Overcoming the Barriers
Identifying the Barriers to Cultural Proficiency provides persons and their organizations with tools to overcoming resistance to change.
The barriers to Cultural Proficiency are
- resistance to change,
- systemic oppression,
- unawareness of need to adapt, and
- a sense of entitlement.
These barriers are often manifested in statements such as, it is not me that needs to change. I have been a successful educator for years, these kids/parent just need to get a clue! Similarly, it is rare to find the person who doesn’t acknowledge that racism, ethnocentrism, sexism and heterosexism exist in our society but what they often fail to see is that when one group of people loses rights and privileges due to systemic oppression, those rights and privileges accrue to others in often unacknowledged or unrecognized ways.
It is when one recognizes one’s entitlement that he or she has the ability to make choices that benefit the education of children and youth.
