Culture, Identity, Learning, and EqualityLearning Objec.docx

Culture, Identity, Learning,
and Equality
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the
following:
• Analyze the impact of culture on everything we do, including
communication and learning.
• Evaluate the relationship between learning, culture, and
education.
• Describe the interactions between various forms of identity
and student learning.
• Analyze the tension between supporting students’ culture,
identity and language, and making sure all
students are treated equally.
5
AP Photo/Havre Daily News/Nikki Carlson
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CHAPTER 5Pre-Test
Introduction
In this chapter we examine culture’s impact on everything

people do, including com-municating, learning, and teaching.
For educators, it is important to remember that the students and
families they serve may come from very different cultures than
that of the
school or their own.
While it is very important to consider the diverse backgrounds
of all students and their
families, school personnel must remember that diversity comes
in many rich and complex
combinations. Children’s unique cultural, linguistic, gender,
disability, and other identi-
ties must be honored, respected, and supported.
However, schools need to make sure they support equality and
integration, and sometimes
it is difficult to balance these two perspectives. Grouping
students to target instruction and
develop group solidarity is often the best way to support
students’ unique identities and
to meet their educational needs. However, this approach can
produce negative and unin-
tended consequences. Schools must continually struggle to
balance supporting unique
cultures and identities while providing multicultural activities,
exposure, and knowledge.
Pre-Test
1. In these types of cultures, social and cultural contexts in
which words are used
often communicate more than the words themselves. These are
known as
a. highly verbal cultures.
b. low-context cultures.

c. high-context cultures.
d. legalistic cultures.
2. In the 1960s, who first introduced to the United States a four-
stage, biological
view of how children learn?
a. Jean Piaget
b. Noam Chomsky
c. Lawrence Kohlberg
d. Sigmund Freud
3. A child’s beliefs about how competent he or she is in
achieving a task and activ-
ity and in learning a new skill or concept, is called
a. self-image.
b. self-esteem.
c. self-efficacy.
d. self-concept.
4. When students are segregated due to some inadvertent
consequence, practice, or
activity, this is termed
a. intentional segregation.
b. unintentional integration.
c. unintentional consequences.
d. unintentional segregation.
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CHAPTER 5Section 5.1 Influence of Culture on Everything We
Do

Answers
1. c. high-context cultures. The answer can be found in Section
5.1.
2. a. Jean Piaget. The answer can be found in Section 5.2.
3. c. Self-efficacy. The answer can be found in Section 5.3.
4. d. unintentional segregation. The answer can be found in
Section 5.4.
5.1 Influence of Culture on Everything We Do
In Chapter 1 we discussed at length the powerful influence of
culture on a child’s growth, development, and learning. Culture
sets the expectations for behavior, pro-vides the values and
rules by which individuals live, and defines a person’s view of
the world (Gutierrez & Rogoff, 2003). Further, culture has a
profound impact on a child’s
learning and view of the value and purpose of education.
Therefore, to fully appreciate
multiculturalism, we need to know how culture affects a child.
In this section we begin to
look deeper into the profound impact of culture on a child’s
growth, development, and
learning, including differences between Western and non-
Western cultures, high and low
cultural contexts, and cultural concepts of time.
E. T. Hall (1914–2009), an American anthropologist and cross-
cultural researcher, provided
important insights into the relationship between culture,
development, and learning. He
is considered one of the architects of the understanding of
culture (Weaver, 2000). Hall
examines how cultures influence people and how people from
different cultural back-
grounds often misunderstand each other. For example, Hall

states that Americans often
assume that certain behaviors and actions exhibited by people in
other countries have the
same meaning as those behaviors do in the United States. This,
he suggests, can cause sig-
nificant misunderstandings (Hall, 1976b). For instance,
according to Hall, this kind of mis-
understanding is in part responsible for some of the United
States’s difficulties in Korea
and failures in Vietnam. According to Hall, in Vietnam we
misread Chinese intentions by
thinking they were motivated the way we were, and we took
them too seriously. In Korea
we did not take them seriously enough. In both cases we tried to
fit events into a pattern
of military conflict that we had seen work in Europe. However,
this did not work in Asia.
According to Hall, humans are unaware of how they know and
communicate culture. We
pick it up in the cradle, unconsciously learning what to notice
and not notice, what is and
is not important, and how to relate to people. In fact, he
believes that what we think of as
the mind is actually internalized culture. How we process
information, think about things,
develop personal relationships, and so on, are all a direct result
of our culture (1976b).
High- and Low-Context Cultures
Hall also makes the distinction between high-context and low-
context cultures. In low-
context cultures, such as Canada, the United States, and
Northern Europe, verbal messages
are explicit, and words carry the literal meanings of what we
communicate, regardless of

the context. In other cultures, such as those from China,
countries in Africa, Arab nations,
Southern Europe, and Latin America, the social and cultural
contexts in which the words
are used often communicate more than the words themselves—
what he calls high-con-
text cultures (1976b). Therefore, in low-context societies,
contracts, instructions, polices,
and laws are the foundation for societal interactions. However,
in high-context societies,
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people who are trusted, respected, and who can exert control are
the ones who run things.
As you can imagine, these two opposing contexts often cause
global conflicts regarding
peace treaties, business contracts, global polices, UN rules and
mandates, and so on.
Hall also believes that high-context cultures view community—
the context in which
reality occurs—as critically important to everything. He calls
this a village culture and
suggests urban renewal projects that destroy ethnic
neighborhoods and long-standing
communities are extremely disruptive to a culture with a village
orientation. For low-
context groups, one neighborhood is very much like the next.
This information is important for schools and teachers, as many

of the new immigrant
families come from high-context societies, while American
schools reflect low-context
views regarding both knowledge and how schools should be run
(i.e., rules, schedules,
expectations). Antibullying rules, attendance policies, and zero-
tolerance rules are explicit
policies set in stone, and they lack contextual flexibility—they
are low-context. However,
students and parents from high-context cultures may observe
bullying behavior or viola-
tions of a zero-tolerance policy and believe that since it was
allowed (or at least not pun-
ished) it is in fact okay, because it appears to be accepted
behavior in that context.
However, we must view cultural distinctions carefully. Western
influences have had a
profound impact in countries in Latin America, Africa, and
Asia; therefore, one cannot
assume a family from these parts of the world necessarily has a
high-context culture.
What we can assume is that there will be cultural
misinformation and conflict between the
family and the school, which schools must address carefully and
proactively.
Time also communicates different things in different cultures.
In Western societies, we
organize our lives on a strict time basis: a linear, one-thing-at-a
time system. The Swiss are
even stricter about time than are Americans (Hall, 1976b). On
the other hand, the Hopi
Native Americans from the American Southwest do not believe
in a single, linear time
system; they believe that every living thing has its own unique

inherited system and that
each plant and animal must be dealt with on its own terms. Hall
calls this view of time
a polychromatic system, which is more in tune with the needs of
a group, the organic
nature of each group , and the unique structure of a project,
activity, or event. High-context
cultures tend to use this view of time because they focus on
groups and collective actions.
The linear view is called a monochromatic system and is more
consistent with an indi-
vidual orientation.
While Northern Europe and North American cultures tend to
function on a monochro-
matic system, Mediterranean, Latin American cultures, and
African societies tend to be
polychromatic. For instance, in the mountain town of
Diamantina, in the state of Minas
Gerais, Brazil, Francis Wardle and Dr. Meira, a local surgeon,
reported for a Lions Club
meeting shortly after 8 p.m., the scheduled time for the meeting.
No one else had arrived,
so Dr. Meira suggested they go shopping, which they did,
returning to commence the
meeting at 9 p.m. (Wardle, 2005a). For Dr. Meira, who lives in
a high-context society, time
focuses on the organic nature of an event and getting a group of
people together to have
the event. In Brazil, time is more about getting people together
to address an issue or
engage in a social activity.
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Do
Finally, Hall states, “Nothing is independent of anything else”
(p. 16). In other words,
culture infiltrates everything people do, how societies operate,
and how organizations
function. This includes schools. Yet in the United States, we
tend to use a special interest
approach for solving political, economic, and environmental
problems, which disregards
the interconnectedness of all events. Unfortunately, our schools
are no help because they
teach us not to make these connections. According to Hall,
schools need to find ways
to help students see the relationhip between their families,
communities, cultures, lan-
guages, and the school itself. The school needs to reflect each
student’s cultural contexts
and not isolate and compete with them. “I feel strongly that
there should be a few people
whose task is to synthesize—pulling things together. And that is
impossible without a
deep sense of context” (1976b, p. 97).
Cultural Contexts in Education
Hall’s insights into culture are extremely helpful as we look at
the relationships between
culture, learning, and communication in education. As we do so,
it is important to keep in
mind the following ideas about culture:
• Everyone grows, develops, learns, and lives within cultural
contexts; no one
develops or lives in a cultural vacuum.

• Each one of us is influenced by a variety of cultural contexts,
and the influence
of each context differs from person to person and can change
over time (West,
2001). We see the world from our unique cultural viewpoint,
and being around
people who engage in different cultural behaviors and have
different percep-
tions and viewpoints can be disorienting.
• Cultures continually change due to (a) historical time and
progress, (b) inter-
actions with other cultures, (c) globalizations, (d) the education
of members
within the culture, and (e) immigration and travel.
• People who challenge the boundaries of their cultural contexts
often experi-
ence resistance from many directions, including people from
within their own
cultural group.
• Cultural groups overlap—i.e., gender, disability, race and
ethnic origin, eco-
nomic status—which means there is often tension between one
cultural group
and people who belong to more than one group. For example,
some Black
women argue that the women’s movement is not relevant to
their struggles
because it focuses on issues important to White women (hooks,
1994).
• As in many other countries, various microcultures exist within
the broad

American culture. Furthermore, globalization and the media—
TV, movies, the
Internet—influence almost all cultures worldwide.
The following feature brings into focus some of these issues.
The Amish culture, a group of
people following the Anabaptist faith, is an example of a high-
context culture that exhibits
many of the elements of a village culture.
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Case Study: Sarah, an Amish Child
Sarah is a 9-year-old girl who lives in rural Pennsyl-
vania in an Amish community. She was born into a
very tight-knit community with clear gender roles,
rules about dress and work, and a tradition that goes
back to the 1500s. She lives with her mother and
father and five siblings, all girls. Her father works in
the fields and cares for the milking cows. Her mother
looks after the house and the little ones, while also
making cheese and attending to the family store.
Sarah’s grandparents, aunts, and uncles also live
in the community, and she sees them often. She is
an important part of the wider community, knows
everyone by name, and trusts everyone. She attends
an Amish school taught by Amish teachers. She has
no TV, radio, computer, or phone.
After school and on the weekends, Sarah helps her mother at
home: cleaning, cooking, canning, and

making maple syrup. She also helps her mother in the family
store, where she sells clothes, utensils,
and other everyday items to other Amish people in her
community. Saturday evening is reserved for
the ritual of washing and braiding the long hair of Sarah and her
sisters and is a time when the girls
learn about Amish history from their mother.
On Sundays Sarah travels with her family in a horse-drawn
buggy to another home for Amish worship
services. She sits with the women on one side of the room; men
and boys sit on the other side. These
services are rotated from home to home. When the service is at
Sarah’s home, she helps her mother
prepare food for lunch, and they serve everyone who comes to
the service.
Sometimes Sarah goes into the local town with her parents to
buy supplies. They also occasionally visit
their English* neighbors. But Sarah is continually told by her
parents, teachers, and ministers that the
Amish way is the correct way. At 9-years-old, she is
comfortable being an Amish girl in a very warm,
strict, close-kit family and community.
Sarah knows that she will complete her education at age 14 and
then take on more responsibilities at
home and in the community. She will learn how to make quilts
with her mother and other women; she
will also become more involved on the farm, helping her father
milk the cows and make the cheese.
She is expected to marry an Amish man, either from this
community or from another Amish commu-
nity, and raise her children as part of the close-knit Amish
culture.

*English is the term the Amish use for everyone who is not
Amish—because they speak English. The
Amish speak a form of German.
Critical Thinking Questions
1. Do you think Amish children have advantages over other
American children? Disadvantages?
2. What would you miss if you were Amish? What do they have
that others could benefit from?
Ben Mangor/SuperStock
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CHAPTER 5Section 5.2 Relationship Between Learning,
Culture, and Education
5.2 Relationship Between Learning, Culture, and Education
Understandably, the culture in which a child lives influences his
or her growth and learning. As Christine Bennett (1997)
suggests, understanding learning and devel-opment is more than
simply considering a variety of psychological conditions,
but it also involves knowing that psychological conditions are
deeply affected by culture.
Thus, culture directly influences how children learn.
Our understanding of how children learn has changed
dramatically over the years. The
initial view of how children learn was simply a downward view
of how adults learn,
resulting in the direct transmission of information and behaviors
from the adult to the

child (Wiles & Bondi, 2010). Children were taught in groups,
with the assumption that
each child learned in exactly the same way. Even the settings
where children were taught
reflected this view of children as little adults: sitting on wooden
benches in rows, reading
and memorizing written texts that focused on moral behavior
(Wiles & Bondi, 2010).
Since then, ideas about how children learn have fluctuated from
the progressive views
of Rousseau, Froebel, and Dewey, to the behaviorism of
Thorndike and Skinner (Wardle,
2009b). In the early 1960s, Jean Piaget’s stage theory of
cognitive development was intro-
duced to the United States. Based on changes in a child’s
thinking due to maturation,
Piaget’s theory takes a biological view. Thus, it is in direct
opposition to the behaviorist
view, which focuses on the environment. Piaget’s view came to
dominate our understand-
ing of how children learn. Later, Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of
moral reasoning aligned
with Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. Kohlberg
hypothesized that children’s
development of moral reasoning follows the development of
cognitive abilities and is
therefore influenced by how children think. Both positions have
come to characterize the
view of many contemporary educators regarding how children
develop and learn.
Developmental View of Learning
Piaget and Kohlberg provide us with a theory used extensively
in K–12 schools of how
children learn content, skills, constructs, and moral behaviors

(Pai, Adler, & Shadiow,
2005). Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who developed a
four-stage theory of cogni-
tive development. To Piaget, cognitive development progresses
in a sequential manner,
from stage to stage. Within each stage, the individual constructs
knowledge by interact-
ing with the environment—by taking experiences from the
environment and organizing
them into an individually constructed system of knowledge
(Piaget, 1972). Each stage
builds on the previous one, and in each stage children think and
process information in a
different manner.
For Piaget, the cultural piece—the nature and circumstances in
which the child develops
and learns—is the content of each stage; it is what the child
uses from his or her physical
and social environment to progress through each stage
(Brainerd, 1978). It is the food, if
you will, of the process. However, Piaget believed that,
regardless of cultural context, the
actual nature of the learning is universal: regardless of a child’s
cultural background, the
child will progress through the stages in an orderly, sequential
manner.
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Lawrence Kohlberg, a Harvard psychologist working in the

1960s, used Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development to create a theory of moral reasoning in
children (later modified
by Thomas Lickona). According to Kohlberg (1972), moral
development proceeds through
six stages, which directly correspond to the last three of
Piaget’s stages: preoperational,
concrete operations, and formal operations (see Table 5.1).
Children progress through
these stages much as they do through Piaget’s stages.
Table 5.1: Piaget’s cognitive development and
Kohlberg/Lickona’s stages
Piaget’s Cognitive Development Stages Kohlberg/Lickona
Stages
preoperational stage ego-centric reasoning (3–5 years)
unquestioning obedience (5–7 years)
concrete operations stage what’s-in-it-for-me fairness (7–9
years)
interpersonal conformity (9–11)
formal operations stage responsibility to “the system” (111)
principled consciousness (late adolescence/young
adulthood)
This theory of moral reasoning describes how individuals reason
about good and bad,
right and wrong, and moral and immoral behavior. According to
Lickona (1983), parents
and teachers need to (a) understand each of the stages and how

the child thinks about
moral dilemmas within each stage, (b) help children rationally
and logically think about
moral actions and behaviors at each stage, and (c) assist each
child in moving to the next
stage in the sequence.
Discontinuity and Culture
While Piaget, Kohlberg, and Lickona view cognitive and moral
development as a pro-
gression through distinct stages that build on each other in an
invariant manner, other
theorists such as Bruner, Kagan, and Egan, believe that
cognitive and moral develop-
ment often occur in spurts of activity and inactivity and that
some development is not
progressive (Schunk, 2004). There are many times where the
nature and direction of the
child’s development can and will abruptly change (Kagan,
1984). These events include
accidents, good or bad teachers (e.g., a child who has an
exceptional math teacher may
become a mathematician), choices of programs in high school,
or a high school job. Once a
specific choice is made, a child tends to resist being derailed
from the direction prescribed
by this choice; for instance, a child whose early art exploration
is praised by parents and
teachers will see herself as an artist and continue to make
choices based on this view
(Kagan, 1984).
These theorists suggest that while humans’ development is
genetically programmed in
very broad terms, how these programs are manifest depends
largely on a child’s experi-

ences: Major changes in a child’s cognitive, social, and moral
development occurring in
response to certain experiences and situations require the child
to develop specific skills
and competencies. Some of these life experiences are also
historical. An example is the
development of the computer and Internet and the proliferation
of technology toys and
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Case Study: Sonny, A Pueblo Boy
Fifteen-year-old Sonny lives on the Pueblo Indian reservation
near Taos, New Mexico. He lives with his
mother and two sisters in the ancient, adobe, multistory
structure that has become the iconic symbol
of the reservation: two large, rambling, five-story structures
separated by a large communal area.
A swiftly flowing mountain stream dissects the middle of the
plaza, which is bound by the Catholic
Church to the west and a valley that leads to sacred Blue Lake
and Mt Wheeler to the east.
When Sonny was a preschooler, he attended the American
Indian Head Start program, situated at the
edge of the reservation and staffed by women from the tribe.
Later, he attended the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) school, also on the reservation. Now he attends
the local high school in town with White
and Latino students.

While growing up on the reservation, Sonny participates in the
Deer Dances in the spring and the
Corn Dances in the fall. He enjoys the festivities around San
Geronimo Day, especially climbing the
greased pole, and participating in the procession of the Virgin
Mary around the pueblo on Christmas
Eve. Sonny has also begun the initiation process into one of the
Kivas on the Pueblo. Only boys are
involved, and a group of male leaders instructs them into the
traditions of the Pueblo.
(continued)
communication devices that require children to rapidly develop
a set of new skills. Chil-
dren with access to this new technology learn these new skills,
while children who lack
access will not. In this case, culture as defined by social class
has a profound impact on the
development of children in the 21st century.
Changing circumstances and events in a child’s
development demand new skills and attitudes
while others are discarded. For example, when
children grew up on farms, their physical activ-
ity, need for constant change, and kinesthetic
learning style, were rewarded. Today, the same
behaviors now cause problems. Each person’s
unique social relationships and cultural environ-
ments play a key role in determining growth.
According to Robert Coles (1986, 1997), some of
the crucial factors that influence a child’s moral
thinking are powerful social and cultural events
in that child’s life. Bruner and Haste (1987) argue
that children use their cultural environments as
frameworks through which they interpret impor-

tant experiences. And Tajfel suggests that chil-
dren grow intellectually, socially, and morally by
giving meaning to personal experiences through
language and culture (1981).
The following feature illustrates some of the ways
culture affects development and learning.
Monkey Business/Thinkstock
Children with access to technology generally
come from families with higher incomes,
providing an advantage over children whose
families cannot afford technology. How
might this difference in access affect skill
development?
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Case Study: Sonny, A Pueblo Boy (continued)
When Sonny goes into town with his friends, tourists often stop
them and want to take their picture.
He sees stores throughout the town selling all things American
Indian, from expensive paintings and
sculptures, to silver jewelry made by local craftsmen and lots of
cheap, tourist merchandise.
Sonny does not have a TV, but he does have a cell phone and
watches TV at the homes of some of
his friends. Sometime he travels with other members of the
Pueblo to other reservations and attends

powwows where he competes with dancers his own age. He has
non-Pueblo friends with whom he
hangs out in town. Sonny lives very much in two worlds. Unlike
Sarah the Amish girl who is fully
embedded within the Amish culture, Sonny is exposed both to
his Pueblo Indian culture and to 21st
century American culture.
Sonny’s mother wants him to go to college, but Sonny is not
sure. Many of his friends have already
dropped out of school; others simply want to graduate and then
work at the casino run by the tribe on
the reservation. Sonny does not know anyone with a college
degree and sees little reason to leave his
friends and the reservation to go to college.
1. What were factors that influenced you to get a degree in
education? How much was it a result
of your culture (parents, family, peers) and how much other
factors? How is Sonny’s culture
influencing his choice to go to college?
Dynamic Development
Development from infancy to adulthood is the result of a
dynamic interaction between
an individual’s temperament, personality, and potential, and the
norms, mores, expecta-
tions, and behaviors of the culture in which the child is
embedded. A child develops by
finding appropriate ways of behaving and acting in relationship
to others from his or her
culture. Everything a child thinks and conceives has a particular
expression within the
child’s culture (Bruner & Haste, 1987). When a child’s cultural

framework changes—for
instance, when an Amish child’s family leaves the religion or an
immigrant child comes to
this country—the child’s thinking and conceptions change.
From the perspective of understanding the relationships between
culture and learning,
three important ideas emerge from this discussion:
• All learning in all developmental domains (cognitive,
emotional, social, moral,
affective, and behavioral) is embedded within culture or
cultures.
• Educational and psychological practices based on the belief
that all child devel-
opment is the same and follows the same stages will result in
biased and unfair
judgments about the education potential and the progress of
students from
diverse cultural backgrounds (Pai, Adler, & Shadiow, 2005).
• Psychologists and educators need to develop assessment
instruments, learning
models, instructional procedures, and home-school
collaborations that capital-
ize on each child’s culturally embedded values, behaviors,
attitudes, cognition,
and learning styles.
While various theoretical models explain how children develop
and learn and guide our
approaches to teaching, it is always important for teachers to be
aware of and sensitive to
the powerful impact of culture on students’ development.

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.3 Identity and Learning
5.3 Identity and Learning
A person’s identity answers a number of questions: Who am I?
What am I all about? What can I do? What do I believe in?
What makes me different from others? Gen-der, race and
ethnicity, income, language, religion, and other diversity
character-
istics are critical factors in how others view the child, and how
the child sees herself or
himself. Further, a child’s judgment of these factors greatly
influences the child’s overall
self-esteem and self-efficacy. Here we examine Erikson’s
psychosocial theory and its con-
cept of identity development. We will also explore William
Cross’s two-factor theory of
Black identity and its implications for the study of identity
development of all minority
children.
Identity development begins in infancy, progresses through
childhood and adolescence,
and continues through old age. For the purposes of this
discussion, we will focus on
identity development during childhood and adolescence. It
begins with the appear-
ance of attachment, the development of a sense of self, and the
emergence of autonomy
in toddlerhood, and it reaches a crisis point during adolescence
(Erikson, 1963). It is a
slow developmental process. Identity development includes a

child’s sense of self: self-
concept, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. Self-concept answers
the question, Who am I? It
includes knowledge and beliefs about gender, ethnicity,
competencies, family, and physi-
cal features, among others: “I am a tall, 9-year-old Black boy
who likes math but does not
like reading.” Self-esteem answers the question, How good am I
as a person? It includes
judgments and feelings about the self: “I am proud of my math
ability but embarrassed
by my struggle to read.” Self-efficacy refers to a person’s
beliefs about how competent
they are in achieving a task, for example, riding a bike, learning
to read, and making
friends (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2007). A child’s positive sense of
self-efficacy in specific
tasks or activities contributes to overall self-esteem: The more
things a child feels good
about achieving, the higher the child’s self-esteem (Bong &
Skaalvik, 2003). A child’s
sense of self is important for development and learning. Many
psychologists believe that
humans have an overall need to think of themselves as
competent, likeable, and worthy
(Covington, 1992; Deci & Ryan, 1992). How do children
develop a positive sense of self,
self-esteem, and self-efficacy? One approach to answering this
question is to understand
Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory.
Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
Erikson’s psychosocial theory is an eight-stage theory that
covers the human lifespan
from birth to death. The first five stages of the theory cover
infancy through adolescence

(see Table 5.2). Erikson believed that people grow and develop
by overcoming various
challenges in life, with successful completion of each stage
developing a sense of compe-
tence and social-emotional stability, while failure to achieve a
resolution of one or more of
the crises can produce social-emotional problems. These assets
or deficits build on them-
selves as a child progresses through each stage.
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Table 5.2: The first five stages of Erikson’s psychosocial stages
Stage Description
Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to one year) The primary task at this
age is for the infant to
develop a sense of trust in people and in the
world. When the important people in the child’s
world meet the child’s basic needs, the child
develops trust.
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (toddler years) At this age,
children begin to develop the ability
to control their muscles and behaviors: feed and
dress themselves, wash, walk, and use the toilet.
This gives them a sense of autonomy. Adults
who encourage self-sufficient behaviors and give
toddlers many opportunities to feel competent
help them develop autonomy.

Initiative vs. Guilt (preschool years) Children have a desire to
engage in a variety
of activities to demonstrate their growing
independence. When adults encourage these
efforts, children develop initiative.
Industry vs. Inferiority (elementary age) Children like to learn
the skills and gain the
competencies of their peers: ride a bike, read a
book, make friends, and so on. Children who are
encouraged to attempt and complete projects and
learn important competencies develop industry.
Indentify vs. Role Confusion (adolescence) Children begin to
examine who they are, what
they believe in, and what career path to choose.
Questioning of everything they know and believe
in causes role confusion. Eventually, they achieve
a sense of identity. In certain cultures children
are expected to quickly resolve this tension, while
others don’t make a decision until after college.
While Erikson developed his theory over 50 years ago, it is still
applicable today. In help-
ing children develop a healthy identity, adults should assist
them in successfully resolving
each of Erikson’s crises. Adults need to scaffold an accurate
self-concept, support posi-
tive self-esteem, and encourage high self-efficacy both at home
and at school. As we will
explore in the next section, positive self-esteem and high self-
worth and self-efficacy are
very important in the overall identity development of minority
children (Cross, 1987).
Racial and Ethnic Identity

All children develop through several stages of racial identity.
This begins at birth and
continues throughout adolescence. However, the process differs
depending on the child’s
race or ethnicity and whether the child is a member of the
mainstream group in their
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country. We know that infants can discriminate dark and light
objects; also, infants prefer
caregivers of a similar racial or ethnic background to their
mother (Katz, 1976; Kelley et
al., 2007). In this discussion the term ethnic identity will be
used to describe a person’s
sense of belonging to an ethnic or racial group as part of that
person’s thinking, percep-
tions, feelings, and behaviors (Phinney & Rotherham, 1987).
These groups include Ital-
ians, Germans, Blacks, Jews, Irish, Hispanics, and so forth.
Several models have been developed to describe ethnic
development in children (Good-
man, 1964; Porter, 1971; Katz, 1976; Aboud, 1977). Each is a
developmental model, which
means children develop through distinct stages as they come to
terms with their own
ethnicity. Most studies in this area have been conducted in the
United States and Canada;
therefore, they may not apply to children in other countries.
Ethnic awareness is an understanding of how one’s own group

differs from those of oth-
ers (Phinney & Rotherham, 1987). This knowledge changes with
experience, exposure,
and cognitive abilities. A child’s initial awareness of his or her
own ethnicity and that
of others is based on perpetual cues, for example, skin color,
language, and traditions.
Children who live in integrated neighborhoods and attend
integrated schools will have
a much greater awareness of other groups than those who do
not. In the United States,
minority children are inevitably aware of the dominant group;
however, White children in
the United States and European children in Latin America are
often not aware they belong
to a specific ethnic group (Aboud, 1987). As children become
more aware of group differ-
ences, they develop more accurate self-identification and
acceptance of their own group
(Phinney & Rotherham, 1987).
Ethnic self-identification is the sense of oneself as a member of
an ethnic group, possess-
ing attributes common to that group (Aboud, 1987). It refers to
the description of oneself
in terms of critical ethnic characteristics—a description that
defines rather than merely
describes the group. These attributes are those that would
emerge as a consensus if mem-
bers of a group were asked, “What are the most important things
about being a member
of this ethnic group?” These qualities must be specific to the
group, and they need to be
consistent across a variety of contexts (Aboud, 1987). For
example, in the case of Sarah, the
Amish girl, the use of the German language, specific religious

attire, and last names are
all characteristics of the Amish. For Sonny, the Pueblo boy,
participating in native rituals
and dances; dark skin; Indian facial features; and long, braided
hair for boys are consistent
attributes.
Prior to achieving accurate ethnic self-identification, children
base their understanding of
ethnicity on appearance alone. Data regarding ethnic
consistency in children suggest that
ethnic self-identification does not typically occur until around
eight years of age. Accord-
ing to Aboud, correct ethnic identification will not fully
develop until a child’s concept of
ethnicity is consistent; in other words, is constant across
contexts and does not change due
to other cues, such as face paint, clothes, and music (Aboud,
1987) (see Table 5.3).
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Table 5.3: Development of ethnic and racial identity
Development of Ethnic/Racial Identity Approximate age of the
child
Recognition of White and Black children by all
children
3–4 years old

White and Black children recognize their own
group membership
4–5 years old
Recognition of own group membership by Asian,
Native American, Hispanic, and other children
7 years old
Accurate labeling of ethnic groups by children of
other groups
7 years old
Understanding that ethnicity is not changeable 7 years old
Recognition of other groups—non-Black/White—
such as Latino, Chinese, Native American
8 years old
Ethnic constancy with clothing cues* 8 years old
Accurate self-identification/constancy 91 years old
Ethnic constancy without clothing cues* 10 years old
Source: Aboud, 1987; Aboud, 1980; Aboud & Skerry, 1983
*Cues are characteristics of a person that suggest their
ethnicity, but are not constant. For example, young Black
children thought they would become White
if they used white makeup and a blond wig (Semaj, 1980); some
Jewish 6- to 8-year-old children said they were Inuit when they
saw a picture of themselves

in Inuit clothes (Aboud & Skerry, 1983).
For all children, recognizing other ethnic groups such as Latino,
Chinese, and Native
Americans (not Black or White) occurs at a later age because
the salient features are less
distinct (Aboud, 1987). Salient features are physical
characteristics of children that stand
out: Skin color, hair texture, and facial features of Black and
White children are more
salient than those of Hispanic, Native American, and Asian
children. Aboud (1987) also
believes that children compare ways they are similar to others
of their group and ways
they are different from those in other groups in developing a
sense of ethnic identification.
Appearance is not the only thing young children use to define
their ethnic identity.
According to Aboud, English and French Canadian children are
defined according to lan-
guage; Chinese in terms of food; and Native Americans in terms
of possessions and activi-
ties. Children who do not have the characteristics and attributes
considered by others as
“essential” to their ethnic group may struggle with
identification. For example, a light-
skinned biracial child with blond hair who is identified by his
parents as Black may not be
seen as Black by other children. This confusion is more difficult
for children who belong to
more than one ethnic group. Examples include transracially
adopted children whose eth-
nicity differs from their siblings and parents, and new
immigrant children whose native
ethnic label differs from the label used in the United States.

Thus, while all children by a certain age have a clear
understanding of their racial or eth-
nic identity, children who do not fit neatly within accepted
ethnic groups need extra help
to develop a healthy ethnic identity (Baxley, 2008; Wardle &
Cruz-Janzen, 2004). Develop-
ing a consistent ethnic identity requires teachers and other
school professionals to under-
stand the changing demographics of the American population
and to support the wishes
of parents regarding the ethnic identity of their children
(Aboud, 1987; Wardle, 2011).
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Two-Factor Theory
William Cross, a well-known, contemporary Black scholar and
researcher, developed what
he calls a two-factor theory of Black identity (1987). Cross
believes that Black identity in
the United States is based on two important factors: personal
identity and reference group
orientation. Personal identity (PI) includes self-esteem, self-
worth, personality traits,
interpersonal competence, self-confidence, temperament, and
self-evaluation. Reference
group orientation (RGO) includes racial identity, race
awareness, group belonging, racial
evaluation, and racial self-identification (Cross, 1987). We can
view both on an evaluative
scale, from low PI and low RGO to high PI and high RGO.

Cross points out that one fac-
tor’s value is not predictive of the other factor: A Black student
does not have to have a
high RGO to have a high personal self-esteem, and vice versa.
Studies indicate that Black and other minority children enter
school with a fairly high PI
(Mediax, 1980), as do White children. However, it appears that
a high PI is not predictive
of high academic achievement. Black children seem to develop
a bicultural RGO early in
their lives, showing a preference for both White and Black
choices and orientations (John-
son, 1983). Studies suggest that in comparing Black children in
Black homes with Black
children adopted in White homes, all else being equal, these
children have the same PIs
(McRoy, 1981).
It should also be noted that a Black child’s RGO score increases
as the child progresses
through school, based on social maturity, cognitive
development, and experiences with
White and Black students and adults (Cross, 1987). While high
reference group orienta-
tion is not predictive (or required) for high self-esteem, it helps
social and political causes
if Blacks have a fairly high RGO. The RGO enables Blacks of
very different PIs to work
together for the advancement of all Blacks. For example, a
group of Black students devel-
oping activities for Black History Month can work together
toward these goals without
each member having a high PI. While this theory was developed
for Blacks, Cross asserts
that it can be applied to describe most minority groups in the

United States (1987).
New Immigrants
Children who come to the United States during their school-age
years face a variety of
challenges that impact their identity. When they arrive in the
United States, the following
demands confront their identity:
• Becoming American. As we have suggested, an overall
American culture exists
that is unique and differs greatly from other cultures. Most new
immigrants
struggle to understand this new culture, including children.
What’s more, as
children become familiar with the American culture, a rift
between them and
their more traditional parents and elders can develop (Ngo,
2006; Podeschi &
Xiong, 1994).
• Not speaking English. The majority of new immigrants who
come to this
country speak a language other than English. While schools are
finding ways
to address the language needs of Hispanic children and their
families, most
schools do not have the resources needed to accommodate other
non-English
speaking children and their families.
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• Racial/ethnic identity confusion. Black and White Africans
coming to the
United States are not African American, just as many
immigrants from Latin
America are not Latino; and people from Asia do not view
themselves as
Asians, but rather as belonging to unique individual national
and/or tribal
groups (e.g., the Hmong) (Ngo, 2006, 2008). These children
face the dilemma
of misidentification by school staff, peers, and other parents,
and the difficult
process of negotiating their way not only into the overall
American culture but
also into the subcultures to which others assume they belong
(Aboud, 1987;
Ngo, 2008).
• Learning how U.S. schools function (Bang, 2009; Davis et al.,
2005; Ngo, 2006).
American education operates very differently from the way
schools operate
in other countries. Parents of these immigrant children need to
learn about
fund raising activities, homework policies, discipline,
assessment practices, the
school’s chain of authority, and whom to talk to when problems
arise. Further-
more, many new immigrant families come from cultures where
teachers are
revered, and these parents will not challenge teacher authority
(Bang, 2009;
Ngo, 2006; Podeschi & Xiong, 1994). When children require
additional school
services, such as special education or gifted and talented

programs, parents
need to learn how to negotiate these programs.
Teachers and other school personnel need to be sensitive to the
challenges faced by new
immigrant students and their families.
Gender Identity
Like racial and ethnic identity development, gender
development begins at birth. Tod-
dlers learn a lot about gender when they struggle with
autonomy. During this time, 1 to 3
years of age, children pick up many cues about being a boy or
girl from toys, clothes, and
the media. By preschool age, children begin to show a clear
preference for certain stereo-
typical toys and for same-sex peers (Johnson, Christie, &
Wardle, 2005a; Vaughn, Colvin,
Azria, Caya, & Krzysik, 2001).
Timing and intensity of gender socialization in the overall
American culture differs
between boys and girls (Beal, 1994). While gender role
expectations have become more
flexible in recent years, the increased lenience applies mostly to
girls (Beal, 1994). Ambi-
tion, competitiveness, and athleticism are now seen as desirable
traits in girls. Girls are
encouraged to choose legal, science, and engineering careers,
and girls excel in many aca-
demic areas in school and college.
Adults, however, are not as supportive of boys being gentle and
creative, showing an inter-
est in fashion or cooking, or signing up for ballet classes. Boys
receive more intense gender

socialization than girls; parents and peers disapprove of boys
deviating from expected
male behaviors more than girls (Martin, 1990). A father tells the
story of his 5-year-old-son
who put colorful barrettes in his hair and wore a white dress to
the Sunday church service
because that is how his three sisters were dressed. While the
other children did not seem
to notice, adults were appalled, even though many of the little
girls wore pants and short
hair (Johnson, Christie, & Wardle, 2005a).
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As we have suggested, boys face other challenges regarding
gender identity: (a) in many
homes there are few if any stable male role models; (b) few men
are involved in early
childhood and elementary school programs, increasing the
paucity of male role models;
and (c) boys often receive mixed messages from parents and
teachers about how they are
expected to behave in society and in school (Pleck, 1995).
Adolescence is a critical junction in gender identification. From
a biological perspective,
hormonal changes and the development of secondary sex
characteristics convey to the
adolescent dramatic sex-linked changes. Responses to the
child’s development reinforce
stereotypical female and male roles and behaviors, intensifying
the psychological and

behavioral differences between boys and girls, which is called
gender intensification
(Hill & Lynch, 1983). This, in turn, increases the pressure for
adolescents to conform to
traditional societal and cultural masculine and feminine gender
roles (Galambos, 2004).
Compounded with Erikson’s identity versus role confusion
stage, it is no wonder that
adolescents struggle to determine how well they meet society’s
gender role expectations
(Erikson, 1963). While family contexts and cultural belonging
directly impact gender
identification (Crouter, Manke, & McHale, 1995), cognitive and
moral advancements by
students also lead many adolescents to directly challenge
societal, cultural, family, and
peer gender role expectations and limitations.
The mixed messages received from peers, parents, teachers, and
media also contribute
to gender confusion in adolescent boys. On the one hand,
traditional male sex-typed
behaviors of aggression, physical and psychological strength,
and risk-taking behaviors
both attract adolescent girls and match male adolescents’ view
of typical American male
behaviors; on the other hand, these behaviors are becoming less
accepted in society and
in schools (Pleck, 1995). The conflicting information often
leads to trouble for boys in the
form of drug abuse and crime, as well as suspensions, low
motivation, low academic
achievement, and dropping out of school.
Identity and Children With Disabilities

Because physical characteristics and abilities are central to a
child’s self-image, and physi-
cal, social, and cognitive capacities are central to a person’s
sense of self-efficacy, disabili-
ties can have a direct impact on a child’s identity. An important
factor in the nature of
this impact is whether the child was born with an identified
disability or whether the
disability developed—or was identified—later in the child’s
life. For example, if a child
is born with a deformed hand or with cerebral palsy, the child’s
development has always
included these elements. However, if a child is indentified in
second grade as having
autism or with a learning disability in math, this can cause a
tremendous emotional, psy-
chological, and social shift within the student’s identity.
Most students are identified with special needs between 8 and
13 years of age (Gargiulo,
2012). This is because the expectations, limitations, and
pressures of school experiences
highlight a child who struggles to learn: physically,
emotionally, socially, or cognitively.
The increased academic expectations of the standards approach
now used in K–12 public
schools as well as the decreased emphasis on the arts and hands-
on activities in the cur-
riculum exacerbate these struggles (Nieto & Bode, 2012a).
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Earlier in this chapter we examined Erikson’s psychosocial
stages that correspond to
development. Keeping in mind that some children with
disabilities experience develop-
mental delays, the most important of these stages for K–12
students with disabilities are
initiative versus guilt and industry versus inferiority, because
initiative and industry are
behaviors and dispositions critical for school success (Ormrod,
2008). Both of these stages
necessitate that students receive a consistent variety of
opportunities to try out new ideas,
investigate, take risks, develop self-efficacy, and feel a sense of
competence compared to
their peers—especially in academic areas (Erikson, 1963).
Unfortunately, many of the common approaches used in working
with children with vari-
ous disabilities do not support initiative and industry. The
Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) focuses on addressing areas in which
students are deficient; thus,
goals and objectives written into the child’s Individualized
Education Program (IEP) and
instructional approaches target behaviors, skills, and
competencies that the child cannot
perform as well as his or her peers. As we discussed in Chapter
4, teachers working with
children with disabilities also use something a child likes to do
and is good at doing to
reward tasks in which the child struggles. This is known as the
Premack principle (Orm-
rod, 2008). From an Erikson perspective, the Premack principle
places a focus on what a
child cannot do and on developing guilt and inferiority.

To support the healthy identity development of children with
disabilities, educators must
creatively find ways to both focus on the child’s specific,
targeted school-related weak-
nesses while also supporting behaviors, activities, and overall
instructional approaches
that continually and consistently support the child’s initiative
and industry. For example,
for a child who is constantly disrupting the classroom, the
special education teacher rec-
ommends the student receive additional time on the playground
to engage in a variety of
gross motor activities. The special education teacher provides
the classroom teacher with
strategies to teach the child a variety of prosocial skills to use
on the playground, and
develops a behavior management plan to monitor the child’s
progress.
Language, Identity, and Learning
Home language is a central part of people’s identity. It provides
a direct connection to their
culture and enables them to communicate with others—
including using familiar idioms
and anecdotes, unique words and phrases, and expressions that
describe cultural beliefs
and nuances (York, 2003). Further, a non-English language is
often associated with tradi-
tionally subordinated groups in the United States; consequently,
supporting non-English
languages becomes a declaration of emancipation (Nieto &
Bode, 2012). Just as American
schools have historically squashed diverse cultural backgrounds
in preference of a Euro-
pean perceptive, the same has been true of using non-English
languages in American

schools; however, when it comes to students’ identity, cultural
and linguistic diversity
cannot be separated.
Language is the glue that holds societies together, and language
is one of the central
characteristics of many cultural groups, along with nations and
regions of the world.
Many Native American tribes in the United States have
recognized the cultural impor-
tance of language, and these tribes are teaching their children
the tribe’s native language.
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Furthermore, most people use language as a central cognitive
medium to sort and catego-
rize information, solve problems, and control emotions and
behaviors (Siegler & Alibali,
2005; Vygotsky, 1978; York, 2003).
A person’s native language sets the foundation for all future
learning. Language devel-
ops from learning basic labels and simple terms, to expressing
complex ideas and behav-
iors, to using sophisticated verbal expressions that convey a
vast amount of information.
Language develops as a social process whose purpose is
communication with others
(Vygotsky, 1978) and thus is enhanced, elaborated, and
scaffolded by the social environ-
ment. As linguistic ability advances so do cognitive abilities

and achievements (Siegler &
Alibali, 2005). For native speakers in any country, this process
is a seamless developmen-
tal activity. However, for a child who does not speak the
dominant language, the process
is disrupted. In essence, the child must begin learning a
language all over again.
While most modern societies worldwide embrace a variety of
languages and multilin-
gual approaches for society and commerce, the United States
does not. Historically in the
United States, cultural diversity and speaking a non-English
language have been closely
tied together. Not only was the melting pot idea one of forcing
all people from diverse
backgrounds to become “American,” but everyone was also
expected to speak English.
Since schools were the central place where the melting pot view
was translated into
practice, American public schools actively suppressed
languages other than English—
including Native American languages (Nieto & Bode, 2012).
Today we understand that
a central component of a child’s identity and how children learn
is their home language;
further, diversity in our schools includes both cultural and
linguistic diversity. Hence,
today schools must find ways to embrace and include both
cultural and linguistic diver-
sity (Cummins, Brown, & Sayers, 2006; Nieto & Bode, 2012).
Research strongly suggests that being bilingual is a tremendous
asset. Bilingual infants
are precocious decision makers who demonstrate advanced
cognitive skills (Kovacs

& Mehler, 2009). Compared to monolingual students, bilingual
students tend to have
increased attention, improved working memory, advanced
abstract reasoning, and better
metacognitive abilities—all of which positively impact
academic achievement (Adesope,
Lavin, Thompson, & Ungerleider, 2010). Also, truly bilingual
students (competent in their
native language and the school’s official language) are less
likely to drop out of school
than students with limited bilingual abilities (Portes &
Rumbaut, 2001).
The challenge regarding linguistic identity and learning is to
make sure that non-English
speaking children are both supported in the continued
development of their native lan-
guage and are also expected to learn and become proficient in
English (Portes & Rumbaut,
2001). This poses huge challenges for contemporary American
K–12 schools, particularly
in the areas of curricula and assessment materials, and in
providing staff who speak all
the languages spoken in the school. Simply taking a bilingual—
two language—perspec-
tive generally does address this problem in most schools (Davis
et al., 2005). The second
challenge is for K–12 schools to acknowledge and support the
tremendous value of bilin-
gualism, both as an asset to academic achievement and as a
requirement for global com-
petitiveness. To this end, K–12 schools need to begin teaching
English-speaking students
a second language in kindergarten, if not before (Wardle,
2003a).

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Identity Is Comprised of Combinations of Diversities
We have discussed a variety of diversity characteristics and
explored how each of these
affects a child’s identity and learning. As teachers, we must be
cognizant of the interaction
of each child’s complex diversities. In doing so, consider the
following issues:
• While focusing on any one of a child’s diversities, it is
important to be mind-
ful of the child’s other characteristics and contexts and how
they impact the
child. For example, a boy with a math disability may face
different challenges
than a girl with a math disability. A boy with a math disability
from a culture
that expects boys to excel in math and science but also values
the education of
male more than female children, will have an added burden.
Thus, while focus-
ing on a single diversity issue, we must also take a whole child
approach. All
children, regardless of their contexts, must progress through
universal matu-
rational and developmental stages, such as Erikson’s
psychological stages, and
must continually struggle to fit in with their same-age peers.
• Each child views his or her own diversity in a unique manner,
with value and

importance placed on different factors. For one child, race and
ethnicity might
be of most importance; for another child with a similar
background, gender may
take center stage (West, 2001). Furthermore, contexts such as
the school, home,
and neighborhood can change the focus of the child’s diversity.
For example, a
learning disability is more of a critical factor at school than at
home; a biracial
child’s diversity is different at a school that does not understand
her identity
than at home where her unique identity is supported and
nurtured (Wardle &
Cruz-Janzen, 2004). The context of time also changes the
importance of various
diversity factors. Some students struggle with their unique
identity in middle
and high school (partly due to Erikson’s stages of development
we have dis-
cussed) while they feel liberated and empowered when they go
on to college.
• Certain forms of diversity can have a powerful, negative
impact on a child’s
learning and academic success. A child from Russia who does
not speak Eng-
lish will struggle in a school that does not accommodate
children who speak
only Russian; a child diagnosed with autism will struggle in a
private school
that is not equipped to work with children with severe
disabilities. Until these
barriers are adequately addressed, they are the central focus of
the child’s
learning.

• Since a child’s sense of identity is formed, supported, or
negated by the child’s
social environments, schools, teachers, administrators, and
specialists must be
extremely cautious about imposing their own views,
assumptions, and stereo-
types on the child and his or her family (Wardle, 2011).
Assuming a boy will
have behavior problems, an Asian child will automatically be
good at math, or
a Black child will be good at athletics but struggle academically
is unaccept-
able. It is also not acceptable to assume that all children from
the same racial
or ethnic group have the same values, learn in the same way,
and have parents
with similar expectations. And physical appearance can be
extremely mislead-
ing both for adults and peers: Not all Latinos have dark hair,
brown skin, and
dark eyes; not all White children have blue eyes and blond hair,
and not all
biracial children “look biracial.” To avoid this dilemma, school
personnel must
continually challenge their own stereotypical thinking and
encourage children
and parents to inform them as to their unique diversity (Wardle,
2011).
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CHAPTER 5Section 5.4 Culture, Identity, Language, and
Equality

5.4 Culture, Identity, Language, and Equality
As a result of the civil rights movement, legal cases, and new
federal laws, integra-tion has become an important indicator of
equality both in American society and in our schools. All major
U.S. cities institutionalized school busing—transport-
ing White children to predominantly Black schools and Black
children to predominantly
White schools—to implement school integration. Integrating
children with disabilities
into classrooms with nondisabled peers is required by law; and
racial, ethnic, and gen-
der diversity efforts are still considered the hallmark of equality
in public agencies and
private companies. Many see racially integrated neighborhoods
as the model for good
communities.
Thus, most Americans view desegregation—by gender,
race/ethnicity, disability, income,
and language—as the ultimate example of equality (Lopez,
2006). However, W. E. B.
Dubois and other Black educators of the last century were
concerned that in their efforts
to support the education of Black students as a central
component of Black liberation, they
would not forget to preserve African American cultural integrity
and uniqueness (King,
2004). Other scholars have suggested that racially segregated
schools in the age of integra-
tion provide minority children with important role models
(teachers), cultural knowledge
and pride, and a sense of cultural belonging (hooks, 1994).
Thus, the question arises as
to when homogeneous student and family groups are preferred

and when these groups
threaten integration and equality.
Sometime segregation is simply the most practical way to
address a problem or to target
a solution (e.g., teaching a single language or meeting the needs
of students with dis-
abilities); on other occasions, segregation is an unintended
result of a laudable effort, idea,
or policy. Thus the dilemma is how to enhance students’
cultural and linguist identity in
schools while also encouraging and embracing equality.
Cultural Segregation
Cultural groups are defined by what they have in common and
by how they differ from
other cultural groups (Aboud, 1987; Hall, 1976b). As they come
into contact with other
cultures, particularly the dominant culture, these groups lose
their unique status (hooks,
1994; King, 2004). Thus many cultural groups—from racial,
ethnic, linguistic, and reli-
gious groups, to disability groups such as the deaf culture—
actively engage in ways to
resist becoming totally absorbed into mainstream American
culture. W.E.B. Dubois saw
no contradiction between attempts to break down racial barriers
while also preserving the
cultural differences between the races (Aptheker, 1973).
As an example, many U.S. colleges and universities today have
separate African American,
Native American, Latino, and women’s departments. These
departments were created out
of necessity because the history, body of knowledge, values,
scholarship, and politics of

each group were not being addressed in traditional college
departments. Hegemony is the
process by which the dominant culture takes over and shifts the
perspective from that of
the minority group to the biased perspective of the majority
group (McLaren, 1989). In the
process, minority groups lose their power and support base,
becoming assimilated into
the dominant discourse. Therefore, separate academic
departments and other groups are
essential to resist hegemony and to make sure cultural integrity
and unity are maintained
war81073_05_c05.indd 149 8/30/13 10:16 AM
Equality
(King, 2004). In essence, many believe the dominant culture is
so powerful and seductive
that without individual racial, ethnic, cultural, and other groups
defining and protecting
their uniqueness and separateness, the dominant society would
simply absorb them.
This view has led to some apparent conflicts between the
concept of equality and indi-
vidual freedom of choice on the one hand and racial and cultural
preservation on the
other hand. Many racial and ethnic groups pressure their
members not to marry outside
of the group, which is also true of some religious groups
(Wardle & Cruz-Janzen, 2004).
Many Black intellectuals are ardent supporters not only of the

one-drop rule but also of
the taboo against people with mixed heritage “passing as
White,” believing that this will
maintain Black cultural strength and identity (Spencer, 2010).
In 1972 the National Asso-
ciation of Black Social Workers approved a policy against the
adoption of Black and bira-
cial children by White families, viewing it as a threat to the
Black culture (NABSW, 2010).
In another example, some years ago students and some faculty
at Gallaudet University, a
university for deaf students in Washington, DC, protested the
hiring of a president who
was not hearing impaired.
Another argument in support of a single cultural approach
suggests that the unique needs
of historically underserved people can more effectively be met
by isolating and targeting
the specific group. In education, for example, it is believed that
children from diverse
backgrounds have diverse needs that have been historically
neglected and thus must be
specifically targeted and addressed to undo past discrimination
and to produce the best
results (Lopez, 2006).
Linguistic Segregation
In many cases, the most efficient and practical way of
addressing linguistic diversity is
through a segregated approach. Languages are taught one
language at a time; lectures,
church services, and government meetings tend to be given in a
single language, depend-
ing on the specific group of people targeted. At best we might
use the native language of

the majority of participants and then translate into the dominant
language (English), or
vice versa. A good example is a presentation in English and a
translation into sign lan-
guage. Anyone who has attended a truly international
conference knows how cumber-
some, difficult, and expensive it is to provide translation in
many different languages.
However, this approach poses a number of challenges. When a
language is directly associ-
ated with a specific group (Latinos, Somalis, etc.), this
approach can be seen as racial or
ethnic segregation, or even discrimination. Since English is the
language of the dominant
culture in the United States, any program, activity, or event
presented only in English can
be considered noninclusive and discriminatory.
Given that the number of different languages spoken in schools,
universities, government
meetings, and the workplace continues to increase, it is even
more difficult to determine
who should decide which languages will be accommodated and
which will not. Does this
very act of inclusion and noninclusion discriminate against
those individuals whose lan-
guage is not accommodated? In this case, it is important to
remember that diversity is not
about numbers: If one person in a gathering does not understand
the proceedings, that
person’s diversity is being ignored.
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Equality
If people are segregated for functional language practicality,
how then can they be inte-
grated to provide cultural, individual, educational, and
workplace equality? And if adults
are segregated, what message does this send to students?
Social Class Segregation
At a very early age, students are segregated based on income.
Head Start and No Child
Left Behind are federal programs that specifically target low-
income students and their
families, and most states now have preschool programs for “at
risk” students, most of
whom are low income (Doggett, 2006). Additionally, urban and
rural schools tend to cater
to low-income students, while suburban public schools serve
middle- and upper-income
families. Small towns, especially those with a college or
university, have schools geared
toward middle- and upper-income students (Kozol, 1991).
Charter schools and specific
school-based programs such as IB and AP programs also tend to
be in wealthier commu-
nities (Orfield & Frankenberg, 2012). And of course there are a
variety of private school
choices available in most communities—some religious and
others not, but all requiring
tuition and therefore generally serving wealthier students and
their families. One could
even argue that families who home school their children tend to
be at least middle-class,
because they can afford to have a parent stay at home to care for

and educate their children.
In the case of federal and state support of low-income schools,
the view is that targeting
social class—and often minority families—is a positive use of
tax dollars. In the case of
economically segregated urban and rural schools, suburban
school districts, and univer-
sity towns, the view is that this is a negative result of an
unequal distribution of wealth,
often associated with race, ethnicity, and recent immigrants
(Kozol, 1991; Nieto & Bode,
2012). However, in both cases social class segregation is the
result.
Religious Segregation
Many argue that religious institutions are the most racially
segregated of all institutions
in America. Religious freedom is a central component of the
overall American culture
and political history. Furthermore, many parents view education
as a critically important
place for religious values, beliefs, practice, and traditions to be
imparted to their children.
In the United States there is even a plethora of religious
colleges and universities.
Because many ethnic, racial, and cultural groups have the same
religion (Muslims are
Islamic, many Latinos are Catholic, Russians are Eastern
Orthodox, etc.), religious schools
also reinforce racial, ethnic, and language segregation. And
because all religious schools
are tuition based, they can be viewed as reinforcing social class
segregation.

Segregation of Students With Disabilities
The official process of working with children with disabilities
begins by placing these
children into a category and labeling them—distinguishing them
from nondisabled stu-
dents. While this does not necessarily mean they will be
segregated from other students,
it does mean that they are given a label that identifies them to
teachers and administra-
tors, and in many cases, to other parents and to peers. Some of
these students are fully
mainstreamed into all school activities; others are included in
some activities with their
war81073_05_c05.indd 151 8/30/13 10:16 AM
Equality
peers, while being segregated in other activities. However, there
are also schools, pro-
grams, and classrooms that target a specific disability and
totally segregate these students
from their peers. Examples include schools for blind and deaf
students, programs for
children with autism, and self-contained classrooms in schools
for those students with
severe emotional and behavioral problems.
Schools isolate children with
specific disabilities in order to
target their treatment, to enable
them to be around other stu-
dents like them, and to more

efficiently use human and mate-
rial resources (Gargiulo, 2012).
However, in many school dis-
tricts there is tension around this
issue between parents and the
school (with most parents want-
ing more mainstreaming) and
between local school districts
and state and federal agencies
whose job it is to enforce the law
that requires the integration of
students with disabilities, when
it can benefit the student.
Segregation in K–12 Schools
This discussion presents some of the societal and school-related
issues regarding integra-
tion and segregation. In specifically addressing schools in the
United States, we can divide
this discussion into three categories: (a) intentional segregation
(for the intended benefit
of students), (b) unintentional segregation (to the detriment of
students), and (c) segre-
gated programs that backfire.
Intentional Segregation
There are two kinds of segregation, intentional and
unintentional. Intentional segrega-
tion is when students are deliberately grouped together in order
to provide direct services
and programs. Unintentional segregation is when segregation of
students occurs as a
result of some other intent, circumstance, or activity. The two
most obvious examples of
intentional segregation are programs that segregate students
according to academic abili-

ties and programs for children with various disabilities. In
elementary schools, students
are grouped by ability in reading groups, math groups, and so
on. This is so teachers and
schools can target instruction—human resources, materials, and
instructional approaches.
As students move on to middle and then high school, they begin
to take advanced classes
in special areas. More and more K–12 schools are identifying
students with exceptional
gifted and talented abilities and providing specific programs to
meet the unique needs of
these students (Clark, 2012).
AP Photo/Idaho Press-Tribune/Greg Kreller
Children in this Special Education class receive specialized
instruction from their teacher. What are the benefits and
drawbacks of this form of segregation?
war81073_05_c05.indd 152 8/30/13 10:16 AM
Equality
For students with various disabilities that negatively affect their
learning, special educa-
tion programs identify and serve these students. The rationale is
that targeting a child’s
area of special needs allows teachers and specialists to
intervene more effectively and
quickly while also providing accommodations to assist these
students in succeeding in
the regular classroom (Gargiulo, 2012). Twice-exceptional

students are also beginning to
be served as a separate group.
Finally, the rise of charter schools in many school districts
throughout the United States
is an attempt to match students’ unique talents and abilities with
school programs and
instructional approaches. The political and education belief has
changed from a one-size-
fits-all view of public schools to matching students and families
with unique schools,
programs, and philosophies (Orfield & Frankenberg, 2012).
Unintentional Segregation
One of the biggest challenges faced by schools is their local
nature. The heart of the Amer-
ican public school system is the local school district run by an
elected board. Because
most neighborhoods in cities throughout the United States are
economically, racially, and
ethnically segregated, this naturally results in schools with
vastly different financial
and human resources, racial and economic segregation, and a
concentration of students
and families with many needs. While economic and racial
segregation in certain neighbor-
hoods is directly a result of bank’s redlining, real-estate
companies discriminating against
potential clients, and factories and other industries concentrated
within these neighbor-
hoods, the schools themselves are not intentionally segregated.
Frequently, non-English
speakers and students who struggle academically find
themselves in schools with limited
resources and a lack of political power (Kozol, 1991).

Sports, special art and music programs, and student groups have
always been a central
part of American schools. These programs have become even
more important with the
implementation of the standards movement that focuses on
math, literacy, and science.
Urban schools focus primarily on basic academic areas with few
opportunities for stu-
dents in art, music, dance and theater. And within these schools,
minority and low-income
students often struggle in academic areas and therefore do not
have time for the arts and
other nonbasic programs. Student groups and sports activities
are also becoming expen-
sive, thus systematically eliminating low-income students. And,
as we have discussed,
students tend to self-segregate when choosing clubs and sports
activities.
Segregated Programs That Backfire
Unfortunately, many of the programs designed to target certain
students for their aca-
demic benefit also have negative consequences.
• More boys and Black, Latino, Native American, and non-
native English-
speaking students are placed into special education programs
than girls, native
English-speakers, Asian, and White students (Gargiulo, 2012).
• More girls, and Asian, and White students are in GT, AP, and
IB programs than
boys, Black, Latino, and Native American students (Office of
Civil Rights, 2004;
U.S. Department of Education, 1993; Ford, 2010; Ford,
Gantham, & Whiting, 2008).

war81073_05_c05.indd 153 8/30/13 10:16 AM
CHAPTER 5Post-Test
• Tracking in schools leads to more Asians, Whites, and middle-
class students in
higher ability programs and classrooms, and more low-income,
minority stu-
dents in poor-quality schools and in low-level classrooms
(Kozol, 1991).
• Charter schools serve more White, Asian, middle-class, and
English-speaking
students and families, while traditional neighborhood schools
serve low-
income and predominantly minority and new immigrant students
(Orfield &
Frankenberg, 2012).
Hence, we have in K–12 schools in the United States a tension
between trying to pro-
vide educational opportunities and choices to match the needs
of students and families
(programs, tracking, charter schools, special education
programs, etc.) and furthering
school-based segregation by language, disability, income,
race/ethnicity, and new immi-
grant groups.
Summary
In this chapter we explored the influence of culture on growth,
development, and learn-
ing. The development of a child’s identity is a dynamic process

that occurs within many
cultural contexts. This process includes an amalgamation of all
the forms of diversity that
make up the child’s unique identity.
Most students in U.S. schools incorporate multiple diversities
into their unique identity,
and these diversities interact in different ways. In an attempt to
nurture each student’s
unique identity, especially students who are not from the
mainstream culture, we must
find a balance between supporting and protecting cultural and
linguistic identity while
not creating unequal opportunities and segregated groups. Some
segregation is inten-
tional, such as when serving children with disabilities, while
other types of segregation
are not. Schools and teachers must carefully balance the unique
needs of diverse students
with continuing to advocate for equality and inclusion.
Post-Test
1. In these types of cultures, social and cultural contexts in
which words are used
often communicate more than the words themselves. These are
known as
a. highly verbal cultures.
b. low-context cultures.
c. high-context cultures.
d. legalistic cultures.
2. In the 1960s, who first introduced to the United States a four-
stage, biological
view of how children learn?

a. Jean Piaget
b. Noam Chomsky
c. Lawrence Kohlberg
d. Sigmund Freud
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CHAPTER 5Post-Test
3. A child’s beliefs about how competent he or she is in
achieving a task and activ-
ity and in learning a new skill or concept, is called
a. self-image.
b. self-esteem.
c. self-efficacy.
d. self-concept.
4. When students are segregated due to some inadvertent
consequence, practice, or
activity, this is termed
a. intentional segregation.
b. unintentional integration.
c. unintentional consequences.
d. unintentional segregation.
5. _________________have a profound impact on a child’s
learning and the child’s
view of education and the value of and purpose of education.
a. Societies
b. Schools

c. Neighborhoods
d. Cultures
6. The process whereby Pueblo Indian boys are initiated into the
values and ways
of the tribe is through an organization called the
a. Pueblo.
b. Anasazi.
c. Kivas.
d. Church.
7. In William Cross’s two-factor theory, self-esteem, self-worth,
personal traits,
interpersonal competence, self-confidence, and temperament
make up
a. reference group orientation (RGO).
b. positive self-esteem (PS).
c. personal identity (PI).
d. high self-worth (HS).
8. Head Start and NCLB are federal programs that target
students and families who
are
a. low income.
b. new immigrants.
c. minorities.
d. non-English speakers.
Answers
1. c. high-context cultures. The answer can be found in Section
5.1.
2. a. Jean Piaget. The answer can be found in Section 5.2.
3. c. self-efficacy. The answer can be found in Section 5.3.

4. d. unintentional segregation. The answer can be found in
Section 5.4
5. d. Cultures. The answer can be found in Section 5.1.
6. c. Kiva. The answer can be found in Section 5.2.
7. c. personal identity (PI). The answer can be found in Section
5.3.
8. a. low income. The answer can be found in Section 5.4.
war81073_05_c05.indd 155 8/30/13 10:16 AM
CHAPTER 5Key Ideas
Key Ideas
The Influence of Culture on Everything We Do
• E. T. Hall examined how different cultures influence people
and how people
from difference cultural backgrounds often misunderstand each
other, which can
cause conflicts.
• E. T. Hall maintained that each one of us lives and operates
within specific cul-
tural contexts, and these contexts determine how we perceive,
think, and behave.
• A person’s culture has a profound impact on how the person
develops and
learns.
Relationship Between Learning, Culture, and Education
• Piaget’s and Kohlberg’s cognitive and moral development

theories are linear
stage theories that view development and learning as
progressive and sequential;
these theories dominate today’s view of how children develop
and learn.
• Some contemporary theorists believe cognitive and moral
development are not
linear, sequential, and progressive, but rather occur in fits and
starts and are
greatly influenced by significant social and cultural factors in a
child’s life.
A Child’s Unique Identity Greatly Influences Development and
Learning
• Identity development begins at infancy and continues until
death; Erikson’s
psychosocial theory of development provides important
information about how
children develop an identity from birth through adolescence.
• Cross’s two-factor theory of Black identity is helpful in
understanding identity
development of minority students.
• Race, ethnicity, gender, language, disabilities, economic
status, and new immi-
grant status can all be important components of a student’s
identity.
• While it is important to examine individual forms of diversity,
most students
come to school with a complex combination of diversity factors.
Tension Between Supporting Culture, Identity, Language, and

Equality
• Legal and policy developments in U.S. society and schools
over the past 60 years
have focused on integration and the elimination of segregation.
• Segregation is sometimes needed to develop a sense of
cultural knowledge and
pride in minority groups in America; further, homogeneous
student groups are
needed in order to target the unique needs of students from
underserved groups
and for functional purposes such as teaching a second language.
• Because of the economic inequality of American society,
social class segrega-
tion in schools tends to reflect the segregation in society and in
segregated
neighborhoods.
• K–12 schools deliberately create some segregation for the
benefit of students,
some is not deliberate, and some is a direct result of honorable
intentions.
war81073_05_c05.indd 156 8/30/13 10:16 AM
CHAPTER 5Key Terms
1. Describe the differences between high- and low-context
cultures. How do these
differences affect the use of language?

2. In schools, when is racial, gender, disability, or language
segregation justified?
What are possible unintended consequences of this segregation?
3. In your high school social studies class, an argument has
developed between two
students. One student says that she heard on a National Public
Radio program
that Jews have been a significant group in certain parts of
Colombia, Mexico,
Brazil, and Southwest United States for several hundreds of
years. The other
student, a Latina who does not listen to NPR, takes exception to
this view, feel-
ing it devalues her understanding of Latinos. Which student do
you agree with?
Why or why not? If you had a student who expressed a similar
viewpoint as the
Latina student, how would you respond to that student?
4. Some people believe that charter schools are an effective way
to match unique
family and student needs with a school’s philosophy and
programs, while others
see them perpetuating racial, ethnic, and economic segregation.
Take one side of
this view and develop a persuasive argument.
5. Explain William Cross’s assertion that in minority children
RGO does not neces-
sarily predict PI. Do you agree?
6. Piaget and Kohlberg/Lickona provide a stage approach to
cognitive and moral
development. Bruner, Kagan, and Eagan dispute this view. Are

these two
approaches incompatible, or can they coexist? Explain.
7. What are your present cultural contexts? How do these
influence your val-
ues and your worldview? How do they influence your learning
(positive and
negative)?
Key Terms
Erikon’s psychosocial stages An eight-
stage, lifespan theory that presents a series
of crises to be overcome and describes the
consequences if they are not overcome.
ethnic identity A person’s sense of
belonging to an ethnic group as part of
that person’s thinking, perceptions, feel-
ings, and behaviors.
gender intensification A process that
occurs during adolescence, whereby soci-
etal and cultural gender stereotypes are
often increased and exaggerated.
hegemony The process in which minor-
ity cultures and perspectives are changed,
usurped, and co-opted by the majority
culture.
high-context cultures Cultures in which
words change their meaning based on the
context in which they are used; more so of
African and Latin American cultures.

intentional segregation Segregating
students or family members for specific
purposes, such as translating into one lan-
guage or serving children with the same
disability.
low-context cultures Cultures in which
words and verbal instructions maintain
their meaning, regardless of the cultural
context; used in Northern Europe and
North America.
monochromatic system A system of time
that is linear and the same for all opera-
tions and all endeavors; a North American
and Northern European approach.
war81073_05_c05.indd 157 8/30/13 10:16 AM
CHAPTER 5Key Terms
moral reasoning The process by which
children and people think about and rea-
son about good and bad, right and wrong,
and ethnical and unethical behaviors.
personal identity (PI) A term used in
William Cross’s two-factor theory of
Black identity; includes self-esteem, tem-
perament, personal characteristics, and
self-worth.
polychromatic system A system of time
that changes according to the activity or

endeavor; each activity or event has its
own timeframe. Used in Latin America,
Africa, and Southern Europe.
Premack principle The use of an activity
a child likes or is good at doing to rein-
force what a child does not like and is not
good at doing; an approach used exten-
sively when working with children with
disabilities.
reference group orientation (RGO) A
term used in William Cross’s two-factor
theory of Black identity; involves a child’s
sense of racial belonging, group affiliation,
racial identity, and racial self-worth.
role confusion The behaviors that occur
during adolescence as a student struggles
with identity issues of gender, race, ethnic-
ity, language, beliefs, career choices, and
so on.
salient feature A feature that stands out
compared to other features: color, shape,
sound, etc.
school busing A court decision that
required White students to be bused to
predominately Black schools and Black
students to be bused to predominately
White schools in many major U.S. cities to
integrate the schools.
self-concept One’s view of self; includes
knowledge and beliefs about gender, eth-

nicity, competencies, family, and physical
features. Answers the question, Who am I?
self-efficacy Refers to a person’s beliefs
about how competent they are in achiev-
ing a task.
self-esteem Answers the question, How
good am I as a person? It includes judg-
ments and feelings about the self.
two-factor theory of Black identity
A theory developed by William Cross that
explains the racial identity development
of Black individuals. Cross believes the
model also applies to other minority stu-
dents in America.
unintentional segregation Racial, ethnic,
gender, income, and other segregation that
occurs as a result of some other action,
policy or program, which often has a laud-
able purpose.
village culture A term used by E. T. Hall to
describe the way people in certain cultures
view their interrelationship with others
who live in their town or neighborhood.
whole child approach An approach to
working with children with various dis-
abilities that focuses on addressing all
of the child’s needs, not just the areas in
which the child struggles or needs help.
war81073_05_c05.indd 158 8/30/13 10:16 AM

CHAPTER 5Additional Resources
Additional Resources
Children’s Defense Fund
http://childrensdefense.org
Resegregation of American Public Schools
http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/27/04/feature1.shtml
Home Language
http://www.iteachilearn.com/cummings/mother.htm
National Association of Bilingual Education
http://www.nabe.org/
What Are We Measuring: School Quality or Poverty?
http://www.nea.org/home/17622.htm
Teaching Tolerance: Inclusive and Nurturing School
Environments
http://www.splcenter.org/what-we-do/teaching-tolerance
war81073_05_c05.indd 159 8/30/13 10:16 AM
http://childrensdefense.org
http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/27/04/feature1.shtml
http://www.iteachilearn.com/cummings/mother.htm
http://www.nabe.org/
http://www.nea.org/home/17622.htm
http://www.splcenter.org/what-we-do/teaching-tolerance

war81073_05_c05.indd 160 8/30/13 10:16 AM
Scanned by CamScanner
DISCUSSION BOARD II:
Examine the following variables that could affect the price of
oil:
a. Tax credits were offered for expenditures on home insulation.
b. The Alaskan pipeline was completed.
c. A supposed ceiling on the price of oil was removed.
d. A new, very large deposit of oil was discovered.
e. Buyers in large numbers all of the sudden started driving
large sport utility vehicles.
f. The use of nuclear power suddenly decreased.
Choose any two of the above variables, and describe how your
selections would affect oil prices based on the supply and
demand analysis.
DISCUSSION BOARD III:
Trace through the circular flow model in Chapter 6. What is the
point of the circular flow model, what are some leakages and
injections into the circular flow model, and how are the
leakages and injections related to the circular flow?

*No minimum words required. Simple responses that answers
the questions.

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