SUZANNE MAJHANOVICH & RÉGIS MALET

INTRODUCTION

Building Democratic Education in Diverse Contexts

Education is a powerful force for building democracy. Democratic principles including human rights, equality and impartial justice along with freedom of speech and religion as well as acceptance of different racial and ethnic identities do not come naturally; they need to be taught. Banks (2005) has noted that during the 20th Century many philosophers and educators such as Dewey (1916/1961) recognized the value of education to ensure democracy; Du Bois (1903/1973) and Woodson (1933/1977) wrote about the value of education in overcoming racial discrimination and others (Kallen, 1924) saw the role of schools in educating children to acknowledge the rights of minority groups and respect their culture and languages. As Banks noted (2006): Our challenge is to create an education that will help foster a just and inclusive pluralistic national society that all students and groups will perceive as legitimate. This is a tremendous challenge but an essential task in a multicultural democratic society. An important aim of the school curriculum should be to educate students so that they will have the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to help construct and to live in a public community in which all groups can and will participate. (p. 195) In Canada, a country of much diversity peopled by immigrants from all parts of the globe, multiculturalism is part of the national identity and is even enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Multiculturalism Act of 1988. Multicultural (or intercultural in Quebec) education has long been a part of the school system. Ghosh and Galczynski (2014) define multicultural education as “one that allows full development of the potential and critical abilities of all children regardless of their “differences.” These differences have been based on racial, ethnic, gender, and class stratification in society (as well as on differences such as disabilities and sexual orientation)” (p. 2). Some have criticized multiculturalism as merely a way for nation states to acknowledge diverse ethnic populations without requiring the majority group to interact with the minority or recognize their reality within the state. Moreover, in the past, multiculturalism tended to ignore other aspects of diversity beyond ethnic identity. However, today, as Ghosh and Galczynski make clear, multiculturalism does include all aspects of diversity. Kymlicka (2004) reminds us of the importance of the newly conceived version of multiculturalism as nations in the globalized world develop and adopt policies of multicultural citizenship. Kymlicka recognizes the tension that exists

S. Majhanovich & R. Malet (Eds.), Building Democracy through Education on Diversity, 1–13. © 2015 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved. MAJHANOVICH & MALET between multiculturalism for democratic nation building and cosmopolitan multiculturalism in a neo-liberal age characterized by citizens of the world with little investment in any nation state. Yet, he insists that the potential for multiculturalism in building democracy is far greater and should be embraced. We need to continually remind ourselves that multiculturalism is not just about expanding individual horizons, or increasing personal intercultural sills, but is part of a larger project of justice and equality. (Kymlicka, 2004, p. xvii) The chapters in this volume reflect the tensions presented in a multicultural world and offer suggestions for addressing the challenges in an equitable and democratic way. As noted above, the 21st Century is characterized by diversity and this presents a challenge for education for democracy. The legitimate goals of nation states to forge a sense of unity and patriotism among their citizens must be balanced by the realities of diversity in a globalized world. Diversity, including such factors as race, class, ethnicity, religion, language, gender, disability and sexual orientation (See Banks, 2005) has always been present but differences from the imaginary of the norm have not always been acknowledged as tolerable within civil society. However, we contend that a truly democratic society should recognize and come to grips with the “other” manifest in the various elements of diversity. As has often been noted “the true measure of a democracy is the way it treats its minorities” (attributed variously to Lord Acton, The History of Freedom in Antiquity, Samuel Johnson, Mahatma Gandhi and Paul Valéry among others, boards.straightdope.com). Education, particularly multicultural citizenship education dealing with unity and diversity can contribute to building democracy in the modern world. The chapters in this volume are derived from presentations from thematic group 7 on Democracy and Diversity at the XV World Congress of Comparative Education Societies which took place in Buenos Aires in June, 2013. They present a number of approaches dealing with this complex issue. The five chapters in the first part of the book: “Developing a Pedagogy for Diversity” present cases of approaches designed to address issues of diversity in five very different contexts. The first chapter, “Incorporating Peace-Building Citizenship Dialogue in Classroom Curricula: Contrasting Cases of Canadian Teacher Development” by a well-known educator in conflict resolution and peace education, Kathy Bickmore, presents three professional development initiatives designed to provide teachers with skills to handle difficult conflict issues in their classrooms. Bickmore stresses the importance of exposing students to discussions of conflictual issues as a part of developing democratic citizenship. As she notes: … young people who report they have had significant opportunities in school to participate in discussion of conflictual political issues in open, inclusive classroom climates tend to develop democratically-relevant skills and dispositions. (Bickmore, this volume)

2