Chapter Overview

All people, regardless of the culture in which they were raised, share certain common experiences. This chapter presented the dynamics of culture and the culture-learning process that all people, students as well as teachers, experience and bring with them to the school context. Of particular interest to educators are the primary and secondary socialization processes and the twelve sources of cultural knowledge that represent the diversity of knowledge and experience to which people are exposed. Critical to educators concerned with improving people's skills in intercultural understanding and communication is the recognition that some of the results of the socialization process present barriers to cross-cultural interactions. Effective multicultural education understands and addresses such issues as critical process as well as content.