What is culture shock?

Kalervo Oberg, who coined the term culture shock in the mid-1950s, defines culture shock as
“the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse”
(Oberg 1954). According to Oberg, a person is not born with a culture but only with the capacity
to understand it and use it. As we grow up in a determined cultural environment and we learn to
interact socially in this environment, this culture becomes our way of life; it becomes a safe,
automatic and familiar way to get what we want.

When people abandon the social environment they know and where they feel comfortable and
safe and move to a new cultural environment, as in the case of students who decide to spend a
period of time abroad, they will have to adjust to the new environment and the new culture. It
should not be assumed that the target culture is ruled by the same patterns the culture of origin is,
as each culture (not only each country) perceives the world around it in different ways and
develops different mechanisms and strategies to interpret it. For all this, those people
transplanted abroad will be exposed to stimuli, which, at some point or another, they will not
know how to interpret in a coherent way as they will try to apply interpretation patterns that they
found useful in their culture of origin but which are not always useful in the target culture.

It has been evidenced that any person entering a new cultural environment will be exposed to
suffer thisculture shock. The only variation will be the degree to which this person will be
affected. This depends on a series of factors, of which, the most common are listed and briefly
commented here:

1. The intercultural experience the subjects have had in the past: travels to places with
cultures that are different from their own, relationships with people from other cultures in
their culture of origin, etc.

2. The previous knowledge they have about the target culture: the more we know about the
place and the people hosting us (their history, their folklore, etc.) the easier it will be to
understand the behaviors we observe.
3. The linguistic ability they have to manage in the target culture: the higher the level of
foreign language the subjects have the less probable it will be for them to experience
misunderstandings.

4. Human values previously learned and developed by subjects: tolerance, respect, etc.

5. The subjects’ personality: confident, open and sociable people will find it easier to
establish new relationships with local people who will help them interpret those not very
familiar behaviors they will come across in the target culture.

6. Similarities between the culture of origin and the target culture: the more similar both
cultures are, the fewer the occasions in which the subject will be exposedculture
shockwill be.

7. Geography and weather: certain physical contexts (excessive heights, nearness to the sea,
etc.) and climatic conditions (rain, cold, excessive heat, etc.) affect people,specially those
subjects that are not used to them. These physical conditions increase the subjects’
discomfort and often make them project and expand all this negative feelings into the
target culture.

8. The subjects’ situation in the new environment: are they integrated in the target culture?,
are they in a culture-of-origin bubble?

 Culture shock is usually triggered by:

a. Loss of cues or familiar signs. Though cues are part of everyday life such as signs,
movements of body parts (gestures), facial expressions or habits that can tell someone
how to act in certain situations.

b. The interruption of interpersonal communication both on a conscious and unconscious

c. An identity crisis, by going outside one's area someone will re-evaluate the picture of
himself.
  General Recommendations to Overcome Culture Shock

The recommendations we give our students aim to help them overcome culture shock in
the better way possible. In general, it is recommended to:

 Observe, listen and learn,

 Show respect,

 Learn from mistakes and apply the knowledge acquired through them in future situations,

 Leave stereotypes and preconceived ideas aside and open the mind to the new culture,

 Understand the culture shock process in order to understand the feelings that will arise
from it,

 Connect with target culture people who can serve as cultural informants,

 Analyze the situations that are not understood before judging or criticizing them just for
being different to what the subject is used to, and

 Enjoy the experience.

At the end of 2019, almost all countries have an outbreak of the corona virus or often also known
as COVID-19. The Corona COVID-19 virus currently has an impact on society and on the
education sector in Indonesia. nearly 300 million students are disrupted by their school activities
and threaten their educational rights in the future. The global lockdown of education institutions
is going to cause major (and likely unequal) interruption in students’ learning; disruptions in
internal assessments; and the cancellation of public assessments for qualifications or their
replacement by an inferior alternative.

The COVID-19 pandemic is first and foremost a health crisis. Many countries have (rightly)
decided to close schools, colleges and universities. The crisis crystallises the dilemma
policymakers are facing between closing schools (reducing contact and saving lives) and keeping
them open (allowing workers to work and maintaining the economy). The severe short-term
disruption is felt by many families around the world: home schooling is not only a massive shock
to parents’ productivity, but also to children’s social life and learning. Teaching is moving
online, on an untested and unprecedented scale. Student assessments are also moving online,
with a lot of trial and error and uncertainty for everyone. Many assessments have simply been
cancelled. Importantly, these interruptions will not just be a short-term issue, but can also have
long-term consequences for the affected cohorts and are likely to increase inequality. Social
problems caused by covid-19 are felt by the community, especially students and students related
to studying at home, students complain that learning at home is filled with too much homework
assigned by each teacher, while students complain that online meetings are constrained by many
Web networks , inadequate technology, to the signal. In addition, it is also ineffective at home
learning because they learn self-taught, many parents who cannot teach the material in the book,
can only guide their children. With events like this students will experience shock with the
system that will gradually feel frustrated, lazy, even complaining because it is also caused by the
obstacles above. So, while this global home schooling will certainly produce like some
inspirational moments, some angry moments, some exciting moments and frustrating
moments, it seems very unlikely that it will on average replace the learning lost from school.

Solutions?

The global lockdown of education institutions is going to cause major (and likely unequal)
interruption in students’ learning; disruptions in internal assessments; and the cancellation of
public assessments for qualifications or their replacement by an inferior alternative.

What can be done to mitigate these negative impacts? Schools need resources to rebuild the loss
in learning, once they open again. How these resources are used, and how to target the children
who were especially hard hit, is an open question. Given the evidence of the importance of
assessments for learning, schools should also consider postponing rather than skipping internal
assessments. For new graduates, policies should support their entry to the labour market to
avoid longer unemployment periods.
References :

Alves López, R. D. y de la Peña Portero, A. (2013). Culture shock: adaptation strategies.

Burgess, Simon and Hans Henrik Sieversen. (2020). School, Skills and Learning : The Impact
Of Covid-19 on Education.