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Culture exists as people’s spiritual support, and has a non-negligible impact on people’s lifestyle, behavior, and values. It is not something fixed, instead, it is always changing with the expansion of social interaction and cognitive development (Schaeffer, 2011).
Multicultural education is becoming a trend in education, as it promotes the concepts of freedom, tolerance, equality, and harmony. With the process of globalization, modernization, and informatization, the coexistence and development of diverse cultures will unavoidably lead to a plurality of students’ values. Australia has always been a multicultural country due to its immigration policies, discrimination acts, and democracy. Every student is eager for success, and to gain acceptance from others. In the implementation of quality education, one pays attention to student's differences and the different study demands, respects their personality, and builds a platform for them to fully present themselves (Schaeffer, 2011). Therefore, based on the confusion brought by multiculturalism, a thorough understanding of inter-culture will always be an essential need for Australian teachers and students. In the progress of this demand, there will be all kinds of challenges and changes that need to be faced and adapted (Australian Curriculum, 2019). This study focuses on the key drivers and reasons why intercultural understanding becomes and national and global education priority, and a further critical analysis of this priority is based on an interview with a teacher in Balwyn High School and a range of other research resources.
Intercultural understanding involves two main aspects: cognitive and affective domains of comprehension. Cognitive domains, refer to some degree of knowledge and awareness of one’s own and others’ cultures, similarities, and differences in a various cultural environment. Equipping an appropriate aptitude to appreciate, understand, and accept the varicosity of cultures in the aspect of empathy, curiosity, and respect is also an indispensable manner in the achievement of cross-cultural understanding (Habacon, 2015). At the affective levels, the significant indicator is intercultural sensitivity. Firstly, it means having the ability to be an effective part of cross-cultural communication. Secondly, processing the subjective experience that is dependent on people’s values and attitudes revealed by their perspectives and behaviors. Thirdly, being equipped to cultivate useful social relationships with people with diverse cultural backgrounds (Perry & Southwell, 2011).
At present, intercultural understanding has risen from a national education priority to a global issue level. This situation can be discussed through population composition, religion and beliefs, racism, equality, and laws in Australia.
One of the essential factors that promotes intercultural understanding is the large portion of the foreign population in Australia, especially immigrants, which has the biggest impact in all aspects of Australia. The latest numbers, based on the nationwide census conducted in 2016, show that Australia is a fast-changing, expanding, culturally diverse country. 67 percent of Australians were born in Australia. Nearly half (49%) of Australians were born overseas (first-generation Australians) or one or both parents were born overseas (second-generation Australians) (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). From 2010 to 2011, International education activities contribute $16.3 billion to the Australian economy (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2015). Thus, the complexity of demographic sources determines that intercultural understanding in Australian education is a national focus.
Although Australia has always been a country with cultural diversity, inequality in terms of racism has still been a serious unsolved issue. Based on the statistics given by the Australian Human Rights Commission (2015), one in ten Australians (1.5 million) believes that certain races are worse or better than others. 18% of Australians surveyed said they were discriminated against because of their race or religious beliefs. Of the 500 complaints filed under the Racial Discrimination Act in 2012-2013, 192 involved racial hatred. Nearly one-third (35%) of new immigrants said they encountered obstacles in finding their first job. Moreover, a study by the University of Western Sydney found that Muslims are three times more discriminatory than the national average. This deserves our attention as some communities may be vulnerable to racial or religious defamation. These all exemplify that discrimination and prejudice related to race and culture is a current urgent issue that needs the Australian Government to solve. Thus, one of the sufficient ways is by educating the young generation, to deeply understand the minority group’s culture, and maximize equality among all races. Australian multiculturalism faces many challenges, therefore, this reminds people that although it has achieved success, it is better not to be complacent, further cultural education in Australian schools then is a wise and conservative option to keep the awareness (Soutphommasane, 2016).
Through my observation and the short interview with Grace Yin, international student coordinator, in Balwyn High School, intercultural understanding is one of the most important education priorities for this school. However, there are still some improvements that can be made in terms of cultural fusion.
Several reasons lead me to conclude the importance of intercultural understanding for Balwyn High School. There is a Chinese international students program for Year 9 to Year 12 students, and there are international school partnerships, overseas trips, and exchanges; The School has specific classes for students to study English as an Additional Language, and other languages such as Chinese and French; Some of the teachers in the school are non-Australians. There are clubs related to foreign cultures such as Chinse Singing Club, Mah-jong Club, and Tai Ji Club; Students learn to sing Chinese songs in Choir for Graduation Night; International students perform Chinese classical music instruments and dances in Assemblies. The existence of these programs demonstrates that Balwyn High School respects the diversity of culture, and puts the effort in the development of a multicultural environment. Thus, the understanding of multi-culture would be a prior educational aim for school staff and students (Grace Yin, personal interview, 2019). Moreover, On Balwyn High School's official website, some of the school’s specific improvement targets are related to intercultural understanding. Balwyn High School aims to create a performance and development culture; An international perspective characterized by compassion and tolerance; and An active concern for others and the environment, reflecting an understanding of their roles as responsible global citizens (Balwyn High School, 2019). These actions can help the school foster cross-cultural understanding and practices, leading students to integrate different types of values that appear in school. Therefore, it can be concluded that Balwyn High School has priority in popularising and educating intercultural understanding.
However, some phenomena seem to attempt to send a message of rejection in culture fusion. Firstly, the school provides overseas students with an international student center for them to rest, eat meals, and study. The fact that overseas students stay with Chinese in the center all the time causes they cannot to fit in with the mainstream local students, as it separates those Chinese from getting to know the local students’ after-class time and they have few opportunities to meet friends other than Chinese. Secondly, students tend to be friends with people who have the same or similar cultural backgrounds. There is no doubt that new immigrants or new students coming into the school, are urged to find a sense of belonging, and the best way is to make friends that come from the same region. Therefore, it cuts overseas students and mainstream students from knowing each other’s cultures, and backgrounds and stops them from learning the understanding of diverse cultures.
The purpose of a school’s values is to cultivate students' value judgment ability and improve students' moral level, developing students to become moral citizens who meet social expectations and requirements (Allen, Kern, Vella-Brodrick & Waters, 2018). The coexistence of multiculturalism has made school education on students’ values fall into the dilemma of whether to advocate the diversity of values or inherit the single mainstream culture to avoid confusion about values.
In some more closed environments, the youth's growth culture is relatively simple, which is conducive to the formation and stability of young people's values. However, in today's multicultural coexistence society, despite the strong influence of the mainstream culture, the diversity of values pushes young people to face the choice of confusion, bringing some degrees of positive or negative effects (Deprow, 2014).
With the youth’s accumulation of knowledge and experiences, their awareness of independence and self-reliance has increased, and their standards of value have also begun to form (Allen et al., 2018). However, due to the restrictions on the development of physical-mental health, and limitations of knowledge and cognitive ability, it is easy for adolescents to follow the trend of the public’s common value choices, and make judgments based on the value evaluation criteria of others. This fact reveals a certain degree of imitativeness and changeableness of the young generation. Due to the immature nature of adolescents' physical and mental development, young people are easy to be confused about the basic value judgment (Walton, Priest, & Paradies, 2013).
Therefore, in contemporary Australia, the coexistence of multiculturalism is an objective reality, which has caused school value education to fall into the dilemma of whether to advocate the diversity of values or to inherit the single mainstream culture. On one side, advocating respect for the value and uniqueness of multicultural differences, and achieving the high-quality integration of multiculturalism will relatively undermine the foundation of social and cultural unification, resulting in a decline in the integration of social culture. On the other side, social stability could be well maintained if schools propose the dominant values of society, assimilate foreign multiculturalism, and pay attention to the integration of socially dominant cultures.
The correct guidance of students’ values is a current research hotspot not only in Australia but the whole world. In the context of cultural diversity, the impact on the values of young students is multifaceted, therefore, both negative and positive effects should be taken into consideration in whether to continue to promote intercultural understanding as a priority or put emphasis on other aspects.
Referring to the interview with Grace Yin, and school observation, it can be concluded that the benefits of multiculturalism outweigh its potential negativities on students, and those defects could be eliminated through careful and deep prevention and control measures. Here are some of the possible strategies:
Firstly, students who have conflicting values due to the exposure to new perceptions from others should be encouraged to talk to others about the situation, asking teachers, parents, and psychologists for help. Secondly, schools could implement some regimes and programs to maximize intercultural communication and eliminate the repulsion due to the low sense of security in their own cultural identities such as culture-related school festivals, and rules to prevent students from speaking their first language all the time in schools. Thirdly, teachers could provide a framework based on the actual compositions of the class and students’ needs, so that the lesson suits different cultural and ethnic groups. Lastly, for students who are not interested in traditional teacher-centered classrooms due to language, culture, and ethnicity, teachers are encouraged to create a development-oriented and unconstrained classroom atmosphere, which allows students to develop trust in teachers (Australian Institution for Teaching and School Leadership, 2019).
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