Dinobots! UNITE!!!

This post all relates back to our conversation and in-class journaling from Monday 4/11.  The question was about how we want to approach the subject of culture in our classrooms.  My initial response was that I would want the kids in my class to embrace whatever cultural background they come from, or whichever one they have chosen to associate with.  Yup, so perfectly simple, all nice and tidy.

On the way home that night, I began to ponder the complexities of that answer and the problems it encountered.*  What does this mean for those kids who don't have a strong cultural involvement at home?  What about those kids who are from multiple generation, U.S. born families that originated from an individualistic culture to begin with?  Not valuing culture certainly marginalizes those who celebrate their backgrounds, but does placing too much emphasis on the subject devalue those kids without strong ties to cultural roots?  Is there a culture for them?

It brings up the subject of an "American culture".  Oh, our country’s ideology loves to mention America as the "great melting pot", and that "American culture" is the most amazing collection of cultures in the world.  But, what happens when something melts?  It loses all shape and continuity.  What once held form now is an unintelligible mass.  How about when you melt two separate, unique items?  They meld into one indistinct form.  The base of the Statue of liberty contains a portion of the sonnet The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus: "Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free", so that we may boil you down into a form that makes you less distinguished and more like us, completely homogenized.  That is what the "melting pot" means to me.  Suffice it to say, this will not be a part of my classroom.

Since the existing one will not suffice, then how do I create an overlying culture for those kids who do not have a powerful tie to one?  Is it possible to create a "New American Culture"?  What is the starting point for doing so?  Can there be an overarching culture with sub-cultures without stripping those individual parts of their power?

Here is what I have so far, I call it my Dinobots Theory of Culture:  Back in the day of the original Transformers, there was a sub-division of the Autobots known as the Dinobots.  For the purpose of my theory we will have to strip away the hierarchies of Transformer first, Autobot second and Dinobot third and just focus on the latter as it's own independent domain.  Why Dinobots?  Well, I am trying to develop my ideas in terms of things I can explain to kids; using parts of their lives to represent the concepts and teaching from their experiences.  Elementary school kids love both robots and dinosaurs (there is the potential that this will require some reworking for the girls) so I felt this might be a good way to try to express a somewhat abstract idea to them.

The premise is simple.  There were five Dinobots, each on their own a valued member of the team with unique strengths and characteristics.  However, when pressed they could unite into a super robot.  Some members becoming legs, some becoming arms, some becoming parts of head and torso.  All equally important parts of the greater whole, yet still distinct and independent.  Separate but united.

I think this would work on two levels; first that those who do not identify with a particular culture can feel included in something.  It not only gives them a sociocultural group to be part of, but since this "umbrella culture" contains many different pieces, they can feel a part of each smaller unit that makes up the whole.  I hope this sense of belonging will propel them to learn more of these new cultures they are a now connected to.  Second, I think that if there existed a positive connotation to an "American culture", then those with a strong cultural background would be much more inclined to share their heritage, beliefs and values with others knowing they would be appreciated rather than facing attempts to suppress them or meld them into our current system.  It would also give them access to the majority group without feeling like they are sacrificing their culture to do so.

Maybe this is all too deep of a concept to try to get kids to latch on to.  I firmly believe that social change should start early and I am hoping that relating it to them in a contextual way they can understand may help.  I also think that some of our kids (especially the white boys and girls) have never had to think much about how their backgrounds fit into the greater scheme of things and therefore are less inclined to know about other cultures since they don't even identify with one of their own.  Hopefully making them a part of a greater cultural whole, they will want to find out more about the individual pieces.

*By the way, does anyone else think that perhaps it isn't the safest thing to fill our heads full of deep-thinking questions and then proceed to drive out into the dark of night on the highways and byways of the greater Seattle area?