Who Am I Paper

Jacob A. Der

Inquiry into Profession

October 23, 2000

L. Busacca

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There are many factors that play a role in forming a person's cultural identity as they grow and mature. These factors of cultural identity are shaped and then reshaped by the socializing agents that we are put into contact with. The result of our socialization then forms the person that we become and the person that we transform into in the future. Cultural identity and socializing agents also form any biases that a person will carry. By understanding my own cultural identity and socializing agents I can better understand how culture has contributed to my current identity as a student teacher.

Sources of Cultural Identity

Age is a very important part of cultural identity because like cultural identity, age is always changing. Age has a very big impact on the educational process because it determines what is expected of a pupil. As a pupil I found that becoming older meant I was given more freedom and responsibility toward my education. With this new freedom and responsibility in school and in my classes I found that I worked harder and enjoyed school more. As I grew in age I enjoyed school more and more.

While a student in elementary school I was stuck in one room and it was the teachers job to teach me. There was very little freedom or responsibility on my part. As a junior high student teachers gave me more freedom and responsibility. I worked harder in school, but I was at a difficult age. As a junior high student I disliked school because it was an odd time. I was going through puberty and popularity was a big thing. This made going to school hard, which reflected on my grades. When I entered high school I was much more relaxed with the person I was. Popularity did not matter anymore and my real friends showed through. Therefore, schoolwork was easier and school was fun.

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In college I am able to be laid back and concentrate on what is most important, school. Age brings experience and experience brings comfort. Being comfortable with my surroundings lets me relax and think about school. Throughout my life the teachers that have made me feel comfortable have taught me the most. Age is a major source of cultural identity that has shaped my learning, and along with that are many other sources, such as my social class. My social class has allowed me opportunities that have influenced my education.

Being of a middle class family with a mother, father, and three children money was tight. My parents were always able to afford educational tools to help with school. I was afforded opportunities throughout school to have the proper clothing, food, and shelter to be a healthy person. Along with this I also owned a calculator and a computer. Having this technology sped up my learning process and prepared me for college. College is also another opportunity that I was afforded. My parents are very willing to pay for me to go to school and enabling me to continue my learning process. My social class has influenced my learning process so greatly that it as taken me all the way to college.

Socializing Agents

Largely my family has shaped my current cultural identity. The values that are instilled in me today have been taught to my by my parents over the last twenty years. The family as a social agent is the most important because they have taught me the most important lessons of my life. As a child I was a clean slate and my parents began writing my life story. They installed principles that I still use today, such as hard work

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and honesty. They were my first role models and always told me to do better than they did. My family is my greatest socializing agent.

In the order of importance, school is the second most important socializing agent. School allowed me to show the socialization habits that I had learned at home. School taught me how to interact with students my age, older, younger, and with strange adults. As I grew older through public school and into college I was and still am able to learn and refine the people skills I have learned in school.

Through the school and the family as socializing agents, I learned almost everything I know about people and understanding them. The years of my life that I have spent with my family and school have molded the person I have become.

Results of Socialization

The results of my socialization would definitely fall under the category of ethnocentrism. This is a very normal result of socialization. Ethnocentrism has helped mold my current cultural identity because I believe my perspective is the best. In my three years here at Kent State I have been able to meet a lot of different people. Through meeting these people I have been able to pick up on their traits. Most of the traits I have seen I dislike, but there are things that have helped me.

A strong resistance to change characterizes ethnocentrism. I feel this resistance to change has played a definite role in shaping my current cultural identity. My resistance to change has probably hurt my evolvement into a new and different person. On the other hand, I feel that what I have done in the past has worked for me. I

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am also a firm believer that "if it is not broken, don't fix it." This is a sign of my unwillingness to change and ethnocentrism.

Possible Biases as Future Teacher

As a high school student I felt stereotypes from other students and teachers as being a "bad kid." These stereotypes have helped in my decision to become a teacher. I felt that my teachers in high school did not help a lot of kids out, because of their bad reputations. This made me want to teach and help out the kids that are not the "model students." When I was in school there was not anyone to help me decide what to do after graduation, as a teacher I will help students with their options after graduation.

The effect I will have on my students will make them my friend along with my students. I will bring no stereotypes into my classroom because this will only hinder the learning process. Students do not deserve nor want to be stereotyped because they will feel segregated from other students. I must keep an open and equal mind toward all students to perform my job. To be an equal and fair teacher I can have no possible biases.

A person is born into this world with a clean slate, which is written on during the person's entire life. This slate becomes the person's cultural identity. The first authors are the person's parents and then the person's schooling. These two socializing agents help to form the person and the person's cultural identity. After analyzing my cultural identity and socializing agents I can take a look at my own slate. I can see how my own cultural identity has been formed and then reformed. Understanding my own cultural identity will help me to form my student's identities in the future.