Education Commons^™

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Communication

2011

University of Rhode Island

Distance learning as it is today is unprepared to go into a global environment and fully engage students who come from minority traditions and diverse cultural conditions. Students need educational experiences that will allow them to engage all of their intelligences, and explore information in multiple ways so that a curriculum is meaningful, personalized (culturally appropriate), and relevant to the desires and needs of the students (Özdemir, Güneysu, & Tekkaya, 2006). In every society there will be different individuals and communities that require different environments for education, and as education has increasingly become a prized social concept that demonstrates increased earning potential and a higher standard of living for individuals, more people want it (McIver, & Rachell, 2002). It is not uncommon for individuals who are suffering from inequality to feel they have a lack of community support and no voice to advocate for them. The potential for culture clashes and discrimination can cause disruptions and setbacks when culture or a particular population itself is negatively targeted (Erickson, Mattaini, & McGuire, 2004). The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) lists statistics on education from every country as a percent of their GDP. The United States surprisingly spends less on its citizens per GDP then Mexico, South Africa, Malaysia, Kenya, Cuba, and Yemen, just to name a few (CIA, 2010). This is clearly demonstrated through the majority of youth in the United States that have shown a lack of cultural literacy and ethnocentrism on numerous surveys. For example, in spite of extensive media coverage on the war on terror and military battles against the Taliban in Afghanistan after 9/11 nearly 90% of young Americans ages 18–24 are unable to locate Afghanistan on a map. And 63% of those individuals were unable to find Iraq (Carano, 2009). Many people don’t realize that they’ve acquired an ingrained sense of ethnocentrism when it comes to their own culture. Ethnocentric views look often positively towards the culture an individual grows up with as normal and views other cultures negatively or inferior. This Running head: Distance Education Linked by Culture 6 6 prejudiced view can give a harmful and inaccurate view of the world while effectively cutting them off from any individual that they perceive different (Johnson, 2008).