Cultural sensitivity is the process of highlighting differences and similarities between cultures and communities. People pertaining to different backgrounds may be sensitized to the customs and behavioural patterns of other communities DESPITE differences or even OWING to differences. Differences bring a breach in the humdrum of everyday life, while psychological barriers and cultural norms need to be challenged occasionally. The human mind needs renewal via the assimilation of new knowledge and attitudes. The way we handle our social self-image or ‘face’ is one such issue. In western cultures, people tend to protect their fellowbeings’ negative face, i.e. the need to act freely, to suffer no imposition, to follow one’s planned course of events. Westerners are keen about doing what they want when they want it, thus enabling others to benefit from the same freedom of choice. Protecting the positive face, i.e. paying compliments and displaying concern is rather typical of the Middle East. Whenever we travel to Greece or Turkey, we are showered with compliments and lavished with praise. Located at the crossroads of western and eastern (Balkanian) civilizations, Romanians tend to embrace both trends. Being a good host, making your friends feel significant and valued seems to intertwine with the need to allow them to engage in whatever actions they please. Yet, the need to flatter our peers’ egos seems to prevail over the need to grant them unimpeded freedom of action. Sometimes we seem to want to force-feed our guests, to over-entertain them, to overdo attention-granting while taking them sightseeing or getting acquainted with local flavours. We boast about espousing western values, yet we cling to the old Balkanian ways of rewarding people for their good company: uttering praise, giving them useless gifts, attending to alleged needs to the point of making them feel utterly helpless. Another field where western practices overlap yet equally diverge from traditional, Balkanian practices is education. As a rule, the educational system in Romania mirrors the prevalence of the positive face needs. The teacher-student relationships focus on praise or criticism rather than on granting liberty of thought and expression. More often than not, the teacher is regarded as a figure of incontestable authority, who has answers to all questions and who is entitled to pass any evaluative judgements. Personal opinions and the ability to think independently are backgrounded, as the capacity to memorise information and to demonstrate acquired skills are better vales. ‘Good’ learners are praised, while ‘slow’ learners are the target of steady marginalization and even disdain. Given this context, democratisation of the teacher-student relationships is a recent phenomenon in Romania and is not always welcome by either teachers or …parents. Many parents regard teachers who adjust their classes to the students’ personal needs and feedback as a sign a weakness rather than a proof of flexibility. Encouragement of less promising students is equally seen as a sign of weakness or exaggerated lenience. Equality in status is not regarded as an asset but rather as the source of potential anarchy in class. Could this be the result of half a century of totalitarianism? Expecting to be sanctioned for poor or below average academic performance is widespread. Parents frequently insist that teachers should either lecture their students on the disadvantages of having poor grades or on inflicting supplementary homework on the less promising students. Although not enthusiastic about being either scolded or assigned extra tasks, students themselves seem to expect criticism and, inevitably, sanction from their teachers. Frequently enough poor academic performance used to be attributed to lack of attention in class and engagement in frivolous concerns such as movies, games and computers. Inability to focus or to perform tasks within given spans of time used to be regarded as a display of disobedience rather than disability and punished in consequence. On the other hand, having benefited from freedom to travel and to participate in international assemblies or workshops or any other form of get-together has enabled Romanians to reassess the powerful role played by praise and encouragement in the educational process. New student-centered pedagogies lay significant stress on arousing the student’s interest, guiding him/her towards specific accomplishments, and rewarding them with upcheering feedback for the smallest steps forward they take. Thus, shy or insecure students are able to increase their self-confidence and, with time, come to work in lockstep with their peers. When it comes to training in multinational environments, Romanians have managed to successfully merge the western influence with the traditional approach to teaching. In order to impose in class, the trainer needs to be a role model for the trainees. The participants only acknowledge the trainer’s role if the level of expertise is very high. The information is not taken for granted. It is questioned by the class and the presenter needs to be extremely well-prepared in order to gain the attention of the trainees. More often than not, trainees perceive themselves as a customer whose expectations need to be met, who needs to acquire knowledge while also be entertained. Given these expectations, the trainers need to permanently focus on improving their knowledge, on being true domain experts themselves and on being perceived as role models for the trainees.
Cultural sensitivity is the process of highlighting differences and similarities between cultures and communities. People pertaining to different backgrounds may be sensitized to the customs and behavioural patterns of other communities DESPITE differences or even OWING to differences. Differences bring a breach in the humdrum of everyday life, while psychological barriers and cultural norms need to be challenged occasionally. The human mind needs renewal via the assimilation of new knowledge and attitudes. The way we handle our social self-image or ‘face’ is one such issue. In western cultures, people tend to protect their fellowbeings’ negative face, i.e. the need to act freely, to suffer no imposition, to follow one’s planned course of events. Westerners are keen about doing what they want when they want it, thus enabling others to benefit from the same freedom of choice. Protecting the positive face, i.e. paying compliments and displaying concern is rather typical of the Middle East. Whenever we travel to Greece or Turkey, we are showered with compliments and lavished with praise. Located at the crossroads of western and eastern (Balkanian) civilizations, Romanians tend to embrace both trends. Being a good host, making your friends feel significant and valued seems to intertwine with the need to allow them to engage in whatever actions they please. Yet, the need to flatter our peers’ egos seems to prevail over the need to grant them unimpeded freedom of action. Sometimes we seem to want to force-feed our guests, to over-entertain them, to overdo attention-granting while taking them sightseeing or getting acquainted with local flavours. We boast about espousing western values, yet we cling to the old Balkanian ways of rewarding people for their good company: uttering praise, giving them useless gifts, attending to alleged needs to the point of making them feel utterly helpless. Another field where western practices overlap yet equally diverge from traditional, Balkanian practices is education. As a rule, the educational system in Romania mirrors the prevalence of the positive face needs. The teacher-student relationships focus on praise or criticism rather than on granting liberty of thought and expression. More often than not, the teacher is regarded as a figure of incontestable authority, who has answers to all questions and who is entitled to pass any evaluative judgements. Personal opinions and the ability to think independently are backgrounded, as the capacity to memorise information and to demonstrate acquired skills are better vales. ‘Good’ learners are praised, while ‘slow’ learners are the target of steady marginalization and even disdain. Given this context, democratisation of the teacher-student relationships is a recent phenomenon in Romania and is not always welcome by either teachers or …parents. Many parents regard teachers who adjust their classes to the students’ personal needs and feedback as a sign a weakness rather than a proof of flexibility. Encouragement of less promising students is equally seen as a sign of weakness or exaggerated lenience. Equality in status is not regarded as an asset but rather as the source of potential anarchy in class. Could this be the result of half a century of totalitarianism? Expecting to be sanctioned for poor or below average academic performance is widespread. Parents frequently insist that teachers should either lecture their students on the disadvantages of having poor grades or on inflicting supplementary homework on the less promising students. Although not enthusiastic about being either scolded or assigned extra tasks, students themselves seem to expect criticism and, inevitably, sanction from their teachers. Frequently enough poor academic performance used to be attributed to lack of attention in class and engagement in frivolous concerns such as movies, games and computers. Inability to focus or to perform tasks within given spans of time used to be regarded as a display of disobedience rather than disability and punished in consequence. On the other hand, having benefited from freedom to travel and to participate in international assemblies or workshops or any other form of get-together has enabled Romanians to reassess the powerful role played by praise and encouragement in the educational process. New student-centered pedagogies lay significant stress on arousing the student’s interest, guiding him/her towards specific accomplishments, and rewarding them with upcheering feedback for the smallest steps forward they take. Thus, shy or insecure students are able to increase their self-confidence and, with time, come to work in lockstep with their peers. When it comes to training in multinational environments, Romanians have managed to successfully merge the western influence with the traditional approach to teaching. In order to impose in class, the trainer needs to be a role model for the trainees. The participants only acknowledge the trainer’s role if the level of expertise is very high. The information is not taken for granted. It is questioned by the class and the presenter needs to be extremely well-prepared in order to gain the attention of the trainees. More often than not, trainees perceive themselves as a customer whose expectations need to be met, who needs to acquire knowledge while also be entertained. Given these expectations, the trainers need to permanently focus on improving their knowledge, on being true domain experts themselves and on being perceived as role models for the trainees.
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