Cindy Hart: The challenges of living in a different culture, where you are the minority

November 20, 2008 Cindy Hart

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There are many things that I have learned thus far during my trip to Chile. The culture in Chile is very different from the United States, both in the home and school. The culture is more laid back and relaxed. Time is not followed as closely as it is in the United States. It is difficult to follow the lack of discipline in a school setting because I am used to more strict rules in the classroom. Being a minority and teaching in a school that has a completely different culture is difficult because the way you have been taught to teach is drastically different than where you are placed. In Chile, rules are not followed by the children. If a child wants to do cartwheels on the carpet instead of working in the math book, then he or she will do that and there is no real punishment. Being from the United States, my natural instinct is to discipline this child for not following the rules, but in the relaxed setting I have to just let the child be. This experience has taught me to be more relaxed with discipline in the classroom.

Living in a different culture than your own is also hard because you do not know all of the different social rules that are in place. In Chile, yawning in public is a sign of disrespect. Being in the minority, the people in our group did not know this and were talked about among the other staff members. Another difference is wearing shoes or socks all the time. Americans do not always cover their feet. My host family kept asking me where my socks were because I did not know this and was not wearing them in the house. Being a minority is hard because the unspoken social rules have to be learned along the way. This can make both the minority and the person of that culture uncomfortable depending on the situation.

Another difficult part of living where you are a minority is that people constantly talk about you or stare at you. It is obvious to everyone that you are a minority whether it is the way you look or how your mannerisms are different than everyone else’s. This can cause people to feel self conscience because they want to fit in with the rest of society. People do not want to be ridiculed for rules that they have not been taught as a child or for the way they look or dress. Overall, living in a different culture is a struggle at first, but people can adapt to their surroundings and can learn about other cultures to be able to fit in with them.

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