2/18/21; Week 07: Response to “Culture and Psychology”

In my home culture there are a few things that may cause one to have low self-esteem. One of which is that people expect more success from men than women. Being female has often led me to think I am not as qualified or able to do or achieve some of the things that a male can do or achieve. In a video about Culture Psychology, Brother Ivers touched on this briefly with African Americans vs. white Americans. He explained that when they had to indicate their ethnicity on an exam, African Americans did quite a bit more poorly than when they didn’t have to indicate their ethnicity. It didn’t have the same impact on the white Americans. These were students who were all in about the same place academically and typically perform about the same. I believe one would find a similar outcome if you applied the same scenario to indicating gender. I think that my home culture could be improved by providing the opportunities for people based on their qualifications and not gender. I believe my culture is trying to do this but is still struggling. I very much wish we didn’t have to check those boxes that asked our gender. At the same time, I see the need for it in some things. I honestly don’t know how you overcome this struggle throughout my culture. However, in the classroom, all assumptions can be put aside and opportunities to succeed for each student can be provided. I think that in my classroom, I can recognize that students may have similar struggles. I can work to help them see that they are capable of so much. Knowing what I am capable of doing will help me to help my students recognize what they are capable of doing. I find it very interesting how much culture plays a role in a person. Learning about mental diseases that are more prevalent in some places than others, leads me to believe that my own culture can learn and grow. I think the stigma around mental diseases plays a big role in what people believe is possible or what they are capable of. Knowing about other cultures and how they behave can help me to make changes in my own life so that I can reach my own potential. Same for my students.