Culture

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Essay

Firstly clearly discuss how cultural factors will influence the development of children aged seven to fourteen years.

Secondly, present an argument why teachers need to be provided in their education with a sound understanding of the cultural backgrounds of the children with whom they intend to work.

IntroductionCheap University Papers on Culture

The adolescence stage is considered one of the most crucial periods in a persons life because it represents the transition from childhood to adulthood. It is the time when many important social, economic, biological and psychological events occur that pave the way to adult life.

Culture is a system of beliefs, values, languages, and behaviors, and human-made aspects of the physical environment, that varies from one group to another. These variations can have powerful effects on adolescent development. Moreover, the different components of culture often interact with one another. For example, cultural values and societal systems may impact individual adolescents development through the mediating effects of proximal social contexts such as family and peers. They also may moderate the association between social and environmental factors and adolescent outcomes. In the beginning of my essay, I summarize some findings concerning how cultural factors influence adolescents' development in the domains of their physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development.

Religious

According to Berk( 00), in late childhood and pre-adolescence concrete limitations continue. Children try to adjust themselves to a more realistic theology. It becomes clear, for example, that children begin to recognize the problem of God being everywhere and at one place at one particular time. To overcome this problem God must be conceived of as a spirit, not bound by physical limitations, but the childs natural concrete form of thinking makes this concept difficult for him to grasp.

Thirteen, on average, appears to be the decisive age for most children, when they move forward into more adult thinking about religion (Goldman, 165, pp. 1, 1). Goldman pointed out that about the age of thirteen marks a change in religious thinking as in other school subjects, when propositions, ideas, relationships, can be thought of in more abstract terms, making the language of religion decidedly easier to comprehend (Goldman, 165, p. 16).

A connection was found between parental religious participation and lower levels of child behavior problems and with higher levels of adolescent social responsibility.(Berk,00).

Gender

Expectations about attributes and behaviours appropriate to women or men and about the relations between women and men in other words, gender are shaped by culture. Gender identities and gender relations are critical aspects of culture because they shape the way daily life is lived in the family, but also in the wider community and the workplace.

In most societies there are clear patterns of womens work and mens work, both in the household and in the wider community. Women are free of the requirement to be in the labour force . They are typically expected to take on a major part of caring for children and household chores. That why Adolescent girls are expected to be submissive and obedient at home. Moreover, boys are given more freedom than girls and they are not expected to help in the household chores.

Education

Education is an important value in our cultures. And being well-educated is a good thing, not cause for embarrassment.

As an adolescent from a Chinese family, he or she is made more aware of the importance of bringing honour to the family by behaving in a socially accepted manner, and of helping the family achieve security and prosperity. Above of all, parents have high expectations for their children to achieve academically so that they can be successful in later life. Parents usually hope that their children will become professionals with high incomes and social status; children regard high academic achievement as one of the sacrifices of parents in providing for their education. In traditional families, education is seen as a way out of the hard work and poverty whence spring the parents, or as a means of providing better lives for their children. I've all heard stories of parents sacrificing everything to send their children to the best schools from my grandparents.

Consequently, children felt the pressure to perform well in order to give their families 'good name', and usually felt worthless or rebellious when they failed to bring honour to their families.

In our culture, parents always want them to have the best of both approaches to education, but not so much in terms of content as attitude content as attitude. We even have a lot of " kiasu" parents who spend so much to let the child to get in top schools. They even try to buy homes in the area which near their ideal school. They did not consider their child,'s abilities. According to Piaget (xxx), the children thought processes like perception, attention, memory, categorization of information, planning, problem solving are different at all ages on different children( Berk,00,pp.15-5). Pushing the children too hard will affect their emotional development.

Interactive within the families

Cultures that are more socially complex and those that are industrialized tend to perceive parents as less warm and accepting, or even rejecting, as compared to more traditional cultures(xxxx ). Parents spend more time out of their homes working will have less interaction with their children. Parents therefore may not expend as much care and affection on children. The conflicts between parents and the adolescent may occurs.

In our traditional culture, communication between parents and adolescent about sex is difficult. Parents and children often are embarrassed to talk about sex and avoid the topic.It is our traditional culture that not to discuss openly . As a result , adolescent get the information source from the media or net. Adolescent pregnancy may occur and is one of our society problems.

Filial piety in Asian culture

Asian families call for respect for older people and filial piety for parents. It is a concept in Chinese culture about paying back your parents for what they did for you.

They bore you, fed you, and all that. So there is a sense of giving back to your parents for what they gave you all that time, and its called filial piety, which is being pious toward your parents. I think a lot of second generation adolescents are having a real hard time with what filial piety means when their parents telling them to go this way and they see in their own selves they need to go this way. So, how do our adolescents still have filial piety?

In Asian culture, being pious towards your parents is a given, something you have to deal with. It is actually more Confucian than Buddhist, but nevertheless, it is a very basic concept. So, second-generation Asian youths, particularly, and even third generation have this incredible conflict where there is this purpose and goal that is built in so basic that it is the basis of their success. The very success of all these youths is based on this incredible, Freud would call, superego, which is the structure of the society around you that is put back into you by your society that becomes the basis of your personality on an unconscious level( Kalat,00, pp.xxx)

As I am from a topical Chinese family, I strongly believe that the closer you can be with your parents over a lifetime and the more you can resolve the conflicts you have with your parents, the greater the degree of honesty in yourself. Because all of those aspects of yourself that you dont see are mostly from your parents. Many of them are things you are resisting or fighting against when you were younger but have been hidden from you unconsciously, and so by being with your parents, they are brought out consciously.

Language

In our society, English culture is just as rich as the Chinese culture, and just as life-enriching. Therefore, most parents feel it is not necessary and a waste of energy to concern their children with another ancient culture. As a Chinese, we have to know that it stems not only from the fact that we are Chinese and Mandarin is our mother tongue; it is also because the language is highly sophisticated and enriching. When the learning of a language attains certain level, its continued growth depends on the cultural dynamics. Our island state still lacks the profound cultural background of the British and American societies. The cultural cornerstone of the Chinese here is still largely what they have inherited from China.

In our new generation, their Chinese language is weak and is hard for them to have thorough appreciation of the Chinese culture. They will miss both boats in their cultural quest.

Importance of understanding children's culture

It is imperative that teachers practice respect for culturally different behavior. Instead of viewing behavior as right or wrong, it is best judged by how well it is suited to the demands of the educational environment (although schools must also assess how well they are meeting the needs of their culturally diverse populations). To better serve their charges, educational personnel need to develop an awareness of how cultural background affects the way one behaves, and conversely, how one perceives and judges the behaviors of those not like oneself.

When teachers are knowledgeable of and able to critically examine differences in

culturally based behavior, they can be more confident that all children are being treated

fairly and respectfully.

When teachers are unfamiliar with the values, beliefs, and behaviors of their culturally different students, there exists a strong possibility that the practices they employ will be inappropriate for those youngsters (McIntyre, 1 ).

Everyday teachers are faced with differentiating between negative parenting practices and positive cultural practices. We are defining culture as " the values, beliefs and traditions of a particular group a set of rules that, to varying degrees, guide the behavior of individuals who are members of that group, whether that group is defined in terms of national origin, racial experience, linguistic experience, religious background, socioeconomic status"( Chang, Muckelroy, & Pulido-Tobiassen 16).

Although cultural differences demand more attention today, teachers have little training in diversity. According to a study done by Chang, Muckelroy, and Pulido-Tobiassen (16), teachers have neither the skills nor the knowledge to effectively address issues of races, language, and culture. Todays teachers are expected not only to teach a more diverse student body than ever before, but also to help all children reach high achievement standards. With stronger accountability imposed at federal, state, and local levels, teachers are faced with a proliferation of responsibilities in three major areas of diversity students who are culturally and linguistically diverse; students who are at risk of failure to meet new and challenging standards; and students who have special needs.

In this case, everyone in the teaching field must receive addition diversity training so that understanding of the cultural backgrounds of the children with whom they intend to work will be better.

Conclusion

References

Berk, L. E. (00). Infant, Children, and Adolescents, (4th ed.). Boston Allyn & Baccon.

Kalat, James W.( 00). Introduction to psychology, ( 6th ed.). United Stated of America Wadsworth-Thomson Learning.

Chang, H.N.L., A. Muckelroy, & D. Pulido-Tobiassen. 16. Looking in, looking out Redefining child and early education in a diverse society. San Francisco California Tomorrow.

Goldman, R. (164). Religious thinking from childhood to adolescence. London Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Tom McIntye (16). Education and Treatment of Children, volume 1,

issue , pages 54-70.

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