Culture and Education

I agree with the author about culture being a word with different definitions in our society. I often hear people say how one is not "cultured" or "cultually deprived" because they don't appreciate the fine arts or have a high social status. I also agree with the author's definition of culture because it is similar to what I had learned in previous courses. We also see how cultures influence other cultures in every society. It is common for people of one culture to appreciate aspects of another group's culture.

I do find it intriguing that many people who speak standard English or text book English think of Black English as being saturated with mistakes and improper conjugations or whatever they say about it. However expression from Black English often make thier way to standard English and become part of it. It emphasizes the idea that minority cultures often affect the majority culture.

"Because culture is complex, learning a culture that is not one's native culture is an exceedingly difficult task" (Nieto 138). This is exacly what we need to be thinking about when we teach science to kids. Science has its own culture that can be very difficult for many to understand. As cultures influence one another we have to relate science to the cultures of our students. There is fascinating scientific research being conducted in every country around the world and we need to show how the science culture is affected by the same cultures of our students. How is science related to their culture?