Cultural Literacy

Cultural Literacy is a term coined by Hirsch (1983), referring to the ability to

understand the signs and symbols of a given culture and being able to participate in its activities and
customs as opposed to simply being a passive (and outside) observer.

 To illustrate this, consider the following statement: "The classroom was in absolute bedlam."
Without any sort of background, the reader is forced to guess the meaning of the word
"bedlam" from its context within the sentence.
Of course, by its very definition, cultural literacy is culture-specific, but it is not limited to
national cultures, contrary to what many people assume. The culture of one workplace can be
very different from another, just as the culture of a particular school can differ widely from
another school nearby.
 There are far too-many cultures for any one person to be literate in all of them. As more and
more Filipinos travel-both domestically and abroad-as the result of globalization and the
increased opportunities it brings, the need to develop new cultural literacies comes to the
fore.

Cultural Literacy in the Philippines

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) is the government
body tasked with the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of Philippine culture, both
locally and abroad. Part of how the NCCA is addressing this and related matters is through the
establishment of the Philippine Cultural Education Program (PCEP), which "envisions a nation of
culturally literate and empowered Filipinos" (NCCA, 2015).
Designed to make cultural education accessible to all sectors of Philippine society, the PCEP
held national consultative meetings, conferences, workshops, art camps, and festivals on culture-
based teaching and good governance from 2003 to 2007. As a result of Republic Act 10066 (2010).
PCEP has been designated as the body, together with the Department of Education (DepEd), tasked
to "formulate the cultural heritage education programs both for local and overseas Filipinos" that are
to be an integral part of Philippine education in all its aspect.

Cultural education-and thus cultural literacy-in the Philippines is quite a challenge. given that
Philippine culture is a complex blend of many indigenous and colonial cultures and varies widely
across regions, and the average citizen is almost as ignorant of other Philippine cultures as foreigners
are. To point out consider the question, "What makes something or someone 'Filipino'?"

The average reader will be hard-pressed to pin down a definite answer.

De Leon (2011) argues that this is in part due to a colonial mindset among Filipino artists that
inhibits the full development and realization of Filipino artistic creativity - a kind of artistic and
cultural creativity that is fully Filipino.

De Leon (2011) coins this propensity for Filipinos to look at their culture and themselves
through Western lenses as the Doña Victorina Syndrome, a kind of inferiority complex wherein
anything and everything natively Filipino is considered by the Filipinos themselves as being inferior
backward, and worthless in comparison to their Western counterparts, and therefore a source of
embarrassment and unease. As De Leon puts it, our low self-esteem borders on self-contempt, the
results of which are doubt in the Filipino capacity for achievement, perverse delight in belittling
ourselves, lack of respect and even outright contempt for one another, and blind dependence on
foreign goods, concepts, techniques, approaches, and expertise (2011).

The biggest challenge then, according to him, is the deconstruction of the negative self-
images and notions of ourselves that we have imbibed over generations through "a workable,
effective program of education that can make Filipinos more responsive and sensitive to Filipino
dignity, needs, values, and cultural
potentials and assets."
For De Leon, it is excellence in the arts-via an expression that is truly Filipino-that can form
the core of national unity. Of course, this remains to be seen.

Challenges for Cultural Literacy in the Philippines

As Applebee (1987) observes, interesting discussions on cultural literacy give rise to some
very difficult questions which are particularly important to multicultural and multilingual nation like
the Philippines.
What kinds of knowledge constitute cultural literacy? Is it knowing facts, names, and dates, or is
it something more experiential like being familiar with a story or a particular song?
If culture is more "caught than taught," should cultural literacy be one of the goals of education?
If yes, how does one teach it?
Whose cultures must we be literate in to be considered "culture literate"? Who decides which
cultures are included and which on are excluded, and on what bases?
Is cultural literacy education simply a means for the dominant culture to express its dominance
over minority cultures?
How is cultural literacy to be assessed and evaluated? How can we know someone is "culturally
literate"?
As of the writing of this book, no definitive answers to these questions exist in the literature.