By: Rob Weidamoyer
A high school classroom is hardly the place anyone would expect to observe a necessity for communications that relay information through a high context, recognizing the listener’s base understanding for the subject and then using lower context clarity for explaining things from the foundation of the lesson. However, the need to use global communication methods in localized environments like classrooms or lecture halls is just as critical when providing information to individuals that are actually part of a global audience. While some truly global considerations like culture differences and attributions can be less of a concern with a room full of American teenagers, sensitivity to the families and guardians of these young people can’t be overlooked when assigning homework or creating information sheets that need to go home with the student.
The ineffectiveness of using local communication methods on a global scale is relative to the size of any organization’s globe and its intended audience. If a classroom full of students in a general studies course includes individuals with special needs, those students will ultimately determine the pace at which the group progresses. An honors level course will move forward with little concern for those not working parallel to the standards of the curriculum because the expectation of a high context understanding is anticipated upon enrollment. Additionally, schools in areas where education is not viewed as the means to the end of an otherwise impoverished lifestyle that continues into adulthood will not experience great strides because the incentives are not tangible for those students.
The below chart shows a severe disparity between the amount of suspensions issued to African-American students compared to their Caucasian peers.
The immediate question for me as a teacher would be whether or not the school has clearly communicated the boundaries of acceptable behavior not just to the students, but also to the parents and guardians of these individuals as well. Some societal cultures are not fortunate enough to have families educated so sufficiently that they can understand school handbooks written like a crimes code. For those that see aberrant behavior glorified by entertainers who look, dress and speak the way they do, their assumption of acceptable behavior makes sense when the adults in their home lives don’t have the ability to relay high context writings in a low context manner that will be recognized and understood by their children. This inequality reaches a boiling point when whole communities then use those school handbooks as ammunition for claims of oppression because the school didn’t ensure understanding and those protesting are looking for justifiable answers.
There may be an advantage to my position as a music teacher that allows me to see both sides of this situation and maintain an understanding because I have every variation of student in my classroom. Many of my students communicate in a high context during school, only to go home to a low context world that they hope to escape one day. These students usually have a self-awareness and work ethic that ignores the societal assumption that their upbringing determines how they communicate. Unfortunately, being a music teacher also forces me to acknowledge that the examples many of my students have outside of school including actors, musicians and other public figures directly contribute to the ability of my students to embrace anything but a low context level of communication that is coupled with even lower levels of intelligence. All of these factors suggest that ensuring communications including everything from school handbooks to furniture building manuals should use global approaches clear to all potential recipients of that communication.
Reference:
Coke, Tanya E. (2014). Schools are doling out suspensions “like Tic Tacs,” here are some ways to keep kids in the classroom. [ONLINE] Available at: http://hechingerreport.org/content/schools-doling-suspensions-like-tic-tacs-ways-keep-kids-belong-classroom_15294/. [Last Accessed September 21, 2014].
kac5815 says
A high school classroom isn’t a place that one would expect to observe a necessity for communication that would relay information through a high context. I never really thought about it before but now that you are writing about it and I think about the parents and guardians of some of these students, it can’t be overlooked. It is critical because the sensitivity of these people has to be considered. Your example of different groups of students is good, it is important that you have to adapt to these different groups while teaching them, so that you are effective. The chart that you provided is very interesting. It is interesting because I question why African Americans are higher in suspensions than white students. There is a huge difference between the two. I wonder this data was taken from, which area of the US?
I think that it is important for teachers to guide the students with the acceptable behavior is, however as a teacher you are only with them for so many hours a day and then they are home to their parents or guardians. My son is a teacher in Atlanta, he tries to help the students as much as he can, however when they are not in school, he has no control. I think a lot of what students do is what they learn at home and their surroundings there. My son is working on a program in Atlanta to help guide these students outside of school hours. He has also had parents ask if they can provide a program to help the parents. I think that it takes a lot for a parent to come to a teacher for guidance, however I applaud that parent. It sounds like you are doing what you can do in your classroom with your students and unfortunately don’t have that same guidance when they go home to their parents. Communication is important with everything and in order to be effective it must be clear and consistent.