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Multicultural Education Multicultural education is a program of child development and education
which was originally developed in Europe in the nineteen seventies. Up
until that time the main emphasis was on so called educational programs
for immigrants. This educational policy emphasized the assimilation of
the children of immigrants into the society where they had immigrated
and the replacement of all aspects of their native culture, including
their native language.
The outcome of these methods was negative and gradually it became evident that the assimilation of all to a changed form of society would be necessary and that diversity had other distinctive features than only culture. Multicultural education is still in continuous development and the points of emphasis have changed as experience has increased. At present the emphasis is on the self-evident diversity of people. There are many forms of diversity present in every school class. Children are of a different sex, they come from different families, have different attitudes and experience, varying fields of interest and talents. A different origin is only one part of this diversity. The object of multicultural education is that students learn to respect this diversity and to make use of it. Multicultural education is not a "supplementary subject" but rather it cuts across all fields of education in all age groups. Multicultural education endeavors to teach children to handle diversity in their own environment, to respect it and to realize the usefulness of it. Multicultural education is based on 6 main principles: That students:
· learn how to handle diversity
· learn a feeling of fellowship and teamwork
· learn solidarity
· learn to know and respect other cultures
· understand the narrow-mindedness of nationalism
· understand the narrow-mindedness and risks of prejudice and racism
By methods of education that primarily emphasize teamwork and human
interaction children are taught that by teamwork they will accomplish
more and that the results will be better than if they work by
themselves. The children are trained in relationship competency where
the main emphasis is that each individual has something to offer that
is useful for the group in the solving of common assignments.
In an attempt to summarize in a clear way what multicultural education signifies the following elements could be cited: · it is not a separate subject or branch of instruction
· it involves all instruction and all functions within the school
· it runs through all subjects of study of all age groups
· it assumes the mutual learning of the students
· it assumes teamwork study
· it assumes that everybody is able to do something - nobody is able to do everything.
The project requires of the teacher:
· That his basic assumptions are not based on only one culture
· That he is on the alert regarding racism
· That he is vigilant with respect to stereotyping
· That he avoids exalting his own culture at the expense of another
· That he emphasizes the importance of tolerance and the feeling of fellowship
· That he is prepared to adopt changed methods of teaching where
heavy emphasis is placed on teamwork and interrelations between
students
The advantages of multicultural education by teamwork study as a method of teaching are in short:
· Better results in each subject of study
· Students learn to handle diversity in general in their own environment
· Students learn to handle cultural diversity in society
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| Síðast uppfærsla: föstudagur, 27 júní 2008 14:03 |
