For me culture defines the
customs, ideas, and collective knowledge of a group of people. A group of people can refer to a large town,
a small family, or even a few close friends.
As Clifford Geertz says in Interpretation of Culture, culture is
the web that binds people within a group. It also defines the way people will interact
within that group.
Take
for example a school such as Texas A&M University. The academic culture draws some fifty
thousand students together in the pursuit of knowledge. This culture defines how exactly that pursuit
is carried out. The knowledge is learned
in a classroom environment where one teacher lectures to a group of students. Custom dictates that each student must prove
the mastering of that knowledge through papers, exams, or projects. The customs of this culture are strictly
defined.
When
I hear the word “cultured,” I first think of classical music, literature, and
Frasier Crane. But after giving it some
more thought, I realized that a cultured person is more than someone who is
well versed in the masterpieces of his own culture. To be cultured is to be willing to understand
or experience different cultures. This
requires stepping out of the protective web that is formed by your own
background and beliefs.
