Learning of Cultures Through Text

Throughout history, humans have struggled to transport people and their ideas. As a global community we have accomplished feats of transportation and communication that would have previously been dismissed as impossible. The modern world is becoming increasingly diverse as people find more and more ways to connect and share their knowledge. With both transportation and alternate forms of communication open, it would be shameful to overlook the opportunity provided to us in understanding how people of other cultures live. I believe that it should be mandatory for people to learn about other cultures in schools.

Learning about other cultures can provide people with a more complete understanding of the world around them. Prior to reading The Kite Runner I had very little knowledge of life in Afghanistan. My previous history, English, and social studies courses, as with many in the Western World, focused on the history of the West and overlooked the Middle East. A large portion of my knowledge of Afghanistan came from North American news reporting acts of terrorism and violence. This is a very singular view of the Middle East. Reading and performing research on events in The Kite Runner opened up a new perspective for me on Afghanistan. This novel helps to paint images of a happy, modernizing country prior to the Taliban’s takeover. Based on news coverage today, I never would have known about the good side of Afghanistan. Overall, I gained perspective on the situation in Afghanistan which would not have been introduced elsewhere in my life.

While learning about other cultures through text, it is also very important to keep in mind that you cannot truly know a culture without experiencing it first hand. By the theory of cultural relativism, “what is regarded as true, valued, or expected in one social system may not be so in another” (Crossman). Essentially, this means that a society’s norms and practices might not be the same as yours, but that does not make them wrong. It is very easy to observe a culture’s practices from the outside and press harsh judgements against them because they are different from your own; however, we must try to avoid that. I think that the only way that teaching about other cultures is valuable is to make sure that cultures are observed while keeping cultural relativism in mind.

In essence, learning about other cultures is valuable because it opens up new perspectives on the world that may have never been accessed, but it is very important to remain unbiased about the cultural practices.

Sources:

Crossman, Ashley. “Cultural Relativism.” About Education. About.com, n.d. Web. 5 Apr. 2015. <http://sociology.about.com/od/C_Index/g/Cultural-Relativism.htm>.

The Importance of Being Aware of Cultures Around the World

Everywhere you step, every individual has their own story their own culture. Culture is what brings groups of people together and what represents them, but again isolates them from others. People's culture influences their actions, people who often immigrate around the world add to the culture to what there already is. That is why it is important to be aware of people's culture so you can then connect with them. Every person is a part of a culture and were raised differently, instead of making fake judgments learning about the person's background can actually make you wiser and perhaps
friendlier.
As in the "Babies" movie. Every baby was raised differently. And in the future it will impact them on how they behave. Their environment will reflect on their behavior towards others and individual impacting everyone they meet (good and bad). This movie shows on how some kids are raised "unsafely" we would say in this society. But the baby was unharmed all baby's were healthy in result.

In conclusion, it's good to learn cultures around the world because it will shape your opinions and know about the people we see in everyday life.

Babies

From watching the movie "Babies" it shows how different all cultures are and how they survive in their own way.

There is no way of knowing if the kite runner depicts life in Kabul accurately, the only way of really knowing is to travel back to Kabul in 1975.

Babies

Different Cultures

From watching the movie yesterday it show me all the different cultures and what they do with their babies. For an example, The Namibia culture cleaned their babies by licking them from head to toe with their tongue is a totally different way from what the USA culture does. In the USA there culture clean babies by putting them in the bath tub and having the water clean them up. Every culture has something different that they think is a good idea with their babies.

                    

Babies

Babies are pretty much the same.

The cultural differences between the Namibian, Mongolian, Japanese, and American babies were major but the babies were still similar. All babies really do is eat, sleep, play, and poop. The biggest differences between the babies were the amount of supervision by the parents, and what they use to entertain themselves. For example, the American baby is always under a parents watch and has plenty of toys to play with, while the Namibian baby was not always being watched and played with anything they found on the ground like dirt and rocks. Babies are all the same until they are developed enough to make their own decisions that will shape their personalities.  

Is It Valuable to Learn About Other Cultures in The Classroom? 

               I believe it is valuable to learn about other cultures in the classroom because it gives students an idea about other religions around the world and the differences in others values. In Babies, we follow four parents raising their children from birth to one year old, all from different parts of the world. In this movie, we witness the different ways of raising the babies and the responsibilities these babies face at the same age. For example, the Namibian baby faced challenges that the American baby will  likely never have to face, such as drinking dirty water as a daily routine. We also see the Mongolian baby very happy and excited about playing with the paper towel, while the Japanese baby is frustrated and upset while surrounded by toys. This shows the difference of culture and value in these two scenes alone. The Mongolian baby doesn't know about these toys in Japan, so he makes fun with what he knows he has. Meanwhile, the Japanese baby is surrounded by toys and everything that should entertain her, yet she is still wanting more and is so obviously upset because she knows these toys exist, therefore she wants more. 

Learning about culture in classrooms are valuable

     Yea, it is valuable to learn about culture in the classroom. It's to learn about our world and to understand how different places  behave, compared to what the norm is for us. To learn about cultural in the classroom is beneficial in understanding people of different backgrounds and instead of labelling someone of a different cultural, having prior knowledge to different cultures will help you to understand and appreciate a different culture.  Knowing a wide range of different cultural expands your understanding of this diverse world that we all live in together, even though we are all separated by geography, race, and background we are all together. Learning cultural in classrooms makes you aware of things that you might not be able to walk out your door and see.  

Cultural Blog Post

Is it Valuable to Learn About Other Cultures in The Classroom?

There is no denying that school is a very important aspect in life, not only basic knowledge, but also being able to have social skills. Learning about other cultures gives us that social understanding. It helps us grasp what others have to go through and teach us the ability to love everyone. 

Babies

Is it valuable to learn about other cultures in the classroom?

From watching the movie "Babies", I have learned about culture and the importance of learning about it in the classroom. Living in Canada, I have only witnessed babies being brought up in my culture, so learning about different cultures in a movie like this, expands my knowledge and allows me and other people who are in the same situation, to explore and learn about different cultures which I believe is very important. In Mongolia, instead of having a play pen for the baby while the parents are at work, like what you would see in Canada or the USA, the baby is tied to the bed for the day so he is somewhat safe & secure.

Different cultures also have different ideas of safety. In the USA, the baby is carried almost always, and there is always someone watching them. In places like Mongolia and Namibia, babies are left almost all day by themselves, and they are outside on the ground as well.

I find learning about cultures in the classroom is important for our learning but I also believe there is no better way to learn about a culture and understand a culture then to physically surround yourself with it.

Is it valuable to learn about other cultures in class?

Babies, the movie shown to the class gave us insight to the cultures of the world. 
The movie showed us 4 different babies from around the world, all with different backgrounds. We saw a baby from America, Mongolia, Japan and Africa. The babies were all shown to be treated differently, all with varying degrees of nurturing. The American baby was coddled the most being shown with her parents throughout the entire movie. Meanwhile the other babies were given more independence, from most independent to least, it was the Mongolian baby, the African baby, the Japanese baby, and being the most nurtured was the American baby. The Mongolian baby was left alone a lot of the time with no one around but the animals on their farm. This taught us the varying cultures and how they or if they even do nurture their kids.
Overall, this movie was good for giving us insight into other cultures because it can lead to how we treat our kids.