Cultivating a Cross-Cultural Disposition
Abstract
The U.S. Army has taken cues from those within and outside of the military profession to focus more effort toward understanding culture and its impact on operations. The institutional Army has consequently committed resources toward incorporating the knowledge of foreign cultures and foreign languages into its professional military education (PME) curricula. While this knowledge and these skills are clearly needed, possessing them does little to shape the dispositions of military students. Developing the patience and inclination to work with dramatically different cultures requires PME to shift focus from the primarily cognitive domain of educational objectives to the affective domain. PME must examine the foundations of its educational philosophy and seek more creative approaches to teaching cultural awareness. Approaches such as self-directed learning and transformative learning have the emotive impact it will take to change officers' dispositions. Such approaches generate a "buy-in" of the student and allow critical reflection of one's cultural assumptions and biases. This, in turn, will enable military students to become more effective in understanding all cultures rather than only those of current operational importance.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 15, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA471220
Entities
People
- Rory A. Crooks
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College