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  Case: Christmas around the world.
My son goes to second grade. The first week of December my son's teacher started a short unit on Christmas around the world. As part of this unit, she asked each child to bring some type of food from a country for a Christmas celebration at school. She assigned the countries to the children and sent notes to children's homes in their communication folders. As a parent I do not have a problem with any of this. Here is what is puzzling to me. I immigrated to the US about 15 years ago from France. My wife is from Romania. My son was born in the US but he has strong French and Romanian cultural roots. I believe his teacher knows about my son's cultural background. However, my son was assigned to bring German food for the Christmas celebration. As a parent, I cannot understand why he was not assigned to bring French or Romanian food. What could be the teacher's reasoning? Should I be upset about this? Wouldn't it be better for my son to represent a part of his heritage in the classroom?
Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!)
I think that the teacher should give the student a choice of what cultural food they will bring to represent their family's culture. He might bring more than one cultural dish to represent both cultural roots.
 
     
     
  Rating
The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes
The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes
The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes
The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes
The suggested solution is original Yes
Comments:
Rated On: February 19, 2013 2:57 am
Rated By: Taylor Bocook
 
     
     
  Rating
The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes
The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes
The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes
The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue No
The suggested solution is original Yes
Comments: I would have liked to see a more elaborate solution
Rated On: October 17, 2014 4:39 pm
Rated By: TuBuJy
 
     
     
  Rating
The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes
The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes
The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes
The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes
The suggested solution is original Yes
Comments: While this is a tactic that could be used to avoid situations like this, I understand why a teacher may do this. The point of the activity could be for the students to learn more about cultures they do not know about. For that reason maybe the teacher did not want to give the student their own culture because they already experience that culture at home.
Rated On: October 17, 2014 8:07 pm
Rated By: MaXuDe
 
     
     
  Rating
The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes
The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes
The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes
The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue No
The suggested solution is original Yes
Comments: I don't think allowing students to choose what cultural food they will being in solves anything. I think assigning cultures to students will allow them to broaden their cultural diversity knowledge and appreciation for cultures other than their own.
Rated On: October 21, 2014 1:39 am
Rated By: yVuLyR
 
     
     
  Rating
The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) No
The suggested solution is relevant to the case No
The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement No
The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue No
The suggested solution is original No
Comments: I feel that this solution is not the best answer to the problem, as it takes away the teacher's power in the classroom. I would not use this solution.
Rated On: February 26, 2018 12:32 am
Rated By: Samantha Rey
 
     
     
  Rating
The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) No
The suggested solution is relevant to the case No
The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement No
The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue No
The suggested solution is original No
Comments: I think that this solution would let other children learn of this child's culture but would not allow him to learn a new culture because he is simply studying his own. I think that is the reason the teacher assigned him a different culture.
Rated On: February 23, 2020 1:43 pm
Rated By: emaXub
 
     
     
  Rating
The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes
The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes
The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement No
The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue No
The suggested solution is original No
Comments: the teacher most likely wanted the student to learn about a culture different from their own
Rated On: November 13, 2022 9:34 pm
Rated By: buTuDe