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If the notion that “culture shapes education, and education shapes culture,” (Wadham, Pudsey, Boyd) is accepted, it is clear that one’s schooling experience directly impacts their understanding of both their own heritage, as well other’s backgrounds, and largely influences their definition of self. My experience has changed drastically in the level of multiculturalism between my school and UNSW and therefore, with the transition to tertiary education has come a large change in my grasp and definition of culture and identity in relation to education.

From age three I attended a co-educational, independent private school in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. The school was a modern orthodox Jewish school and therefore as well as secular subjects,  up to the end of grade ten, extra subjects were compulsory, including jewish studies, jewish history and Hebrew language studies. With no differentiation in the religion one followed – students were only accepted if both their parents were of jewish faith, or at minimum, their mother was jewish – one’s religious cultural identity was somewhat formed from as early on as pre-school.

Unlike many schools where despite the cohort being of singular religious faith, their familial backgrounds produce an element of multiculturalism, the student population of my school was relatively limited to those of either South African or European descent, especially Eastern European. A number of the South African students were themselves migrants to Australia, whilst many of European descent were either first or second generation Australians. This is easily justified as one considers the atrocities in Europe that faced our grandparent’s generation, namely the Holocaust, and the wave of immigration to Australia as a consequence of this. I myself am a second generation Australian of Hungarian roots on my maternal side. I also, however, have lineage dating back to the first fleet on my paternal side. Despite the fact that I identify myself as Australian, I definitely think that my experience at a Jewish school, and especially the in-depth studies into modern Jewish history such as the Holocaust, has informed my decision to always add “but my family is Hungarian” to my definition of cultural background and nationality.

Whilst the school I attended had many of migrant backgrounds, or students who were ‘new Aussies,’ cultural diversity remained somewhat limited. My graduating class of 132 students had one Eurasian student and 131 Caucasian students. The indigenous population of my school was 0% and the socio-economic background of students ranged from average, comfortable Australians (like myself) to some of Australia’s richest. All students who finished in my year lived within suburbs of each other with no one really living beyond the 'bubble' of suburbs between Vaucluse and Randwick. What remained in common amongst students, teachers and parents alike was the high standards of education expected at the school, and the high expectations in relation to ATARS, with the school pushing to achieve as many over 90 and higher as possible. Perhaps the greatest similarity, however, was the overwhelming feeling of being part of a very close-knit community, something which I am told is not a part of every school's culture. The school was essentially a microcosm of the community it served.

Here I refer to Eagleton's definition, "'Culture' is said to be one of the...most complex words in the English language, and the term which is sometimes considered to be its opposite - nature - is commonly awarded the accolade of being the most complex of all. Yet though it is fashionable these days to see nature as a derivative of culture, culture, etymologically speaking, is a concept derived from nature." In my opinion, this essentially echoes Wadham, Pudsey & Boyd's sentiments included earlier in the piece and furthers this definition to include the equally relevant cycle of culture to nature. My understanding of my religiosity derived directly from the nature of the school I attended, which was aimed at honing in on one's cultural heritage and finding relevance to one's culture within modern day life. The same is now true of my experiences at university, whereby the nature of the educational institution informs a culture of acceptance, diversity and esteem. 

Thus far, university, obviously, has introduced me to a whole new level of multiculturalism as it has proven to be a melting pot of varying cultures.. In regards to cultural lineage, a major change of note has been the drastic change in percentage of Caucasian to Asian students – remembering that my graduating class was 99% Caucasian.

That “education shapes culture and culture shapes education” is somewhat undeniable. In my experience, where religion informed your choice of school, my school informed me of my religion. The close-knit jewish community of the eastern suburbs also played a large role, both in relation to the so-called ‘pressures’ to achieve high results from students and also in the feeling that we were part of a large school “Family" – again, an example of the interrelatedness between culture and education. And now that my educational environment is so much more diverse, I cannot wait to experience how my definition of personal identity and culture will change over the next years. 

By Carly Fisher

References:

Wadham, B, Pudsey, J & Boyd, R. 'Culture and Education' - Pearson, Education Australia

Eagleton, T. 'The Idea of Culture' - Blackwell - Oxford, UK. 2000