I have to comment on an email I received some time ago that was more of a press
release talking about a partnership, and as I scanned it my eyes caught a line:
“increasing cultural competence.”
I had to stop and think a second, was this organization implying somehow that
they were incompetent beforehand?
Also, I had to check Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, just to see what it said:
“Cultural competence is a term used for the ability of people of one culture to
understand, communicate, operate, and provide effective services to people of
another given culture, or in other words, cross-culturally. The term is fairly
recent but has become widely used in the fields of education, social work, and
healthcare regulatory compliance within the United States, to discuss acceptance
of persons from a wide array of diverse backgrounds and cultures. In the field
of linguistics, for example, the use of the term "competence" refers to the
ability to communicate effectively in a particular language or community of
speakers.”
“In the framework of the delivery of human services, then, cultural competence
implies professional behavior that avoids racist or discriminatory practices
while providing care to people of different cultural backgrounds, or behavior
that is sensitive to linguistic, religious, and class differences. In
professional circles, cultural competence is a measurable construct against
which individuals and organizations can be assessed. Training (through a
non-defect approach) of persons or systems can then be implemented to improve
cultural acceptance and effectiveness. Cultural Competence can also denote a
state of cultural health.”
You know a hundred years ago when my ancestors got off the boat from Germany I
don’t think there was someone greeting them on the docks seeking to increase
their cultural competence, and you know what, everything turned out alright!
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