Simply and immediately, language acquisition. I am very interested in multicultural education, but for me, it is going to start with language and cultural immersion.
I spoke earlier about the Bafa-Bafa activity. Here are some conclusions:
1. What seems logical, sensible, important and reasonable to a person in one culture may seem irrational, stupid and unimportant to an outsider
2. Feelings of apprehension, loneliness, lack of confidence are common when visiting another culture
3. When people talk about other cultures,they tend to describe the differences and not the similarities
4. Differences between cultures are generally seen as threatening and described in negative terms
5. Personal observations and reports of other cultures should be regarded with a great deal of skepticism
6. One should make up one’s own mind about another culture and not rely on the reports and experience of others
7. It requires experience as well as study to understand the any subtleties of another culture
8. Understanding another culture is a continuous and not a discrete process
9. Stereotping is probably inevitable in the absence of frequent contact or study
10. The feelings which people have for their own language are often not evident until they encounter another language
11. It is probably necessary to know the language of a foreign culture to understand the culture in any depth
This last conclusion is something I believe in strongly. I cannot know every culture deeply but there are two cultures I want to explore for personal and professional reasons.
I am not dismissing the multicultural ed class here. I just don’t feel it is essential at the moment. I will leave the subject to the experts right now. I don’t know enough. I am a student with aspirations on world domination… in a good way.
peace
