Unit 2 

  What is the aim of education? This question depends completely on culture. Every society has a set of deep cultural attitudes that are clear to the majority of its members --- so clear, in fact, that they may seem like the only right way. And the deep cultural attitudes of any society are reflected in its system of education. The three texts in this unit explore some of the different ways culture affects education. Not only surface differences like the content of the lessons or whether the students stand up when the teacher enters the room, but also on deeper levels that are rarely discussed or even thought about --- until two cultures meet in a classroom.

Text C

Cheating As Culture: Insights for Foreign Teachers

    When foreign teachers first come to a new country, they usually expect -- even look forward to-- a different approach to education than what they're used to. So it's interesting that they're often completely unprepared for many of the specific cultural differences they run into in their classrooms. When new American teachers first come to Poland, for example, one of their most frequent (and furious!) cries is: “My students are cheating all the time!” Hearing this, the Polish students become confused (困惑) and angry, and the result is usually a series of ever-worsening misunderstandings that do a lot of damage to student/teacher relations. But this mutual (相互的) ill could be easily avoided if only everyone remembered that cheating is a culturally relative matter.

    The cultural values of Polish society are reflected in the education system, just like anywhere else. Poland is a group-oriented society, which means that cooperation is strongly emphasized. And although this attitude is very appealing in theory to most Americans, adjusting to the way it's practiced in everyday life can be a major challenge for someone from a society that emphasizes individual responsibility. It's enormously difficult for them to grasp that what they call cheating, Poles call survival.

    In a group-oriented society, it's unthinkable to refuse help to a friend in need. It's a survival thing: When a friend needs money, you lend it to him-- next week he’ll drive you to the train station to pick up your visiting cousins. When a neighbor needs help carrying some new furniture upstairs, you help her -- in a month she'll let you use her phone when you've lost your keys and are locked out of your flat in the cold. And when a classmate whispers (低声说出) a desperate question during a test, you answer him -- after all, he lent you the book you needed in order to finish your essay last month. How can you refuse?

    An American might respond by saying that of course you can refuse -- easily!-- and that there are a hundred better (and obvious!) solutions to the problem of the desperate classmate than helping him cheat. But 99 of those “better solutions” are only better in the context of a society where the focus is on individual responsibility; and they're only “obvious” to someone who's grown up in an individualist culture and been imbued with its values. For Poles, what's obvious -- and better-- is concern for the well-being (康乐) of the whole group and the cooperative (合作的) bonds that are essential to everyone's survival.

   There's another level to the cheating issue as well. The ability to use one's wits to escape from a difficult situation has always been highly valued in Polish culture-- doubtless due to historical reasons. Polish history is a history of hardship, invasion and occupation, and Poles have had to rely on their inventiveness to survive, not on wealth or military strength. Cheating at school-- especially if it's done successfully or at least creatively --is simply one variation (变化的形式) on the time-honored (历来受到尊重的) skill of worming (悄悄地行) your way out of a hard spot (8). And although Polish teachers don't all approve of it, they are much more likely than Americans to look the other way, or even secretly admire it a bit.

    Understanding the deep-rooted cultural reasons for cheating may not always help you overcome your gut reactions (本能的反映) to it-- but it can be useful in finding ways to cope with it. Trying to wipe out the cheating just turns the academic year into a series of bitter battles --and Poles have a lot more experience as resistance fighters than you do, believe me! Instead of declaring war on cheating, build it into your tests and assignments so that it contributes to the students' education.. Before a test, make the preparation of “cheat sheets” a homework assignment or even an in-class group activity -- then collect them and grade them before the test. Give group tests and group homework, making it clear that you expect the learners to use each other as educational resources, and that they will be graded collectively. Give open-book tests (开卷考试)-- after all, it's the information age, and knowing how to access information is a more useful skill than memorizing it! Finally, never assume that it's obvious to the students when you expect completely individual work from them. In a group-oriented culture, this isn't obvious at all.

   The issue of cheating is just one example of the kinds of conflicts (冲突) that can arise in classrooms where two cultures meet. Recognizing these conflicts as cultural differences is the first step towards making them part of the educational experience for everyone in your classroom. But there's a second crucial ingredient as well. It's called tolerance (宽容) .             (790 words)

作弊作为文化：外教应有的顿悟

  当外国教师初到一个新的国家时，他们通常都会预计到，甚至期待着一种不同于他们习见的教育方式。因此，他们对于课堂上遇到的许多具体的文化差异常常会毫无准备，这就令人感兴趣了。例如，当一些美国新教师初到波兰的时候，他们嚷嚷得最多(也是最恼火!)的一句话就是：“我的学生们一直在作弊!”波兰学生听到此话，既困惑又气愤，结果通常便会发生一系列日益加深的误解，从而大大损害了师生关系。 但是只要大家记住作弊是一个与文化有关的问题，这种相互的苦恼可以很容易地避免。

  如同在别的地方一样， 波兰社会的文化价值观也反映在教育制度之中。 波兰是一个重视集体的社会， 这意味着他们特别强调合作。 虽然这种态度在理论上对多数美国人很有吸引力， 然而要适应在日常生活中实践它的方式， 对一个来自强调个人责任的社会的人来说则可能是一种重大的挑战。 他们要理解波兰人把他们称为作弊的东西叫做生存是极其困难的。

  在一个重视集体的社会中，拒绝帮助一个遇到困难的朋友是不可思议的。这是一个有关生存的问题：当一个朋友需要钱的时候，你借钱给他--下个星期他就会开车送你到火车站去接你来访的表兄弟。当一个邻居需要人帮忙把一些新买的家具搬上楼的时候，你帮助了她-- 一个月后，当你丢了钥匙，在严寒中被锁在自己公寓外面的时候，她会让你使用她家的电话。而当一位同班同学在考试时悄声问你一道难题时，你回答了他。毕竟他在上个月曾经借给你一本书，而那书正是你完成论文所需要的。你怎么能拒绝呢?

    一个美国人可能会回答说，你当然可以拒绝， 而且这很容易! 对那位绝望的同学的问题，有一百种比帮他作弊更好的(而且是明显的)解决办法。但是在这些“更好的解决办法”之中，有99种只在重视个人责任的社会环境中才更好，它们只对在个人主义文化背景中成长起来并且深受其价值观熏陶的人而言才是“明显的”。对波兰人来说，明显而更好的东西便是对整个集体福祉的关心和对每个人的生存都绝对必要的合作纽带。

   作弊问题还有另一个层面。 动脑筋逃脱困境的能力在波兰文化中一向备受推崇棗这无疑是有其历史原因的。波兰的历史是一部充满苦难、被侵略和被占领的历史，而波兰人则不得不依赖他们的创造才能，而不是财富或军事实力。学校中的作弊(特别是在作弊成功或者至少有些儿创造性的时候)不过是摆脱困境的传统技巧的一种变异罢了。 尽管波兰的教师并非全都赞同作弊， 但他们远比美国人更可能会故意扭头不管，甚至暗地里还有点儿赞赏。

   了解作弊根深蒂固的文化原因也许不会永远都能帮助你克服对它的本能反应，但却有助于找到应付它的办法。 试图消灭作弊现象只会把这个学年变为一连串激烈的搏斗。请相信我，波兰人作为抵抗运动的战士，比你们的经验丰富得多，我宁愿推荐你们试一试富有创造性的波兰教师所用的一些方法：不是向作弊宣战，而是把它纳入你们的考试和作业之中， 让它为学生们的教育作出贡献。在考试前，要把准备“夹带”变成家庭作业，甚至变成一项堂内的集体活动，然后把它们收上来，在考试之前打上分。举行集体测试，布置集体作业，要说清楚你希望学生们能互相利用对方作为教育资源，并实行集体评分。实行开卷考试，毕竟现在是信息时代，懂得如何获取信息是一种比熟记信息更为有用的技能! 最后，决不要想当然地认为，在你期望学生们完全独自学习的时候，这对他们来说是很明显的。在一种重视集体的文化中，这一点儿也不明显。

   两种文化在课堂上相遇可能就会产生冲突，作弊问题只是这类冲突中的一个实例。承认这些冲突为文化上的差异，乃是为使冲突成为你的课堂内每个人所受教育的一部分而迈出的第一步。但还有第二个重要的因素，那就是宽容。