Chapter 2 culturally responsive classrooms

This chapter describes how culture is everywhere and how it often clashes in the school. The word culture in actuality is the way of knowing, believing, valuing, and thinking among a group of people. There are two types of culture called surface culture and deep culture. Surface culture is the type that everyone believes is culture such as where a person's is from, what food they eat, holidays, and architecture. Deep culture is more in depth with a person's characteristics, beliefs, and values. The school environment is a type of culture in itself and is often mismatched among its students and teachers. According to Michael Oleksa, for example, he says that the system of deep culture is like American football where if everyone is knows the game of football then everyone is playing the same game and everything's great, but put a soccer player into the football game then everything and everyone is thrown into confusion and chaos. The soccer player begins to feel like he/she doesn't belong.
The problem with this mismatched culture is that the values underlying these practices tend to match those of white, middle-class, Western European, heterosexual, male-dominated culture. Those students who are different from this way of thinking are degraded and labeled to have a discipline problem or have a "learning disability". Many administrators and school boards claim that it is the student who needs to conform and adjust to the culture of the school, but in fact it's the other way around. It's the school and it's falculty that need to conform and adjust to the students culture. The schools are obligated to meet the needs of all its students and to also accomodate the parents and better understand their beliefs and customs.
There is certain literature that the students culture doesn't allow and by having a better understanding the parents and teachers can find some common ground and find a way to compromise to benefit the child and not make it a terrible experience for them.