Gorski Reflection
The Gorski reading stands out among the course work for this class as a concept that will certainly remain with me long after this semester. I have already shared this reading with many friends and family members as its content is not only fascinating, but also an important and applicable critique for all of us within the sphere of high education (or any education for that matter) to intake. Gorski’s definition of culture is astute and allows him to paint the larger picture he aims to convey. He defines culture on page 223 as “a composite of other identities and life circumstances, such as regional location, ethnic heritage, religion, and home language, or the implications of these identities and circumstances,” and goes on to leave room for identities of race and sexual-orientation when viewed through the lens of geography, polemicists, economics etc. Embedded in this definition is the understand that culture is a complicated and nuanced way to define an individual. Therefore, when learning about culture we choose to learn about something that inherently limits our ability to understand someone. We make generalizations about them, based one or more of these categories within the umbrella of culture as defined by Gorski, but fail to understand the complexity that defines them, thus reducing their individuality and over simplifying their perspective. This phenomenon of “culture fetish” or “cult of culture” is so prevalent within the educational circles I have grown up in that reading this article was like taking a sigh of relief after being heard or seen in a way that I have almost never been before. Important to Gorski’s overarching thesis is also the idea that by focusing on culture, we inadvertently sweep issues of inequity and injustice under the rug. He writes, “this stubborn persistence of culture as the central frame of reference for conversations about equity ensures inattention to the conditions that underlie the inequities we want to destroy, such as racism, economic injustice, heterosexism, and sexism.” Gorski points out that there is nothing wrong with studying culture, yet allowing culture to become a replacement or the unsaid code for teaching about the underlying causal factors that create inequity in our society can no longer be tolerated as the norm. I plan to share this article (particularly Gorski’s strategies of recognizing, responding, redressing, and sustaining) along with some of my thoughts, with teachers and administrators at both my K-8 school and high school, where this issue was remarkably prevalent.
