How to cope with cultural dilemmas in an increasingly globalized world?
Culture is something I think is very hard to define.
It's more or less everything we humans do, we can talk about cultures in a work place, a country or even in a family.
We will often say that people act a certain way, according to where they come from, because of their culture. An example we used in class was from Danish schools; often when ethnic Danish kids misbehave in school they are tested for ADHD ( Alle Drenger Har Det :), but when immigrant kids act the same way, the teachers don't have them tested, instead they just assume it's part of their culture.
1. Why is it important to be aware of having a knowlegde about the concept of culture when working as a teacher?
When you are working with people you will meet all kinds of behavior,. Therefore it's important to know about the concept of culture so you can have a better judgement of what is personal behavior and what is cultural.
2. What challenges do you see in the concept of culture?
Differences scare us. We like what we know and can relate to. Many of us find new cultures exciting and like to explore, but still I think we all need to have some personal space and when new cultures come to the aspects of our life we feel close to, we can sometimes feel threatened by this.
I think the challenge can be to mix different cultures and accepting both, rather than trying to figure out which one is "right one".
3. Is the concept useful when we talk about human differences?
Yes and no. I think culture plays a large role in the making of each individuals identity. We are all affected by the people around us, we seek recognition or we provoke parts of our culture to make statements about who we are. But we are also very different inside our own culture.
4. How is the concept used within your profession?
Culture is a big part of my profession, naturally because it has to do with people.
We structure our lifes around culture.
