What is it
that we share with all the other members of our culture? We share, first of
all, many tangible things, like the way we dress, the food we eat, the way
our houses and flats are built and furnished but, deeper inside the onion,
we also share the way we behave, verbally and non-verbally for example,
what we find or dont find appropriate to say in certain circumstances, or
the use of gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, proximity with other
people. And, as you peel off other layers and approach the core of the onion,
you find that we share the most invisible but probably the most important
components of our culture the meaning we attach to people, things and
events, our deeply felt beliefs, attitudes and values in a word, our way of
knowing the world. This, of course, includes the way we think schools should
be run, what should be taught and how, what teachers and students should do
in class.
