I think ‘travel disappointment’ is very prominent right now with the world watching Paris as they prepare for the Summer Olympics. I see lots of posts or videos on different social media sites where people are talking about the ‘expectation versus reality’ of being a tourist in Paris. I think with the rise of vlogs and short form video content, a lot of traveling is romanticized - not by people who are trying to learn more about a new culture or group of people, but by people who are working a job. As we read about last week, not every part of someone’s cultures or beliefs are going to be perfect, but everything online is shown with rose colored glasses almost. I think that as people do less of their own research about different countries or cultures and only use videos made by content creators that this problem is just going to get worse, which is one drawback of the technology available to us.
When I think about perspective and what forms my perspective,I think a lot of it has to do with how I grew up. Every time I make a decision, or have an opinion about something, really it is just a culmination of how I was raised and how that makes me who I am today. I find that often times, when I disagree with someone and we talk about our different perspectives, both of us tie it back to how we grew up because that shaped how we see and interact with the world. Outside of that, my perspective is shape by the media I consume, either books, television, or social media. I liked the quote from the Szecsi article, because it sort of affirmed my thinking, “Mezirow (1991) also notes that transformative learning occurs when individuals change their frames of reference by critically reflecting on assumptions and beliefs, and consciously making and implementing plans that bring about new ways of defining their worlds.(Szecsi et. al., 2010, p. 44)”, in order for me to understand other people, I have to be willing to change and look outside of my frame of reference.
Szecsi, T., Spillman, C., Vázquez-Montilla, E., & Mayberry, S. C. (2010). Transforming Teacher Cultural Landscapes by Reflecting on Multicultural Literature. Multicultural Education, 17(4), 44-48.
I agree with you that we rely heavily upon others to give us content about a place, people, or culture. I wonder and think that this comes from the idea that we've become accustom to having information instantly. Which is not always best. It is good to have to learn and dig for information so that you can ruminate over it.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you that our perspective are molded by how we are raised. Which is something I think that we need not be ashamed of but to learn from. In my growing up years there were things that I was taught that were right way to do things but it's not how I do things now which points back to you the Szecsi et al. quote. That is transformative learning: reflecting on what I was taught, make and carry out a new plan of beliefs.
I agree that how we were raised makes a huge difference in how we perceive things. That's one of the fun (and sometimes frustrating) things about teaching. You can see the wheels start turning in kids' minds when one kid does something another kid thinks is unfair. The rules they learned at home suddenly come into play and they have strong feelings about them! Often, they share the same assumptions as the other kids, they just don't know it.
ReplyDeleteYour insight on romanticized travel is interesting and very true. I agree that it is important for people to read and educate themselves before traveling. Now, as you mentioned it is easy to gain all the information we think we need before traveling from social media. However, I feel as though prior, before people would travel they would read and educate themselves about where they were traveling to. By doing this, they could learn about the culture they were traveling to and how to be respectful when entering the homeland of other people. Some countries are more accepting and welcoming to tourists than others. I think if people are actively trying to respect the people and places they travel too through proper preparation it is a better experience for everyone involved.
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