In this text, I intend to discuss especially about how cultural and socio-economic differences affect brazilian students due to the fact that this is the place where I speak from. Brazil is a country with continental dimensions and, of course, different kinds of inequalities. By cause of its hugeness, Education in Brazil deals with a lot of elements, such as cultural and socio-economic ones. Bereiter says that “educators must face up to the fact teaching for understanding is not culturally neutral” (BEREITER, 2002). This means it is impossible to debate about Education and being neutral. Moreover, neutrality doesn’t even exist.

Paulo Freire explains that “getting to know the reality in which our students live is a duty that the educational practice imposes: without it, we do not have access to the way our students think, hardly then, we can see what they know and how they know’’ (FREIRE, 1997, p.53, my translation). It is essential to know who our students are and recognize them as human beings with different stories and backgrounds. By knowing them, we can build a connection which will help us in the path of constructing a relationship of trust. Being an educator in a huge and unequal country is quite challenging, principally when it comes to culture. Bereiter affirms that “It is not about hatching baby chicks or showing off artifacts from your parents’ homeland—although such things may go on as part of an inquiry. It is about the relentless effort to improve on existing knowledge” (BEREITER, 2002).

Therefore, cultural and socio-economic differences have a great impact in the learning process. Handling with the fact that some of your students probably will not have dinner because their families do not have the means for such a thing is, undoubtedly, lamentable, or with the fact that the place which the student comes from will probably define his/her role in society. I don’t think we are going to find a solution for every single problem, however, we can create an environment that in Cope and Kalantzis words is “more engaging, more effective, more resource efficient, and more equitable in the face of learner diversity’’ (COPE&KALANTZIS, 2017).

REFERENCES

Bereiter, Carl. 2002. Education and Mind in the Knowledge Age. New York: Routledge. pp. 242-244.

COPE, B., and KALANTZIS, M. (2017). Conceptualizing e-learning. In: B. Cope and M. Kalantzis (Eds), e-Learning Ecologies. New York: Routledge.

FREIRE, Paulo. Pedagogia da autonomia: saberes necessários à prática educativa. 25.ed. São Paulo: Paz e Terra, 1996.