R 8

            According to Bruner, “Learning, remembering, talking, imagining: all of them are made possible by participating in a culture” (Bruner, 1996, p. XI).  Many times, when I think of culture, I think of family and traditions.  However, Bruner described that culture can also be fostered into societal domains that everyone shares; either at work or in school, no matter what a person’s background.  Furthermore, he thought that culture was an element that was needed in education because there were cultural issues in the schools, especially during the civil rights movement.  These issues in the schools were poverty, alienation, and racial discrimination.  He believed that students were not doing well in school as a result of those cultural issues, in which he called “cultural deprivation.”  As a means to rectify the interference of acquiring knowledge because of certain discrepancies of students, he believed that “mutual learning cultures” was the solution.

Bruner (1996) described one version of “culture at its best” when, “There is mutual sharing of knowledge and ideas, mutual aid in mastering material, division of labor and exchange of roles, opportunity to reflect on the group’s activities” (p. XV).  He understood how this type of culture would be difficult to apply in schools, given that there are policies and regulations that are strictly enforced.  In my opinion, if there were not any limitations to what schools can do, having a kind of collectivist classroom would be difficult to accomplish because group work is usually not encouraged in schools.  In addition, there is so much competition in schools that the thought of most students helping their fellow classmates would be nonexistent in their minds. 

Although everyone is from different backgrounds outside of school, they all share a common goal in school.  Therefore, an ideal classroom would be if all differences are put to the side, and every student can work as a team to help one another reach this common goal, which is learning.  At least by establishing a communal learning environment, it is guaranteed that alienation and racism would not be an issue, yet poverty could possibly still be.  Thus, if students are in poverty, most likely they are not getting the proper nutrients to concentrate in school.  Furthermore, according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, food is one of the physiological needs, so if that is not met, then students will not be motivated to move on to the next level.

After viewing the film Waiting for Superman, I discovered the affects of poverty in various school districts.  Since the issues of poverty in the schools have contributed to the lack of effective learning due to limited and generic resource materials and dilapidated ceilings, this too would be a form of inequality.  Therefore, the culture of poverty will still have a huge effect on students’ learning, so how can mutual learning supersede the affects of poverty?