Read the text to answer the question.

To begin the dialogue on cultural identity, it is essential to establish a baseline understanding the concept. Culture can be defined by the “totality of that group’s [a community or population] thought, experiences, and patterns of behavior and its concepts, values, and assumptions about life that guide behavior and how those evolve with contact with other cultures.” Cultural identity refers to people who identify themselves with a specific cultural group that has a shared system of symbols and norms for conduct. Recognition of this identity facilitates others’ understanding of the opportunities and challenges faced by individuals within a cultural group. To assist in understanding the basics of cultural identity, symbols and narratives as elements of culture will be examined in this section.

As many of our judgments are based on external observations, it should not be surprising that identities are shaped through use of symbols. According to sociologist Erik Cohen, the use of symbols in defining identity is a universal human trait. Symbols are employed in value systems such as religion, nationalism, social ideologies, and ethnicity. There are times when symbols become so significant to an existing cultural group’s identity that they stand out amongst all other symbols, dominating the narrative of cultural identity of that group. Dominant symbol systems provide “a set of stories, images, landscapes, scenarios, historical events, national symbols, and rituals which represent the shared experiences, sorrows, and triumphs and disasters which give meaning to the nation.” Therefore, understanding how complex symbol systems function and transmit meaning can help with assessing the motivations that underlie a cultural group’s actions. This is key to developing appropriate engagement strategies with cultural groups in urban environments.

Cultural groups use narrativesas a conduit for conveying messages. Narratives can be used as an analytical framework for understanding a wide spectrum of human activities. The stories conveyed through narrative can be viewed as building-blocks of identity in that they enable cultural groups to understand who they are and what they are in relation to others external to their group. In the search to understand cultural identities, knowledge of a cultural group’s narrative is “instructive for understanding how decisions might have come about, the motivations for actions, the causal assumptions drawn, and the arguments put forward, as well as a variety of other actions or variables. ”Therefore, it can be deduced that the future urban environment an Army may find itself operating within will witness a multitude of competing narratives, which may be further exacerbated by competition over limited resources and power.

Source: https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/Online-Exclusive/2015-Online-Exclusive-Articles/Cultural-Identity/ Acess: 03/19/2026.

Too many third graders can’t read this sentence

9 Feb. 2017- Editor's Picks

      Two-thirds of U.S. third graders face challenges that will impact their future, including academic struggles that could lead to dimmer academic and career prospects. Sadly, only one in three U.S. students demonstrates reading proficiency at the end of third grade. This has alarming consequences for these children, and for our country.

      A report released today from the Business Roundtable (BRT) sheds light on this troubling trend in American education, and advises business leaders on how they can help put more children on a path to success.

      (...)

      I’ve heard it said that before third grade, students are learning to read, while after third grade, they’re reading to learn. Grade three is a critical crossroads in a life's journey. If you’ve read this far, then you understand why this is so important. Not enough of our young learners can say the same.

      I encourage you to read the BRT report. As you read, please consider ways to help our schools and our teachers keep students on paths to bright futures.

Leave your comments below

Michel Jonas

      Really, all I read was blabla wa wa wa. Are you Charlie Brown’s teacher? If we can't understand our children who are crying out for help and direction, then there is something wrong with you. Please go back and check yourself! They are worth so much more.

Rick Shire

      Thanks for sharing. With two young children, I increasingly think about the importance of early childhood education. Pre-k care is far too inaccessible, ultimately magnifying inequality from the earliest stages of life.

Tom Franks

      What exactly is education? Academic education doesn't make someone a better person or even a better employee, I would guess that anything we learn in the education process is at the most 10% useful to us as people. Education should teach academia but also life skills such as budgeting, EQ skills, languages etc., all the elements to be a successful person and not necessarily a successful professional.

(Adapted from https ://www.linkedin.com)

A tirinha a seguir mostra um diálogo entre duas pessoas, com a participação de um terceiro interlocutor. Analise-a e responda a questão.