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jcb2013's picture

Respecting Culture

The quote that you posted from Freire is one that I noted while reading the second half of Freire. I thought that your take on the passage was similar to mine, as influenced by my personal experiences in field placements.

 All of my field placements have been in urban ed., and I feel while your point applies everywhere, I personally see it specifically in urban ed. Because of the many stereotypes surrounding urban education many people enter the field without ever working in an urban environment before expecting certain things, prepared with certain solutions.  Broad theories are taught (which do have value), but can't always be applied in the ways that they are intended.  When entering a community, a school, and a classroom all theories , expectations, and solutions must be adjusted to that particular environment.  It is important to take into account and respect the culture of the environment you have entered.  

While this is relevant for all teachers, it is especially relevant when considering the prevalence of teaching residencies today.  Residencies primarily recruit college students and career changers to urban ed. and rural ed.  While individuals from those communities are encouraged to apply for these programs, realistically these programs bring a lot of "outsiders" into these communities to teach.  When this occurs, teaching residents must work to learn about the communities that they are joining, the culture of their environment, and their students in order to create a benefitial and mutually respectful relationship with their students.  

This reminds me of the text we read by Sherman Alexie about his Native American upbringing on the first day of class. At one point in the text (pg. 1) he discusses Betty Towle, his missionary teacher.  He discusses how she disrespected his Indian culture stating, "Indians, indians, indians. She said it without capitalization."  This is a prime example of teachers entering a community, and overlooking the current culture in order to impose their own solutions and methods.  Freire poses an important point in the statement that you referenced in explaining the importance of not saving students, but opening dialoging with students in order to include them in their own education. 

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