Given how rapidly globalization is driving these changes, instructors might best address cultural differences in the educational experience of their students based on forms of government or economic systems. When teaching the history of The Cuban Missile Crisis with Russian students present for example, is the instructor aware that the students might have a different way of understanding those events, or that the same students might consider the instructors views to be Westocentric? More importantly, is the instructor prepared to have this conversation with students instead of going over the text in point form on PowerPoint?
It is often equally difficult for an instructor to navigate politically sensitive topics. For example, how is a political studies instructor to approach a unit on political upheaval and social revolution with students from both Hong Kong and Beijing sitting in their classroom, given recent events? Despite an instructor’s best efforts, such a lecture has the potential to offend or alienate some students. The same instructor might choose to avoid raising a contentious topic (such as the recent Hong Kong protests) into the classroom environment, but then risks losing the trust of students who expect such lectures to be attuned to current events.
Religion too, can make some instructors uncomfortable. How is an instructor to react if a Christian student requests leave from class to attend a prayer reading, or a Muslim student requests a make-up quiz because they feel tired due to fasting? Even instructors who have experience navigating these requests with sensitivity would be challenged when religious and political concerns are intertwined. What should an instructor do for example if Indian students request not to be placed in groups with Pakistani students, or vice-versa?
The reality is that culture is complex, and difficult to disentangle from systems of governance, politics or religion. There might never be easy answers to these questions. There is however, an additional culture an instructor should consider: that of their own classroom. Each classroom is a unique space where the social behaviour and norms established have the power to shape experiences, influence beliefs, and change attitudes, including those of the instructor.
Instructors should be willing to course correct mid-term (or even mid-lecture) if a teaching approach isn’t working, and to take risks in opening dialogues with their students. French moralist Joseph Joubert once wrote, “to teach is to learn twice over”. As temporary as the culture of a classroom is, an instructor has the opportunity to lead students in shaping a classroom space of inclusiveness and respect, without sacrificing disciplinary focus or opportunities for pedagogical experimentation.
When expected social behaviours are clearly established by instructors in their classrooms, or better, in cooperation and open discussion with students in acknowledgement of cultural differences, the foundations of trust are laid. When awkwardness or difficulty arise in the classroom that relate to cultural difference, instructors who openly address these issues in a consistent and fair manner will earn their students’ trust. Once trust is established, it helps create an environment where international students are willing to take more intellectual or social risks that are crucially important to them in developing their academic confidence, and in understanding the fluidity of their identities. The shared experiences, beliefs, and attitudes cultivated in the individual classroom also continue to shape the future of academic culture more broadly. One such attitude should be a willingness on the part of the instructor to make understanding cultural difference a priority, because after all, this is what we expect of our students.
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