What Are The Cultural Implications Of Cultural Education

Cultural Implications

In most families and communities mothers have considerate roles in cultural education as they are, according to Gardiner and Kosmitzki (2011), the “primary day-to-day teachers of cultures” (p. 99). Similarly, according to Kagitcibasi (1996), culture has a great influence of families and often dictates a mother 's expectations of her children. The skills and values that a mother will teach her children correlate to her cultural and religious beliefs. Nonetheless, culture is part of a greater system. In fact, Kagitcibasi (2006) explains that “parental beliefs are cultural constructions” (p. 28) and can be changed for the better or worse, depending on societal norms. In Canada and in British-Columbia, for example, the

This means that the image of a child, as it does the one of a mother, is largely influenced by individual worldviews. After much thought and reflection, I had determined that perhaps I should define the child as “s/he exists through his/her relationships within various contexts” (p. 3). This connects to my depiction of the ideal mother on the level of social influences. Kagitcibasi summarizes this thought by stating that “parental goals, beliefs, and values regarding children reflect societal values, but the latter cannot be subsumed under the former” (p. 28). In my opinion, this presents a challenge. Society’s expectation of the mother contradicts the needs of the child. A mother’s parenting is based on her cultural beliefs and values, yet society pressures mothers to believe in certain ideas (i.e. anti-vaccination and anti-breastfeeding movements) in order to be recognized as ‘good’ mothers. Likewise, a mother or parents beliefs and values determine their own image of the ideal child, which, therefore, determines their parenting roles. To summarize, society and social values plays a large part in how a person defines the child as well as the ideal