Cultural Education

 

                   Accepted Conclusions About Culture and Learning Styles

                                                            Moa K.

 

Those who study culture and learning styles agree on at least five points:

1. Educators agree that students, no matter age, will differ in their ways of learning-  both fact-based research and experiences confirm these learning style differences, as in their cognitive, emotional and behavioural dimensions, help us to understand and talk about individual learning processes.

 

2. Most researchers believe that learning style depends on both nature and nurture. While other researchers downplay the innate aspects of learning to focus instead on the impact students have of the environment around them. Many places great importance on the early socialization that occurs within the family, immediate culture, and wider culture.

 

3. Most researchers also believe that the different learning styles are neutral. Each learning style can be used successfully, but can also be an obstacle if you use it the wrong way on the wrong students. For example, active students have fewer opportunities to use their talents in school than a student with more academic skills.

 

4. In both observational and data-based research on cultures, one consistent finding is that within a group, every student is different in their learning styles. Therefore, no one should be forced on a particular learning style.

 

5. Finally, many authors acknowledge the cultural conflict that exists when a student has to change their way of being/learning because of the differences in their learning styles and the schools.

 

In Sweden, the most schools don’t adopt the learning styles to different cultures. I don’t say that this fact applies to every school but it does to the most of them. I think that all the schools should adapt to the cultural learning styles, so all the students can get equally treated.The different cultures would feel more at home in school. I believe it would be hard for the teachers to adapt to all the different cultures, but it would probably do more good than harm.

 

Ascd.org. (2017). Educational Leadership:Educating for Diversity:The Culture/Learning Style Connection. [online] Available at: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may94/vol51/num08/The-Culture~Learning- Style-Connection.aspx [Accessed 2 Feb. 2017].

 

 

Cultures & Ways of Learning

 Felicia L.

There is a disagreement that exists in society, between the child's culture and their preferred way of learning. This is directly related to success in school. In general, have researchers studied and come up with three types of information about the culture and learning styles.

 

The first learning style is observation-based descriptions of cultural groups of learners. The aim is to sensitize people outside the culture. Scientists have identified the typical learning patterns between African Americans and Mexican Americans. They found that Mexican Americans value family and personal relationships as important and makes them more comfortable. Therefore, Mexican students often seek a personal relationship with their teachers.

 

Research on African-American culture showed that student value oral experience and loyalty in the interaction between people. The student’s characteristics require that students receive classroom activities. For example, use methods as discussion or cooperation. In general, the group “perceives by sight”. The imagery helps them perceive the world and have a reflective thinking pattern. Using the imagery also help them to value and develops the discrimination and skills.

 

However, white Americans describe as the opposite. They value independence, analytical thinking, objectivity, and accuracy. These values are converted into a learning experience. They among other focus on competition, tests, and grades. This learning pattern occurs in the most US schools.

 

The second way of learning styles that are linked to culture is data-based descriptions of specific groups. Researchers have administered learning style instrument to produce a profile of a culture group. The instrument measure learning styles and find differences in two general ways. An example of such an instrument is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The instrument can be used in different ways. One way the model can be used as a basis to reflect on learning styles, that increase people's skills in dealing with persons with a different personality style. What this instrument do, is to look for the style preference.

 

Another type of instrument, are looking for style strengths. It is about the ability to do tasks with a certain method. One example of such a method is The Swassing-Barbe Modality Index. For example, they ask test persons to repeat patterns along the hearing memory, visual memory and by touch. Different assessments can provide conflicting results. For example, some prefer to learn in a certain way and still be tested in a different way on a task involving forces. These inconsistencies do not invalidate the usefulness of each of the methods to assess learning styles.

 

The third way we know about the relationship of learning and culture is through direct discussion. For example, Shade (1989) talks about how perceptual development differs within various ethnocultural groups. The perceptual development, are an aspect of cognitive development that allows a person to start translation and understand emotional input. Therefore, it is wrong to teach all children in the same way, because everyone learns in different ways. For example, when a teacher shows something on the whiteboard, do all the children perceive the information differently.

 

However, if we only teach according to the ways we learn the best, it is also likely that we will prevent successful students. Students who can share our cultural background but whose learning styles differ from our own.

 

Sweden does not have cultural education, which I think is a problem. I don’t know any school in Sweden that adapts to the learning styles of different cultures. I think this is something that needs to be changed immediately because all the students should receive equal treatment. As it was mentioned in the text above, do many students feel more comfortable when they learn how they prefer. All people learn in different ways, and so it will always be. We can make a difference by adapt to the cultural learning styles, it would make the best of teaching and the student. I think it is needed now in Sweden because it comes in so many people from other countries. It may be hard for the teachers to adapt to the cultural learnings styles, but it is about the students best.

 

 

Ascd.org. (2017). Educational Leadership:Educating for Diversity:The Culture/Learning Style Connection.
[online] Available at: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may94/vol51/num08/The-Culture~Learning-Style-Connection.aspx [Accessed 2 Feb.
2017].

 

 

Child Labor

Vendela Edlund

Introduction

Child labour is a big problem all over the world. The 10 worst countries for having child labour are Eritrea, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Burundi, and Nigeria. These countries have a pretty high poverty rate. Whether the form of work the child is doing can be named as child labour depends on a lot of things.For example, and maybe most importantly the child's age, how long workdays the child has, the type of work they do, if it affects their physical and mental health and if it interferes with their schooling. Almost one in four children in the age between 5 and 14 are doing labor that is detrimental to their health and development.

Explanation/Definition

Children of these early ages are not capable of the conditions during the labour and the impacts

after working too many hours per day.

According to The International Labor Organization estimates assess that 215 million underaged children work considered illegal and harmful. These children do not skip school because they want to.

The main reason they don’t go to school is because their families are extremely poor and that means that every family member must store up some money for survival even if they are only five years old or so. Huge numbers work with fishing, manufacturing, mining, domestic service, and commercial agriculture. Some of these underaged children also work with illegal activities like being prostitutes, doing drug trades and other similar traumatic activities.

That kind of child labour can damage their social health by getting involved with inappropriate people. If you have been abroad you must have noticed that child labour exists in a lot of tourist countries like Turkey, Thailand and so on. The children often work in restaurants or hotels, and sometimes also in bars to entertain people. Often the restaurant/hotel/bar-owners are the children’s parents or relatives, but still it does not make it okay that these children are working in their family business and prevents them from going to school and get an education.

Child labour in the industrial revolution was extreme. Children were very useful as labourers because they are so small and this allowed them to move around between small spaces in mines and factories where big adults could not fit. Children were perfect for this job, not only for their size but also that the children could be paid less than the adults and they were also easier to manage and control.

 

Conclusion

Children rights in Sweden is so far away from how it is in the high-poverty countries. Of course, child labour exists in Sweden as well, but here we have rules that if you are not 18 years old (the age of authority in Sweden) you are only allowed to work until 23:00 (Swedish time). Some people break these rules as well but if they do the company will get punished for it. Sweden is a country with high standards and if you do something that is wrong you don’t get away with it as

easily as if in high-poverty countries because in these countries it´is normalized that they do bad things just to survive.

 

References:

 

Revolution, S. (2017). Child Labor - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com . [online]

HISTORY.com. Available at: http://www.history.com/topics/child-labor [Accessed 24 Feb.

2017].

Katie Hunt, C. (2017). The 10 worst countries for child labor - CNN.com . [online] CNN.

Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/15/world/child-labor-index-2014/ [Accessed 24

Feb. 2017]

Anon, (2017). [online] Available at:

https://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/what_is_child_labor.html[Accessed 24 Feb. 2017].

 

Global Peace Through Religion

Johanna H

Peace has been a religious concern for a big part in history. Regardless of one's faith tradition, rejection of institutional religion, spiritual direction or complete atheism. The work by peaceful religious initiatives ice encouraging and should be encouraged. Followers of every religion can cite from scripture that justifies violence but all of the world's religions also contain scriptural teachings that advocate peaceful relationships among all people.

 

“Christianity: Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. Matthew 7.12” I think is a little bit selfish. You can't just do whatever you feel like it doesn't work like that. So no I don't think it is peaceful.

“Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. Talmud, Shabbat 31a”I think it is peaceful, like don't hate on other people just because you hate it.

“Islam: Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself. FortyHadith of an-Nawawi 13”Is peaceful, Love your brother as much as you love yourself.

“Hinduism: One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself.This is the essence of morality. Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva 113.8”For me this is peaceful, just don't do anything bad to someone if you don't want someone to do that to you.

In Confucianism they say the same thing just in other words, some religions are alike.

“Buddhism: Comparing oneself to others in such terms as “Just as I am so are they, just as they are so am I,” he should neither kill nor cause others to kill. Sutta Nipata 705”I think it is peaceful because everyone is equal, you and I are the same.

“African Traditional: One going to take a pointed stick to pinch a baby bird should first try it on himself to feel how it hurts. Yoruba Proverb (Nigeria)”

This is peaceful, see how it hurts before you do it to someone else.

“Confucianism: Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.” Analects 15.23” I think it is just like in Hinduism, is peaceful and it makes sense. Would everyone think like this think we would have more peace in the world?

WorldBeyondWar.org. (2017). Encouraging the Work of Peaceful Religious Initiatives . [online]

Available at: http://worldbeyondwar.org/encouraging-work-peaceful-religious-initiatives/

[Accessed 24 Feb. 2017]