A Reflection of My Own Experiences of Culture and Identity in Relation to Education.

When it comes to my own personal experiences of multiculturalism during education, a lot comes to mind, particularly on the way we perceive others and ourselves, as well a change throughout the years as we grow and develop. Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd (2007) define culture as ‘the ongoing process of interpreting, valuing and making the world’. This idea shows how our interpretation of our fellow classmates changes over time as we learn more and more about different cultures.

Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd also writes that ‘We have levels of difference and many identities. Which identity is important at any one level is determined by context.’ (p.13) This quote reflects my own thoughts that context has great influence on identity. Not only the context in which one is introducing one is introducing oneself in, but also that of the context they have grown up in.

For me, migrating to Australia at a young age and being raised in it for the majority of my life, sometimes I don’t know how introduce myself. Most of the time I just settle with Australian-Filipino, but occasionally I have to introduce my cultural identity by describing my ethnicity. One problem I’ve faced throughout the years is which do I identify with more? Whenever I return to the Philippines I’ve often felt like a visitor. There, I am considered to be the ‘Australian’ i.e. ‘Skyla from Australia’, but here in Australia I am broadly labelled as Filipino. Context plays a big role in the levels of identity, in my case, an Australian context highlighted by a non-white Australian background, and in a Filipino context, my differentness is highlighted through my accent and language.

Recalling my experiences with diverse cross-cultural exchange during my early years (pre-school to year 4) of education, it is interesting to say that they were rather limited. The different public schools in the Hunter Region of NSW that I attended were predominately places of ‘whiteness’. That is not to say that there are no other ethnicities living there, but rather they are in the minority. In almost all of my schools I was the only ‘Asian’ in my class, and even in my entire year. 

Apart from aesthetics, I also stood out in terms of the food I ate at recess and lunch, especially in terms of food they considered ‘Asian’, such as fried rice, and spring rolls. I would sit with my tupperware of food whist my friends munched on fairy bread and vegemite sandwiches. Often they would look over at me and question what it was and often want a taste. Although I was happy to share and teach them about Filipino food, eventually I started asking my mother to make me sandwiches for school in order to fit in.

Ho’s idea of schools as ‘ideal sites for the regular and continual cross-cultural exchange that characterises micropublics’. (2011, p.606) is the perfect example of my experiences of culture in schools for the rest of my education. Moving to Sydney however, I enrolled into a Western Sydney public school in year four that had a population of over 1,000 students, and this is where I first truly ‘experienced’ multiculturalism in school. Prior to moving to Sydney I mostly identified myself as ‘Asian”, but through moving to a much more multicultural geographic location, I was overwhelmed with the sheer number of diverse ethnicities and cultures. No longer was I singled out for my differentness, and I gained a much greater understanding about different cultures and my own identity.

References:

Ho, C. (2011). Respecting the presence of others: School micropublics and everyday multiculturalism. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 32(6), 603-619.

Wadham, B. Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and education. Sydney: Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is culture?