Is cultural upbringing a good thing?

Question

Do the pros outweight the cons.

Is it a good thing to teach children to identify themselves as members of a certain group. Or does this merely breed a mentality of division and modern day tribalism.

Answer 1

Their history should be taught. Some of my relatives decided not to teach my cousins about their culture and the kids don't know which way is up or if they're coming or going. They can't identify with anything without first questioning it. It's sad.

Answer 2

That depends entirely on how you are defining your terms. Every culture has a concept of right action and wrong action. Bringing up a child to embrace right action is a good thing.
A parent's job is to introduce a new being into society. Of course a child should identify with that society. What we must do is ensure that what is bred is a mentality of identification and appreciation. A child taught to consciously appreciate his or her own culture must then be guided through learning how to appreciate other cultures. We do not need to renunciation of the past and of heritage isn't the way to fight intolerance: tolerance is.

Answer 3

Well, an easy way to go about it is to make a pro and con list.


Pros (that I can think of):

Instills tolerance of similar people
Creates community with that group of people
Encourages learning about that group of people (history, accomplishments, reasons why the 'group' was formed in the first place)
The cons of other cultures do not infest the group

Cons (that I can think of)

Encourages intolerance of people outside that group
Breeds ignorance of anything outside their 'norms'
Creates conflicts with anyone not like them
Discourages education or aid from anyone not within the group
Breeds racism
The pros of other cultures cannot influence the group

Easily deduced, this shows that the cons well outweigh the pros, and people are worse for it.

This is why intelligent people support a 'global community' way of thinking. If you simply consider how your actions will influence other people (people, not groups of people), you will become a more respectful, educated and tolerant person.

It is an easy jaunt from 'my group is great' to 'other groups are evil'.

Pretty much the basis of many of the conflicts in the world today, including those between men and women, between religious circles, between religion and science, 'blacks' and 'whites' or even between towns and other towns.

'Zero-tolerance' policies, smoking bans, professional licensing and a great many laws are all a direct result of group mentality.

A simple rundown on (US) laws based upon 'if you aren't part of my group, you should be punished':

Affirmative action
Smoking Bans
Liqueur sold on Sundays
Stores cannot open before noon on Sundays
Dry counties
Prostitution is illegal
Gambling is illegal in many places
Pets cannot be allowed in many places
Fractional reserve lending laws (Banking charters)
Professional licensing laws (you cannot legally clean the teeth of a friend without a license)
Drug laws (including the manufacture of)
Marriage law

I am sure someone can easily double or triple this list. All of these laws are directly attributed to 'group' mentality instead of individual rights and respect.

These laws are made to either force one group to live like another or to give one group an advantage over another.

Answer 4

It can do either. It depends on how parents are teaching the lessons. It's great to be proud of your heritage and experience the traditions of your ancestors.

However, you should not teach your children that your race/religion/culture is any better or worse than any other. As long as you explain that everyone has different traditions and reasons for doing things the way they do, there is nothing wrong with teaching your children about their heritage.

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Answer 5

I think you should never forget where you came from and what beliefs and rituals have shaped your life and those before you. I'm 4th generation so I identify myself as Canadian but my family is from the Ukraine. One of the great things about the country I live in is there are so many cultures. I love hearing stories of how they came to be where they are now and learning about different cultures.

Answer 6

I don't think it would be a good idea. You want children to grow up to be accepting of others different from them. And you certainly don't want anyone to respecting your children....I think as long as you teach them acceptance and to embrace differences in people along with manners, to give everything 100%,to play hard, when they are older to work hard...or in other words a good work ethic. Family traditions are very important as well. My family came from another country so while we grew us we learned two cultures and I feel blessed today because of it.

Answer 7

That is a good and also tough question. It is good that your children know their family roots and share in your families cultural traditions like Christmas or Hanakah or whatever it is for your family. I think that is good. I think it only becomes bad and causes division when you become prideful about it over other people's cultures or distill fear in them over other people's cultures. Teach them your heritage but teach them love and acceptance of other people's, too.

Answer 8

A cultural upbringing is good but not if it is presented as a form of superiority over others. You can teach children to have more spiritual qualities (and those aren't cultural, they're universal), like respect, open-mindedness, consideration for others etc.

Answer 9

It is not good to teach children that they are only part of a certain group. I think children should be brought up around all different kinds of cultures and not just taught to believe they only belong with themselves. I live in hick central where its white people only seeing their own white culture and they are close minded and racist and boring.

Answer 10

It's neither good nor bad or rather it's both. Culture includes many facets and covers many different things. Your family is it's own micro-culture in a manner of speeking.

As you raise kids, it's important to expose them to many cultures and teach them to respect the differences.