Multicultural Education

Educating children about diverse cultures has a multitude of benefits. Not only is it beneficial, but it is essential in today’s society which is predominantly pluralistic. Young students must learn that people of different ethnic backgrounds may often think, act and speak in different ways to what we are used to in our families. Multicultural education also has many future benefits for a child who is entering a world where business is conducted on an international level.

A multicultural world

Children cannot avoid the fact that they will grow up in a world where various cultures grace their paths. These people will have different ways of speaking, thinking, living and working. Preparing our children for such a world is beneficial to us all and prevents racism and cultural discrimination later on in life. A wider acceptance of various cultures is exactly what the next generation needs to prevent them from making the same mistakes made in history.

Understanding each other

A lot of past racism and discrimination took place because people were afraid of change. Instead of learning about new cultures, they feared them and separated themselves from people who were different. This can be avoided by teaching children from a young age that the world contains a variety of people. These people—just because they are different—should not be regarded as dangerous, weird, or inferior to themselves. Multicultural education teaches children respect for the human race as a collective unit and tells them unequivocally that all people should be regarded as human beings.

Future business relationships

Our world has recently become a global village. Where a business is located hardly affects who its clients are. Communication is now possible with people from other countries, but it is just as important to teach children how to communicate effectively. This kind of education will give them an advantage later on in life—especially now that Asian countries play such a dominant role in our business world. Initiatives like this are already taking place in Australia where children are learning to speak Chinese in preparation for business relationships in their adult lives.

Multicultural education should be a dominant theme in every school across the world. It promotes a sense of world-friendliness that would not be possible if we teach our kids to be as narrow-minded as some of us have been. Perhaps if other countries see westerners learning about their culture, they will implement the same kind of education in their own schools.



#