Defining Culture

            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.