Gobbledygook

On my way home today, I was stressing out over how to get my papers written for my class Thursday night while at the same time getting the writing my students have done graded (which I've put off way too long). I started thinking about my graduate class. . . and my students. . . and my graduate class . . . and my students . . . and all of a sudden I remembered why I was taking the graduate classes to begin with! I remembered a conversation I had with my principal a few months ago- we were attending the funeral of one of my student's fathers (he had been shot and killed) and were conversing about my graduate work. I told her then that I hoped to connect my learning in this class to my students, most of whom are African-American.

The light bulb finally came on today on my way home. I am enmeshed in learning about the continuum of individualistic vs. collectivistic cultures. Individualistic cultures (in a nutshell- I've read about 200 pages worth of material elaborating on this point-a lot of which has seemed like gobbledygook to me) are those that emphasize self-worth through individual accomplishment, while collectivistic cultures strive to promote group goals and unity. Westernized cultures (America, England) tend to be individualistic, while Asian and African cultures tend to be collectivistic.

My students are primarily African-American and low-income. Both of these categories tend to place more emphasis on the collectivistic end of the continuum. Relationships are more important than accomplishments. The major 'aha' moment I had today was about behavior and the importance of allowing my students to save face in front of a group. When I am correcting their behavior (and often punishing) lately, most of it is done in the public arena. This is a major embarrassment to the students. Collectivistic cultures are supposed to accept the idea of hierarchy and power- that those above them need to be listened to. At the same time, though, THOSE ABOVE THEM ARE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT THEM- especially their face. The senior members of a collectivistic group are supposed to help the juniors look good.

So then I asked myself the question- If unity and group harmony is so important to collectivistic cultures, why don't my students worry more about unity in our classroom community? The answer is that it isn't fully a community this year. They haven't bought into the idea that in our classroom, we are family, and everyone is it in together. There is too much antagonism, and to many of my African-American students, they are identifying with each other and I am part of the "out-group". Can a teacher be part of the student group? I think so- it is what I have accomplished in other years. I think one major area I went wrong was resorting to public behavior correction out of frustration.

I swear this would make a lot of sense to anyone taking this class with me.