Friday, April 8, 2016

Influence of culture

Culture is a way of life of a group of people. More narrowly described as the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that a culture accepts, usually without thinking about them. Culture is passed on through communication and imitation from one generation to the next, and differs between different ethnicities. A child born into a family is likely to adopt similar traits and beliefs as their siblings and elders. Cultural experiences help shape children's perspective on different situations in life. Children, however are not are not strictly reliant on just the cultural influence of their family. 


Education and the attendence of public schools can have an impact on a child's views. "Cultural tendencies impact the way children participate in education." (http://www.education.com, 1) This is saying that the cultural background of children can play a part in the way they act and participate in school. Many kids will make friends at early ages, these friends can very easily be from a different background and can also impact views, beliefs, and values just as easily as immediate family. A good example of this is a personal experience I had in elementary school, when one of my good friends started dressing more like me and my friends than how he originally dressed. This particular friend was from Ghana and wore more colorful clothing that was also cut a different way, later on in the year he began to just wear the traditional t-shirt and shorts. Culture is more broad than just family history, it is impacted by any individual that you surround yourself with on a regular basis. 

Early childhood is the time when children first become aware of difference among people. Children will often start to form opinions and attitudes about these differences, such as knowing the difference between males and females. This awareness also means children are very sensitive to what they hear and see, which is why family and friends have a big impact on their beliefs. Culture is what makes individuals unique and it is interesting to see the diversity of cultures we have here in America. 



1 comment:

  1. When you define a term academically for your audience, just make clear what content is borrowed, no matter in what position/location in the post. And while you have a good start here, I think you can expand the content of the body considerably. What if you compared the different educations at particular public or private schools? Many schools do have curriculum publicly available, and that would go a long way toward making your point stick.

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