This chapter considers the multiple stakeholders with an investment in the positive education of children. Each community has its own set of stakeholder groups with a vested interest in supporting the students in their local schools. Educators must consider which groups exist in their community, and how longstanding power dynamics may impact cross-cultural families, both positively and negatively.

MULTIPLE CULTURAL MODELS

The proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” has become so widely used to become the epitome of a cliché. Prominently used by Hillary Clinton as the title of her 2012 book about transforming society to enable children to become caring adults, this proverb addresses the aspect of children requiring a parental figure for their growth. For a child to grow with the best values and morals, a community must be present in their life to guide them. The rationale behind the proverb is that a community shapes the child's morals, accountability, and sense of life's responsibility and purpose. In some cultures, a child is viewed as a gift from God; therefore, the group's obligation is to rear that child.

The proverb is thought to have African roots. In Kijita (Wajita), there is a proverb that says Omwana ni wa bhone, meaning regardless of the biological parent(s) of the child, upbringing belongs to the community.

In Kiswahili, another term for Swahili, the proverb Mkono moja haulei mwana directly translates to “One hand does not raise a child” and parallels the same thought.

In Lunyoro (Banyoro), the proverb Omwana takulila nju emoi translates to “A child does not grow up only in a single home.”

In Kihaya (Bahaya), there is a saying, Omwana taba womoi, which translates as “A child belongs not to one parent or home.”¹

We could continue sharing examples from different cultures that confirm the importance of community in a toddler's life. Within the Igbo and Yoruba tribes of Nigeria, children traditionally belonged to the community, and anyone within the community had the right to punish a child. The children also would go through different apprenticeship classes to learn different skills to give back to the community.

COMMUNITY AND STAKEHOLDERS IMPLICATIONS

The societal environment in which a child develops impacts their progress and perceptions, in one way or the other, from childbirth to adulthood. It is a collective responsibility to ensure the child is well taken care of and brings together the teachers, who spend most of their time at school.

This society also includes extended family members, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, neighbors, godparents, friends, counselors, life coaches, and mentors. It is a collective responsibility to raise empathic, courageous, and able children. The objective does not account for what is best for the children but what is best for society.

Each community comprises stakeholder groups invested in seeing the students in their local schools succeed. Time and attention to understanding these groups are critically important for educators and administrators alike. In the United States, school counselors help students solve their interpersonal problems and support growth by ensuring they are self-aware and in touch with themselves. Teachers, meanwhile, have the responsibility to equip the students with information and skills, taking the time to learn each child they interact with to know how best to support them. They are also responsible for ensuring the child can learn independently.

WHO IS IN YOUR VILLAGES?

One of this book's authors (Seth) grew up in Maine. He faced a daily conundrum surrounding getting home from elementary school. When he was 12 years old, two distinct options emerged. The first was the “tried-and-true” school bus. It was a good option for getting to school, as his was close to the last stop in the morning, providing several additional precious minutes of sleep before the quick ride in.

However, due to the forced consistency of roads and schedules, he was also the last stop in the afternoon. This made the ride home nearly two hours of bouncing along the road with an ever-decreasing number of friends and classmates, until finally arriving home in the early evening.

The second option was to take the bus in the morning, and in the afternoon, to ask the driver, a kind gentleman called “Moose” (this was Maine, after all), to drop him off at an early junction for a one-mile walk along the road. The option was, of course, not approved (or known) by his parents, but this was a simpler time, and with two working and trusting parents, he was free to walk with no one the wiser. Of course, this was a moot point during the depth of Maine winters.

During cold winter mornings, he would wait outside, with rapidly freezing hair reminding him of the importance of drying after a shower, until the bus finally pulled up for the short ride to school. In the afternoon, he would gladly sit on the long ride.

Once the snow melted and the sun came out, the decision tree looked entirely different. He would get off the bus, assuring Moose that all was approved, and walk merrily home, reaching his house a solid 60 minutes (or two Simpsons episodes) before the bus passed by.

While walking home one day, a pickup truck heading in the opposite direction slowed down, turned around, and then pulled over. A flannel-clad, bearded fella (again, this is Maine) peered down from the cab. He was the father of a friend of his brother.

He smiled kindly and asked, “You are not skipping school, are you?” while offering a lift home. On the short ride, they chatted about the recent spring weather (good), the prospects for the school's basketball team (decent), and the likelihood of a tourist-free summer (poor). As they passed a construction site, the older Mainer commented on the planned building of new cell phone towers as a sign of things changing for the worse, being both a blight on the scenery as well as yet another concession to those “from away.” After dropping Seth off at home, the bearded gentleman turned around again and set back off down the road.

Looking back, the concern shown by this Mainer demonstrates five things about the needs of this young stakeholder regarding the role of community in his growth.

Place

From Seth's experience, we can see the community is responsible for ensuring the child is at the right place. The older Mainer inquired about the young Mainer missing school and took it up as his responsibility to ensure he got home before going ahead with his business. He took it upon himself as a friend to the family to ensure the boy got home safe. For this particular Mainer, stopping and turning around was his way of demonstrating and upholding his place in society.

Time

There is a clear need to spend time with and for this young Mainer. He felt it took him longer to get home and decided to be dropped off at an earlier junction. The parents were unaware and did not notice the inconsistency in the arrival time of their son from school during the different seasons. Yet, this difference built early critical-thinking decision-making skills in the youngster. The young Mainer also takes advantage of the fact that his parents trust him and uses it to his advantage. A parent's role is crucial in raising a child. Youngsters need a parental figure who is invested, involved in shaping outlooks and values.

Method

The method of acquiring information comes in many forms. Here we see the older Mainer—Moose—school, bus schedules, and the environment providing him information. Primarily his own senses and looking at the rewarding outcome led to a series of long-term decisions.

This demonstrates adaptation, resourcefulness, and the learned ability to pivot within the critical-thinking framework. Human society is dependent on a school training system for skills, education, community, peer groups, and values. Teachers, mentors, and, in the case of home schooling, parents are the grounding elements toward supporting the creation of a whole individual.

Content

Children should be generally knowledgeable about what is happening in the local community. The definition of the boundaries of this community, and thus the areas of knowledge, is implicit. The expectations are that anyone living in the town past a certain age would know at least the rudiments of behavior, knowledge, and social structures. We would say that the teachers excel in this role. It falls to them to ensure students are equipped with knowledge and basic skills as they advance.

Values

We look to children to always uphold the values of truthfulness. Our future depends on not giving them a window for lies. The community, peer group sets the tone and voice of perceptions. Knowing who is in your village and the trending thoughts, behaviors, and actions confirms that “It takes a village to raise a child.”

Here we see this when the older Mainer asks the younger if he skipped school and does not wait for an answer. He decides to drop him home. Younger Mainer also takes advantage of this and requests a drop off earlier. He knows Moose expects the truth and will not think he might be lying about his parents’ knowledge.

Children uphold a value around preserving the current status of the town. This is with a concurrent negative view of outsiders and suspicion of progress. It was expected that the cell phone towers and tourists would be perceived with disdain by anyone in the community. This was regardless of their impact on the local economy. Agreement on this point was assumed, not a matter of debate.

RISING CULTURAL COMPLEXITY

When you compare the current society in which we live with the experience shared in the previous section, there are progressive similarities and vast magnitudes. Modernization has brought new dimensions to raising children, and the “village” has as its intimate neighbors online communities and people around the world touching the lives of children. That said, the integral nature of school and educators for a child's development has not changed.

The expansion of urban life and continued immigration and an increase in international students and families have brought a welcome diversity of cultures in schools. Concurrent with this diversity, educators face challenges in providing an equal platform for all the children to learn and supporting students to develop their perspective and take action on issues that matter for our shared future, including social justice and climate change.

This is a highly tendentious and highly important charge for educators, requiring a balancing act between personal viewpoints and those of families and students themselves. For example, a Filipino family with whom Marina worked closely unfortunately experienced severe racism when they first moved to the United States, with the eldest brother regularly harassed by his fellow students, many of whom came from White and Latin American families. This harassment resulted in the development of a spirit of antagonism, especially toward Whites and Latin Americans, from the student, which translated into poor friendships, academics, and behavior at school. The student clashed with his teachers by expressing a viewpoint that “all Latinos are lazy thieves,” a perspective unfortunately echoed by his parents.

The solution came from a slow process of establishing a new “village” of educators and community members, including the intervention of trained counselors and educators who were more familiar with discussing bullying within the Filipino cultural context. Instructors adopting inclusivity, where they acknowledge cultural differences and make the children and parents understand that life is still okay, accelerate the child's morals, accountability, and sense of life's responsibility and purpose. Failing to broach topics with a sensitive cultural hand may reinforce a message of hate inadvertently.

For a village to truly provide the full support a child needs, it is usually up to the people in the child's home to be the main caretaker. However, educators need to be mindful of gaps created in the immigrant experience. In another incident with racism for a student from the Dominican Republic, the child responded by negating everything culturally and racially related to her. She became more distant with her own family. As time progressed, the student couldn't speak Spanish well anymore, creating a language barrier with her parents and grandparents. Because of this inability to communicate, the student was unable to feel as connected with her family, making her feel more isolated. If parents are not echoing or don't know how to emphasize the same messages of tolerance that the school is giving out, the child will feel confused. When the situation creates a dearth of parental support, other members of the village must fill in the gaps.

SUMMARY

It takes more than a village to raise a child. Children need guidance from their parents, friends, family, and teachers, all of whom impact their lives. For some families, their cultural norms may have as a part of the village extended family members as well as close friends or familiar educators (tutors, consultants, former teachers, etc.)—some of whom you may hear are called or referred to as “aunties.” Additional “villagers” could be members of the student's global community as well as culturally aware specialists either invited in or accessed online.

Schoolwork and assignments involve not only giving and receiving information but also life skills, for example, a teacher ensuring the child cultivates communication. All need an understanding and self-awareness of the child to facilitate full potential. The role of the society could involve neighbors, churches, sporting events, and social avenues to support the child and serve as good examples. We learn by mirroring, and as a member of the metaphorical village, we can exemplify skills we want the children to have. For instance, if parents make a special halal meal for their son's Muslim friend coming to his son's birthday party, they may provide the child direction on how to be respectful and thoughtful of another's religious choices. They would be echoing a communication of respect that he would be learning at school. Understanding that different cultures would have different members in the village and with each member having unique influences in each village would be helpful information to have to communicate effectively with the families. For example, in many more traditional households, the mother is the one managing the student's education. However, the grandparents, as is often common in Russian cultures, would be a powerful participant.

INTERACTIVE SELF-PRACTICE EXERCISES

1. Modernization has impacted the traditional ways in which a child is raised. In your society, you can choose people you consider being part of your village. Examples include people in your villages such as mentors, life coaches, grandparents, teachers, and nuclear and extended family.
   1. For each person, list three things they taught you, either by example or lessons learned.
   2. Why was this important? How do you and your community benefit? How has this shaped your values or perspective in life?
2. All children should receive support from the community for a better society in the future. A child without a community may be less connected and have fewer social interactions. For a person to survive in a community, they need to learn the basics of interactions by having an opportunity to interact with people. A well-raised individual tends to benefit the community, as they are the future leader of the community.
   1. Describe an instance where you felt disconnected. What was/were the reason(s)? How did this disconnectedness make you feel? What did you do about it?
   2. Describe where an individual within the community helped develop your leadership skills.
3. Address this scenario: You have a family with two children, and it is now time for you to look for a house to buy. You have a checklist on the type of house: the area, details of the house, and other factors. You come across two houses that tick the boxes on what you are looking for. One of the houses with everything you wanted is in a busy neighborhood. As you talk with the realtor, they inform you a gang member was shot the other day around the block. At the other house, although it is smaller than the first, you meet friendly neighbors. Bearing in mind that you have children, you will look for neighborhoods that feel safe. One that gives your children a homey feel where you have neighbors you can trust. You pick the latter. Once you move into the area, there are high chances your child will be invited to birthday parties and soccer camps. You want your child to interact with people from whom they can learn.
   1. Do you think you will choose who is in your village subconsciously as you select a house?
   2. What other elements can you look at to determine if this is the village for your family?
4. You notice that one of your students is withdrawn and does not want to participate in any discussions. She was once very vocal, but all that had changed. As their teacher, you would like to know what is happening and call her to your office. After providing a safe space, you ask her if there is an issue. She tells you that during an in-class small group discussion one of the students told her that she is too dark. A boy proceeded to ask if it was because she used to live in Africa in the forest with lions. She claims that her classmate said his parents had told her about people who have moved from Africa to the United States. All the students laughed about it, and they called her a bush girl.
   1. What would you say to her, if anything? How would you handle that cultural diversity complexity?
   2. Bearing in mind that the boy heard this from his parents, how can you ensure this does not come off as disrespectful to the boy's family?
   3. Would you bring this up the parents of the girl? If so, how?

EFFECTIVE CONVERSATIONAL POINTS

With a colleague, discuss the following:

• Were there skills you learned from people who were not part of your family? Do you apply any of these skills in your day-to-day or have you applied them anywhere in life?
• Looking back now, do you feel society played a part in your upbringing? Do you feel the role of society in upbringing has changed in recent years? Discuss and share.
• During the pandemic, how did you handle human contact? Did you reach out to a neighbor with whom you never had any conversations earlier? Do you feel like the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us to appreciate our communities more? What has the pandemic taught you on the importance of community? Discuss and share.