2007). At the same institution referenced above, the high degree of "sameness" with which all students were treated precluded the concept that a student might be struggling for cultural reasons -- i.e. preconceived notions regarding the subject matter that differed from what was being taught, etc. This in essence led to blaming the victims of cultural incompetence -- or at least cultural blindness -- for problems that were largely inherent to the system and beyond the students' grasp to even perceive, let alone understand and articulate to authority figures.
There are many suggestions that could be made in order to help this institution -- and the many others that are presumably like it around the country -- move in the right direction, towards increased cultural competence and away from the ill-conceived notions of complete equality and essential similarity that amounts to cultural blindness. The most effective solution, however, is simple training and practice with the concepts of cultural competence and the specific behaviors that demonstrate and evidence its presence in an institution (Kennedy et al. 2007). Starting out by acknowledging and listing differences that exist in the student population and in the administrative and educational staff resources that exist at the institution is an excellent first step in beginning to acknowledge and affirm the cultural potential of the school, rather than actively trying to ignore it (Kennedy et al. 2007).
After such identification and acknowledgement...
Cultural bias implies an emphasized distinction or preferential status that indicates a predilection for one culture, over another. It is often discriminative, and is characterized by an absence of integration in a group, in terms of social principles, codes of conduct, and beliefs. Cultural partisanship introduces the accepted behaviors of one group as superior, and more valued, than those of another lesser-respected cultural group. In my surroundings, most of the
Cultural Intelligence In today's increasingly culturally diverse world, cultural competence, or what has become known as "cultural intelligence (CQ)" has received increasing research attention. Several authors, with various purposes and audiences, have developed assessment instruments to help individuals and groups understand their level of cultural intelligence. Included among these is the instrument developed by Earley and Mosakowski (2004), under the title "Diagnosing Your Cultural Intelligence." Earley and Mosakowski's instrument addresses three areas
Cultural Dimensions "Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster." - Dr. Geert Hofstede After working for six years as a clinical psychologist at IBM, both collecting and analyzing data from over 100,000 individuals from forty different counties, Hofstede became interested in the sociology of communication between people of different cultures. An expert, Hofstede's influential wisdom on the
Standards of Care/Mental Health/Cultural Competence EMERGING STANDARDS OF CARE/MENTAL HEALTH/CULTURAL Sometime in 1999, the Surgeon General released Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Inside this report, it acknowledged that not every Americans, particularly minorities, are getting the equal mental health treatment, a discovery that provoked the Surgeon General to give out a supplemental report on differences in mental health care for individuals of color (Donini-Lenhoff, 2006). The addition, which
Recommended policy To deal with these difficulties, several recommendations can be formulated: 1. Cross-cultural variables: Ethnic matches should be arranged between client and therapist. These will be effective in dealing not only with communication problems, but also with cultural perceptions of the disease as well as with possible social stigmas attached to the disease. The therapist, sharing similar cultural background to the patient understands the patient's concern and speaks the patient's language
Had this measure been implemented six months ago, after the skit, it is quite probable that before sending the puppy e-mail, Douglas L. Getter (manager of the company's European Merger and Acquisition division) would have better thought through the implications of his comment. If only for a second, had he remembered that the author of the skit had been subjected to a pay cut (even a symbolic pay cut)
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