Reflect Critically on How Your Worldview Has Been Shaped free essay sample

Using the concept of a world view, identify some of the beliefs and attitudes, particularly to education and learning that you bring to your learning now. Reflect critically on how your worldview has been shaped by factors such as your gender, age or community. In your answer refer to Hobson (1996) and Samovar and Porter (2004) from the SSK12 Reader, and Chapter 1 in A Guide to Learning Independently (Marshall and Rowland, 2006, 1-18). Everyone comes from a different culture and has their own world view, based upon their upbringing and community values. Remnants of that world view will always remain throughout their lives and I am no exception. Throughout my own journey, I have formed outlooks and beliefs in respect to education, which I consequently bring to today’s learning. In this essay I will reveal those factors which shaped my current beliefs and attitudes towards education and learning, highlighted through the prism of my own experience and environment. I will start with my ever-changing world view. Then I will explain how my gender, age and the communities I lived in played a significant role in my decision making regarding education. What is a World view? In their book Samovar and Porter maintain that the word world view â€Å"†¦ is the common English translation of the German word Weltanschauung, meaning overarching philosophy †¦Ã¢â‚¬  With that the authors summarise all other explanations that may fit the description of a world view. They also state other factors which describe a world view, factors with which we are surrounded in everyday life. Those are our communities’ beliefs in God, questions about nature and the human race, the universe and everything about life, death and in general the perception of one’s world. 2004, 85) What the authors are pointing out here is that our world view is the basic foundation that is built and formed around our cultures and communities. Not only are we taught these world views but also they are shaped within us as a result of our experiences during our lives. Hobson also gives a good example with her own interpretation â€Å"By world view I mean a set of beliefs that we hold and through which we organise our understanding of ourselves and our understanding of others. † (1996, 30) She argues the importance of understanding the world views in order to gain nowledge about others and ourselves. Based on the understanding of my own world view, I am aware that the beliefs and attitudes I hold today about learning and education are influenced directly by my gender, age, background and my community. My values and perceptions about learning contain a large portion of that original world view. However, it has gradually changed during the course of time. My new country encouraged me to embrace new cultures, to meet people from different backgrounds and to respect their beliefs. Traveling, studying and constantly observing new behaviours around me have also played a role in reshaping my world view. Although I completed several certificates at TAFE as a contribution to my learning, I saw my gender as an obstacle to continue my education in university. As a woman and primarily a wife and mother, with my cultural world view philosophy in mind, I made a choice to exclusively devote my time to our children’s wellbeing and development. I believed that my education can take place later in life. This was not met with recognition and approval from the community though. If one understands a culture’s world view and cosmology, reasonable accuracy can be attained in predicting behaviours and motivations in other dimensions. † (Samovar and Porter 2004, 85) The authors point at the importance of being able to recognise and understand different culture’s world views. Communication in multicultural communities could be much more efficient if more people were open to learning how to read the signs of different world views. Nevertheless, I knew that my time to study would come and I dedicated myself to the task at hand. Attempting an education at university expects dedication and commitment. It also has to be the right time in one’s life. As Marshall and Rowland state â€Å"If you are studying because it is a cultural or social expectation and not because you want to, think about your alternatives. † (2006, 10) With that in mind I am confident in saying that I am studying now because I know that this is the right time for me and I know which career I am going to pursue in the future. Some of the world views, which I have adopted during my life, have a great impact on my understanding as a female. I am aware of the great change in world views through time in regard to a woman’s role in her community. Samovar and Porter’s statement illustrates how the Islamic world view sees the community’s perception of women. The role of the women is subordinate to the men’s role in their society. (2004, 85) Hobson also mentions the implications of the hotly debated topic in Medieval times whether women shared rationality or not. (1996, 31) A lot has changed since then. Had I lived in those times my world view would have been very different than the one I hold today. Thus, I feel fortunate to be born in a time where women are equal to men and given opportunities to excel. As a mature aged student, my ever-changing worldview has influenced the understandings and opinions I hold about education and learning in general. My immigration to Australia took place in my early twenties during the year of 1995. It took some time for me to realize that further education is an essential and valued goal in my new country. Having a world view, which was shaped while I was raised during a communistic regime in Bulgaria, influenced my thinking and held me back. I did not believe that I was capable of furthering my education at a university level. Having a flair for Art, I was not confident that a career in this field was achievable. The world views during my parents time assumed that only a small number of students were able to complete a university degree. Their formal education was limited to completing grade 7 and 8 respectively. Despite the changes in my time, I still lacked the courage to begin such an endeavour. It would be best if we made our choices according to our own values but very often those values are unclear to us. Sidney B. Simon cited in Marshal and Rowland 2006, 11) That fits well with my mindset at the time. I wanted an education but did not believe in myself. The decision to study or not to study after high school depended on the world view of the community in which I was living. The fact that not many of my relatives and friends went to university at that time played a significant role in forming my own decisions. Livi ng in Australia has opened my eyes to different truths and achievable goals. Gradually I have come to understand that learning is available to everyone. I realised that my background culture and my community are no longer an obstacle when it comes to furthering my education. In my view, engaging in study later in life is even more beneficial. My situation closely reflects Marshall and Rowland’s statement that the way we learn is affected directly by what we believe and value. (2006, 10). The authors here argue how our beliefs play an important role in the way we perceive learning and education. With my current world view in mind, I could not agree more. In this essay I revealed my beliefs and attitudes towards education based on my world views. Those views have continuously changed throughout my whole life. The key to my changing attitudes and beliefs towards education so far, is based on travel, embracing a new culture, engaging with people from varied backgrounds, observing new behaviours and belief systems and learning new ways of understanding the world. With my new realisation that education is available to everyone regardless of his or her age, gender and beliefs, comes the freedom to embark on my own pursuit of a fulfilling career path. That can be achieved only through learning, which can be facilitated through university.