Family Culture

Each family has a unique set of practices and behaviors.  When I talk about family culture in my classes, I ask students to consider “what are the things that people in your family all know about?” or “what are the things that all of the members of the family must do?”   In a recent class discussion, one student reported that when her extended family is together for a large meal, the “adult” table is reserved for those members of the family that are married, regardless of age.  These overt family practices demonstrate underlying beliefs of the cultural unit. 

Sociologist, Annette Lareau and her research team completed a multi-family ethnographic study to examine the practices and beliefs of families from different socio-economic backgrounds (Unequal Childhoods, 2003).  Their work resulted in a theory of differences in child rearing based on parent engagement, organization of daily life, language use, interventions in institutions and consequences (p. 31).  Parents either engaged in patterns of concerted cultivation or accomplishment of natural growth.  The underlying beliefs were related to the parents’ view of their role of either maximizing the development of their child or keeping the child safe as he/ she moves forward in the child’s path of development. 

As a clinician or educator, it is important to understand that all families operate with their own patterns of overt and subtle cultural patterns.  When I worked as a developmental therapist for early intervention services, I went into families homes to work with their young children.  Some parents wanted to actively engage in sessions and were eager to get ideas for games or strategies they could use with their children.  Other parents quietly disappeared during sessions and sometimes asked for updates.  One parent was not right or wrong, but it was important for me to work within these different cultural systems and respect practices of each family.

Institutional Culture and Schools

There are many layers of culture that impact development and learning.  While we grow up we have affiliations with multiple institutions.  Most of us spend at least 12-15 years affiliated with one school or another.  I was a student for the majority of my first 40 years of life!  Schools teach important practices and support the development of cultural tools such as language, disciplinary content, and social/ emotional skills.  Content and curriculum are shaped by larger social and political agendas.   Individual school performance is also shaped by personal factors.  In his book entitled, The Culture of Education, Bruner stated, “Life in culture, is then, an interplay between the versions of the world that people form under its institutional sway and the versions of it that are products of their individual histories.” (1996, p. 14)

School experiences, ranging from pre-school to higher education, shape our development.  The school is guided by larger structures, but it is also our own uniqueness that influences our responses. I started playing in the school band in fifth grade.  I played the flute because that was the instrument that was available in our home.  I enjoyed playing the flute, but secretly always wished for something different.  When I went into band my freshmen year of high school, the director had a list of instruments on the chalk board that the band needed.  The deal was, if you agreed to learn the new instrument the school would give you a loaner and the director would give you some extra lessons to get started.  That moment I became an oboist!  I have often reflected on this day.  I believe my change of instruments made it more likely for me to go to college and receive scholarship support.  My experience of music changed as there is a very different perspective when you are one of a few rather than one of many in the band. 

My experiences in band greatly shaped my life and lead me to my career in music therapy.  I had the opportunity to go to a high school that valued arts experiences and had the resources to provide loaner instruments.  It was my personal desire to try something new that lead me to the change.  I was also fortunate to have a family that provided me with so much support.    The practices of our cultural contexts are often subtle, but they have the potential to be truly life changing.  In this case, the interplay between my school, family, and individual factors altered the course of my development.

Cultural Awareness

Cultural differences are often talked about in terms of obvious variations in practices and behaviors.  My daughter and I traveled to Poland a few years ago.  We experienced many differences in terms of language, food, shopping, and transportation.  Experiencing differences reveals our own context.  We learned about the normative behaviors that we had developed from our own group.  Cultural context, however, is more than a set of behaviors.   

In their book entitled Culture in Special Education, Kalyanpu & Harry (1999) define three levels of cultural awareness: overt, covert, and subtle.  The overt awareness is the level of awareness that my daughter and I experienced during our travels.  We experienced awareness of obvious differences.  With more sustained contact, one reaches a level of covert awareness.  At this level, one becomes aware of some of the underlying structures and expectations of the group.  The subtle level of awareness is characterized by knowledge of the embedded values and beliefs of the group that members of the group may assume are universal ideas. 

Awareness of overt cultural differences is an important starting place, but to develop a deeper understanding of our own context or that of others it is important be willing to look for the richer meaning.  It is easy to look at the surface behaviors, but understanding comes from a willingness to examine what experiences and beliefs shape those behaviors.

The Power of Culture

Our cultural knowledge is usually “just the stuff we know”.  We tend to become most aware of our own knowledge when we enter a different cultural context.  This does not mean we have to travel across the globe to have a cross-cultural experience.  We have all likely had the experience of spending time visiting a different family, starting a new job, or moving to a new school.  Our foray into the new setting may feel awkward and uncomfortable. 

Lisa Delpit (2006), writes about the “culture of power” in her book entitled, Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom.  Delpit identifies that the majority group with the insider knowledge holds the power.  This majority group may not be aware of the knowledge that they have, but those who do not have the knowledge are often keenly aware of what is unknown.  Explicitly teaching people the cultural rules encourages quicker adaptation to the new context.  Delpit writes, “Unless one has the leisure of a lifetime of “immersion” to learn them, explicit presentation makes learning immeasurable easier” (p. 26). 

When I teach introductory special education courses, we talk about the culture of special education.  The field is filled with so much jargon and patterns of behaviors.  When a family first enters special education with their child, they can be very overwhelmed by the interactions with large groups of professionals who all have the insider knowledge.  It is so important that someone on the team takes time with the family to provide some explicit teaching about what will happen in the process.  Professionals often forget this step because they are just doing the stuff they know.

Another example of this transition came out in a study I have been working on related to first year college students.  Participants in my study had participated in a four-week summer bridge program prior to their first year at college.  The participants described how empowering it was to be given information about expected behaviors at the school prior to the start of the school year. 

The sharing of insider knowledge is not always done so the outsider may experience all of the missteps and frustrations of not knowing exactly what is expected.  Whether in the workplace, education setting, or even welcoming someone new to the family, it is very important to take the time to share some of the “stuff you know” to empower others in their transition.

Culture and Learning

I have always been fascinated by the influence of culture on development and learning.  When I discuss this topic in classes, I typically fess up that I used to think that culture was something that was outside of me—something novel and exotic that that belongs to others.  I don’t think I am alone in this naïve belief.  I grew up in a rather homogeneous community and multi-cultural fairs at school typically involved looking at the food, music, and dance of groups from other countries.  When I looked at my own experiences, I did not perceive that I had any of the traditions and practices that were worthy of study.

We are all so immersed in our own cultural context that is it can be difficult to recognize our own patterns and behaviors.  I was recently reading an essay by James Spradley.  He defines culture as the knowledge that helps us interpret and engage in social behavior.  Further, he describes that “one’s culture is not  like a suit of clothing that can be discarded easily or exchanged for each new life-style that comes along” (Spradley, Conformity and Conflict, p. 7).  We learn from our surroundings and that learning is integral to who we are and how we see the world around us.

When we engage in the teaching and learning relationship, it is important to recognize how culture shapes the experience.  Our own context shapes our understandings, but the people that we are engaging with bring their own context to the experience.  If we are not open to the differences we can easily misunderstand or misinterpret the social behaviors of the other.  We wear our suit of ideas and beliefs.