Cultural and social aspects in education including education as a form of sustainable development perform a significant role in defining trends of further development of the environment, people and society. In addition, they are the means with the assistance of which people can better understand the world they live in as well as each other. For example, they make it more comfortable and harmonizing for humankind. In this light, it is essentials for an educator to ensure they critically understand their society, culture, and this will majorly assist them to enable learners to acquire the knowledge of culture and society around them, which is vital for facilitating proper communication and interaction with people (Merewether, 2017). Nonetheless, the humanization of education means its proper application to spiritual values, to world culture, and to history. Therefore, it is crucial for educators to understand the relation system that comprises of the environment, people and society in order to able to educate learners the importance of oneself as a component of the environment and make them realize their responsibility for future generation through the process of collaborating with their environment. This paper focusses on analysing the importance for educators to understand culture and society critically.
Humanization of Education
Technology and science were and still are the main basis of social progress not only in developed and industrial nations but also all over the globe. Hence, educators should critically understand culture and society in order to adapt to a technological approach, which has taken the upper hand in the modern education system (Merewether, 2017). By educators understanding the culture and the society, they can employ technological research both applied and fundamental in education, which is in the forefront of scientific life and this will ensure the formation of a special approach of the human being towards the society, themselves and the environment of their existence.
Moreover, the current education system socializes learners to their society. Students learn cultural norms and expectations, which are reinforced by their educators, classmates, and textbooks. For example, pupils learn the multiplication table in grade two, learn the social rules of taking turns on the swings during recess, and how and when to speak up in class. Learning institutions and educators can be agents of conformity or change, educating the individual to think outside of the local norm and family into which they were born, while at the same period of time acclimatise them to their tacit place in society (McGraw, 2017). It is paramount for educators to critically understand society and culture because they provide students with skills for work discipline, communication, and social interaction, which further create pathways to both obedience and independence.
Additionally, concerning socialization, educators in the modern system of education come second after family in importance. By educators understanding culture and society, they can effectively promote social sorting and homogenization in education systems (Darder, 2015). For example, learners from diverse backgrounds are taught a standardized curriculum that efficiently and effectively transforms diversity into homogeneity. This significantly allows students to learn a common culture, common sense of the official society priorities and a piece of common knowledge, and perhaps more essentially, they learn to locate their spot within it. In addition, through a clear understanding of the society and culture, educators are able to provide the students with a unifying framework for participation in educations systems life and at the same time, manage to sort them into different career paths (McGraw, 2017). Learners who demonstrate facility within the standards, which are established by the curriculum or in the informal patterns of status differentiation in student’s social life, are set on trajectories to high-status positions in society and those who perform moderately are gradually confined to lower subordinate positions in the society.
Further, education as a part of culture has the twin function of renewal, conservation, and modification of the culture and it is conceived as a systematic effort to maintain culture. In addition, educators should understand the importance of society and culture because they play a significant role in the learning outcomes of the student. it is crucial for educators to have an understanding of language as an energetic, constantly evolving, open, and dynamic since it encompasses the rich complexities of communication in society. Through language, educators can make the educational experiences for learners more engaging because language is not something to be studied but a way of understanding, seeing and communicating about the world (Taylor, 2017). This kind of understanding of culture and society sees language not only as a body of knowledge to be learnt by students but also as a social practice in which to participate. Besides, language is something that is individuals do in their lives and something they used to interpret, express and create meaning and to maintain and establish interpersonal and social relationships in society.
Teachers should understand culture and society because it will help them better understand their learners who are from diverse cultures or backgrounds and this will significantly enable educators to precisely address or teach students about their community, heritage, and people. In addition, by educator’s critically understanding culture and society, they can be able to venture into traditional areas of religion and culture of their learners without interfering with the community (Taylor, 2017). For example, educators have found themselves in scenarios where they have to get help from the society or community such as a non-native educator coming from a white urban area will have trouble teaching traditional cultural values and skills of the reserve to students. Therefore it is paramount for teachers to understand culture and society because it will enable them to teach students from diverse cultures without any problem adequately.
The understanding of culture and society that is part of our stance also affect what happens in the classroom and the way in which students begin to understand the relationship between their culture and their way of learning (McGraw, 2017). Both the student’s culture and the culture in which much meaning is communicated or created have an influence on the way in which possible meanings are understood. Teachers need to not only understand a single culture or language as both the target culture and language and the learners own culture and language are simultaneously present and can be systematically engaged (Banks, 2015). Moreover, one way in which culture has been understood is as a piece of knowledge that individuals have about a particular society. This pieces of knowledge can be seen in a number of ways; as knowledge about institutions and paces, as knowledge about living or as knowledge about cultural artefacts or works of arts. Also, culture can be considered in terms of information and to educate about the culture as if it were a set of learnable rules that can be mastered by learners (Banks, 2015). Nevertheless, culture is a framework I which individuals live their lives and communicate shared meaning with one another. Educators should have a critical understanding of culture in order to have adequate knowledge of tech culture in the classrooms.
Furthermore, by teachers understanding the culture, they can effectively facilitate communication with learners. This will assist students to learn and understand about culture, and the understanding of culture as practices with which individuals engage can become centrally vital. In this light, it is not just a question of students developing knowledge about another culture but of students coming to understand themselves in relation to some other culture (Taylor, 2017). It is crucial for an educator to consider the understanding on culture and society that they have because these understanding by it explicit or implicit, impact the professional stance as teachers and their assessment, learning and teaching practices.
Nonetheless, education is a process by which the society, through universities, schools and other institutions meaningfully and deliberately transmit its values, cultural heritage, skills, and accumulated knowledge from one generation to another (McGraw, 2017). Therefore it is crucial for an educator to have a critical understanding of culture and society because education is an instrument of cultural change and it can impart skills, knowledge, and training as well as inculcate new attitudes and ideas among the young learners. In addition culture and society play a significant role in the adaptation to the natural environment (Banks, 2015). Everywhere an individual lives in a particular environment to which they adapt themselves and without adaptation it impossible to survive. The experiments and inventions an individual makes in the process of coping with this adaptation form a vital part of the culture and the varying environments of different societies pave the way for the difference in their culture.
Additionally, it is important for educators to understand society and culture in order to enable them to adapt to the social environment. By understanding the beliefs, customs, and traditions, teachers can manage to fit in their social environments. Culture substantially determines the patterns of social control, and it is through this that an individual is subjected to remain attached to that group (Taylor, 2017). Critical understanding of culture and society can help educators to have an advantage in communicating the culture of a group to the students through education, and this ensures learners get acquainted with the patterns, traditions, values, and customs prevailing to their group. Besides, educators can help learners develop their personality because an individual personality is manifested through their pattern of behaviour and their behaviour is influenced by their culture. Culture significantly influences the social, physical, emotional, mental and physical aspects of students (McGraw, 2017).
Conclusion
Culture and society play a significant role in education, and it is important for educators to understand society and culture critically. By educator’s critically understanding culture and society, teachers can effectively .adapt to a technological approach, which has taken the upper hand in the modern education system. This significantly allows students to learn a common culture, common sense of the official society priorities and a piece of common knowledge, and perhaps more essentially, they learn to locate their spot within it. Educators should understand the importance of society and culture because they play a significant role in the learning outcomes of the student. It is crucial for educators to have an understanding of language as an energetic, constantly evolving, open, and dynamic since it encompasses the rich complexities of communication in society. It is crucial for an educator to have a critical understanding of culture and society because education is an instrument of cultural change and it can impart skills, knowledge, and training as well as inculcate new attitudes and ideas among the young learners. In addition, culture and society play a significant role in the adaptation to the natural environment. Critical understanding of culture and society can help educators to have an advantage in communicating the culture of a group to the students through education, and this ensure learners get acquainted with the patterns, traditions, values, and customs prevailing to their group
References
Banks, J. A. (2015). Cultural diversity and education. Routledge.
Darder, A. (2015). Culture and power in the classroom: Educational foundations for the schooling of bicultural students. Routledge.
McGraw, K. (2017). Identity formation: Consumerism and popular culture. In Powers of Curriculum: Sociological Perspectives on Education (pp. 243-266). Oxford University Press.
Merewether, J. (2017). Environment: The third teacher. In Powers of the curriculum: Sociological perspectives on education (pp. 395-420). Oxford University Press.
Taylor, E. W. (2017). Transformative learning theory. In Transformative Learning Meets Bildung (pp. 17-29). SensePublishers, Rotterdam.
