As the deadline for their final project draws near, the students from both groups of the 21st Century Skills Program had the special opportunity to participate in a lecture on “Culture” with Professor Don Bysouth from Kansai University. Prof Bysouth’s lecture looked at culture through the lens of a social scientist, understanding cultural approaches from psychology, introducing students to two social scientific concepts (Emic versus Etic perspectives) and finally discussing ethnocentrism. 

 

The lesson began with a simple question “what is culture?” Students were quick to share their own definition of culture, sharing ideas and examples such as “culture is tradition, culture is something passed down from generation to generation, culture is the manifestation of human intellect.”  These answers provided the perfect launchpad into the lesson as the students explored the idea of “culture” by looking at the following areas: information, experience, belief and practices. When asked what connects these 4 areas together the students noted that they are all shared among people. The fundamental concept is that culture is shared.

 

 

 

The students were shown a few thought provoking statements and were asked to think about what came to mind. The students discussed in groups and shared their thoughts revealing the different cultural perspectives that exist within their own class group. One example was the statement “people who don’t remove their shoes before entering a home are selfish and rude.” Of course in many societies removing your shoes is common practice however in many western societies this is not the case. The students joined break out rooms for further discussion and came back to the main room for the final discussion.

 

They were shown three very different photos and asked to say the first word or phrase that came to mind. The photos represented different things to each student depending on their cultural backgrounds. Students guessed what the photos represented and discussed what they thought about them.