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Map of the Culture Areas in the US

I think that there is a lot of benefit in teaching and educating from a culture area concept. While I was thinking through this question, my initial response was to say that there is mostly bad outcomes of teaching students about Native American cultures through this framework; I thought that it would continue to perpetuate stereotypes and would keep students from learning about individual societies in great detail. However, after thinking it through and keeping in mind that most of my friends have absolutely zero knowledge about any Native American groups, I think that it is better for this framework to be continued in order to provide basic information on all of the groups rather than no information at all. I do, however, think that there should be an additional lesson in this framework when teaching students: there must be information given on what is happening within culture areas today as well as the negative impacts the government has had on various groups.

During my time in this class I’ve occasionally brought up different topics from class among my friends to see how they’ve responded. Their utter lack of knowledge is astounding. While I think that there could be a loss of depth and full understanding through teaching in the culture area concept framework, I think it is still more valuable and useful than whatever is being used in classes today. The fact that my friends who all received great educations before college (I consider anyone who is a student at Wake to have had a great high school education) know so little about current Native American cultures says a lot about the lack of quality education in today’s schools. I believe that people who are going to want to learn about various groups in great detail are going to take the time and initiative to do so on their own. Unfortunately, I think that most students fail to see the use in exploring societies in great detail; by teaching based on culture areas, students will be provided with more information than they might be otherwise. Also, I think there is a lot of use in adding into this framework more information on the current standings of various groups and how the government has impacted them.