School Culture

The term school culture generally refers to the beliefs, perceptions, relationships, attitudes, and written and unwritten rules
that shape and influence every aspect of how a school functions, but the term also encompasses more concrete issues such as the
physical and emotional safety of students, the orderliness of classrooms and public spaces, or the degree to which a school embraces
and celebrates racial, ethnic, linguistic, or cultural diversity.
Like the larger social culture, a school culture results from both conscious and unconscious perspectives, values, interactions, and
practices, and it is heavily shaped by a school’s particular institutional history. Students, parents, teachers, administrators, and other
staff members all contribute to their school’s culture, as do other influences such as the community in which the school is located,
the policies that govern how it operates, or the principles upon which the school was founded.
Generally speaking, school cultures can be divided into two basic forms: positive cultures and negative cultures. Numerous
researchers, educators, and writers have attempted to define the major features of positive and negative school cultures, and an
abundance of studies, articles, and books are available on the topic. In addition, many educational organizations, such as
the National School Climate Center, have produced detailed descriptions of positive school cultures and developed strategies for
improving them (given the complexity of the topic, however, it is not possible to describe all the distinctions here).
Broadly defined, positive school cultures are conducive to professional satisfaction, morale, and effectiveness, as well as to student
learning, fulfillment, and well-being. The following list is a representative selection of a few characteristics commonly associated with
positive school cultures:
 The individual successes of teachers and students are recognized and celebrated.

 Relationships and interactions are characterized by openness, trust, respect, and appreciation.

 Staff relationships are collegial, collaborative, and productive, and all staff members are held to high professional standards.

 Students and staff members feel emotionally and physical safe, and the school’s policies and facilities promote student
safety.

 School leaders, teachers, and staff members model positive, healthy behaviors for students.

 Mistakes not punished as failures, but they are seen as opportunities to learn and grow for both students and educators.

 Students are consistently held to high academic expectations, and a majority of students meet or exceed those
expectations.

 Important leadership decisions are made collaboratively with input from staff members, students, and parents.

 Criticism, when voiced, is constructive and well-intentioned, not antagonistic or self-serving.

 Educational resources and learning opportunities are equitably distributed, and all students, including minorities and
students with disabilities.

 All students have access to the academic support and services they may need to succeed.

School culture has become a central concept in many efforts to change how schools operate and improve educational results. While
a school culture is heavily influenced by its institutional history, culture also shapes social patterns, habits, and dynamics that
influence future behaviors, which could become an obstacle to reform and improvement. For example, if a faculty culture is generally
dysfunctional—i.e., if interpersonal tensions and distrust are common, problems are rarely addressed or resolved, or staff members
tend to argue more than they collaborate or engage in productive professional discussions—it is likely that these cultural factors will
significantly complicate or hinder any attempt to change how the school operates. This simple example illustrates why school culture
has become the object of so many research studies and reform efforts—without a school culture that is conducive to improvement,
reform becomes exponentially more difficult.
The following describe a few representative examples of common ways that schools may attempt to improve their culture:
 Establishing professional learning communities that encourages teachers to communicate, share expertise, and work
together more collegially and productively.

 Providing presentations, seminars, and learning experiences designed to educate staff and students about bullying and
reduce instances of bullying.

 Creating events and educational experiences that honor and celebrate the racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of the
student body, such as hosting cultural events and festivals, exhibiting culturally relevant materials throughout the school,
inviting local cultural leaders to present to students, or making explicit connections between the diverse cultural backgrounds
of students and what is being taught in history, social studies, and literature courses. For related discussions, see multicultural
education and voice.

 Establishing an advisory program that pairs groups of students with adult advisor to strengthen adult-student relationships
and ensure that students are well known and supported by at least one adult in the school.

 Surveying students, parents, and teachers about their experiences in the school, and hosting community forums that invite
participants to share their opinions about and recommendations for the school and its programs.

 Creating a leadership team comprising a representative cross-section of school administrators, teachers, students, parents,
and community members that oversees and leads a school-improvement initiative.

Main Characteristics of Culture

Culture has five basic characteristics: It is learned, shared, based on symbols, integrated, and dynamic. All cultures share
these basic features.
· Culture is learned. It is not biological; we do not inherit it. Much of learning culture is unconscious. We learn culture from
families, peers, institutions, and media. The process of learning culture is known as enculturation. While all humans have
basic biological needs such as food, sleep, and sex, the way we fulfill those needs varies cross-culturally.
· Culture is shared. Because we share culture with other members of our group, we are able to act in socially appropriate
ways as well as predict how others will act. Despite the shared nature of culture, that doesn’t mean that culture is
homogenous (the same). The multiple cultural worlds that exist in any society are discussed in detail below.
· Culture is based on symbols. A symbol is something that stands for something else. Symbols vary cross-culturally and are
arbitrary. They only have meaning when people in a culture agree on their use. Language, money and art are all symbols.
Language is the most important symbolic component of culture.
· Culture is integrated. This is known as holism, or the various parts of a culture being interconnected. All aspects of a culture
are related to one another and to truly understand a culture, one must learn about all of its parts, not only a few.
· Culture is dynamic. This simply means that cultures interact and change. Because most cultures are in contact with other
cultures, they exchange ideas and symbols. All cultures change, otherwise, they would have problems adapting to changing
environments. And because cultures are integrated, if one component in the system changes, it is likely that the entire
system must adjust.

Elementary Concepts of Culture

There are many different definitions of the word "culture." People often speak of English, Chinese, American-Indian, African-
American, or other cultures, and they also sometimes use the world “culture” to suggest a level of sophistication. Additionally, they
speak of “high culture,” “low culture,” “popular culture,” and “folk culture.” Moreover, there seems to be a wide range of “cultural
politics” associated with these definitions as well.

So, how should we define culture? Many are content to think of “culture” as the total way of life of a people including language,
dress, food, music, religion, family structures, attitudes, values, and beliefs. Others, however, consider “culture” to be products
(artifacts) such as paintings, architectural structures, musical works, etc. To them, one can find culture at a concert, a museum, or
perhaps a tour of a village, city, or stately home. According to cultural geographer, Don Mitchell (in Cultural Geography: A Critical
Introduction, Blackwell Publishers, 2000) however, “…culture is a nebulous structure of feelings that define the life of a people, and a
set of productions [art, etc.] that reflect upon, speak to, or mold that structure of feeling through various strategies of
representation.”
Mitchell also notes that economics, politics, and society are all intricately tied to culture. “Perhaps,” he suggests, “…culture, is that
which is not nature.” Mitchell is right. “Culture” is an intellectual quagmire; both a way-of-life, and a range of practices. Culture is:

1. the opposite of nature – it makes humans, human,

2. the actual, but sometimes unexamined, patterns and differentiations of a people (way-of-life),
3. the processes by which patterns develop “culture” thereby making “culture,” “culture,”
4. a set of markers that set one people off from another (so that we can identify our group),
5. the way that all these patterns, processes, and markers are represented, thereby producing meaning, and,
6. an indication of a hierarchical ordering of all these processes.
After considering these definitions, one could not be blamed for concluding that culture is everything, or perhaps, nothing (or at least
nothing that is analytically useful).

Why is it difficult to precisely define the concept of “culture?” Partly, it is the result of the continuously changing meaning of the
word “culture” over time. With each new definition, the meaning of “culture” has become more complex, and this is not an entirely
innocent phenomenon. To the contrary, the concept - the word, is a product of a long developmental process greatly influenced by
power relationships through which people have sought to make “culture” work to their advantage. Culture is a politically-charged,
and sometimes politically-powerful, tool that people often manipulate to gain the upper hand (power).

At one point, “culture” was used to differentiate between the “good” and the “bad,” or the “cultivated” and the “primitive.” To be
“cultured” was to be “civilized” or “refined,” whereas, to be “uncultured” was to be “unruly” or “uncivilized.” By the end of the
nineteenth century, Europeans, Americans, and others, generally used the term “culture” to distinguish between “refined people”
and “savages.” In fact, European culture was held up by many (at least in the Western World) as the epitome of all that is good and
refined in the world (an idea that is now much maligned).

In the last half of the twentieth century, it became increasingly improper for people to describe “culture” in hierarchical terms. Now,
many lean toward the notion that different cultures are of equal value, and therefore, should not be subjected to criticism or ridicule
(although “scholarly criticism” of traditional European culture is often considered appropriate and deserved). This romanticized
concept of “culture” (that cultural practices in general should not be criticized) rests on the belief that “civilization” is material,
whereas “culture” is spiritual and symbolic. This way of viewing culture has created many complications for scholars, academics,
religious leaders, politicians, and ordinary people. For example, a few years ago, a teacher asked a group of teenage students
whether or not the Aztec practice of human sacrifice could be justified because it was an integral part of Aztec culture. A surprising
number of students took the position that the Aztec should not be condemned for their cruel, bloody sacrifices, because they truly
believed that such behavior was proper. Therefore, “culture” has become an increasingly “relative” concept.

Impact of Technology or School and Culture

Society has always been impacted by technology. Each invention has affected how people relate to one another and how
cultures have expanded or ended. Technology impacts how cities grow, where people live, and who owns what. Technologies are the
reason a few people are very rich, that people are more social, and that teaching and learning is changing. We are at a crucial time in
history where we as educators can make a difference in how our students interact with one another and make a place for themselves
in society. People developed a language so they could communicate and learn from elders through their stories. They invented tools
for agriculture, to build homes, and to create weapons for hunting and protection. Civilizations have been impacted by natural
disasters, encroachment from other civilizations, and from problems within their own community. Technology not only increased
humans’ life span but how we live, how long we live, and how many there are of us. People migrated to find a better life. For most of
history, only the wealthy had access to literature and a good education. The printing press allowed the masses to receive news, read
books, and attend school. Inventions changed the way we worked like the cotton gin where slaves were stolen from Africa to be used
as free labor with no rights, and the railroads that were built with Chinese labor who had little or no rights, no property, or a fair
wage. Communities developed within large cities to protect and sustain the different cultures.
After World War II, freeway systems led to the suburbs. Public transportation changed when the automobile became part of every
family. Television shows replaced dinner conversations. We saw man walk on the moon and the horrors of war in our living rooms.
The Internet and mobile technology are changing the way people interact, work, and learn. Everyone can report the news or share a
picture from their cell phone. You can produce your own music, publish your own book, blog your thoughts that you usually keep to
yourself, create a website with even personal information, and talk on your cell whenever and wherever you want. We are using
technology for our own use yet it infringes on others.

Role of Education and School in the Protection and Transmission of Culture

Cultural and education cannot be divorced from each other. They are interdependent. The cultural patterns of a society
guide its educational patterns. As for example, if a society has a spiritual pattern of culture, then its educational procedures will
emphasize the achievement of moral and eternal values of life. On the other hand, if the culture of a society is materialistic, then its
educational pattern will be shaped for the attainment of material values which promotes pleasures of senses and material comforts.
A society devoid of any culture will have no definite educational organization. Hence, the culture of a country has a very powerful
impact on its educational patterns. Education as a part of culture has the twin functions of conservation and modification or renewal
of culture. It is the culture in which education germinates and flourishes and exerts a nourishing influence. Human being receives
from society the gifts of family life, community life, education, vocation, legal rights, safety and protection in the same way he/she
inherits from the culture the gift of cultural heritage. The present chapter discusses the relationship between culture and education.
By giving through the text you will be able to:
· Understand the relationship between culture and education.
· Clarify the concept and meaning of culture
· Explain the role of school in preserving and transmitting culture.
Meaning of Culture:
In anthropological literature the term culture is used in many senses, but in general writing it is used to indicate social charm
and intellectual superiority. Culture is a collective term for socially transmitted behavior patterns. In ordinary language culture means
good manners and good taste. Taylor defines culture as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
custom and any other capabilities and habits, acquired by man as a member of society." Ellwood says that "culture includes man’s
entire material civilization, tools, weapons, clothing, shelter, machines and even system of industry.” According to Brown, both
material and non-material are dependent upon each other. But culture cannot be defined. It is better to describe it. The culture of a
people is the way of life of that people, the things its people value, the things they don't value, their habits of life, their work of art,
what they do and what they like. By material elements is meant the whole of man's material civilization, tools, weapons, clothing,
machines and industry. By non-material elements is meant language, art religion, morality, law and government."
Kinds of culture:
According to the subjects there are different kinds of culture:
· Individual culture
· Communal culture
· National culture
· World culture
Each individual has some personal traits and qualities which guide the habits, thinking and behavior of the person. These personal
likes, dislikes, interests, modes of thinking and patterns of social behavior constitute his personal culture. Similarly, different
communities have their different customs, traditions, beliefs and styles of living which is known as community culture. Like each
nation has some distinct patterns of ideals, values, modes of thoughts and behavior. Such national traits are known as national
culture. Further with the rise in the means of transport and communication the whole world has shrunk into a small unit. The whole
world is now supposed to be having common values of life such as cooperation, empathy, sympathy, social services, social awakening
and social sensitiveness which is termed as world culture.
According to contents there are two types of culture in every society:
· Material culture
· Non-material culture
Material culture: It includes all those manmade things and objects which human society has created for its physical welfare. As for
example clothes, utensils, TV, radio, various machines
Non-material culture: It includes those ideals, attitudes and values which modify the behavior of an individual. Language, literature,
art, music, religion, customs, traditions and etc. are some of the example of non-material culture

Did you ever wonder what events had to have happened to make that person want to or have to live in the streets with no place to
go to? There are many things that could have happened to them which might have contributed to their problem. The reasons are
different for each and every person. Some of the more major issues that contribute to this are lack of affordable housing, declining
welfare assistance, and mental illness. Homeless and the working poor are not able to get enough money to afford a house. For me,
they need action to be solved for this problem. We need a good solution that will help prevent and give a long-term solution for
homelessness. Affordable homes would make a large difference in the current status of homelessness in this country. It is very
inspirational for me because Even though life is very difficult, he still does not give up. through god he still gives strength. What’s
most important to me is to never lose sight of the fact that true success can occur in each moment. It doesn’t require some grand
achievement or a certain level of wealth or getting the next best thing. True success is being present enough to appreciate the
miracle of being alive in this moment, and to appreciate and bring happiness to the person we’re with in this moment.