Culture of Self

Growing up in a small fishing and farming rural community of about 600 people (entirely of African descent) on the Nature Isle of the Caribbean, Dominica, I had a very privileged childhood and upbringing. My dad was a successful businessman who was well loved and very popular in the community. As such, I was afforded many opportunities that may not have ordinarily been possible, including entry into the elementary school system at an age earlier than the norm and having guys who were willing to fight battles for me. I had people who assisted me with my schoolwork and hardly did chores at home – since we had attendants to take care of those matters. I was encouraged to strive for excellence and I developed an appreciation for success – hoped to emulate my dad and learnt at a very young age what it meant to be a responsible individual who values and appreciates other people and their culture. I also grew up in a very catholic home and at the age of seven, I became an alter server. My family was so devout that my step mother, dad and myself had a special pew in which we would sit at in church – which seemed to have been unofficially reserved for us by fellow churchgoers. As fate would have it, I spent a great deal of time with the parish priests, learning about the faith and the role of the priest as pastor and teacher. Before long, I was convinced that I wanted to become a Roman Catholic priest. Prayer and family became the foundation on which most of my actions were predicated and as such my life was void of most, if not all of the ills that plagued the rest of society around me. In other words, sheltered and protected was the childhood of the one who now yearns to be a teacher in an urban environment. While religion has played a major role in my life over the years, in retrospect, I am of the notion that my desire to become a priest at the time was as a result of my somewhat limited knowledge of the vast range of career options that existed beyond my closed, myopic view of the world.

I hope the preamble or discourse above serves to give some insight to my responses to the questions and help provide some clarity to the circuitous appearance of my collage. We are the product of an intricate web of factors which includes our family history, race, cultural upbringing and class among others. One’s culture is always very dynamic and complicated in some ways. My forefathers/ancestors were brought across from Africa to the Caribbean island of Dominica in chains by the white/Caucasian colonial masters to work as slaves on the sugar and cacao plantations for the benefit of the British Empire. Upon emancipation from slavery, my ancestors were able to practice various aspects of their ancestral history or culture, coupled with their new adopted culture – that of their former owners or “masters”. The experience of my forefathers at the hands of their “masters”, the journey across the Atlantic in worst than deplorable conditions, the denial of their freedoms, the unfair wages, the suppression and oppression of their culture will never be forgotten and will forever impact how “my people” go forward as a generation. This impacts our association with people of different races and ethnic backgrounds; we sometimes have the natural occurring tendency to sympathize with other blacks while remaining indifferent to the plight of folks of other races. We tend to be more understanding to people of “our kind” while finding it difficult to understand what “other kinds” have to complain about. The same goes for folks who are in a different socio-economic bracket or social standing. We find it hard to comprehend how those people who are in a higher socio-economic standing can complain of having problems or difficulties. Our upbringing also influences how we view people of different sexuality or cultural backgrounds. For example, someone who is raised in a staunch catholic family and vehemently practicing the church’s teaching is expected to shun the idea of homosexuality which is seen as immoral or ungodly and an intolerable lifestyle; the participants of which should meet a dastardly end. If that person’s mentality remains unchanged, this may negatively influence the manner in which he or she deals with someone who is homosexual.

The mentality that one adopts and allows to guide his or her existence ultimately determines the kind of individual they eventually become. My culture and the knowledge I have acquired about my heritage has a profound impact on my life’s philosophy which is, “whatever the mind of man perceives, it can achieve”. This makes me want to be different from the negative stereotypes that are so often associated with my race and makes me strive to help change the unflattering perceptions that people so often have of folks of African descent. This feeling serves to instill in me a sense of pride and a desire to be successful in all that I do or undertake.

My experiences as a learner have left me a more open minded and tolerant individual. I have been fortunate to study and experience life in a number of territories including Malaysia, the UK and Trinidad and Tobago – all sporting mixed populations (of Chinese, Indians and African descent). I must admit that I experienced some culture shock my first few months in some of these territories but mainly because I went in with expectations that there was a greater sense of acceptance and accommodation among such a diverse population but that proved absent. Notwithstanding, I have had the opportunity to work with students of different races, ethnicity and religious backgrounds (Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh) and that afforded me an opportunity to clarify whatever misconceptions I might have entertained about them in the past. I recall in Malaysia where I questioned my Muslim classmates about the teachings of Islam and why they thought it was so easily misunderstood by those of us from the Western countries. Their explanation assisted in my coming to the realization that while we may not be able to understand the rationale for the practices of people of different cultures, we should avoid jumping to conclusions or attempting to interpret their actions. We should afford people of different races, ethnicity and religious backgrounds the same courtesies, opportunities and freedom of expression that we would have them give us. In that way the hate will cease to exist and a culture of understanding and tolerance will be cultivated in and around people of differing circumstances.

I intend to bring the mindset of cultural tolerance and acceptance into the classroom. While students may be of different cultures, they should be encouraged to work together and see beyond the physical or ideological difference that may exist between them. Students should be able to share their cultural experiences with each other in an effort to promote an understanding of the diversity which exists. Democracy and equality should reign in the classroom. Every student will be expected to respect the rights of his or her fellow classmates, and their dignity as human beings. As such, in the classroom, neither teacher nor student should denounce someone as evil or radical, just because they have different views or are of differing faith or ethnicity. If this holds true, I am of the notion that an enabling environment will be created and learning will be at an optimum even in the face of cultural diversity within the classroom.