Discuss the values, assumptions, and customs that American teachers need to understand to avoid cross-cultural conflicts with their students.
Introduction
Most of the international students who go to the USA mostly do well in academics, and there is an assumption that whatever they learn is in the same manner as the local students, the difference could only be the variation in the cultures. Most of the administrators often believe that the international students do encounter some problems during the period of adjustment due to the difference in the cultures and language. The success of an international student is based on the ability of the student to adjust to the culture of the people of the United States.
Panamanians do not pay particular attention to punctuality in every activity that they do, in fact, they have their time management cultures, and they define their time as “Panamanian time”. This time, have a meaning that in most of the cases they will always arrive some minutes late for the very important event, it may even go up to one hour late, they refer to it as Panamanian time. This custom of being time unconscious has in the past been passed from one generation to the next; it is, therefore, a practice and a way of life in Panamanian to be late for an important event. This is very contrary to the cultures and ways of life of the US citizens. In the US, it is believed that time is money. Therefore, it will be considered an offense to be late for important events and even learning activities. A teacher in the United States should, therefore, understand these cultural differences to accommodate the international students.
The learning activities in the USA may be different from those in other parts of the world. Take for example, in Colombia the school children are taught that the world has five continents. The Colombian syllabus combines North America and South America as one continent called America, they also combine both Asia and the Europe and name it as Eurasia. The children grow knowing that the world has only five continents; this is contrary to the USA syllabus where it is learned that the world has seven continents, treating North America and South America as different continents ant the same time considering Europe and Asia as separate entities. The US teachers should, therefore, be aware of such cultural differences that exist so as to treat the international students in a fair way when they visit the USA for more studies.
In India it is a cultural offense to wear shoes inside, therefore before entering a room, one must take off the shoes. This is contrary to the cultures of the United States. In the United States, there is no offense in wearing your shoes inside. A teacher in any learning institution in the United States may not understand why some international students, especially the Indians, take off their shoes when entering a classroom. They just obey their cultures. A teacher should, therefore, accommodate the cultures of the students
Summary
Having looked at some cultural differences between the United States and the rest of the world, it is important that the teachers need to learn these cultural differences so as to avoid the cross-cultural conflicts that may occur between them and the students. They should know the diversity of the cultures of the world and try to understand them so that they can help the international students in the academic work.
