Trying to move beyond cultural competence | Tate

As the community outreach director for the Kent School District, I facilitated cultural competence workshops for several years, reaching hundreds of school district employees, as well as employees of a few community organizations.

One reason the workshop was requested by so many is because it didn’t assume that any group or individual was more culturally competent than the other. Neither was the facilitator more competent by virtue of his ethnicity.

We are all on a continuum, perhaps in different places, moving beyond cultural competence to become culturally proficient. It’s a continuous learning process.

Beyond cultural competence means at least two things: one, people learn by sharing experiences and perceptions as they discuss the elements of cultural competence without being judged competent or incompetent, or being compelled to have feelings of guilt. Instead, everyone’s perceptions are acknowledged within a safe learning environment maintained by the facilitator.

Another meaning is to focus beyond the use of the word “competent” to the words culturally “proficient,” because many of the people who would be receptive to learning about cultural differences and similarities reject the perception that they need to become competent.

Once a group comes to understand the role of culture, they have a better chance of realizing that most cultures that continue to exist are sufficient to some extent. Otherwise, they would not have survived to this day.

In order to survive, all cultures must produce and train the young. Cultures must find a way to enforce its values and explain its existence, provide food and shelter and maintain security and order.

We could say our culture has not only survived, but has risen to the top of the heap in the world. A host of immigrants from around the world will attest to the fact that the culture in our country provides members great opportunities for social mobility. Other Americans of all backgrounds whose families have been in the U.S. for generations will concur with immigrants.

Although we have numerous identities as Americans – Asian-American, white American, black American, Jewish American, Christian American, male, female, husband, wife, son or daughter – we are all Americans.

As Americans, we subscribe to the cultural values of freedom of religion and freedom of speech – values that people from around the world come to the U.S. to share. Sharing such cultural values make us one nation.

So, if we have these great values and opportunities, why do we need cultural competence?

There are many who believe that even though the U.S. is the destination for many throughout the world, we need to do more to increase opportunities for the new Americans, as well as for groups who have been in the country for generations. Some cultural competence advocates believe that the five elements of cultural competence help to foster the right attitudes for the dominant culture to become more inclusive.

One of many potential examples is that English is the language of the dominant culture in the U.S. Some cultural competence advocates believe that driver’s license test and many other government services and information should be printed in other languages as well as in English. A license to drive, as an example, gives immigrants easier access to jobs and other advantages.

However, other people believe that our culture is doing fine as it is. Perhaps it’s not perfect in every respect, but the perception is that mostly anyone can make it in the United States, regardless of race, creed, color, gender or religion. All one has to do is work hard and be reasonably intelligent, as many immigrants and others have proven throughout history. They believe that people who come to the U.S. should learn to speak and read English.

Both sides of the discussion has an enormous number of allies on a variety of cultural competence topics, including hiring practices, education opportunities, gender issues, Christmas celebrations, who is being served by institutions, how to show respect, and many more. However, it is clear that many organizations still don’t require their employees to participate in cultural competence workshops that put some of these issues on the table as well as help people to better understand their own cultures and the cultures of others. But that’s changing in South King County. Both the Kent School District and the city of Kent are pushing the cultural competence agenda.

Cultural competence doesn’t have to be a workshop where the views of one side of the discussion are imposed upon others. This approach seems especially unfair when captive audiences are participating in the workshop as a condition of their employment.

Moving beyond cultural competence means respecting the views and perceptions of all participants, as people’s perceptions have roots in their experiences. Cultural competence workshops should be an experience where people with different views interact to solve problems for the common good of a community. The more diverse the perceptions and experiences in the workshop, the greater the potential for better solutions.

In this way, cultural competence moves beyond the judgments of one or another group to become more inclusive of differences, exemplifying in its own workshops the affects cultural competence wants to produce in individuals, in organizations, and in the world.

We are now in the realm of becoming culturally proficient. That is, continuously learning and adapting.