I found an article published by the young teachers collective, that gives perspective of a young Swedish student who goes to school in America who was deculturalized by her school. It also goes into what we talked about in class with the beginning of deculturalization. Students with a different background are often asked to pick up American culture right away and are forced to drop their old culture, and as future teachers we can no longer let this happen.
This young girls mother was born and raised in Sweden and their family goes back every year to visit their grandparents, cousins, uncles, and aunts. The young girls Father is from Minnesota. She would speak Swedish to her father and English to her mother. Her school did not offer Swedish as a language and as a result of that, she no longer and speak Swedish. She has lost all contact with her Swedish relatives, which brings me to ask the question, should young students, such as this girl, be able to take a language that that can already speak? They are young they don’t know the whole language and still have a lot to learn. This happens a lot with international students, they come to America and are forced to learn a third language in their second language, or should they be excused from taking another forgiven language.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries is when Native American deculturalization was going on. The government was building “off reservation” boarding schools to attempt integrate Native Americans into the Anglo American society. These people were removed from their families and homes, were not allowed to use native American expressions, and were being converted to rural Christian farmers and labors. They were forced to cut their hair, burn their cloths, and celebrate American history, like thanksgiving and fourth of July. This lead to a lot of abuse and suicides among the Native Americans.
When this teacher asked her peers about the deculturalization situation they answered with “from the classroom, to school, to the entire town: community plays a crucial role in grieving” and “it is a teachers responsibility to examine and critically think about race, justice, and our own privilege, and most importantly how these play out in the classroom.” I think the main point in those was the sense of community. As future teachers I think we need to do a better job of giving these kids a sense of community. Knowing who everyone is and where they come from. We need to make sure the students know that they can come to us in any situation or problem they have encountered, and also their peers are there to help also. The classroom needs to be a community. Maybe assigning projects that involve students to go home and buy things isn’t do able for every student. We need to put ourselves in their shoes as teachers.
As future teachers we have a huge responsibility. We have to stop deculturalization not only in the classroom but in the community. Kids take what they learn in the classroom and take it home and into their communities and it is important to set a good example.
Editor. “Reflecting on Deculturization in Schools.” Young Teachers Collective, 28 May 2015, youngteacherscollective.wordpress.com/2015/05/28/reflecting-on-deculturization-in-schools/.
matthewberdysiakblogs 