Jordan’s Male Academy: An Insight Look

American individualism, a conceptualized form of individualism, is the basis through which individuals are believed to be best represented for accuracy to generalized standards of behavior. However, it is the diversity of this country that makes the American individualism more opaque and less clear, when deviations from the standard appear. Jordan High School is an institution in Long Beach, and the place for the project observations to take place. The framework to be used in this project is a combination of Geert Hofstede’s value dimensions and Edward T. Hall’s High and Low Context cultures, to better understand the culture within the school. As part of my research, outside sources are included such as websites, books, scholarly journals, etc.

According to data from the academic year 2013-2014, the total enrollment of the school is 3,481 students. The student ethnicity is divided as follows: 67.3% Hispanic or Latino, 21.6% Black or African American, 4.1% Asian, 3.2% Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 1.8% White, 0.2% American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.3% Two or more races, and 0.2% Not reported. The student population is majorly populated by students on the free/reduced meals program, and an estimated 22% are English learners. The most frequent language of English learner students is Spanish, with an 84%, followed by Khmer (Cambodian), 0.8%. The teacher’s ethnicity is described as follows for the 2011-2012 academic school year, 62.7% White, 15% Hispanic or Latino, 13.1% Black or African American, 5.9% Asian, 2.6% Filipino, and 0.7% American Indian or Alaska Native (Ed-Data). The population of the area is a total of 93,524, of which the Hispanic or Latino population occupy a 54.1% of the population followed by a White population at a 36.7%. The Hispanic or Latino presence is noticeable in the student population, while the White population is prominent on the side of the teacher staffing. The median income for the area is $44,070, which explains the high average of students on free or reduced meal programs (American FactFinder).

The teacher of the Male academy class is Mr. Peter Ly, a male in his 40s born in Cambodia. In speaking to him, he mentioned how fortunate he feels to have escaped the Khmer Rouge regime, which was the communist party that took over Cambodia for a period of time where there were massive massacres. He is one of the few teachers of an Asian ethnic background, as noted in the ethnic distribution of the teaching staff. He has lived in the country since the age of 4. He was a gang member in the city of Long Beach during his teenage years, 13-17. He was kicked out of school and ended finishing up his high school days at Lakewood. He reflects on his change and the many obstacles that he had to overcome, but the new environment helped him and he stayed away from bad influences and focused to do well at school. He went to community college to later transfer to California State University, Dominguez Hills to get his degree in Biology and later his Master’s degree in Education. He is now a full-time math teacher at Jordan High school and is currently the coordinator for the program at the school. He mentioned that he decided to work with this program because of his former experiences and the opportunity that he can now give to the new generations of students.

The classroom that I observed was a bungalow classroom, on the far back side of the school campus. The particular class session that I observed was the Male academy, a class developed as “an opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills to be successful in school and be prepared for college and career options.” as stated in the course description. The course is an elective course for male students of either African-American/Black or Latino/Hispanic ethnic background and it is open for anyone in the 9th-12th grade. The ages of the students are diverse, in the range of 14-18 year olds. The reasoning behind this selection is the low attendance rates of youth in these categories to higher education institutions. The method of instruction varies within some degree. The students may see a movie, listen to a guest speaker, watch a presentation, or be part of a cultural event or research. The teacher constantly brings guest speakers to talk about their real-life experiences and he introduces them to various cultural aspects of either Africa-American/Black or Hispanic/Latino culture.

Within the context of Edward T. Hall’s culture, there is a low context culture and a high context culture. The classroom operates under a relatively low-context environment, as would be expected from an American setting, where individualism, explicit language, and self-expression is valued. However, there are some striking differences in the way that the teacher and students interact with one another, the teacher, and the outsiders that come into the classroom. In the case of any new speaker, a set of rule/guidelines is set forth so that there is basis for respect towards one another, especially the guest speaker who sets them up usually. The laying out of rules does not mean that these will not be disobeyed but it acts as a frame of reference for behavior, nonetheless. The differences comes with some of the more routine speakers, such as Lionel who is the advocate for the Male academy in the district, where communication may take an explicit form one time and an implicit form the next with great interchangeability between the two. The “call to attention” from the more regular speakers, as a behavioral check, is a form of understanding the value that is not the individual but the responsibility of the self to the group, when communication is explicit this is expressed as in “others may interested, even if you’re not” scenario.

There is a value to self-expression in the context of the classroom, an activity that Mr. Ly uses the students do is stand up in front of the class and describe a social situation in a diverse setting, e.g. an African-American and his conversation with a group of Latino youth, and when the student used a derogatory term, “nigga” which to him isn’t considered derogatory, the teacher quickly stopped him and asked him to use another more respectful term. While there is a sense of individualism, there is also the value of harmony for the group environment and a more standardized term is used. Adrie Kusserow explains in her book that “Perhaps it is time to acknowledge that in all groups, both individualistic and sociocentric orientations exists, but in differing styles and rations, pending on the local worlds they inhabit.” (2004) In this statement, she seeks to clarify that among groups there are varying degrees of both the individual and the social group in the continuum. In relations to the classroom observations, it is notable that the students, while interacting in a predominantly individualistic culture, are still responsible for the social group and the harmony within it.

In the model of Geer Hofstede, there are a total of five dimensions which include: individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, long-term, short-term orientation. In the individualism/collectivism, the classroom operates under a predominantly individualistic approach. For example, there is a point-system whereby students gain rewards such as certificates or verbal recognition from the part of the instructor. There are a number of opportunities of self-expression within the classroom setting. A direct communication is the common norm when it comes to expression. Students have a tendency to ask for clarification or elaborating onto a topic where they see that more is needed. In a presentation of the Black Panther Party, a student was quick to correct a student who had sad said that he believed that the Panther party was just about guns, and the teacher quickly elaborated onto the student’s comments. However, there are collectivist tendencies such as the ones where derogatory terms are corrected and people may be silenced for the benefit of the group rather than the expression of the individual.

In the masculinity/femininity dimension, the students rank higher on the masculinity side of the continuum. The reason is their assertiveness and sense of competition. However, there are implicit concerns for the quality of life and the weak that manifest, from time to time, during the course of the class session. A clear example would be the recital of a poem by a victim of bullying, while, some have been affected or not there was a consensus as to the effects that it has on people as varying as they may be and a genuine concern for the issue. Meanwhile, the students demonstrate a relatively low power distance. Students may be eager to correct the instructor or speak in the middle of a presentation in order to clarify something. However, the difference is in the teacher and the regular guest speakers. The situation may, at times, take a subtle form of higher power distance, when instructions are given or people require students to “quiet down” when someone is speaking.

In the classroom, there is a low uncertainty avoidance among the students. For example, there is a subtle form of admiration that appears for the students who sell chips in the class, without explicit communication. The students are well-aware that junk food is not supposed to be sold in the classroom, the teacher also knows this rule but does not enforce it. The instructor mentioned that he sees it as a good opportunity for the student to develop a form of “entrepreneurial skills” by providing them a safe place to get started. The time orientation of the students and the teacher is rather short. The classroom is very dynamic, where changes occur very frequently. New speakers come every semester and every academic year. Thus, it is important to maintain a short-term orientation for them to maintain the flexibility of the classroom. There are instruction plans set for the year duration of the Male academy course; however, the plans are very open to change in the mode of instruction. Furthermore, students are less likely to plan months in advance, as projects, deadlines, or assignments are due, these are often completed within a few days of the deadline or may be delayed as possible.

In speaking to a few students, I spoke to them in relations to their future plans for either a career/college. Many had not considered applying for colleges because they were uncertain for their future. A student was considering the possibility of applying to going to college but had not made use of resources on campus. He had delayed the process of getting information for the time that he had to apply for college, sometime around the deadline. It was consistent with the behavior of students of this working-class community, whereby many students would avoid planning ahead or even gathering information to make a decision based on their current options. In using a motivation approach (Expectancy x Value), the students are not seeing the value of spending money at the moment to pay for education an unlikely result of getting a degree but the value is placed on working right now and help with home finances as necessary. In a study on achievement values, the field researchers “asked middle school boys and girls who self-identified as Caucasian, African American, or Latino to nominate students from their classroom who they most admired, respected, and wanted to be like.” The findings of the study were that the teenage boys of a minority ethnic background would value less academic achievement in their nominations for the students that they admire (Taylor & Graham, 2007). A consistent trait among the students for the Male academy classroom, who are focusing more on the value that is garnered at the moment, rather than the potential of a long-term added value.

While the predominantly American culture has some influence on the classroom environment, the Male academy course teaches us that there is a more complex story that lay beneath the surface. In Hall’s culture, the students exhibit the characteristics of a relatively low-context culture, with a direct communication style and the self-expression; however, harmony is also favored, during certain situations, toward more indirect terms and appropriate behavior. Entering the cultural dimensions of Hofstede, the students exhibit an individualistic environment with their competition and expression, but there are also sociocentric behavior that responds to the needs of the group beyond the needs of the individual. While power distance may be low in the classroom, it is not as low as in the predominant American society, where the students are taught to be seen as equals but the contradiction remains with outsiders and, at times, the instructor as well. The low uncertainty avoidance is well admired, the instructor exhibits this clearly when he allows some students to break the rules by selling chips when it is not supposed to happen. The time orientation for students in the classroom is short, due to the dynamic nature of the environment and the external factors of academic achievement value within the predominant culture for ethnic minorities in the country. While the predominant American culture influences our lives, there are still fluctuations that take place and teach us that perhaps life is a little more complex than we generalize it to be.

References
American Fact Finder: Community Facts. (2015, March 7). Retrieved from American Fact Finder: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml
Ed-Data. (2015, March 7). Retrieved from Education Data Parnertship: CDE, EdSource, and FCMAT: https://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/App_Resx/EdDataClassic/fsTwoPanel.aspx?#!bottom=/_layouts/EdDataClassic/profile.asp?Tab=1&level=07&reportnumber=16
Kusserow, A. (2004). American Individualism: Child Rearing and Social Class in Three Neighborhoods. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Taylor, A. Z., & Graham, T. (2015, March 9). American Psychological Association . Retrieved from APA PsycNet: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/edu/99/1/52/