A value orientations approach is used in this report to construct an overview of Haitian culture and its relation to education. The paper consists of five major sections. The first introduces cultural value orientations as a conceptual scheme. Culture is defined as the learned patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that make life meaningful for a particular group of human beings. All cultures contain values that can be organized into six "clusters": nature, the self, society, the supernatural, human nature, and the family. Section 2 provides axiological definitions of the basic value orientations, outlining them as a range of choices toward solving life's problems and evaluating the solutions. Section 3 describes Haitian culture in general terms. It focuses on the history of colonization, the political situation, education, United States influence, and population trends. Section 4 follows the previously presented outline of value orientations to present details on Haitian values. Finally, Section 4 discusses the influence of culture on the Haitian education system. General features of Haitian education are described, and emphasis is placed on cultural aspects of schooling, such as language use and behavior expectations, which are of interest to North American teachers of Haitian immigrants. It is concluded that American teachers should look beyond the classroom experience to cultural factors in order to understand Haitian students' academic behavior and performance. A general outline of U.S. value orientations, references, and a supplementary bibliography are appended. (KH)