Risk Factors In Our Unique Cultural Context

1. Risk Factors In Our Unique Cultural Context August 20, 2008 Port-of-Spain Trinidad and Tobago Dr. Launcelot I. Brown

2. Defining Culture • The sum total of the ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another (From anthropology) • The behaviours and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group • The quality of a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits

3. Defining Culture cont.’ • UNESCO (2002) • Culture should be regarded as the set of distinctive • spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features • of society, or a social group. It encompasses arts, • literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, values • systems, traditions and beliefs. … All the ways of life • for an entire society

4. Manifestation of Culture • Artifacts and Activities • Food • Music • Literature • Dress • Dance • Speech patterns • Prism through which we view the world • Organizational and family structure • Attitude

5. The Big Point • Culture is not static. It is forever changing. • Why? • The environment • Technology • Communication

6. At-risk Students • At risk of what? • Dropping out of school • Academic failure • Problem behaviours • Limited employment opportunities • Implied but not stated • At risk of going to jail

7. The assumption • To deem the previous outcomes a risk, one has to • assume that students want to stay in school and • succeed academically to improve their employment • opportunities. • One has to assume that students find attending • school to be a rewarding experience

8. The big question • Who is the at-risk student? • The urban poor child • The child from the single parent family • The child from the home with low maternal education

9. Big question cont’ • The child who is economically deprived • The child who is socially deprived • The child who is emotionally deprived

10. A caution • We have to be careful. The aforementioned are • identified in the extant literature as risk-factors • associated with student achievement. • An association does not indicate cause

11. The Trinidad and Tobago Context • There is a Trinidad and Tobago culture. But there are also • sub-cultures. There is the Tobago culture, Indo-Trinidadian • culture and Afro-Trinidadian culture. There is also the culture • reflective of social class. • I would argue that in Trinidad and Tobago, while the risk • factors permeate all ethnic groups and social classes , it is the • Afro-Trinidadian, many of whom perceive themselves to be at • the bottom of the social class who is at greatest risk.

12. What does culture have to do with it? • There is the influence of history. • Voluntary and involuntary immigrant and the sense of • Mission (John Ogbu) • There is a difference between people who have been • uprooted from what they know, and those who build • on what they have.

13. Culture cont’ • This fact is played out in the various enclaves all over • Trinidad and Tobago. • A culture of survival.

14. Learning from Marcus Garvey. Martin Henry: Jamaican Gleaner • Sunday August 17 marked the 121st anniversary of the birth • of Marcus Garvey. • One of the major problems with black people, and with the • post-colonial Caribbean in particular, is that we are not • sufficiently in love with wisdom (which is what 'philosophy' • means in the Greek: philos, love; sophia, wisdom). We do not • cultivate our own lovers of wisdom. And we do not invest • sufficiently in the enterprise of reflection. We worship sports • and entertainment. We push politics and social activism. We • don't back thought.

15. Call to the middle class • Rise up, you middle class, against a culture of illiteracy and vulgarity • Xolela Mangcu: The South African Times • But the middle class has never been just an economic category. Among • black people it consisted of priests, chiefs, teachers, lawyers, nurses, • doctors and businessmen and women who, while earning more than the • mass of the population, also embodied certain social and cultural values. • For the most part these values were education, faith, social responsibility • and temperance. • However, the historical role of the middle class began to wane in the 1980s. • The growing militancy and militarisation of our society gave birth to a new • phenomenon in our political culture — the celebration of violence as • spectacle, and illiteracy as authenticity.

16. Glorification of vulgarity • I suppose it is how you define vulgarity, or what you consider • to be vulgar

17. Incremental effect of bad habits • Bad habits grow by degrees • Like streams into rivers • And rivers into seas • (A.N.R. Robinson) • Also good habits (L. I. Brown)

18. Examples from the media • Some of the DJs and the choice of music • Some of the talk show hosts • The rationale (the excuse) • “But that is we culture” • The fact is, children give legitimacy to what they hear on the • radio, especially if their parents also listen to the shows.

19. A culture of mediocrity • A culture of mediocrity is as a result of attitudes. Such a • culture does not foster perseverance or excellence. • The common saying in Trinidad and Tobago is: • “That could pass”

20. The culture of the home • Family education culture • Family social values • Family morals

21. The school culture • Who becomes a teacher? • How does one become a teacher? • How selective is the process to become a teacher? • How effective is the school leadership? • All these impact the school culture and as a result place some children at • Risk of school failure. However, these are also symptoms of the traditional • bureaucratic culture that so far has been able to resist the implementation • of structural reorganization.