Learning is a difficult and lengthy process. There may take place different things, which have both positive and negative consequences. Educators discuss the issue of cultural practices and how they affect college education. Nowadays, students eagerly sign up for special programs, which allow studying abroad. Besides, many youngsters aren’t native Americans but were born in the USA and brought up in their small ethnic communities.
The USA is the country with bright perspectives and vivid multicultural society. It’s really important to identify how people with different cultural preferences and mentality work together. Some claim non-native busy students tend to use professional essay writing services like EssayLib more frequently than the locals because they don’t have the same level of knowledge. Is this and other claims true? We’ll try to clarify several important issues and highlight the main effects of cultural practices on education in colleges.
Helps Our Development
The first effect of cultural practices is the influence on our cognition. It plays the most important role in the human ability to learn something with the development of skills. Here are the following cognitive functions:
- Attention;
- Memory;
- Thinking;
- Reasoning;
- Speech;
- Awareness and other intellectual processes.
Therefore, it’s extremely important to develop them. Cultural practices enable this process. Culture shapes our cognitive development when we change our world view. Our brain receives information, which is new to us and doesn’t always suit the initial understanding of the things given in our childhood. When minorities are surrounded by the locals, they get affected automatically even if they don’t notice it. Our environment shapes and changes our viewpoints and so develops cognition. In college, you may go through some bad experiences that you want others to avoid, like most of us, you want to share these experiences with all people, but you could feel shy and hesitated. On this discourse contributory platform, you can freely publish anything you like without presenting yourself or sharing any personal details, let others learn from your stories.
Affects Students’ Behavior
It goes beyond all doubts that the behavior of students with cultural differences may be seriously changed. As it has been mentioned in the previous section, our environment affects the way we think, feel, and act. Some people refuse to accept this fact, but they may be greatly changed without knowing about that. However, their subconsciousness tells that something is new.
Under such conditions, educators ought to hold a thin line between collective and individual development. Collectivism is utterly beneficial. A single person would hardly achieve a lot if he/she works always alone. There are strong personalities and wise students in every group. However, constant collaboration and interaction with other students help to sustain their progress.
Even students with weak learning skills sometimes express brilliant ideas or share important pieces of information which give a push to begin something new for students with excellent grades. Collective work is one of the main principles of studying in the USA and multicultural society brings many dividends. Oftentimes, students of different nations managed to solve difficult tasks faster and better than a group of youngsters of the same origin.
Of course, one should find the middle ground. Individualism must be preserved as well because minorities may be simply engulfed by the majority. Educators must respect people of other nations, evaluate and treat them objectively, provide freedom of choice, etc. Such students ought to feel that their rights aren’t restricted due to their origin. Otherwise, it leads to a real catastrophe. They begin to fall behind the rest, don’t properly develop their skills, and frequently have some mental problems.
Supports Creativity
Undoubtedly, cultural differences create certain complications due to different mentalities and this is the key to creativity. When a person gets into an unknown society, he/she may succeed because he/she receives new knowledge and learns innovative methods of learning. For example, students from Africa have a weak educational system. When they study in the USA, they access knowledge beyond their imagination and it triggers their creative thinking.
Incorporates Interchanging of Experience
Another crucial advantage is the possibility to share the experience. Who said that the minorities are obliged to strictly follow the rules of the natives? Sometimes, a foreign system of education proposes some advantages and improvements. It’s only necessary to identify them. Teachers and professors should ask students who came from abroad about their local methods of education. Thus, one can reap additional mutual benefits.
May Become Overwhelming
One should be likewise aware of potential hazards. Many foreign students or non-native groups of the former emigrants miserably fail to succeed alongside the natives. Oftentimes, it happens because of cultural shock and an inability to adapt to changes. Besides, bullying based on racial differences also negatively reflects on teenagers. Cultural practices must be implemented smoothly and logically to prevent possible harm.
Conclusions
There are many potential benefits from cultural practices. Commonly, students and educators properly collaborate and reap those benefits. Nonetheless, there is a risk of engulfing one minor culture by the dominating culture. It’s necessary to find the middle ground and make the process of sharing experience on fair and reasonable terms. Thus, everyone will be a winner.
