to leave the car and returning home to my own safe bed, but an internal voice reminded me that I joined the newspaper staff just for this trip to the media conference.  I signed up for this adventure, so I must take it.  With a deep breath, I dragged myself out of the car, drifted into the airport, and made my way to New York City.

The trip to the media conference in New York City served as the first major stepping stone in my series of adventures in college.  That summer, I ventured to Seattle, and the following summer, I experienced a school trip to Great Britain, France, and Italy.  I dreamed of traveling and embarking on adventures from the moment I learned to read stories about exotic lands.  I enjoy reading as well as writing; I hope to publish children's books eventually.  I am currently pursuing an early childhood education degree at Henderson State University.  I decided to pursue a career in education when I realized how much I love school and children.  I hope to inspire my students with my passion for learning and for seeing the world.  Travel provides me with the opportunities to learn more about this earth, to hear people's stories, and experience adventures outside of books.  
I lived in the same house in the same town my entire life until moving to college.  My mother is an elementary art teacher, my father owns a local news website, and and they know practically everyone in our growing small town.  I have one older brother, and we recently inherited two cats.  I have spent over four years dating my sweet and hilarious boyfriend.  My faith, my family, and my friends are the most important aspects of my life.   
I am writing this blog as part of an assignment for a travel and study course; a group through the teacher's college at HSU will travel to Scotland and Ireland this July.  My blog posts will consist of reflection assignments about culture and travel and serve as a journal for the trip itself.  I am greatly excited about witnessing the cultures in Scotland and Ireland as well as the sights.  Through this trip, I hope to grow into a more confident and seasoned traveler, challenge myself to try new things, hear some fascinating stories, and learn.  I cannot wait to embark on another grand adventure.