Introduction
The Arabs society is considered to be strict when it comes to culture and traditions. Their culture has been followed from one generation to the next meaning that it’s a taboo to deviate from that culture. Therefore parents are required to educate their children about this culture in every step of their life i.e. from toddler stage to adolescent hood. More so, teenagers are required to behave like adults even at their tender age.
For this reason, the society at large has the mandate of ensuring that this culture is instilled to all teenagers; this it does by ensuring that the existing schools have programs that will promote this culture. This is also witnessed in the overseas institutions where the students may seek further learning from their native countries and this move has therefore seen a large number of students seek education in such areas since their parents are confident of good education complemented with their Arabic culture.
With such blends, it is a guarantee that these teenagers will stick to their roots and culture or even get more updates on that. This paper is for the opinion that more strategies should be invented so as to promote the Arab culture to everyone especially the teenagers who may be caught up with their daily struggle of acceptance by their peers.
According to Straussner (2001, p 275) parents play a vital role in ensuring that their teenagers are updated on their culture. They must therefore come up with a few restrictions which are meant to promote this. The first one is reflected in the use and abuse of harmful substances; restriction of such substances is a common thing for these teenagers and they grow up knowing that it is against their culture to indulge with such substances. This includes drinking of alcohol or taking drugs.
To make this possible, the Arab teenagers are never allowed to attend functions or parties which are normally enjoyed by the Americans teenagers. More still, the teenagers are not allowed to go anywhere without informing their parents of their where about. With this approach, the parents have managed to mould their teenagers into the right path that is to stick to their culture. Other than restrictions, their belief of community living with their extended families has also played a major role.
For instance; most of the Somali families tend to be large since they have a belief in getting many children. Therefore, one is likely to find a large extended family living in one homestead where they accomplish their tasks together like cooking and other things. With such living units, the teenagers are educated on the purpose of tendering to their aging parents and their social well being.
At the end of the day, this promotes obligation to their teenagers by remaining part of the group and in the end, they learn how to sacrifice their personal needs and mind the welfare of their families. (Husom, 2009, p 21). This can also be linked to how a father is supposed to sacrifice and provide for his family.
The father is considered as the head of the family meaning that he holds the authority of that family. His work is to provide for the family while at the same time offer religious and moral training to his son when he reaches the adolescent age. Therefore the son is taught how to behave like the male figure in the family since their culture demands that the male is the center of everything. With that, the teenager is molded into how their culture demands him to be. (Husom, 2009 p22).
Fathers in the Arab culture have a huge task ahead of them since they should lead by example. As earlier stated, Husom described how a father is supposed to train his teenage son, however this can only happen if the father demonstrates a good example. Therefore, fathers have managed to do a commendable work since the authorities of some schools have given good testimonies about the teenagers who have joined their institutions in the past few years. Husom adds that the fathers have done their part in ensuring that teenagers get acquainted with their country’s culture.
Still on the subject, Husom indicates that the Arab’s culture is clan based meaning that; collective thinking and working practices are a must and not an option. Therefore, it is not common to encounter a family or find a person of Arab origin working or living alone. It is unheard of and those who do that probably don’t have ties to families, due to wars imposed on them and things like that. Therefore their culture dictates that they have an obligation to instill communal values in their growing children.
More still, they can take their adolescents children to schools where they can get education on values and culture.
Education in the Arab society is highly regarded though it is scarce. Here, you will find that their learning system focuses on the cultural aspects which were practiced by their great parents. The relevant authority has been given the mandate of ensuring that the school curriculum incorporates all this since it reflects on the future leaders who are the teenagers. Once the management has ensured this, the parents are also required to play their part of reinforcing such cultural aspects to their adolescent’s children.
Therefore the parents are supposed to do everything possible to ensure that their children get the required support, which can instill their culture while at the same time educate them on worldly aspects. (Alitolppa-Niitamo, 2004).
The scarcity of education and war outcomes has seen a large number of Arabs move to the Minnesota area in the US; they happen to choose this place because their families and community were already populated there and this would form support for their traditions and culture, which will in turn be reflected on their teenagers. (Farid & McMahan, 2004)
Minnesota is also the ideal center for most of the Arabs since it houses the first Islamic University; the university offers the Arabic language, in addition to the Islamic religion.
For most parents, this is the best location considering that they are in a foreign country and the thought of educating their adolescents in the right path, which incorporates culture and tradition, can be impossible. Therefore, the classes are ideal since they educate everything about this Arabic culture which is almost the same to those in their native countries. (Husom, 2009, p 25).
Culture among the teenagers still continues to be reinforced even after such families move to other countries. This has been witnessed by the vast numbers of mosque, Islamic centers and private schools that have been established in various countries such as Minnesota.
The Islamic center was basically set up by a group of Muslim students and here, the classes are offered on Saturdays to students who attend the public schools meaning that they cannot attend on weekdays. Such considerations have ensured that these teenagers get acquainted with their culture and traditions. (Husom, 2009, p 26)
In addition to that, public institutions have also allowed the Arabs students to hold meetings just like their Christian counterparts. For the Muslim, they are able to come together and remind themselves about their teachings and this makes them hold a stronger faith on that perspective (Strussner, 2001). This move was pushed forward by the Arab society to help the Arab students who leave their native country to go abroad for studies. Such moves have made it possible for the teenagers to keep abreast with their culture and traditions.
Although for some parents, they may find it hard to take their teenage children to schools where they can learn more about Islam; even with such draw backs, the fathers have continued to take that role of educating their children on Islamic culture. (Farid and McMahan, 2004).
However, this can be a little challenging for households whose fathers are detained in wars; the move has been known to have more effect since the teenagers would be willing to listen to their fathers for the obvious reasons, i.e. fear of being punished and things like that.
The Arabs culture is also keen on gender matters. To them, mixing of genders for sexual education classes should be avoided. This also applies to gym workouts and things related in that category. They believe that such events should be organized in separate groups so that boys and girls don’t mix. (Kahin, 1997).
Such gestures ensure that the adolescent children grow up with the mentality that they should not get too close with the opposite sex since it could lead to immoral behavior. Apart from that, teenagers are also met with a few challenges regarding the meals offered in school, which in turn strengthens their Arab faith.
Their culture demands that they should never eat pork. In most cases you find that pork is served in many school lunches, but after numerous reminders from their parents, they grow up knowing that it is against their belief to eat that. Such practical experiences act as a good teacher when it comes to instilling this culture and belief. (Hodge, 2001 p 16). This in a way explains why these parents take their teenagers to public institutions.
According to Tarazi (1995) the Arab community is the only entity capable of instilling culture to their offspring. This is made possible since they have a mutual interdependence of their immediate families and communities making their culture even stronger (p, 46). Such influences make the adherence of their culture to their teenagers come as an automatic thing. In addition to this, families that are known to offer a perfect environment, coupled with a supportive community will also reflect that to their teenage children.
Adolescents have had numerous educations about their culture at a very tender age and this has resulted to them having difficulties whenever they join the public school systems. Here, they find it hard to integrate with children of other culture since most of the things collide with their culture (Masny, 1999).
In that respect, Masny (1999) explains that Arab teenagers have been updated on everything about their culture and this is evident by the hardships they encounter in such schools. It also explains why, they rarely fit in such institutions because they respect their culture.
The Arabs in general believe that culture needs to be reinforced at an early age so that a child can grow up with that reinforcement. As Masny (1999) explains, parents continue to take their role of education on culture and tradition. At the end of the day, the teenagers get to decide for themselves when they are faced with various challenges concerning their faith and it is obvious that they will make the right decision because of their upbringing.
Conclusion
As mentioned above, the society plays a vital role in ensuring that the teenagers get the values concerning their culture and tradition. The parents are given the hard task of instilling this, long before their children reach the adolescent stage so that the process can be easier for them. Communities where these teenagers grow up also have some effect on how good their upbringing will be. Therefore the whole deal of culture reinforcement does not rest on one person as described.
Therefore, with such support from the whole society, Arab teenagers will continue to grow in their culture since they have good mentors beside them and the same will also be felt with teenagers who seek studies in foreign countries away from their mother land. However, this does not apply to all countries and therefore parents should be keen to look for institutions of those countries that support this move.
References
Alitolppa-Niitamo, A (2004). Somali youth in the context of schooling in metropolitan Helsinki: A framework for assessing variability in educational performance. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 30(1), 81- 106.
Farid, M. & McMahan, D. (2004). Accomodating and educating Somali students in Minnesota schools. Saint Paul: Hamline University Press.
Hodge, R. (2002). Working with Muslim youths: Understanding the values and beliefs of Islamic discourse. Children & Schools, 24(1), 6-20.
Husom, G. (2009). Raising Muslim Adolescents: Somali Parents Perceived Challenges in raising their children in the public schools. Web.
Kahin, H. (1997). Educating Somali children in Britain. Staffordshire, England: Trentham Books.
Masny, D. (1999). Weaving multiple literacies: Somali children and their teachers in the context of school culture. Language, Culture, and Curriculum, 12(1), 72-93.
Strussner, S, (2001). Ethnoculture Factors in substance Abuse Treatment. Guildford Press NY Print
Tarazi, N. (1995). The child in Islam: A Muslim parent’s handbook. Plainfield, Indiana: American Trust.