From kindergarten through twelfth grade, students typically
spend eight hours a day in school 180 days out of the year. This means that
each year, students spend 1,440 hours in school and after thirteen years of
K-12 education, 18,720 hours are spent on school grounds. In all those hours,
it is clear that students are exposed to administrative and school practices
that shape the identity of the student. Aspects like student-teacher
interaction, a system of rewards and punishments, the messages the school gives
its students and the resources of the schools all play a vital role in shaping
the student, (Martinez, 2014). It is
evident that the community that the school is perpetuates a culture space that
all students are a part of. A cultural space is defined as, “the social and
cultural contexts in which our identity forms- where we grow up and where we
live,” (Martin and Nakayama, 2013, pg 274).
It is beyond just the physical space; it is the interactions and
relationships that form cultural meanings for its inhabitants. A school’s
culture is every aspect about the school. It is how people act, so the people
in the school actually define the school culture, (“School Culture Matters,”
2012).
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| School colors and mascots help identify community and the school as a cultural space (Image from brandempowerment.com) |
Schools act
as a cultural space for many reasons. An obvious example is the sense of community
is school rivalries. In sports, academics, the arts or any other major facet of
the school, there are rivalries. This develops a sense of community and
togetherness amongst the students in order to “beat the other guys.” School
colors, a mascot, and a motto or goals all define the culture of the school and
unite them into a cultural space. A cultural space is also created by the power
deference and the social interactions at the school. There may be a certain way
teachers are expected to interact with students and vice versa. In another
realm, underclassmen might expect to be submissive to upperclassmen. All these interactions help to form a distinctive
community in which the student’s identity is changed as he or she progresses
through each school day. Finally, each school may have its own rituals or
traditions that gives it a unique aura. As Thomas Sergiovanni, prominent
professor of education, stated, “People are bonded to each other as a result of
their mutual bindings to shared values. traditions, ideas, and ideals,”
(Westheimer, 1996).
My first
attempt at data gathering was setting up an online survey for recent graduates
of public schools. This five question survery gave me a breadth of knowledge
and key pieces of information. The five questions I asked were:
1)
What school district did you attend?
2)
How many were in your graduating class?
3)
Rank in order the importance you feel your
school placed on the following items: academics, sports, fine/performing arts,
technology in the classroom, standardized testing, and faith/religion.
4)
How well do you feel your high school prepared
you for college classes?
5)
Describe your high school experience as far as
difficulty of classes, involvement of extracurricular activities, and the
amount of freedom/restraint you had while at school.
I received 37 responses for the questions, and this gives me
a good basis and a place to pull specific aspects from hat relate to the school
as a cultural space. I have also taken field notes in my practicum and in my
experiences in the classroom this semester. These will help me further explore
the cultural community of a public school. I want to interview students
specifically about the type of community they feel that their public school
had. I plan on recording small snippets of what their school community was like
and how they feel that it shaped them. I will also interview two students more
in-depth about their experiences. I look forward to seeing how the school
cultural space of a public school influences a student’s identity and how that
experience was different from my own.
This video helps explain why school culture matters and what aspects go into it by looking at a school in Chicago.
References
Free Spirit Media. (12 October 2012) “School Culture Matters.” [Youtube
video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=180MxID2raM.
Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2013). Intercultural
Communication in Contexts (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Martinez, Eliza “Influence of Schools on Behavior of
Children.” Global Post. http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/influence-schools-behavior-children-5371.html
Westheimer, Joel. (Winter 1996).“Building Community in
Schools.” Harvard Educational Review.
Retrieved from http://hepg.org/her/abstract/251.
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