culture Book ver final 5 - Flipbook - Page 95
Culture in Education: The Missing
Piece to Academic Success
BY: DR. KIMBERLIE HARRIS
What role, if any, does culture play in
education? How is culture defined and how
should it be used in educational settings?
People have been asking variations of these
questions since at least 1976 and here we are
in 2022 still asking them and being no closer
to agreed upon answers.
According to the Oxford English
Dictionary, culture is defined as “the customs
and beliefs, art, way of life, and social
organization of a particular country or
group.” Considering this definition, it
becomes apparent that culture is already
embedded in education, but what starts to
become obvious upon closer inspection is that only specific cultures are included and that
unfortunately culture is not usually presented in a whole, authentic or balanced way.
Pick up any Math, Reading, Science or Social Studies book. Cultural references jump off
the pages. You will quickly see a trend with the names, experiences, food, traditions and people
that are most heavily mentioned. There will be a sprinkling of other cultures, depending on when
and where the book you’re looking at was made, but there is little doubt about the cultures that
dominate most educational settings. Many educational researchers and teachers believe that this
imbalance in the use of culture in education plays a big part in why most students, who don’t
belong to the dominant cultures represented, struggle to succeed in school. These students who
are not well represented in the educational material feel disconnected from lessons and don’t
view them as relevant to their lives. This often leads to poor performance and low grades.
Many efforts and movements have occurred in education in an attempt to fix the
imbalanced use of culture in education. Multicultural education, culturally responsive education
95
