Constructing Multicultural Education in a Diverse Society I Ilghiz M

Constructing Mu lticuItu ral Education in a Diverse Society

ILGHIZM. SINAGATULLIN

A ScarecrowEducation Book The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanharn, Maryland, and London 2003

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Sinagatullin, Ilghiz M., 1954- Constructing multicultural education in a diverse society I Ilghiz M. Sinagatullin. p. cm. “A Scarecrow Education Book.” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8108-4341-2 (cloth : alk. paper) - ISBN 0-8108-4340-4 (pbk.) 1. Multicultural education. 2. Educational anthropology. 3. Pluralism (Social sciences) I. Title. LC1099 .S55 2003 370.1174~21 2002003075

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Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Diversity and Change Racial, Ethnic, and Linguistic Diversity 7 Diversity on the Societal Level 13 Diversity of Information and Individual Diversity 24 Summary 37 2 Culture and Cultural Differences 39 Culture as a Multidimensional Phenomenon 39 A Glimpse of Ethniccultures 50 Summary 76 3 The Nature of Multiculural Education 79 History and Some Underlying Principles 79 Fundamentals of Multicultural Education 87 Diversity of School Environments and General Strategies of Multicultural Education 96 General Strategies 100 Summary 110 4 Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 113 Bilingualism as a Sociolinguistic Phenomenon 113 The Politics and Models of Bilingual Education 121 A Glance at Russia: A Language Policy for Studentsfrom Non-Russian Ethnic Backgrounds 128 Professional Competency of the Teacher 134 Summary 138 5 Making the Curriculum Multicultural 141 Multicultural Concerns in Social Studies Education 141 Pluralistic Approaches in Health Education 160 Pluralistic Approaches in Music Education 171 Summary 183 6 Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 185 Attitude 185 Knowledge Base 191 Pedagogical Skills 219 Summary 236

iii iv Contents

Conclusion 239 References 241 Index 255 About the Author 263 Acknowledgments

This project could not have proceeded successfully without help from many educators, students, and librarians on both sides of the Atlantic. I thank the many scholars and educators across the world who influenced my thinking and helped generate valuable ideas. I am especially indebt- ed to Leroy Ortiz, Joseph Suina, Liz Rothlein, Barbara Pearson, Penelope Lisi, Tonya Huber, William Howe, Larry Kaplan, Julia Capuano, Gerald Larson, and David Keller (the United States); Galina Rogova, Vitaly Slas- tenin, Gennady Volkov, Kamil Akhiyarov, Alexey Leontiev, Galina Su- vorova, Vladimir Gak, Svetlana Romashina, Michael Shvetsov, Rashyd Latypov, and Raisa Ignatyeva (Russia); Ludmila Cravchenco (Moldova); Egle Perkumaite (Lithuania);Adrilla Wallace and Deborah Campbell (the Bahamas); Ian Falk and Allan Luke (Australia);Klaas van der Meulen and Bert de Grijs (the Netherlands); Petr Smolik (Czech Republic); Ludmila Dziewiecka-Bokun and Yolanta Dumicz (Poland); Ibrahim Tugrul and Melek Cakmak (Turkey); Zhenni Lieu (China); Pooja Agarwal and Moni- ca Singh (India); Raphael Kelani and Issaou Gad0 (Benin); and Babacar Diop (Senegal). This study would not have been possible without the following grants sponsored by the United States: the International Research and Exchange Board Open Competition Program grant, sponsored by the U.S. Informa- tion Agency (USIA) (1994); the Fulbright Program grant (1996-1997), sponsored by USIA and administered by the Council for International Ex- change of Scholars; and the Regional Scholar Exchange Program grant, a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. De- partment of State, administered by the American Councils for Interna- tional Education, ACTR/ACCELS, in conjunction with the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (2001). These helped me enormously to get acquainted with a multicultural America and the American system of education.

V vi Acknowledgments

I extend my hearty gratitude to Professor Kenneth Cushner, associate dean for student life and intercultural affairs at Kent State University’s College and Graduate School of Education, for providing me with ideas and helpful comments. Also, I express my gratitude to Linda Robertson, Marion Korllos, Thomas Welsh, staff members of the Gerald H. Read Cen- ter for International and Intercultural Education at the College and Grad- uate School of Education, who welcomed me as an international scholar in the fall of 2001 and provided me with office space and support. I am especially grateful to Milton and Sharon Bailey, husband and wife, who took me on extensive trips, introducing me to the American land, its people and culture. I extend my exceeding gratitude to Scarecrow Education; its editorial director, Thomas Koerner; and its editors, Cindy Tursman, Amos Guinan, Lynn Weber, Cheryl Hoffman, and Lawrence Paulson, for their patience and support and for helping bring the project to completion. Introduction

The twenty-first century and the third millennium impose novel and un- precedented challenges as well as opportunities for teachers, teacher educators, and education policy makers to further conceptualize, design, and implement the ideas of multicultural and global education. On the national and global levels, this new epoch is characterized by increasing diversity of race, ethnicity, language, social class, exceptionality, gender, religion, age, urban and rural culture, and knowledge and information dissemination. While considerable progress is being made in many spheres, we are at the same time witnessing regression in other aspects of life: interethnic and interreligious misunderstandings and conflicts; socioeconomic polarization; environmental degradation; malnutrition and the spread of deadly diseases, such as HIV/AIDS; growing numbers of children with mental and physical disabilities; military buildups; propaganda and counterpro- paganda; and the spread of terrorism and bioterrorism. This book promotes multicultural education, an education that is very timely today when ethnocentrism, religious chauvinism, and other negative processes are growing around the world. Through multicultural education the teacher can reduce racial, ethnic, religious, social class, and gender prejudices and provide students with equal opportunities for school success, regardless of their backgrounds. Guided by fundamental ideas of democracy, freedom, and human rights, a major methodological principle of multicultural education rests on the premise that such an education should be aimed, especially in this new epoch, at promoting one important goal: to resolve the contradiction between the growing attempts of cultural groups to preserve and sustain their identities and their attempts to strive for mutual understanding and common aims within the global society. Excessive ethnocentrism and complete loss of ethnic and cultural identity are equally incompatible with the true principles of multicultural education.

1 2 Introduction

The multicultural and the global must be incorporated within the overarching continuum of multicultural education. It is of little benefit to multiculturalize the educational process without providing a global context; it is equally useless to globalize education while ignoring a multicultural context. As an ideal harmony between the multicultural and the global will never be fully attained in the contemporary, changing world, the goals of multicultural education must be flexible enough to accommodate changes in society. The multicultural teacher will always be confronted with the objective of integrating the multicultural and the global. With each succeeding generation, we and our descendants will be required to work continually to address issues of diversity. This pleasant and difficult objective embodies great challenges and opportunities for curriculum makers and educators committed to multicultural, intercultural, international, and cross-cultural education. This book focuses on a wide range of issues of human diversity, multiculturalism, and multicultural education in the United States and some other countries, with a special emphasis on multicultural educational practices of Russian educators, whose work may not be well known to teachers and educators in the United States and elsewhere. Despite current socioeconomic difficulties, Russia, boasting over 130 ethnic groups, each with its own language, has a long history of public education that places the nation in the ranks of educational leadership on the planetary scale. In addition to the material related to the United States and other cultures, I have drawn examples from a wide Russian context, as well as from the experience of teachers working in the Republic of Bashkortostan and from my experience as a teacher educator in this republic, which is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse autonomous entities in Russia. One of the goals of this book is to acquaint educators from the United States and other countries with Russian cultural diversity and multicultural practices, as well as with Eurasian educational systems. The book concentrates, among many other important questions, on the issues of rural-urban diversity and folk pedagogy and ethnopedagogy, issues that have not yet been explored in the western pedagogical literature devoted to multicultural education. It may be a good source for U.S. teacher educators teaching such courses as multicultural and bilingual education, social studies education, and global and international education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It may also be a valuable resource for prospective and working teachers who are attracted by the ideas of multicultural education and want to expand their multicultural expertise, professional knowledge and skills, and global scope. Chapter 1focuses on issues of human diversity ranging from racial and ethnic diversity to the diversity of age and experience. One idea underly- Introduction 3 ing the chapter is that contemporary humankind is extremely diverse and continually changing, with each society boasting its own diversity infrastructure. This growing and changing diversity poses huge challenges for teachers, educators, and curriculum makers. Chapter 2 seeks to examine the essence of culture, approaching this multifaceted phenomenon from different criteria, ranging from sociohistorical and ethnolinguistic to sociocultural and religious. The chapter also concentrates on the ethnopsychological and cultural characteristics of some racial and ethnic groups inhabiting the American and Eurasian continents and shows how students from these groups can be approached in classroom practice and everyday interaction. Concentrating on the nature of multicultural education is a major goal of chapter 3. The idea of multicultural education can be implemented in standard educational institutions with monoethnic or multiethnic student populations and in special schools, such as schools for exceptional students or schools offering bilingual education. Chapter 4 focuses on bilingual education with a multicultural perspective. It is through bilingual education that the ideas of multiculturalism can be favorably introduced to students in stable bilingual communities. Chapter 5 examines some of the techniques of creating a multicultural curriculum in social studies, music, and health education. These areas are an important part of school curricula, and implementing multicultural strategies in these subject areas is not always as easy as it would appear to be. The content of a multicultural teacher’s competency is analyzed in chapter 6. A multicultural teacher should possess the appropriate attitudes, knowledge, and skills to address the needs of students from different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. Obviously, no single multicultural formula will work in all schools or situations. “Successful innovation,” notes Cushner (1998), “is more likely to occur when educators make the effort to adapt what is known about specific cultural issues and effective schools to their own situation.” This is the first lesson we offer multicultural educators; and the book offers other recommendations to insightful teachers who are excited by the ideas of multicultural and global education. This Page Intentionally Left Blank 7

Diversity and Change

Human diversity has existed to varying degrees throughout recorded history. The people of Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, the Holy Roman Empire, Byzantium, and the Islamic, Ottoman, and Mongol Empires were diverse. When Christopher Columbus accidentally "discovered" the Americas instead of the West Indies in 1492 and Spanish conquistadors rushed into the new lands, gradually destroying the well-organized Aztec, Mayan, and Incan civilizations, there were myriad Native Amer- ican tribes on the mainland and neighboring islands, each speaking its own language. Leif Eriksson, son of the famous Viking Erik the Red, might have also met with ethnically diverse tribes upon disembarking on North American shores in 1000. The Russians encountered the same mosaic during the exploration of the Siberian region. They met native peoples, each conversing in its own language and pursuing specific values and lifestyles. After James Cook explored the east coast of Australia in 1770 and the Europeans began to settle on the newly discovered lands, the exotic continent was peopled by a variety of different local tribes, currently known as Aborigines. Spanish conquistadors, Russian explorers, and Australian settlers-all plunged into new territories with a frontier spirit, further increasing cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and economic diversity. Human diversity can be described as a phenomenon incorporating a whole range of racial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious, sociopolitical, socioeconomic, educational, sexual, and ethnogeographic categories intertwined in contemporary societies. Closer examination gives rise to the conclusion that diversity also embraces human psychology, attitudes, age, rural and urban standards of life, value systems, modes of migration, styles of clothing, cuisine, customs and traditions, and many other explicit and implicit aspects of human existence and behavior. The notion of

5 6 Chapter One

”diversity within diversity” also appears in the pedagogical literature uupp, 2001). On a larger scale, scientists contemplate biodiversity and the ways of valuing it, depending on the individual’s point of view (Maffi, 2001; Mish- ler, 2001; Smith, 2001). Mishler examines five viewpoints: (1) economic (natural lineages are a potential source of economically beneficial products-medicines, food, shelter, etc.); (2) ecological (a diversity of interac- tors is needed for a reasonable functioning of ecological systems); (3) evo- lutionary (a diversity of replicators is needed as the raw material for natural selection); (4) intellectual (people experience a basic need to understand how the world came to be and where they fit in it); and (5)ethical (people must not despoil the world of living things that has been developing for nearly four billion years). Evidence (Maffi, 2001; Lizarralde, 2001) indicates that there is a close relationship between biodiversity, cultural diversity, and linguistic diversity. For example, the extinction of biodiversity-rich ecosystems leads to the demise of indigenous peoples and their native languages. As regards educational matters, different cultures boast diverse approaches to teacher-student, student-student, and teacher-parent interactions. In Asian countries, the Caribbean, and South America, the teacher is usually an authority figure-ane to be respected and even feared. In the United States, Canada, and northern European nation-states, student-teacher relations are less formal; educators are more casual in behavior and clothing as well as in classroom communication with students. Students can challenge teachers by posing questions and offering suggestions. At the same time, human diversity is continually changing. The number of racially and ethnically mixed families is growing rapidly. Many people acquire new languages, while others gradually lose their native tongue and pass over to exclusively using the dominant language. Athe- ists become religiously minded and vice versa. Still others, under the influence of different factors, change their religion. Social mobility has increased over the last decades, especially in the United States, where moving from one social class to another has always been a normal practice. Migration has increased at the beginning of the twenty-first century. People move both within homelands and around the globe. The many people changing residences are often driven by a desire to start a new life in a new place. Immigrating to a foreign country requires, as a rule, adjusting to another environment and acquiring a second language and novel ways of life. This constant increase in diversity makes a tremendous impact on education, challenging educators to generate new ideas in designing and implementing multicultural strategies and techniques. Diversity and Change 7

Racial, Ethnic, and Linguistic Diversity

The growth of racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity, which immediately affects educational practices ranging from kindergartens to higher schools, has become a natural process in many societies.

Racial and Ethnic Diversity In North America and Western Europe, the birthrate among people of Asian and African descent is growing faster than among those of Euro- pean origin. It is not without reason that kindergarten, school, and university student populations in these regions are becoming more and more diverse racially and ethnically. In the United States, members of minority racial and ethnic groups normally reside in certain enclaves such as Chi- natown (Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, etc.), Little Havana (Miami), Brighton Beach (New York), Little Japan and Little Tokyo (Los Angeles), El Pueblo (Los Angeles), Little Italy (Cleveland),and other close-knit communities. Native Americans, however, inhabit either their ancestral lands or reservations. Hispanics, encompassing around 18 percent of the whole population, inhabit all the southwestern states and Florida. Demographers predict that by the second decade of the twenty-first century, around 40 percent of U.S. school-age children will be from minority (nonwhite) ethnic groups. A look at immigration rates can help explain this. From the 1850s to the 1950s, immigrants came from the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy Ireland, Sweden, Canada, and Russia. Today they arrive predominantly from the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, India, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Jamaica, Cuba, Canada, Iran, and the United Kingdom. There is also a growing population of Syr- ian and Lebanese immigrants in the United States (Gualtieri, 2001). Chil- dren from these and other countries come to school with different religions and languages, as well as with different ethnic and cultural predispositions. The growth of racial and ethnic diversity is a natural process in Euro- pean countries. For instance, among stable ethnic minority groups in Italy, there is a rapid increase of Germans, French, Slovenes, Albanians, and Greeks. The United Kingdom now boasts an immigration influx from India, Pakistan, and other Asian countries, adding to the ethnically diverse population that has inhabited the British Isles since ancient times- English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, and Ulster (McGeveran, 2001). France, a seemingly monoethnic country to an alien eye, is rapidly becoming a multicultural and multilingual nation. Along with Celtic and Latin ethnic groups, a foreign tourist can often encounter people of Teutonic, Slavic, 8 Chapter One

North African, Indochinese, and Basque descent in France, which borrowed its name from a Germanic tribe and was for a long period a territory of the mighty Roman Empire. A glance at Australia, a unique country and continent, also reveals growing diversity. In 1975, people of Caucasian descent made up 96 percent of the population; those of Asian origin, 3 percent; and those of native origin, 0.7 percent. In 2000, the corresponding figures were 92 percent, 7 percent, and 1 percent (Famighetti, 1996; McGeveran, 2001). In a somewhat similar way, racial and ethnic diversity has influenced Russia. In this country, descendants of groups from Asia (Chinese, Kore- ans, and others) and a small number of people of African origin are sparsely distributed only in certain areas. They are very few in number in comparison with the people of Asian and African backgrounds who now live throughout North America and northern Europe. As regards other non-Russian ethnic groups, their members are stably located in specific regions in relatively large groups. Almost all non-Russian nationalities have their own administrative territories with a capital city. Some territories rank as high as autonomous republics. Unlike in some other countries, the term ”minority” is seldom or never used to refer to non-Russian ethnic groups. Three ethnic groups- the Jews, Ukrainians, and Tatars- are widely dispersed throughout the country. Jews and Tatars have their own independent territories-the Jewish Autonomous Region (capital: Birobidzhan) and the Republic of Tatarstan (capital: Kazan). All non-Russ- ian nationalities have developed their own societal infrastructure. Russia’s secondary-school student populations are growing diverse, particularly in the Volga region autonomous republics, the northern Cau- casian region, the southern Ural Mountains, and Siberia. Finding a single monoethnic classroom in these regions’ metropolitan areas is a difficult task. The Republic of Bashkortostan, the first autonomous entity within the former Soviet Union, located in the southern Ural Mountains area, is a good example. In addition to Russians, Tatars, and Bashkirs-the three largest groups- a considerable number of Chuvashes, Mari, Udmurts, Ukrainians, Mordva, Belorussians, and Germans inhabit this republic. Thirteen languages native to various local ethnic groups are taught in elementary and secondary schools; content areas are taught in six native languages. Historically, relationships between the existing ethnic groups have been based on the principles of mutual understanding. There has been no dominance of one group over another. The rural schools of Rus- sia, which until recently have traditionally been attended by unicultural students, are also growing into diverse microcollectives because of population shifts from metropolitan to rural areas. Russia’s colleges, institutes, and universities are no different. Humanity has witnessed and is witnessing racial conflicts (Watkins- Diversity and Change 9

Coffman, 2001), many cases of racial and ethnic hatred, dominance, exclusion, and marginalization. Antiracist movements developed not only in response to biological racism but also in reaction to discrimination on the basis of culture, religion, and gender. But the relationship between antiracism and other emancipation movements has been far from straight- forward. One of the most controversial encounters has been the relationship between antiracism and feminism. Debate about which is more important, the struggle against racism or that against sexism, has continued (Bonnett, 2000). Bonnett characterizes racism as socially disruptive, foreign, antiegalitarian, and socially unjust. Racism sustains the ruling class, hinders progress, represents an intellectual error, and distorts and erases people’s identities.

Linguistic Diversity Language has a strong effect on human lives and educational issues and on designing strategies of multicultural education. Language is an indispensable bridge for sharing attitudes, knowledge, and skills within and across cultures. It fosters children’s and adults’ cognitive development and ”can open or close the door to academic achievement” (Ovan- do, 1997: 272). Language is the main distinctive ethnic feature and ethnic symbol (Brown and Lauder, 1996). The principal languages of the world are distributed as follows (“first language’’ speakers are presented): Chinese, Mandarin (874 million); Hindi (366); English (341); Spanish (322-58); Bengali (207); Portuguese (176); Russian (167); Japanese (125); German (100); Korean (78); French (77); Chinese, Wu (77); Javanese (75); Chinese, Yue (71); and Telugu (69) (McGeveran, 2001). Interestingly, Fishman, Cooper, and Rosenbaum (1977) point out that the great world languages of today (Mandarin Chi- nese, Russian, Arabic, English, Spanish, and French) are languages of empire, past and present. Two of them-Mandarin Chinese and Russian- continue as languages of administration within single, ethnolinguistically diverse states. The others-Arabic, English, French, and Spanish-represent imperial legacies, having survived the disintegration of the empires that fostered them. There are between three thousand and five thousand languages currently spoken in the world. The difficulty of distinguishing between dialects and languages on linguistic grounds hinders an exact or even a most approximate calculation. Some countries are very rich in languages: China (Mandarin [the official language], Yue, Wu, Hakka, Xiang, Gan, Minnan), India (Hindi [official], English [associate official], fourteen regional languages), Pakistan (Urdu, English [both official], Punjabi, Sind- hi, Pashtu), Russia (Russian [official], Tatar, Ukrainian, Chuvash, Bashkir, Mari, others), Sudan (Arabic [official], Nubian, Ta Bedawie, Nilotic, Nilo- 10 Chapter One

Hamitic), the United States (English, Spanish, Italian, German, others), Zaire (French [official], Kongo, Luba, Mongo, Rwanda, others) (McGever- an, 2001). This list includes only principal languages spoken in the given countries. The real linguistic picture is quite different. For instance, present-day Russia boasts over 130 living languages. In addition to the many languages, there exist a lot of language varieties (such as pidgin, creole, and dialects) in the world. For instance, in the United States, there are three examples of creole: (1) Gullah, a creole of English and West African origin spoken on the Sea Islands, from the Car- olinas to northern Florida; (2) Louisiana French creole, which coexists with two local varieties of French and another local variety of English; and (3) Hawaiian creole, which has been influenced by Hawaiian, Japan- ese, Chinese, Portuguese, English, and Ilocano. Besides these varieties, black English, called Ebonics, is widespread. Black English, although a dialect of English rather than a creole of English, shows parallels in historical development with creole languages and reflects influences from British and American English and also from English-based pidgin from sixteenth-century West Africa (Ovando, 1997). In Russia, the so-called ”pidginalization” of some non-Russian minority languages has also been noticeable within the last two to three decades. Some people from non-Russian language groups (mostly urban residents), being fluent speakers of Russian and poor users of their indigenous means of communication, try to converse in a “strange pidginized language” with their native counterparts. I will provide several speech units (sentences)that symbolize the creation and usage of one such blended language, based on Russian and Tatar. I have chronicled these and many other speech units1during my interactions with students of Tatar ethnic backgrounds. For example, in the sentence Sin hadil tuda? sin is the Tatar ”you,” hadil is the Russian ”Did . . . go?” and tuda, the Russian ”there.” The whole sentence is rendered into English as ”Did you go there?” In this sentence, the Russian influence prevails, because only the pronoun “you“ belongs to the Tatar language; the other elements are from Russian. In another sentence, Min alarga dal akcha kicha, the non-Russian elements constitute most of the structure. In it, only the verb dal is Russian, meaning “gave.” The rest of the elements are from Tatar: min is the personal pronoun ”I,” alarga is “to them,” akcha denotes ”money,” kicha, ”yesterday.” The whole meaning of the sentence is “I lent (gave) them money yesterday.” Below, I offer two more examples of this blended language, in which the Tatar elements are marked by the symbol (T), Russian elements by (R):

Kim belan poydesh sin? Whom (T) will (R) you (T) go (R) with (T)?2 Diversity and Change 11

Bik matur devushka idet! A very (T) pretty (T) girl (R) is coming (R)!

Ranking second after Russian in number of users, Tatar has three dialects: Middle, Mishar, and Eastern. The differences among the dialects lie in the sound system rather than in grammar and vocabulary. Linguistic diversity is determined not only by the number of ethnic groups each speaking a different language, but also by the number of people who are monolingual, bilingual, or multilingual. More than half the world’s population claims to be bilingual (Hoffman, 1991). Also, language and ethnic affiliations do not always coincide. For example, some young non-Russian students living in their native communities and adhering to their indigenous traditions and cultures do not speak their native language and use exclusively Russian. Some people from Latin American countries speak fluent Spanish but do not care much about Spanish culture and follow their indigenous forebears’ cultural and historical heritages. Sign language, used by the deaf and the hearing impaired, adds to the overall picture of language diversity. Morse code, a system of communication in which letters and numbers are represented by dots and dashes or short and long sounds, is used widely in telegraphy. The semaphore alphabet is a visual alphabet that uses flags, lights, or mechanical moving arms. People also use so-called body language, and the degree of its mani- festation (through gestures, posture, facial expressions, and eye contact) is often closely tied to culture (Cushner, McClelland, and Safford, 2000). For instance, while interacting with people, Americans tend to show a sense of gratitude by their facial expressions (they often smile), whereas most people from Russian culture, in similar situations, often bear a serious expression. Among Russians, extensive smiling may imply a nonserious attitude toward the conversational partner. In the United States, a language variation called ”rural English” (sometimes ”mountain English) is spoken primarily in Appalachia. Derived from the language of early English settlers in this area, mountain English is considered by some linguists to be the ”purest” English spoken in the United States and the closest to the language spoken in Shakespeare’s time. Because of the isolation of mountain people, this variation has been preserved in much the same way that Gullah has been preserved off the coast of the Carolinas (Cushner, McClelland, and Safford, 2000). There are also different traditional approaches to the relationship between language and ethnicity. For example, Lewis (1980) postulates that Americans tend to differentiate on the basis of ethnic origin, without much regard for language; the English normally ignore ethnicity and differentiate 12 Chapter One on the basis of language; whereas Russians assume that ethnicity determines language affiliation. People speaking different languages continually come into contact. The many factors that contribute to language contact include politics (political and military acts such as colonization, resettlement, and annexation), natural disasters (famine, floods, volcanic eruptions, etc.), religion (immigration to a country because of its religious significance or leaving a country because of its religious oppression), culture (a desire to identify with a concrete cultural group), economy (moving to another country to find a better job), education (learning another language), and technology (for example, the use of the Internet has made many people throughout the world learn English) (Wei, 2000). Owing to contact and other causes, the world’s linguistic array is constantly changing. One language may completely displace the other, as Spanish and Portuguese have largely displaced the indigenous languages in Latin America. New languages and their variants may be formed, like creole or black English in the United States. Over time any language undergoes definite phonetic, grammatical, and lexical changes. As a resilient system, a language tends to adjust to a nation’s socioeconomic changes. As Russia’s late-twentieth-century history was relatively changeable, so was the Russian language, especially in terms of vocabulary. During the previous two decades Russian citizens have witnessed (1) the birth of a number of new words, such as perestroika (a reorganiza- tion of all sides of life) and glasnost (a phenomenon denoting a situation when sociopolitical questions are solved openly, without suppression of anything objectionable); (2) the rebirth of temporarily forgotten vocabulary items, such as duma (a group of legislative officials) and lavka (a small shop); (3) the gradual disappearance of a number of words and phrases denoting the past communist life, such as Zeninism (a salient part of Com- munist ideology based on the teachings of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of a new Soviet state in the 1920s) and subbotnik (a form of collective, disinterested labor for the sake of Soviet society, which used to be organized annually on an April day); and (4) the emergence of some borrowings from English that express the same phenomena in Russian and are pronounced in almost the same way: khit (English hit), lav (love), kis (kiss), shuzi (shoes), boyfiend (boyfriend), khelou (hello), khay (hi), gudbay (good- bye), and so on. Live languages determine language policies for educational purposes. The task is easy in monolingual countries such as Japan, where the population is made up almost entirely of people of Japanese origin. The situation is more difficult in multilingual and multicultural countries, such as Russia, Switzerland, and the United States, where language-policy makers must design adequate policies and strategies to address the needs of Diversiry and Change 13 several language groups. Language planning and language policy strategies for bilingual and multilingual/multicultural classrooms should be resistant to sudden sociopolitical and economic changes and responsive to local conditions. Language policy issues deserve greater attention and will be discussed separately. Unfortunately, some languages die, carrying away into oblivion a former means of communication. Even though they are no longer spoken, some dead languages play a significant role in linguistic research and historical investigation, as well as facilitate the learning of other languages. For example, knowing Latin is an aid in learning French, Spanish, Eng- lish, and other European languages, for the latter have much in common with ancient Latin in vocabulary and grammar. Artificial languages, such as Esperanto and Volapuk, still more diversify and beautify the world’s linguistic annals.

Diversity on the Societal Level

Societal diversity occurs along many dimensions. This section examines sociopolitical, socioeconomic, religious, and rural versus urban diversity.

Sociopolitical Diversity Nationally and internationally, there are numerous political parties, social associations and organizations, and trade unions, including teachers’ and teacher educators’ academic, social, and research unions, alliances, confederations, and fellowships. The world also boasts a variety of sociopolitical organizations (the United Nations, the Organization of Secu- rity and Co-operation in Europe, the Organization of American States, the Organization of African Unity), business and economic organizations (the International Labor Organization, the International Finance Corporation, the International Bank for Reconstruction Development, the International Atomic Energy Agency), and health care and sports associations and societies. Countless social organizations are launched and sustained by secondary school and university students. For example, at many U.S. universities, campus life revolves around fraternities (social and residential clubs for men) and sororities (similar clubs for women). The best-known are national groups with chapters at schools throughout the country. Their names are Greek letters, such as Alpha Delta Phi. These societies also meet the needs of international scholars. In this respect, Phi Beta Delta, founded at California State University in 1986, is the first national honor society dedicated to recognizing scholarly achievements in international education (Tiersky and Tiersky, 1990). 14 Chapter One

Sociopolitical, economic, cultural, and educational structures and movements change over time. Their development may be progressive or regressive, overt or covert, intensive or gradual. The changes may be slight, or they may amount to a loss of identity or replacement by another entity. One ideology may be substituted for another, as in the former Soviet society in the 1990s, when the communist ideology was replaced by the ideas of democracy and humanization. Sometimes new ideas or approaches are not adequately understood by all people. Ideological and political changes normally entail governmental, social, and, inevitably, educational reorganizations. Societal changes have become pervasive over the last decades. Migra- tion has increased both nationally and cross-culturally.A pertinent example of a mobile nation is the United States. Over forty million Americans change residences every year, requiring their children to attend new schools and adjust to novel environments. The average American moves about fourteen times in her or his lifetime because of job changes, a desire for change of climate, or the promptings of a frontier spirit. Armed with efficient means of communication, a resident of the United States can easily get in touch with any relative or friend in any comer of the country (Tiersky and Tiersky, 1990; Bellfy, 2001). Certain changes on the societal level occur because of interior factors (for example, Russia’s attempts to pursue democratic reforms in education); others are fostered by exterior influences (for instance, a boom in the study of English in many developing and Eastern European countries for job and career opportunities). Sociopolitical changes refocus the methodology of teaching, didactic principles, and styles of teacher-student interaction, as illustrated by the impact of democratic principles on the Russian system of education. The winds of democracy were always blowing along the borders of the former Soviet Union, but it was only after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985 that these winds managed to make real breakthroughs on the country’s political and economic borders. The democratic perestroika could not avoid the educational institutions. First of all, democracy has affected Russian education on the levels of methodology, organization of schooling, curriculum content, language planning, and international education. Within the many variables that can be attributed to methodology, the principle of humanization has taken a visible shape. This principle has necessitated a new search for educational technologies capable of making the teaching process more child centered and creating necessary conditions for pedagogues’ and students’ self-realization and self-actualization (Slastenin and Shiyanov, 1994). On the organizational level, two reorganizations have occurred in schooling under the impact of democracy: decentralization and the cre- Diversity and Change 15 ation of alternative ways of educating children and young people. Decen- tralization has promoted the development of students’ critical thinking and decision making. These days, the system does not expect, demand, and reward conformity. In the 1990s, alternative schools began to emerge. In addition to the eleven-year public schools, private schools, lyceums, gymnasia, rural colleges, and farming schools were opened. Home schooling, successfully practiced in czarist Russia before the 1917 Revolu- tion, has been resumed with a new content in some families, mostly in metropolitan areas. Those who have already made their choice are con- vinced that the advantages of home schooling outweigh the disadvantages. Today, the weekly academic load per student is twenty-two to twenty-seven hours in grades 14,thirty-two to thirty-six hours in grades 5-9, and thirty-six to thirty-eight hours in grades 10-11. Considerable reformation has affected curriculum planning. Three curriculum components have been mandated: federal, regional/republic, and local/school. The federal component contains courses on Russian language and literature, mathematics, physics, astronomy, chemistry, and world culture. The regional component includes the content reflecting the national (ethnic) and regional cultural peculiarities (the native language and literature, national history, geography, regional ecology and culture, etc.). The local component-the most variable part of the curriculum (optional courses, health lessons, etc.)-reflects a school’s specificity and enables the school council to design and implement educational programs in congruence with teachers’ expertise and students’ motivational needs. Implementing democratic principles has promoted alterations in language planning and affected the role of non-Russian ethnic groups’ native languages and foreign languages in the curriculum. In this regard, the number of hours for native language and culture instruction has increased, the number of subjects taught in the native tongue has increased rapidly, and the quality of teaching of indigenous languages has improved considerably. As for foreign languages, over the last two decades, there has been a strong trend among young people and adults to switch to learning English as a foreign language. The share of English (among other traditional foreign languages, such as German, French, and Span- ish) has risen rapidly. The growth of democracy has contributed to further development of multicultural and international (cross-cultural) education, as well as international exchange of teachers, students and university faculty. There is now a growing body of awareness among Russian teachers that young people should be knowledgeable about the world and should acquire Val- ues and skills that will enable them to interact effectively with people different from themselves in an interdependent world. 16 Chapter One

Socioeconomic Diversity

Socioeconomic diversity has accompanied human existence throughout recorded history, but the contemporary era might be considered the culminating point of such diversity. People are engaged in various socioeconomic activities, each contributing to national and global welfare. There are wealthy and affluent people and people living beyond their means, people standing high socially and those occupying the lower levels on the social ladder, and people who have a job and those who have none. In the United States the rise in real wealth and continuing inflation produced over a million millionaires. Much of their wealth was earned in the frantic real estate and stock market boom during the last decades. The statement ”the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” is still true. Despite all the advances of humankind in agriculture, today there are more than one billion people in famine conditions around the world. The two categories-prosperity and poverty-have often operated side-by-side in human societies. In a prosperous United States, one can see whole clusters of poverty-stricken and homeless people, particularly in downtown urban areas. In Russia’s metropolitan areas, especially around railway stations, subway passages, and outside religious shrines (temples, churches, and mosques), a passer-by can also encounter poorly dressed and miserable-looking people who have staked out a certain territory and earn their living by begging or petty theft. These people, seldom venturing into risky and large-scale criminal activities, often build close-knit, informal communities of their own. As for beggary as a social problem, Golosenko (1996) admits that until recently this social phenomenon has not been a focus of thorough investigation among Russian researchers. Recent findings indicate that beggary has a centuries-long and ongoing history in the country. The majority of people lead normal social lives, whereas certain individuals’ behavior transgresses generally accepted standards. The latter include drug and alcohol addicts, prostitutes, con men, self-destructive individuals, the repeatedly divorced, quarrel seekers, so-called revolutionaries, and the overly materialistic. Their numbers are growing rapidly nowadays, even among highly educated people. For example, divorce, which is now rampant in industrialized societies, has a particularly crucial impact on the upbringing of children. The destruction of families inevitably results in shrinking society’s moral and citizenship foundations. Children raised in one-parent and multiply divorced families lack the necessary nurturing that a strong, traditional, two-parent family can provide. Economic welfare is usually, but not always, dependent on social status: the higher the social status, the richer the person. Conversely, the Diversity and Change 17 wealthy are traditionally accepted, valued, and ranked high in society, particularly if they make philanthropic and charitable donations in the fields of education, medicine, and the like. But there may be exceptions in both cases. For instance, in contemporary Russia and the Newly Inde- pendent States, some officials and administrative workers who rank high socially are ill paid. Also in Russia, where since the 1990s new businesses have sprung up like mushrooms, certain "newly sprung" businessmen, the so-called new Russians, who have grown wealthy, have a very low social status. Among ordinary people, they are often considered as "dumb," "dull," "empty-headed." In some societies, such as the United States, socioeconomic differences among and between racial and ethnic groups remain a major issue. These differences are usually associated with school achievement, discriminato- ry barriers hindering access to decision-making positions in the political structure, and participation in the job market beyond the entry level, among others. In other societies, such as Russia, socioeconomic differences are not so clear-cut on the ethnic level. In Russia, wealthy and low- income people can be met among all ethnic groups, numerically large and small, probably in equal proportion to the total population of each given ethnic group. Because societies are constantly changing, it is often difficult to agree on criteria for determining social class. In the 1950s, American social scientists used to attribute characteristics to the lower class that are found in the middle class today, such as single-parent households, high divorce rates, and substance abuse. Today, these characteristics are no longer rare among the middle and upper class, even though their frequency is still higher among lower-class families. There is considerable disagreement among social scientists about which variables are the most important in determining the social class of an individual or family. Rapid economic changes and the growth in the number of vehicles, including boats, have affected the spatial configuration of metropolitan and coastal areas. Most newly built rural and urban settlements do not resemble the older settlements with closely spaced houses and apartment buildings. For instance, a new shopping center requires a parking lot; otherwise customers are likely to select another place to shop. Many rural and urban settlements in industrialized countries are sprawled out, so that children have to travel large distances to and from school. Socioeconomic changes may be gradual or rapid. For example, immigrating to another country often makes a person a minority member in a host society, thus immediately lowering the social status enjoyed in the home country. The same person can regain his social standing after re- turning to his homeland. Becoming famous is another social change. Such is the case with some sportsmen, movie stars, and politicians. On the 18 Chapter One other pole, there might occur another change-becoming infamous. The latter change may occur with any celebrity as if following Napoleon’s dic- tum ”There is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.” Certain individuals or whole enterprises get wealthy gradually or quickly; others go bankrupt in the same manner. Some societies experience an even, smooth development, without any noticeable economic col- lapses; other societies undergo economic crises, such as the depression that enveloped the United States and other countries in the 1930s or the monetary crisis that struck Russia in 1998, tripling the dollar-ruble rate. This crisis added to the already worsening economic state of Russian teachers. Following this financial deterioration, teachers staged a series of hunger strikes in Ulyanovsk and Khabarovsk.

Religious Diversity The world around us is religiously diverse and is becoming more so every day. Even though religion as an organized system of beliefs in a supreme being is separated from school in most countries, it greatly influences educational canons. Religion seems easy to define but in fact is difficult to explain. “As we focus our camera on this concept,” theorizes Uphoff (1997), “we need to use both a close-up and a wide-angle lens” (108).At least two definitions of religion can be given-narrow and broad. The former incorporates an organized system of beliefs and rituals related to a supernatural power or powers, such as in the world religions (Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism) followed by a relatively large number of people from various ethnic and racial groups or in ethnic or smaller religions pursued by representatives of one ethnic group. The broader definition looks at religion as any faith or set of values to which an individual or group gives ultimate loyalty, such as belief in humanism, love, the forces of nature, the future, wisdom transmitted from ancestors, and so on. Uphoff maintains that ”one important aspect of this dual definition is that many individuals use and live by both (1997 110). Religious diversity often creates problems on the national and international levels. Vivid in mind are the events in Ireland, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The Crusaders’ invasion of the Middle East in the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries, numerous calls by Muslim extremists to launch a jihad (holy war) on the infidel and Judeo-Christian world, proclamations of certain religions about their superiority over other religions, and declarations of different branches of Christianity about their supremacy over other Christian denominations-all are only a few historical examples depicting tensions on the religious basis. Religious diversity is in full swing in the United States. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews-all are represented in one multireli- Diversity and Change 19 gious melting pot. The largest Christian denominations are Baptists, Church of Christ, Episcopalians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons),Lutherans, Methodists, Orthodox, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, and United Church of Christ. The vast majority of Americans believe in God. The national motto on U.S. currency reads ”In God We Trust.” The pledge of allegiance to the flag declares that the country is ”one nation under God.” According to the basic American attitude, God is in the universe, and people are free to believe in God or not and to worship in any way they choose. Protestantism is considered to have had the greatest influence on American life because of its philosophy stressing the moral value of work, self-discipline, and personal responsibility. The accumulation of wealth is not considered evil unless it leads to an idle or sinful life. Millions of Americans find the most profound sources of meaning in religion and religious traditions and often define themselves not in terms of ethnicity, gender, or nationality but in terms of religion (Tiersky and Tiersky, 1990). Religion is important to people because religions have always addressed the questions of sal- vation and the meaning of life, huge questions in human society (Nord, 2000). At the same time, Nord notes: ”The tensions between religion and the dominant culture [in the United States] are so marked and the victory of the dominant culture over religion is so complete in many of the institutional domains of life, including education, that it now makes sense to talk about the oppression of religious subcultures” (65). On the other side of the Atlantic, Russia also boasts various religions. Russia’s atheistic past impedes demographers’ attempts to calculate exactly the number of adherents of different confessions. Under the Com- munist government and Communist Party rule, until the mid-1980s religions and beliefs were prosecuted, and thousands of churches, mosques, and synagogues were closed or vandalized. Almost all religious educational institutions were banned, and a considerable number of clergymen, mullahs (Muslim clergymen),and even common believers were prosecuted. Everything related to religion was studied from an atheistic perspective. The existence of God was denied, the positive historical role of religion was criticized, and its influence on human lives was discussed from a negative perspective. Some school textbooks and other literature used in educational institutions contained antireligious material and propaganda (Latishina, 1998). It is impossible to avoid mentioning the explosion of the Moscow Tem- ple of Christ the Savior in 1931. The temple was erected in 1881 in honor of the victory over Napoleon in the 1812 war. Three hundred and forty feet high, the temple was one of the most beautiful edifices in Russia. Armed with the resolution ”On the liquidation and demolition of the Temple of Christ the Savior,” adopted on June 16, 1931, the Bolsheviks 20 Chapter One carried out their plan on December 5, 1931. It took them only forty-five minutes to explode and completely destroy the sanctuary that required forty-two years to build, from 1839 till 1881. Fortunately, the temple has been rebuilt. I have visited the newly built Temple of Christ the Savior in Moscow. It looks exactly the same as the one I saw in numerous pictures before. Its beauty is beyond imagination. For a long time I stood near the edifice wondering at its grandeur and sublimity. Then, I thought to myself that the rebirth of the temple manifests a great sign of the spiritual resurgence of Russia. Since the mid-l980s, under the influence of the democratic thaw, there has been a tremendous shift in the way that information about religion is presented in Russian society and the nation’s educational institutions. In- struction about religion is unprejudiced, and the role of religion in the development of Russia is reflected from a positive perspective. Students and teachers are no longer persecuted because of their religious beliefs. Religious diversity does not remain static. Certain people change their religion and beliefs. Such is a trend in some European countries. For example, in France there is a noticeable trend among Christians to convert to Islam or convert from one branch of Christianity to another. A trend to convert from one religion into another is often observed before or after ethnically and religiously mixed marriages. Historically, similar conver- sions were not rare. The case of the last Russian czar, Nicholas 11, is worth recalling. In 1895 he married Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Alex de Hessen, who, prior to marrying Nicholas, adopted Orthodox Christianity and was named Alexandra Feodorovna. The empress remained a faithful Orthodox believer until her last breath. In 1918, the czar’s entire family was assassinated in Ekaterinburg. In other cases, believers become atheists, and vice versa. Over the last eighty years Russia has witnessed both trends. In the 1920s and 1930s, millions of people, mainly under the influence of Communist propaganda, did away with their ”dark religious past” and stepped onto the path of building Communism-a ”society that is free of God.” In the mid-1980s and 1990s, the reverse occurred: a considerable number of the former ”fighters against God” suddenly rose up and started negating the Com- munist ideology, rushed into reading religious literature, and started going to church. Holy shrines dedicated to one religion can be turned into temples for another religion. A pertinent example is Hagia Sofia (Saint Sofia) in Istan- bul. Built by the Byzantians as a stronghold of Christianity, it was turned into a Muslim mosque after Constantinople was seized by the Turks in 1453; in the 1930s, this Muslim shrine was turned into a museum, that is, into a secular edifice, by the Turkish leader Kemal Atatiirk. Another side of religious change is shown in the emergence of new Diversify and Change 21 branches of religion and various beliefs. Who could believe that Russia would become a Babel of religions at the beginning of the third millennium? The ”winds of democracy” have brought into Russia dozens of alien religions from European and Asian countries, as well as from the United States. As religion and school are, in large part, separated from each other in many societies, an ambivalence pervades the entire process of schooling in these societies. Students often learn two, sometimes diametrically opposed, viewpoints about reality. For example, at school children are taught that human development traces from a tiny tree-dwelling primate to Homo sapiens, whereas during Bible study lessons the same children learn another version of human origins-from Adam and Eve, who, in turn, were created by God. In a secular classroom, children hear speculations about building an everlasting peace and a strong economy on Earth, which ultimately will lead to a wealthy life. They also hear about a possibility of creating an earthly paradise where a person’s fate will be dependent on the individual, whereas the Bible teaches that the biological life is a preliminary stage of existence and that the individual soul will be judged by the Almighty after death according to the person’s deeds on Earth.

Urban versus Rural Diversity Another form of diversity is defined by the distinction between rural and urban life. Urban and rural residents’ adherence to basic human values and their attitudes to the issues of education have always differed more or less distinctly (Nachtigal, 1992; Seal and Harmon, 1995; Sinagat- ullin, 2001a). Only barely noticeable in some European countries, these differences are distinct and pervasive in African, Asian, and Latin Ameri- can nation-states. Moreover, in certain countries, such as Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, the differences between rural and urban standards of life, as well as in the quality of urban and rural education, are becoming pronounced (Dzurinsky, 1999a).In contemporary nation-states, the population is estimated to be 60 percent urban to 40 percent rural. In 2000, the urban-rural population split in Belgium was 97 percent urban to 3 percent rural; in Qatar, 92 percent to 8 percent; the Netherlands, the most densely populated country in Europe, 89 percent to 11 percent; the Bahamas, 88 to 12; Russia, 77 to 23; the United States, 76 to 24; Paraguay, 55 to 45; Egypt, 45 to 55; China, 32 to 68; Thailand, 21 to 79; and Uganda, 14 to 86 (McGev- eran, 2001). The advantages of rural life are normally characterized as follows. In rural communities, residents experience a sense of togetherness, security, and fulfillment; a sense of being happy with what they have; and love for 22 Chapter One the land. Even though rural people are usually considered less cultured and less educated than their urban counterparts, they value friendship, care about each other, help their neighbors in everyday activities, and place lower value on making huge amounts of money. Rural communities are usually tightly knit, morally healthier because rural people are “less corrupted” by such societal ulcers as alcohol and drug addiction, prostitution, divorce, and child abuse. Rural people maintain indigenous values, customs, and traditions; sustain psychologically favorable relations with one another; and help each other. Rural residents are healthier physically. Living and working in an ecologically favorable environment, being physically active, loving the land and people they live with, con- suming healthier food and purer water-all these factors add to the physical well-being of rural laborers, as well as rural educators and students. Undoubtedly, rural communities, which also boast frequent family and community gatherings and offer a hearty welcome to newcomers, are the backbone of a nation. Finally, rural communities gave birth to many famous people. This is what Theodore Roosevelt said in reference to rural life (cited in Fuller, 1982):

I warn my countrymen that the great recent progress in city life is not a full measure of our civilization; for our civilization rests at bottom on the whole- someness, the attractiveness, and the prosperity of the life in the country. . . . The men and women on the farms stand for what is fundamentally best and most needed in our American life (219).

At the same time, rural communities also experience problems. Some of them-population decrease, low income, lack of sociocultural assets, low levels of formal education-are common in many parts of the world. Among the positive factors of urban life, we can mention the following assets. Urban residents are closer to cultural, educational, entertainment, and informational assets and are more “refined” and knowledgeable about the world. They have access to public transportation, possess a higher level of formal education, and, depending on their employment, lead a relatively easy life. Negative features of urban life are myriad. In urban areas, especially sprawling cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Moscow, and Saint Petersburg (the second-largest city in Russia), there is a higher rate of drug addiction and alcoholism, divorce, assault, homicide, suicide, accidents, kidnappings, pornography distribution, satanism, adultery, prostitution, juvenile delinquency, school dropouts, and spousal, parental, and child abuse. Teachers and educators have to cope with disciplinary problems, especially in middle and high schools. Contemporary urban residents tend to strive for pragmatic values and sustain relatively Diversity and Change 23 cool interpersonal relations with their acquaintances and friends, even with their own children and parents. Normally, in rural communities, adults’ behavior and ways of handling various enterprises are inherited by the youth and often become an integral part of their character and everyday behavior. In urban centers, children and teenagers are not usually closely attached to family and community values. They are more independent and generally make decisions themselves regarding their future career. These characteristics of urban and rural lives might not always be as clear-cut as they have been depicted. Today it is not always easy to draw a strict line of demarcation between rural and urban cultures, for the two may be intertwined, especially if there is little or no difference between what we call the rural and the urban. Nonetheless, some core truths and salient features about these two categories will continue to exist for a long time. In Western European countries, the United States, Canada, and Aus- tralia, the rural population can be subdivided into rural nonfarm and rural farm groups. Rural nonfarm groups are not engaged in agricultural labor, except for doing some gardening for pleasure. In Russia and some Newly Independent States, rural residents may also be divided into nonfarm and farm subgroups. Unlike in Western countries, both subgroups are engaged in physical labor: nonfarm groups work collectively, whereas gradually growing numbers of farmers run their own businesses and live in the villages together with the members of nonfarm groups. In addition to these occupations, most of rural residents run their personal households, raising cattle and poultry, growing vegetables and fruit. In- terestingly, a great number of urban people, as if following their deeply rooted ancestral national traditions and customs, also garden in the nearby countryside, cultivating small strips of land. Traditionally, rural residents and their children build houses for themselves. All these tasks, when done by families themselves, require extra time and energy. Engag- ing in these and other activities after classes and on weekends leaves little time for schoolchildren to do their homework or for self-education. The proportion of rural and urban populations undergoes continuous changes. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, industrialization in most parts of the world caused millions of rural residents to move to urban centers. Another population shift struck after World War 11, mainly in the 1950s through the 1970s. Since the 1970s, the population of most of U.S. metropolitan areas has increased considerably. Unlike the United States, where people migrated in large numbers to urban areas even in the nineteenth century, in Russia there were few signs of urban- ization in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The situation changed in the 1930s, when industrialization became a prime policy of the 24 Chapter One

Soviet government. Some branches of the economy profited from industrialization, which gained its second wind in the 1950s; others, like the agrarian subdivisions-kolkhozes (collective enterprises) and sovkhozes (state enterprises)-were not so lucky. The flow of rural residents to urban areas took a toll on the agrarian sector of economy. A considerable number of large and small villages declined. Some of them ceased to exist. These changes predicted the fate of rural schools. With the decline of rural settlements, most small rural schools were closed; the majority of remaining rural institutions turned into small, even tiny, educational institutions with small classes (Sinagatullin, 2001a). Well-functioning educational institutions are the lifeblood of both rural and urban communities. There is a direct link between the favorable functioning of both and the amelioration of a nation’s economic strength, cultural welfare, and quality of education. Other things being equal, all children, rural and urban, can succeed academically, socially, and culturally, as well as in future career opportunities.

Diversity of Information and Individual Diversity

This section will examine the diversity in knowledge explosion and dissemination, as well as diversity on the individual level, such as human physiology and mental ability, gender, and age.

Dissemination of Diverse Knowledge and Information Contemporary educational institutions function in an epoch of an unparalleled expansion of information and knowledge. Since the mid-nineteenth century, an explosion of knowledge has occurred that is unprece- dented in previous recorded history. The past century and a half has seen the invention of the telephone, automobile, radio, airplane, automatic weapons, Earth-orbiting satellites, manned spaceship, atomic weapons, television, and computers. The modern telephone with a digital answering machine can record callers’ voices. Mobile phones can receive the voices of our colleagues from the dense jungles of South America and the hottest deserts of North Africa. The first Sputnik, launched in 1957, and the first manned spaceship, with Yuri Gagarin on board in 1961, made a mind-boggling impact on humankind. Since the 1960s, flights into space have become a normal practice in Russia and the United States. Today, other nations actively join the space programs of the two countries. Book- store and library shelves sag under the weight of billions of books, journals, and magazines. We are able to correspond by e-mail with any part of the globe within seconds. At the press of a button, it is possible to send or Diversity and Change 25 receive a fax in our car or at home or get a message on our sky pager. There is access to numerous television channels, each overflowing with information. Computer technology has progressed considerably within the last two decades. Modern computers equipped with the Internet can provide us with information on any topic and provide access to any part of the world (Debrick, Kraemer, and Palacios, 2001; Lal, 2001). Among In- ternet specialists, such expressions as "cyberethics," "information ethics," "information technology ethics," "global information ethics," and "Inter- net ethics" have come into use (Spinello and Tavani, 2001). On the one hand, the immense progress in technology has made it easier for educational institutions to organize the pedagogical process. On the other hand, the use of computers and the explosion of knowledge and information have made it difficult for children and teenagers to orient themselves in all the richness of the emerging information and have begun to threaten the transmission and maintenance of culture. For example, referring to the Native American cultures of North America, Bow- ers, Vasquez, and Roaf (2001) underline the importance of computer technology in the lives of indigenous peoples. At the same time, they think that computers will hardly help in cultural transmission of knowledge among Native Americans without substantial culture loss. A number of questions arise: As it is impossible to use all this information, what portion of it is more profitable and congruent with the basic curriculum perspectives? What additional knowledge could be most useful to expand students' multicultural and global horizons? What information or knowledge is most applicable in adulthood to be a good citizen or just a good human being? What knowledge is of prime importance? What piece of knowledge is of lesser value? How can students be taught to find, select, and store information so that it will be available when needed? What should be done to avoid getting lost in the welter of divergent information? People involved in the business of education in general and multicultural education in particular are required to find reasonable answers to these and other questions. Information and knowledge about the world changes extremely fast. What was a sensation yesterday might fall into oblivion today. Scientific knowledge changes as quickly as a lightning strike. Some elementary and secondary school textbooks are sometimes outmoded before they are published. This is exactly what has occurred in a multicultural Russia with some school textbooks on the humanities and social sciences within the last two decades because of rapid and pervasive sociopolitical changes. Processing information about culture differs from group to group and may be influenced by individual and sociocultural factors, including biases, which may both hinder and facilitate the cultural information processing. On the basis of studying the U.S. and Russian cultures, Abalakina- 26 Chapter One

Paap et al. (2001) suggest evidence that, for instance, Americans show more ethnocentric bias in recognizing unfavorable cultural information. Also, both Russians and Americans recognize different types of information, but Americans are more likely to recognize information that has been presented, whereas Russians tend to recognize information that has not been presented. As knowledge explodes, being educated becomes the norm in human societies. Human history, however, shows that being well-informed and educated does not always coincide with what we call being a diligent, moral individual and good citizen, ready to help a fellow countryman in need. History offers exceedingly barbaric examples. For example, Hitler ’s Nazis sent millions of people into concentration camps, executed innocent Jewish children and adults, threw a stunning number of people into the ovens. Many of those who made barbaric and inhumane decisions were educated men; some had scientific degrees and honors. The antireligious course in Russia from the 1920s through the 1980s, anti-Indian and racial segregation policies in the United States, antidemocratic policies in the former socialist countries, invasions by militarily powerful countries of small and innocent nation-states-all are consequences of the workings of the minds of educated people who were born predominantly to well-bred and educated families.

Health Problems and AbilityDisability Dimension Most students, from kindergartners to college students, are physically able and cognitively normal and progress academically. Unfortunately, the number of school- and university-age students who have problems with health is on the increase these days. For example, in Russia, the number of school-age students with physical and psychological problems has increased as much as twenty times over the previous decade. In 2000, around 40 percent of preschool children had various forms of nervous and psychological disorders, and over one million school-age children were classified as invalids (Akhiyarov, 2000). The shocking state of children’s and teenagers’ health in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine resulted in intensifying both medical and pedagogical research and in reorganizing teacher preparation programs. For example, in contemporary, redesigned programs and curricula implemented in Russia’s teacher training institutions, one whole block of disciplines is devoted to vakological education (in Latin, vale0 means ”to be healthy”). In the given context, being healthy refers not only to physical health but also to the idea of the person’s corporal, intellectual, psychological, and spiritual welfare (Popov, 1997; Stepanenkov, 1998). Progress in technology and medicine, the growth of agricultural out- Diversity and Change 27 put, the reduction of tuberculosis, typhus, syphilis, cholera, trachoma, and other insidious diseases have brought only partial relief to humanity. Instead, the ecological condition of the world has enormously worsened, the topsoil is exhausted in most areas, new diseases have surfaced, and some old forms have considerably spread. What Leo Tolstoy (1989) once said about the category of progress is equally true nowadays. He pointed out that ”progress in one side [of life] is always ransomed by regress in some other side of human life” (255). The dissemination of HIVI AIDS has created a worldwide epidemic. The old venereal diseases have developed immunity to almost every known antibiotic. Sexual dissoluteness and licentiousness is sometimes coupled with such bizarre practices as pedophilia, bestiality, and sado- masochism. Influenza, often ignored by people as being just a weeklong, conventional runny-nose disease, today can have very serious aftereffects. Passing over into a chronic stage, it prolongs the unhealthy state of children and adults, even leaving some patients physically or mentally handicapped. While the physically handicapped, blind, and hearing- and speech-impaired children attend schools for exceptional children, we normally do not set up separate groups or schools for students who are prone to illness-that is, those who frequently fall ill with typical, widespread diseases such as bronchitis, tonsillitis, the common cold, pneumonia, diph- theria, measles, chicken pox, and dysentery-or who suffer from long-lasting ailments, such as diabetes; heart, kidney and liver distur- bances; allergies; leukemia; epilepsy, etc. In Russia, such children are referred to as ”physically weak.” Similarly, we do not place HIV-infected students into special institutions. Both physically healthy and physically weak children study in one class, and it is the teacher’s duty to give equal and equitable attention to both. Many problems arise when educators and parents have to cope with children suffering from cognitive and mental disabilities. A salient symptom of mental retardation is an organic brain disease. “A child can be referred to as mentally retarded,” states Rubinstein (1986), “if his cognitive activity is stably affected as a result of the organic brain lesion (due to inherited or acquired factors)” (8). Mentally retarded children need special care. Vygotsky (1991) subdivided children with mental defects into three types: children with inherited mental retardation, children who suffer from epilepsy or hysteria, and those who have psychoneurosis. In daily practice, children of the first type are normally placed in special schools, whereas those in the second and third categories attend traditional educational institutions. Having this in mind, Vygotsky warned (regarding children with inherited mental anomalies) that it is extremely important, from a psychological perspective, not to isolate such children in separate, 28 Chapter One special groups but to give them every opportunity to communicate with normal children. Basing his assumptions on the idea of complex structure of the anomalous child’s development proposed by Vygotsky, Astapov (1994) postulates that this complexity can be proven by the existence of the ”primary defect, initiated by biological factors, and secondary imbalances, emerging in the process of further anomalous development under the influence of the primary defect” (7). In educational practice, some misbehaving children are mistakenly considered mentally retarded. Such misunderstandings arise from lack of knowledge of a child’s real state of mental health. ”If pedagogically ne- glected children do not have any organic brain lesion,” notes Rubinstein (1986), “it means that their nervous processes are normal, so they need to be placed in the mass [public] school. Experience indicates that, under subsequent conditions, such children can later develop normally” (11). Gifted children, who tend to excel their peers cognitively and academically, is another segment of student population. Contrary to the popular view that such children are easy to teach and communicate with, gifted children often create numerous problems and unexpected difficulties for educators and parents. A gifted child may manifest at least three variables: rapid cognitive development, advanced psychological development, and special physical characteristics (Matushkin, 1989). Cognitively, a gifted child (1) possesses better short- and long-term memory capacities based on abstract thinking, (2) shows a willingness to study a number of interesting topics at a time and persistence in attaining results, (3) can concentrate intensely on a target issue, (4)builds and ”plays over” alternative models and submodels of a hypothetical activity or situation, (5) develops a considerable vocabulary, and (6) begins to speak early. In the domain of psychological development, a gifted and talented pupil possesses a strongly developed sense of justice, self-evaluation, self-criticism, empathy, and a sense of humor. Gifted children may rush into solving a problem that is often difficult for them to solve. As for the general physical traits of gifted adults, they are observed to sleep less than average and to be rather energetic (Leytes, 1971,1988; Matushkin, 1989; Vygotsky, 1991). Scientists and practicing educators’ viewpoints on the phenomenon of giftedness vary. Some claim that a person can have a special talent only in limited areas, or even in only one area (Vygotsky, 1991), while others assume that giftedness characterizes the entire person (Leytes, 1971; Ma- tushkin, 1989; Gilbukh, Garnets, and Korobko, 1990). Giftedness is being investigated in many countries, and consequently gifted children are supported to a corresponding extent. However, evidence indicates that gifted children are not provided with the care they need on the local and federal levels (Fai, 2000; Horst, 2000). In educational practice, it is also customary to subdivide the student Diversity and Change 29 population into two more or less distinct categories: students who progress normally and achieve academically, and those who have learning and behavior problems. According to this classification, students with different degrees of mental retardation are often placed in the second group (Bos and Vaughn, 1991). Students with learning and/or behavior problems manifest one or more of the following problems: poor academic performance, attention and memory problems, hyperactivity, poor motor and perceptual abilities, problems in language and speech, aggression, and withdrawn and bizarre behavior.

Gender Diversity Expected gender roles vary across civilizations and societies and change over time. Historically, males have dominated females in most activities except, probably, in kitchen and child-rearing duties. Early records suggest that knowledge about the world and human fundamental truths, both secular and religious, was typically conceptualized, shaped, and put into print by males. The written historical chronicles of China and India, the city-states of Mesopotamia, the majestic culture of Egypt, and the empires of Greece, Rome, Byzantium, early Russia, and ancient America were all created by educated men whose creative careers had been influenced by male rulers and the standards of male-dominated microstruc- tures. As for most renowned historical personages, encyclopedias and reference books tend to mention predominantly male heroes. For example, in The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2000 (Famighetti, 1999), the ten most influential people (who are also males) of the second millennium are listed in the following order of importance: (1) William Shakespeare, 1564-1616; (2) Isaac Newton, 1642-1727; (3) Charles Darwin, 1809-1882; (4) Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473-1543; (5) Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642; (6) Al- bert Einstein, 1879-1955; (7) Christopher Columbus, 1451-1506; (8) Abra- ham Lincoln, 1809-1865; (9) Johannes Gutenberg, 1397-1468; and (10) William Harvey, 1578-1657. This unjust historical situation started radically changing only in the 1960~~when the women’s liberation movement began in many countries. Promoting the idea that women are equal to men in the ability to learn and in professional occupations was one of the salient goals of this movement. Despite benefiting women in terms of advancement and job opportunities, the liberation movement also created great psychological confusion regarding manners and everyday interactions of men and women. As men were formerly considered the dominant sex, etiquette required them to adopt a protective attitude toward women, to render them assistance in everyday life (Tiersky and Tiersky, 1990).A contemporary, liber- ated woman, especially in the Western countries and particularly in the 30 Chapter One

United States, considering herself equal with a man, needs less male protection. An American woman may take the initiative in most important family matters, such as planning the family budget and solving household problems, as well as in educating children and orienting them to certain professions. Feminist movements were widespread in the 1960s and 1970s in Eu- rope. For instance, in the Netherlands, female activists emerged under the motto Het persoonlijke is politiek (personal relations are political). Women demanded equal rights for themselves in job opportunities, as well as in household duties. As a result, a high percentage of women began to be employed in the labor market. It has become very unusual for a woman to give up a job if she gets married (Horst, 1996). In Russia there were no indications of the so-called organized feminist movement in pre-Revolutionary or in post-Revolutionary times. With the impact of industrialization in the 1930s, the number of women entering the workforce increased rapidly. By 1940, women made up nearly 40 percent of the workforce. In modem Russia, women predominate in education, health care, retail trade, textile production, and food processing and constitute more than half of the labor force. Russia’s gradual entry into European and world economic markets created a new social layer, the woman entrepreneur. The number of women occupying leading positions in business is growing rapidly. The findings also indicate that the stereotypes of male leadership in business are not so salient in Russia as in the northern European countries, the United States, and Canada (Babaeva and Chirikova, 1996). In the domain of education, males and females did not enjoy equal rights until the twentieth century. Early histories of the development of different societies across the globe show that education was initially a privilege for men. For example, in colonial America, the Puritans were the most influential group with regard to education. In their communities, girls were not admitted to grammar schools, which they themselves had established. In the United States, education of girls became generally accepted only after the opening of public high schools in the early nineteenth century. As regards the psychological climate in schools, school- girls’ rights were enormously strengthened under the influence of John Dewey’s philosophy of education. Challenging traditional theories and practices, Dewey placed the child at the center of the pedagogical process. In Russia, girls were given access to elementary and middle schools only after 1786. Despite some small privileges, girls were predominantly home schooled. The Smolny Institute for Noble Girls, set up in 1764 in Saint Petersburg, offered education to girls (aged six to eighteen) exclusively from noble families. The first schools for girls from different social classes were opened in the 1860s. In 1857, the landowner Grigoriev orga- Diversity and Change 31 nized and opened the first such school, called a ”gymnasium,” in Kastro- ma. By 1874, there were 189 female elementary and advanced (middle) schools encompassing 25,565 students (Latishina, 1998). At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were 30 institutions of higher education for women and 29 coeducational institutions. A great contribution to the education of women was made by N. A. Vishnegradsky,V. I. Vodorosov, and K. D. Ushinsky. Equal rights for men and women were proclaimed only in 1918. By that time, only 23 percent of the rural and provincial population was literate; in large urban areas literacy rates approached 50 percent (Dzurinsky, 1999b). In Western European countries, a tangible equality in education of boys and girls was also gained only on the threshold of the twentieth century. In 1893, J. Bade1 in Great Britain opened the first school for boys and girls. Similar schools were organized in France, Germany, Austria, and Switzer- land (Dzurinsky, 1999a). Male-female relations often differ across cultures. For example, in Asian countries an open public display of affection between men and women through kissing or other forms of body contact is disapproved. Even husbands and wives avoid body contact in public. Children are also not allowed to touch the hands of the opposite sex. In northern European and English-speaking countries, similar signs of affection are approved and practiced in everyday interaction between men and women. In some Asian countries, it is acceptable for two women or two men to walk in public holding hands. Same-sex hand holding or walking with arms on each other’s shoulders also occurs among Latinos, French, Spanish, Ital- ians, Greeks, and Middle Easterners. However, when they practice such signs of affection in the United States, they may be mistaken for homo- sexuals. In Islamic cultures a woman is supposed to be a virgin at the time of her marriage. Moreover, when a man converses with a Muslim husband, he should not refer to having previously met the wife. Even in medical crises and with the curtains drawn around the bed, Muslim taboos regarding interaction between unrelated members of the opposite sex must be maintained. Traditionally, an unmarried Latin American girl should not be alone in the company of a man, whereas in the Anglo-Saxon cultures this custom is not observed. While bride capture seems to be strange to many cultures, in the Hmong communities and some parts of Georgia, located between Europe and Asia, bride kidnapping still exists, and some unwill- ing girls are still carried off by their suitors with no recourse (Dresser, 1996).Submissiveness to men is another delicate issue in relationships between men and women. Considering American ethnic and racial cultures, Cushner, McClelland, and Safford (2000) maintain that, for example, many African American girls may fall closer to the less-submissive end of the 32 Chapter One scale; many Hispanic girls, closer to the more-submissive end; and many European American girls would probably be somewhere in between. In a sense, the contemporary epoch might be called a new era of women’s emancipation. Second-wave feminists are not satisfied with the present state of affairs. For example, in Canada they complain of the gendered nature of public and private spheres, pointing out the dichotomy in much of Western theory between the political (public) sphere populated by male citizens, and the nonpolitical (private) sphere populated by their noncitizen wives (Arneil, 2001). There is also a growing awareness of the gendered nature of computing, which is associated with masculinity. Girls and working women must increase their computer skills (Stepule- vage, 2001; Cleggs, 2001). Combating social, family, and cultural re- straints, women try to become equal with men in all spheres of life. In most societies, women enjoy equal or almost equal rights with men. The mere fact that women make up over half of the world’s elementary, secondary, and higher school populations and over 30 percent of the workforce, including administrative positions, speaks for itself. Some say that we should enroll more men in the teaching profession. It is absolutely true; but it is equally true that women teachers, on the whole, remain excellent educators by the very essence of their inner, motherly nature. In many countries, women have their own societies, parties, communities, sororities, and clubs, as well as special magazines and publications. As for women’s magazines, Libelle and Murgriet, published in the Nether- lands, seem to surpass other magazines in the world in readership as a percentage of the population (Wesselius, 1999b). Gender issues are closely related to sexuality, which may, owing to innate, cultural, and religious causes, have opposite-sex, same-sex, and other orientations. For example, in the Lakota Sioux communities, four orientations are approved: biological males who possess largely masculine traits, males who possess largely feminine traits, females who possess largely feminine traits, and females who possess largely masculine traits. In Lakota society, the female-identified male is called berduche and is ac- corded high honor for possessing multiple characteristics. If a berdache takes an interest in a child or children, it is considered to be an advantage (Cushner, McClelland, and Safford, 2000).

Diversity in Age Although a human being’s life span is extremely short as seen from the heights of the universe, from an earthly perspective, it seems long. From a teenager’s perspective, a man aged sixty looks like an old man over- loaded with wisdom. Age, like most other time- and space-related issues, is a relative category. I remember talking to my wife’s grandfather in the Diversify and Change 33 late 1970s. Curious to learn more about my parents, he, then ninety-three years old, inquired about my father’s age. “My dad has just turned sixty- one,” I answered. With a smile on his face the wrinkle-faced man ex- claimed, “Really! Your father is still a child. His whole life is ahead of him.” Some habitually complain of how rapidly time passes away. In this regard, I again recall a conversation with an old man, my friend’s father, who then was eighty-three. ”It seems to me,” the old man once confessed to me, ”as if I have been living in this world for only three days. So quickly and imperceptibly the time has passed.” There might be nothing novel in these two assumptions of the two old men. Each mature adult is experientially aware that age is a relative issue and that human life has its own boundaries and limits. What is important is that I heard these two pieces of wisdom, on the one hand, at my early and “green” years when I was a twenty-something, on the other, from the elderly people whom I considered as the ”firsthand carriers of wisdom itself.” What I heard from these two old men has considerably influenced the development of my personality and teaching career. Traditionally, age issues seem to have always been considered in designing and implementing educational programs and curricula. In contemporary education, the requirements for knowledge and personality development traditionally address the needs and age of students. It is abundantly clear that every teacher is required to have a good understanding of students’ personality and age characteristics to promote effective personality development and content instruction. Yet, a wide range of issues remains unattended. Generalizing prior scientific experience on child development and growth, Vygotsky (1991) postulated that all theories around these issues could be reduced to two main conceptions. The first suggests that child development is a realization, modification, and combination of a child’s dispositions. In this case, nothing new occurs, except that the inherited traits grow, unfold, and regroup. According to the other conception, personality development is a continuous process of self-advancement characterized by a nonstop emergence and development of novel traits. In the second case, child development is understood as a process characterized by a unity of physical, cognitive, and social domains. The age periods of children and teenagers can be measured and classified by different criteria. For instance, according to the Russian educational tradition, the age development of preschool and school children is divided into four periods or stages: preschool, until age five or six; junior school, ages six or seven to ten; middle school, ages ten to fifteen; and senior school, ages fifteen to seventeen or eighteen. 34 Chapter One

During the preschool years, a child undergoes a particular period of development and enters school possessing certain physiological and mental capacities. Stepanenkov (1998) assumes that a five- or six-year-old child possesses (1)certain physical maturity enabling the child to perform prolonged physical labor; (2)a variety of personality characteristics (e.g., an ability to harness and monitor minor emotions and keep to established standards of behavior); (3) relatively stable attention, memory, curiosity, and a great impetus to cognitive activity; and (4) a relatively sufficient level of speech and language proficiency. A five- or six-year-old child is ready to declare his independence from home and parents, but he is still dependent on them for all the necessities of life, as well as for support and guidance. He takes many things for granted and is ”ready for the larger world of the schoolroom” (Broadribb and Lee, 1973). During the junior school period, learning becomes the leading type of activity. Thanks to rapid physical development, in comparison to preschool peers, elementary pupils’ abilities to perceive colors rise by 45 percent; abilities of the joint and muscular system increase by 50 percent; and visual acuity increases by 80 percent (Stepanenkov, 1998).Perception processes at this period are of fixed concrete-graphic character, and visual aids promote the understanding of subject matter content and the exterior world. Children tend to memorize information by rote. Learning activity is predominantly motivated by the teaching/learning process itself. A pupil tends to be interested in many things at a time, and his interests are not sufficiently stable and differentiated. Playing for pleasure gradually turns into a child-developing activity. While involved in individual object-related games, a child applies new knowledge and constructive approaches (Stepanenkov, 1998; Nemov, 1998). The middle-school period requires greater efforts and responsibility on the part of educators. Physiological growth of the child is characterized by a rapid development of (1) body mass and slow development of the cardiovascular system, which results in a disproportion leading to fast ex- haustion and irritability; (2) the sexual sphere; and (3) the bone and muscular system. Because the development of the entire body exceeds that of the cardiovascular system, educators and parents should be alert not to overburden teenagers with hard physical exercises. Great changes occur in an individual’s cognitive and socioemotional development. With further development of cognitive processes, as well as short-term and long- term memory, abilities to think abstractly and logically grow significantly. This stage is also characterized by intellectual growth, which manifests itself in an inclination to experimentation and theorization (Vygotsky, 1991; Stepanenkov, 1998; Nemov, 1998). Students’ personality and age development progress rapidly during Diversity and Change 35 the senior-school period. Intersex relations acquire great importance. The disproportion between body mass and the cardiovascular system slowly resolves. With cognitive abilities accelerating and growing, a teenager tends to concentrate and internalize objective reality purposefully, ratio- nally, and selectively. The attitude to schooling is driven mainly by the social values of education, as well as by incentives for career opportunities. General interests are relatively stable and differentiated. Students are able to tell the positive from the negative in the whole gamut of teachers’ instructional styles and attitudes toward students. Self-evaluation and self- education are important techniques in gaining authority and prestige among their peers inside and outside school (Leytes, 1971; Gurevich, 1988; Vygotsky, 1991; Stepanenkov, 1998; Nemov, 1998). The college period, from eighteen through twenty-two or twenty-five, is marked by further development of all physical, psychological, cognitive, and social characteristics. Students’ physical development nears that of adults. Their professional goals and behaviors are predominantly driven by conscious social motives. Such personal capacities as purposeful- ness, persistence, creative initiative, self-esteem, self-reliance, and deci- siveness are further developed. Students’ attitudes to moral issues (such as parenthood, duty, happiness, love, fidelity, and altruism) rise to their substantial potential. They become able to monitor their emotions and drives in frustrating situations. Plunging into college life is not very easy for many students. In addition to academic studies, they have to adapt and adjust to a novel multicultural environment after well-regulated and caring lives at parents’ homes. Therefore university structures and faculty should be rather sensitive and supportive in this respect, particularly to freshmen. College and university students are not uninterested in the opposite sex. Some students attend to the problem rather seriously and ultimately get married. For example, in Russia, nearly 20 percent of university students find the ”second halves of their hearts” and officially seal their relationships by the time they receive a diploma. In marriage matters, some difference may be seen between Russia’s rural-born and urban-born students. Among the former, there is a tendency toward earlier marriage. Urban-born students tend to marry somewhat later, either in the graduate year-the fifth year of study at a Russian higher-education institution-or in postgraduate years, when a young specialist starts a professional career. A rural-born student, as if following the motto “love at first sight,” normally marries the one whom she or he first falls in love with. An average urban-born student is relatively selective and may probe friendship and/or sexual relations with several members of the opposite sex before getting married. The hidden meaning of the saying “You never know happiness until you get married” often becomes a guiding princi- 36 Chapter One

ple to some young metropolitan residents who are in no hurry to join in this quest for happiness. Through the prism of life-span development, age may be divided into chronological age, biological age, psychological age, and social age. Hoyer, Rybash, and Roodin (cited in Santrock, 2002) suggest that chronological age deals with the number of years that have passed since a person’s birth. Biological age encompasses the phenomenon of biological health one individual’s capacities may be better or worse than those of other people of comparable chronological age. Psychological age has to do with a person’s adaptive capacities compared to those of other people of the same biological age. Social age is related to social roles and expectations surrounding a person’s age. Specialists on life-span development traditionally distinguish the following periods in an individual’s development prenatal, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, late childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. Age differences and child development have been extensively studied through diverse scientific approaches to personality. Mischel(l993)lists at least five major approaches to personality development that emerged from a century of work in psychology: psychodynamic, trait and biological, phenomenological, behavioral, and cognitive social approaches. The most influential psychodynamic theory was that of Sigmund Freud. According to this theory, personality dynamics involve a perpetu- al conflict between the id, the ego, and the superego. The major determinants of behavior are unconscious and irrational: individuals are driven by persistent, illogical demands from within. Freud’s theory of personality development includes a series of psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phal- lic, and genital, so named for the erogenous zone that characterizes each. Having deemphasized the role of instincts and psychosexual stages, the psychoanalytic followers of Freud have concerned themselves more with the social milieu and the ego. Alfred Adler saw individuals as struggling from birth to overcome profound feelings of helplessness and inferiority and striving for perfection. As social beings, people are influenced more by cultural influences and personal relations than by sexual and aggres- sive instincts. Erich Fromm likewise saw people primarily as social beings that can be understood best in relation to others. Erik Erikson viewed social adaptation, not unconscious sexual urges, as the key force underlying development that takes place over an entire lifetime. Psychologists who adopt trait and behavioral approaches (C. Allport, R. B. Cattel, H. J. Eysenck, W. H. Sheldon, and C. G. Jung) have as a major goal exploring traits and biological-genetic bases for personality development. Research increasingly points to the important role of genes in personality development, providing much encouragement for this approach. Diversity and Change 37

Phenomenological approaches (K. Lewin, C. Rogers, and C. A. Kelly) insist that people are not merely passively molded by internal and external forces. Instead, phenomenologists focus on the individual’s perceptions and interpretations of the meaning of events and on each individual’s own subjective experiences and feelings about those events. Behavioral approaches to personality development (J. Dollard, N. Miller, B. F. Skinner, and A. Bandura) emphasize that there is no way of knowing what goes on inside other people except by observing carefully what they say and do. These approaches focus on an important behavior relevant to concepts about personality and then analyze the conditions that seem to control the behavior of interest. Cognitive social approaches (W. Mischel, E. T. Higgins, N. Cantor, and C. S. heck) have emerged from the work of many theorists who share common themes and goals. These researchers and theorists are unified, however, in their focus on the individual’s ways of thinking and processing information (cognitive processes) as determinants of distinctive and meaningful patterns of experience and social behavior.

Summary

Contemporary humankind is extremely diverse and continually changing. Each society has its own diversity infrastructure. This chapter has explored only a limited number of important variables that should be considered in designing and implementing multicultural educational strategies and approaches. Many societies boast racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity that necessitates a refocusing of efforts on effective pedagogical policies, including bicultural and bilingual education strategies. Sociopolitical and economic changes, especially in authoritarian countries, exert considerable influence on the system of education. The growing tendency of economic polarization requires novel methods of teaching and interaction with pupils. Religious diversity is another objective reality encompassing all societies without exception. Despite numerous mismatches between the religious and the secular, educators are required to make a Solomonic decision about how schooling can ”befriend” religion. In many countries there is a divide between urban and rural life. For example, in Russia, considering the effects of this division on education is a primary objective.The ever-growing and unparalleled information explosion and fast dissemination of various scientifically proven and false information force educational institutions to search for better ways to use technology and construct knowledge as well as to be selective in curriculum building and curriculum inclusion. The worsening of students’ health and the growth of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS 38 Chapter One in schools, colleges and universities, and numerous unsolved problems with exceptional students perplex and hamper educators, parents, and medical personnel. With the women's emancipation movement still felt in many parts of the globe, the necessity to deeply consider gender issues in the pedagogical process never ceases to exist. One more salient dimension for educators not to bypass is students' age characteristics and the peculiarities of their psychological and physiological development. To advance the exploration and discussion of the issues of education in an ethnically and culturally pluralistic society, it is necessary to examine culture and surrounding issues, over which, until recently, there have been countless debates among scholars in different fields of research.

Notes

1. Examples in Russian and Tatar are given in Latin script. 2. In the English translation, the structure "will . . . go" is expressed by one word, poydesh. 2

Culture and Cultural Differences

The notion of culture has always been explicitly or implicitly related to the issues of education. The very origin of the word ”culture” (from Latin meaning ”cultivation,” ”education,” ”upbringing”) speaks for itself. Sadly, in contemporary times, the essence of culture as a resilient, spiritual category is often desacralized, and the image of an educated person is normally perceived as an informed and ”computer-literate” individual. One specific contemporary difficulty is that of moving from an information-based to a culture-based education. Today, in large part, education pursues at least two objectives: socioeconomic (finding a job and earning for a living) and sociopatriotic (becoming a diligent, educated citizen, capable of social action and decision making).

Culture as a Multidimensional Phenomenon

There are innumerable attempts to define the notion of culture in scientific literature. Culture is an ”amalgam of materialistic and spiritual elements determining the existence and political and economic consolidation of nations” (Kabakchi, 1985: 4). Culture represents a state of society at its ”fullest blossom” (Eyford, 1990: 198). Culture symbolizes a “method of activity enabling and promoting the overall human activity” (Ivanova, 1991: 20-21). Culture is an ”ideal linking element between the eternal and the tran- sient” (Arnoldov, 1992 8).

39 40 Chapter Two

Doldzenko (1992) identifies culture with a category of reality ”that is filtered through the soul” (28). Culture is the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one people from another in modernized societies (Banks, 1994). Erickson (1997) postulates that culture is a ”product of human creativity in action, which, once we have it, enables us to extend our activity still further” (33).Further, in his speculations Erickson assumes that “culture can be thought of as a construction-it constructs us and we construct it” (39). Gurevich (1998) examines the essence of culture in the framework of six categories: culture as (1) a production of man, (2) an anthropological phenomenon, (3) a realization of an ideal, (4)an activity, (5) a dialogue, and (6)a historical wholeness. “Culture is an integrated social and individual activity devoted to realizing the potential and capacities of man” (Flier, 2000: 17).

None of the given characteristics fully unravels the intrinsic features of this notion, and further attempts to formulate a comprehensive, generalized definition also might turn into futile endeavors. At the same time, all the proposed and other possible clarifications, meanings, and approaches can be considered relevant because each enthusiast investigating this phenomenon functions in a particular society, explores concrete realms of science, shares particular viewpoints on the outer world, deals with definite situations, and puts forward concrete objectives and goals in scientific research. In a sense, Erickson (1997) is right to assume that “culture is in us and around us, just as the air we breathe” (33). Therefore, one important facet of our discussion becomes abundantly clear: culture is a highly multidimensional and virtually omnipresent category. This chapter attempts to sketch the landscape and evaluate this phenomenon as it looks to me, stressing in advance that my assumptions and the criterion-based approach will be grounded in previous research and that my personal speculations will incorporate a minority view.

Sociohistorical Criterion From a broad perspective, scientists subdivide prehistory into the Pa- leolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic cultures (Fagan, 1995). From a shorter sociohistorical perspective, it is possible to trace the successive or parallel developments of Chinese, Indian, ancient American, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, Phoenician, Roman, Japanese, Byzantine, Arabic, Russ- Culture and Cultural Differences 41 ian, and Western cultures. According to a criterion resting on the Marxist premise, history is divided into socioeconomic formations: primeval or primordial, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist, and communist. Each formation can be referred to as a culture. The last stage of human advancement, communism, represents, according to Marxist prerequisite, a flourishing era of sociocultural and economic development where a great principle may be actualized: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” If the proposition is possible that a primeval society grows logically into a slave-owning and, later, a capitalist society, any hint of the possibility of humanity’s ultimate transformation into a perfect communist society seems doubtful. The phenomenon of culture can also be viewed from liberal, democratic, and communitarian perspectives (Bull, Fruehling, and Chattergy, 1992). Liberalism identifies culture with individuals’ vision of the good life, with their personal, autonomously chosen self-definitions. Democra- cy sees culture as a political faction, a group of people with a shared vision of society’s present and future. Communitarianism identifies culture with communities, those social groups bound together by pervasive patterns of mutual interaction that reflect continuing and shared traditions that in turn define the identities, roles, and responsibilities of their members. Bull, Fruehling, and Chattergy maintain that of the three theories of political morality, communitarianism has the most adequate conception of culture, because it recognizes and protects the rights of the members of legitimate cultures to live their lives as their culture requires. Despite their shortcomings in comparison to communitarianism, both democracy and liberalism do assign a reasonably significant role to culture in social decision making; they regard culture as an important source of value in a society.

Sociogeographic Criterion Life in defined geographical areas and continents is often labeled as a culture. Such subdivisions as European, African, Asian, American, Mid- dle Eastern, Australian, Pacific, Scandinavian, and Siberian cultures are frequently used in scientific literature. European culture, owing to viable stereotypes, is still fallaciously considered the most refined and advanced. On the basis of a purely geographic criterion, it is possible to divide the countries of the world into water-enclaved, land-enclaved, and land-and-water-rich cultures. According to this criterion, for example, Iceland, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Cuba, the Bahamas, the Philippines, Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, and New Zealand are water-enclaved cultures. Although technological revolution has brought television, mobile phones, and the Internet to many homes and educational institutions, being cut off from 42 Chapter Two mainlands creates certain difficulties in organizing education in water- enclaved cultures, particularly those at a considerable distance from a continent (such as Fiji, Tuvalu, Tonga, Vanuatu, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, etc.). Switzer- land, the Czech Republic, Belarus, Nepal, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Kyrgyzstan, located in continental inlands and having no direct or convenient access to sea or ocean, can be referred to as land- enclaved societies or cultures. Some countries have either a direct or favorable access to open water. Canada, the United States, Brazil, France, Spain, China, Somalia, Namibia, and many other nations enjoy easy water access. Their geographic location may be considered favorable from the viewpoint of both land and water.

Sociocultural Criterion From a broad sociocultural perspective, most contemporary societies, particularly highly multicultural ones, consist of a shared macroculture as well as microcultures. These are called, respectively, overarching (dominant, mainstream, majority, core, numerically large) and subordinate (minority, numerically small) cultures. In ethnically pluralistic countries such as the United States, Canada, Russia, and India, the core culture is an amalgam of a number of cultures where the influence of a numerically larger nation prevails. For instance, in Russia, where 82 percent of the population is of Russian ethnic background, the core culture, as well as political, governmental, and educational institutions, has been molded under the influence of dozens of ethnic and cultural groups, but the prevailing influence has historically been that of the eastern Slavic tribes, which had primarily inhabited the Euro- pean part of modern Russia. The U.S. core culture, as well as political and governmental structures, civil laws, and educational norms that reflect the nation’s basic values, has been heavily influenced by the English. At the starting point of the American saga stood the founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. It is not without reason that the Wash- ington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial were constructed near the center of the U.S. capital. Within the same broad criterion, we can focus on societies of two types: those composed of both indigenous and immigrant people and those consisting primarily of indigenous communities that have inhabited a country for many generations. All nation-states of North and South America, Aus- tralia, and New Zealand are societies of the former type. Russia, China, and India belong to societies of the latter category. In immigrant societies, newly arrived people have to adapt to new surroundings and acquire cor- Culture and Cultural Differences 43 responding attitudes and skills to function effectively both within the national macroculture and within their own immigrant microcultures.

Ethnic Criterion Societies can be classified as monoethnic or polyethnic. From this perspective, Japan, Poland, and Germany can be called (relatively) monoethnic cultures, whereas the United States, Canada, Russia, China, India, and Brazil are polyethnic cultures.

Linguistic Criterion Societies can also be classed as monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual cultures. Japan, Poland, Germany, and Cuba represent relatively monolingual cultures. Any minority ethnic community conversing both in indigenous and mainstream languages can be called bilingual. For example, the ethnic minority communities dispersed all over Russia are mainly bilingual; Russia itself, in this respect, is a multilingual culture. The terms ”trilingual” and ”quadralingual” are equally relevant regarding specific individuals. In linguistically diverse societies, bilingual education programs are being designed to address the language and cultural needs of minority students. The United States can be named among advocates of bilingual education. The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 marked a new outlook toward Americans whose mother tongue was not English. Interestingly, the renaissance of bilingual education occurred not among Mexican Americans or Puerto Ricans but among Cubans who had fled to Florida after the 1959 revolution in Cuba. To serve this need, the Dade County Public School provided ESL (English as a Second Language) instruction, and in 1961 it initiated a Spanish-for-Spanish-speakerspro- gram. Two years later the district established a bilingual program that was launched at the Coral Way Elementary School. The experiment was open to both English and Spanish speakers, and the objective was fluent bilingualism for both groups (Crawford, 1995a).

Religious Criterion In opposing religion to atheism, societies can be divided into monoreligious and polyreligious, given that certain portions of a country’s population might be atheistically minded. Such countries as Italy and Poland can be ranked, stretching the point, as monoreligious cultures, whereas Israel, Spain, Russia, the United States, and Canada are polyreligious cultures. Some religions (such as Christianity and Islam) ”permeate” different 44 Chapter Two cultures ”ingathering” members of various ethnic and cultural groups into one faith.

Anthropological versus Nonanthropological Criterion Basing his assumptions on Hall’s (1976) viewpoint, Ovando (199813) states that Western anthropologists tend to agree on three basic traits of culture: (1) Culture is shared and exists only in relation to specific social grouping. It is acquired and created by human beings only as members of society. (2) Cultural components are interrelated. When one characteristic of a culture changes, many other facets of the culture can, and probably will, be affected in some way. (3) Culture is learned and not carried in the genes. Nonanthropologists, including educators, deal with culture from the “high civilization” and “set-of-trait” viewpoints. According to the former, culture is the accumulation of the best knowledge, skills, and values found in the Western world. From the latter point of view, culture incorporates a series of significant historical events and heroes, typical traditions, and culturally coded concepts or terms. Ovando contends, ”Both views deprive us of an awareness of culture as an integral aspect of our own lives as the web we all weave, together and separately, day after day. Both views bypass a premise particularly essential to multicultural education: that no child or teacher is without culture” (141).

High versus Low Culture As most conceptions of culture imply a distinction between the cultural and the natural, in ordinary use culture has come to mean ”high culture” and “low culture” (Erickson, 1997). In the former sense, culture is associated with what is found in museums, symphony halls, and theaters. In this very institutionalized sense, culture also represents activities carried out by official institutions, such as the ministry of cultural affairs. In this respect, culture embodies all functions carried out by this ministry and other bureaucratic systems. In contrast to prestigious high culture, there exists low culture, also referred to as popular culture. In the realm of popular culture, fashions change across time and social groups, just as they do in the realm of high culture (Erickson, 1997). For example, such artifacts of U.S. popular culture as chewing gum, Coca-Cola, blue jeans, cowboy boots, classic rock and roll, and jazz have been accepted and adopted in the overwhelming majority of countries. The ideas of democracy-the most pervasive and premium element of the entire American culture-are praised in most of the world’s educational institutions. Even in such a formerly authoritari- Culture and Cultural Differences 45 an country as Russia, the ideas of democracy and humanism have been at the forefront of the national system of education since the mid-1980s.

Objective versus Subjective Criterion The distinction between objective and subjective cultures is essential in dealing with diversity among students. Objective components of a culture (artifacts, clothing, food, etc.) refer to the visible, tangible aspects of a particular group of people. The more potent and powerful aspects of a culture, however, are its subjective components, including the less visible, less tangible aspects that people carry around in their minds. Falling into this category are attitudes, values, norms of behavior, and the roles people assume. Subjective components of culture are much more difficult to study and analyze (Triandis, 1972; Cushner and Trifonovitch, 1989). Cushner and Tri- fonovitch maintain that ”it is at the level of people’s subjective culture that most intercultural misunderstandings and communication problems exist. It is here that the study of intercultural interaction should focus” (318-19).

Individualism versus Collectivism Criterion Hofstede (cited in Sudweeks, 1991) assumes that this is the most widely used dimension to understand how cultures vary. In individualistic cultures, the goals of the individual are emphasized over the goals of the group; in collectivist cultures, the group takes care of its members. Indi- vidualism and collectivism characterize broad group tendencies. There are collectively oriented people in individualistic cultures and vice versa. The United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Sweden belong to individualistic cultures, whereas Guatemala, Ecuador, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Korea are collectivistic cultures. In investigating differences in individualism and collectivism between the United States’s four largest ethnic groups (African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans, and European Americans), Coon and Kem- melmeer (2001) draw a conclusion that runs counter to previous opinions, asserting that U.S. minorities score higher in collectivism than European Americans, and European Americans score higher in individualism than minorities. In their survey, Asian Americans and African Americans (but not Latinos) scored higher in collectivism than did Americans of European origin. African Americans exhibited the highest level of individualistic features. Members of individualistic cultures tend to be field independent, whereas those belonging to collectivistic cultures are expected to be field dependent. This assumption was supported by an investigation undertaken by Kuhnen et al. (2001) with representatives of U.S., German, Russ- ian, and Malaysian cultures. A clear difference was found between the two 46 Chapter Two types of cultures; that is, participants from the United States and Germany (i.e., from individualistic cultures) were more field independent than were participants from Russia and Malaysia (i.e., from collectivistic cultures).

Masculinity/Femininity Criterion Hofstede (1991, 1998) indicates that the masculinity/femininity variable is crucial in understanding cultural differences. The category of masculinity stands for a culture where men tend to be tough and assertive and concentrate on material success; women tend to be more modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life. Cultures high on the masculinity scale emphasize highly differentiated sex roles and view work as more central to life. The category of femininity stands for a culture where both men and women tend to be modest and tender and are concerned with the quality of life. In cultures high on the femininity dimension (or low on the masculinity dimension), feminine values such as interpersonal relationships, fluid sex roles, and concern for the weak predominate. Conflicts are avoided or resolved by discussion. Applying the masculinity/femininity criterion, Hofstede (1998) has drawn up a table of fifty countries and three multicountry regions (Arab countries, East Africa, and West Africa). The five countries that are highest on masculinity are (in rank order) Japan, Austria, Venezuela, Italy, and Switzerland. The United States is fifteenth on the list and is also considered a masculine country. The five most feminine countries are (in rank order) Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Costa Rica. Hofstede (1998) points out that the category of masculinity/femininity has little to do with the visible roles in society, such as males going out to work and females taking care of household duties. To a large extent, these roles are determined by economic variables. First of all, this category concerns the emotional roles in the family. In some countries, “men special- ize in ego-boosting, and women in ego-effacing. In others, the emotional roles are more equally divided, with men also being oriented toward ego- effacing goals” (11).Masculinity/femininity differences, which are historically deeply rooted and are unlikely to disappear, are sometimes hidden behind other influences, such as, for instance, differences in national wealth. The masculinity/femininity dimension should not be confused with the individualismlcollectivism dimension. Unlike this latter dimension, the masculinity/femininity is not related to wealth both masculine and feminine countries can be rich or poor. Femininity is not equated with feminism. Hofstede offers the following explanation:

Feminism is an ideology taking different forms in masculine and feminine cultures; there is masculine and feminine feminism. The first is about access Culture and Cultural Differences 47

of women to jobs hitherto taken only by men; it is about competition between the genders. The second is about a redistribution of roles inside and outside the home; it is about complementarity between the genders and it implies ’men’s lib(eration)’as much as ’women’s lib.’ (19)

Applying the masculinity/ femininity dimension to education issues, Sudweeks (1991) notes that, in feminine societies, teachers tend to be more tolerant of misbehaving students and a student’s failure is a relatively minor accident; in masculine cultures, it is a severe blow to a student’s self-image.

Power Distance Criterion Hofstede (cited in Sudweeks, 1991) differentiates high-power-distance and low-power-distance cultures, in other words, autocratic and democratic societies. For example, Malaysia, Panama, the Philippines, and Mex- ico are high-power-distance countries, whereas Austria, Israel, Denmark, the United States, and Costa Rica belong to low-power-distance countries. In low-power-distance societies education is normally student centered, with a premium on initiative. In high-power-distance societies, education is usually teacher centered; students expect the teacher to initiate communication (Sudweeks, 1991).

Uncertainty Avoidance Criterion Hofstede (cited in Sudweeks, 1991) bases this dimension on the extent to which people in a culture strive to avoid unstructured, unpredictable, or unclear situations. Cultures high in uncertainty avoidance develop strict codes of behavior. Cultures low in this dimension are tolerant of ambigui- ty, seek change, and accept risk taking. For instance, Greece, Portugal, and Japan belong to the former type; Singapore, Jamaica, and Denmark can be placed in the ranks of the latter type. In high-uncertainty-avoidance cultures, students tend to prefer structured learning situations with precise objectives and timetables and are rewarded for accuracy in problem solving. In low-uncertainty-avoidance societies, students feel comfortable in unstructured learning situations and are rewarded for innovative problem solving (Sudweeks, 1991).

Communication Criterion One of the important characteristics of human communication within a culture and cross culturally is the amount of information one conveys while interacting with other people. A question arises in this context: How 48 Chapter Two much information is enough to communicate adequately with an inter- locutor? In this respect, the cultures of the world can be ranked from high to low context. In a high-context communication or message, most of the information is already known to the speakers, while very little is in the coded, explicit, and transmitted part of the message. Japanese, Arabs, and those from Mediterranean nations, who have extensive information net- works among family, friends, colleagues, and educators and are involved in close personal relationships, are high context. While communicating, they do not require, nor do they expect, much in-depth, background information, because they keep themselves informed about everything having to do with people important in their lives (Hall and Hall, 1990). Infor- mation in high-context countries’ educational institutions flows freely and from all sides, and each student stays informed about every other student’s academic achievements, hobbies, and family relations. In low-context communication, the mass of the information is vested in the explicit code. Low-context people include Americans, Swiss, Scandi- navians, and other northern Europeans, who need detailed background information every time they interact with others because they compartmentalize their personal relationships, their work, and many aspects of everyday life (Hall and Hall, 1990). In low-context countries much of the information among students is not shared and grades are normally kept secret. Save for the social activities, where a group of students can discuss sociocultural problems, students tend not to be open about their academic and daily problems.

Space Criterion Hall and Hall (1990) state that spatial organization can be the key to un- locking the mentality of a people. Each individual’s skin-a visible physical boundary-separates him or her from the external environment. This visible boundary is surrounded by a series of invisible boundaries that “begin with an individual’s personal space and terminate with her or his ’territory”’ (10). Personal space is another form of territory. Each individual has an invisible bubble of space that may expand or contract depending on a number of things: the activity being performed, emotional state, etc. In human society, territoriality is highly developed and strongly influenced by culture. For example, people like the Germans are highly territorial and tend to barricade themselves from others to concentrate on their work, whereas the French have a close personal distance and are not so territorial. They try to stay close to other people and thrive on interaction and high information flow to provide them the context they need. Teachers and educators are required to cope with the diverse spatial characteristics and needs of their students. Even though students in one Culture and Cultural Differences 49 class are a close-knit community with many shared abilities and obligations, teachers should differentiate between ”territorial” and ”proximity- indifferent” students. Problems may arise with children who emigrate from cultures where communication styles and spatial dimensions differ from those of the host society. For example, a Spanish student, newly immigrated to a northern European school, may be disliked by his new counterparts if he keeps touching them. In northern European schools children and teachers normally do not or rarely touch each other, except, for example, boyfriends and girlfriends or children engaged in organized activities. Conversely, a newcomer from northern Europe is apt to be misunderstood at a Greek or Spanish school if he keeps ostentatiously ne- glecting and showing a dislike for his classmates’ friendly shoulder pats or hand touches.

Time Criterion Hall and Hall (1990) write about two kinds of time systems operating in human relations, monochronic and polychronic. Monochronic time means doing one activity at a time; polychronic time denotes being able to be involved with several activities at once. Monochronic cultures stress a high degree of scheduling and a concentration on an elaborate code of behavior concerning obligations and appointments. In polychronic cultures, human interactions and relationships are valued over strict schedules and appointments. Latin Americans and Arabs are highly polychronic. Highly monochronic cultures are the United States, Switzerland, and Germany. A good understanding of the difference between monochronic and polychronic cultural patterns helps in dealing with students from different cultural backgrounds. One also should know that there may be monochronic students in polychronic cultures and vice versa. Educators need to know that, as a general rule, students from monochronic cultures tend to do one academic task at a time, concentrate on the learning process, take school and social commitments seriously, emphasize promptness, and are inclined not to disturb their peers. Polychronic students are likely to do more than one task at once, are highly distractible and subject to interruptions by their counterparts, are more concerned with their classmates, consider time commitments an objective not to be achieved promptly, and base promptness on the relationship with their friends.

The Phenomenon of National Character In the Russian humanitarian and pedagogical tradition the term “culture” may refer to state (country) or nationality (ethnic group), but the 50 Chapter Two term ”nation,” unlike in American tradition, often incorporates the idea of an ethnic group, not of a whole country. Also, in Russian usage the term ”national character,” often coinciding with the categories of ethnopsychological characteristics and mentality, is often used. Sarakuev and Krysko (1996) maintain that national character is a ”historically developed wholeness of stable psychological traits” of members of a certain ethnic group (53).This notion determines people’s habitual behavior and their attitude to the everyday social environment, the surrounding world, labor activity, and their own and other ethnic groups. Sarakuev and Krysko point out that a definite human trait can manifest differently in the national character of different ethnic groups. For instance, the industriousness of Japanese is distinguished by patience, adroitness, persistence, and diligence; the industriousness of Germans, by accuracy, punctuality, substantiality, and discipline; the same characteristic feature of Americans, by scope, impetuousness, inexhaustible business-like passion, rationalism, disposition to risk, and initiative. Struc- turally, national characteristics fall into six dimensions (Sarakuev & Krysko, 1996):

motivational (capacity for work, circumspectness, degree of zeal, etc.) intellectual (degree of adherence to logic, width and depth of abstract thinking, quickness of mind, mental organization) cognitive (depth, substantiality, activity, and selectivity of perception; completeness and operativeness of ideas and notions; vividness of imagination; ability to concentrate) emotional (dynamics of the manifestations of emotions and sensation) volitional (orientation to volitional activity, steadiness of volitional processes, and duration of volitional efforts) communicative (modes of interaction with people, solidarity and es- trangement)

A Glimpse of Ethnic Cultures

The preceding pages have explored the notion of culture from different focal points. This information might be instrumental for multicultural teachers in their professional activity. The chapter has also interpreted the notion of national character, frequently used in Russia and incorporating Culture and Cultural Differences 51 important ethnocultural traits peculiar to certain ethnic groups. To provide more insight into cultural differences, the chapter will examine cultural and ethnopsychological aspects of different ethnic groups.

Mainstream Americans Like many other societies, the United States boasts a shared set of values and a variety of customs and traditions that constitute the core culture. While the country has absorbed millions of immigrants from all over the world, the basic modes of life and political thinking and most of the civic and religious laws, which reflect the nation’s core values, have their roots in, and have been heavily influenced by, Anglo-Saxon culture (Hall and Hall, 1990; Banks, 1997). The pioneering, frontier spirit has been a specific feature of Americans since colonial times, when the nation’s founders started one of the greatest experiments in human history, the creation of American democracy. The founding fathers were markedly English. For example, the Declaration of Independence was signed by fifty-six European men; thirty-eight of them were English by birth or background, nine were of Scottish or Scotch-Irish origin, five Welsh, three Irish, and one Swedish (Ford, 1915). American democracy has become both a form of government and a way of life. The statement “All men are created equal” means that all people should be treated equally before the law and given equal opportunities and privileges. Americans believe that any individual, no matter how poor, can achieve success through honesty and hard work (Tiersky and Tiersky, 1990). They take pride in their history, praising and cherishing both outstanding, “positive” personalities such as the novelist James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851), poet and hu- manist Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), writer Mark Twain (1835-1910), educator and philosopher John Dewey (1859-1952), renowned president Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945), astronaut Neil Arm- strong (born in 1930), who in 1969 became the first man to walk on the moon, as well as heroes marked by negative connotations, such as the notorious outlaws James Butler Hickok or “Wild Bill” (1837-1876), Jesse James (1847-1882), and William Bonney or ”Billy the Kid” (1859-1881). Even though European Americans pride themselves on being highly individualistic and more concerned about their own careers than about the welfare of the organization or group, they easily participate in and organize social or professional groups and adore the feeling of belonging to a group that works toward the achievement of common goals. High school, college, and university communities represent interesting and special groups. Students get involved in various extracurricular activities (sports, religious and community activities), which often impede their academic advancement. I myself was amazed to see how involved were 52 Chapter Two university students in social activities. For example, at the University of Miami Coral Gables campus, I saw a considerable number of students every day getting involved in various activities. They spent hours in or outside campus buildings meeting people, distributing booklets, and just solving certain problems. Out of dozens of invitations, I profited from participating in a couple of their activities. Normally, mainstream Americans are outwardly oriented, eager to be liked and accepted, and concerned with their appearance. The majority of them are monochronic, a trait highly noticeable in the sphere of education. Students, teachers, and university faculty prefer to concentrate on one task at a time. Mainstream Americans are low-context people who tend to compartmentalize and require lots of background information in interaction with others. In communication, they tend to avoid close physical contact and keep their distance. American schools, in comparison with European and Asian ones, offer more extracurricular activities and pay less attention to learning foreign languages. Mainstream American students tend to be field independent and prefer to work for individual recognition. They are able to focus on parts of a whole; they are task-centered and more independent of external judgement. Their analytic learning style is consonant with instructional methods praising individual and cooperative participation of learners (Halverson, 1979). An average American is likely to stay away from discussing three subjects-age, weight, and income-whereas an average mainstream school or college student is against discussing academic grades and copying from their peers’ notes. In sum, prized values among young American students of Anglo-Saxon descent are individuality, competition, rationality, linearity, objectivity, honesty, and striving for socialization. Contemporary young Americans are far better off than their parents were at the same age and cope relatively well with challenges such as psychological and interpersonal problems, knowledge growth and dissemination, and technological change (Nine, 2000; Watkins-Coffman, 2001). Young people try to function and remain optimistic in a new era of cy- berspace that adds to the speed of information dissemination (Cortks, 2000). Most of the mainstream American youth, as well as their non- Anglo counterparts, try to finish high school. They believe that its classes impart knowledge and develop attitudes that people need to become good adults and good citizens capable of functioning effectively in a multicultural world (Nine, 2000).

Native Americans This name reminds the world of the first people to live in the Americ- as. On Thanksgiving Day, the fourth Thursday in November, when her- Culture and Cultural Differences 53 icans remember the Pilgrims, they also recall how much Native Americans have contributed to modem American life. They showed the European settlers how to cook the unfamiliar plants to make grits, hominy, popcorn, succotash, and tapioca and introduced the newcomers to Indian inven- tions, such as canoes, dog sleds, pipes, snowshoes, and moccasins. The influence of Indian cultures on the settlers is evident in American English. Many mountains, rivers, lakes, states, and cities have Indian names- Chicago, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Oregon, Dakota (Tiersky and Tier- sky, 1990). Present-day issues in the domain of ecology also illustrate the wisdom of traditional Indian reluctance to disturb the balance of nature (123). Native Americans pay tribute to their heroes who defended the interests of their tribes in the previous epochs. Among them are the Chero- kee scholar Sequoya (1760-1843); Shawnee chief Tecumseh (1768-1813); guide Sacagawea (1786-1812); Chiricahua chiefs Cochise (1812-1874) and Geronimo (1829-1909); Nez Perce chief Joseph (1840-1904); Sioux leader Sitting Bull (1831-1890), who, with Gall and Crazy Horse, defeated Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876; and Seminoles leader Osceola (1800-1838).They are also proud of contemporary Native Americans, such as the world-famous poet Simon Ortiz, whose collection of poems in the book Woven Stone captures the imagination. Native Americans have fought to maintain their ethnic identities and social cohesiveness even if they live and work in a society that prides itself on being multiethnic (Sita, 1997; Deloria, 2001). Native Americans are traditionally collectivists, very friendly, and empathically minded. Vivid in my mind are my first meetings with Native American faculty members and students at the University of New Mexico, who showed me a lot of historic places. We also visited a number of elementary schools in Albu- querque and vicinity. While traveling, I got acquainted with Alex Seowte- wa, a talented muralist from Zuiii Pueblo, west of Albuquerque, who beautifully decorated the interior of the Old Zuiii Mission Church. With a hearty welcome, he explained to me the essence that the murals depict inside the church. In later years, I met many other Native Americans whose humanistic attitude toward the surrounding people attracted and absorbed my imagination. The family is an asset in Native American cultures, and the extended family plays an important role in child-rearing practices. In some communities, aunts play roles similar to mothers, uncles may have some of the responsibilities the dominant culture assigns to fathers, and cousins may be treated like siblings. As emphasis is often placed on the importance of maintaining harmony within the group, the needs of a group are often considered over the needs of an individual. Sandler’s study (cited in Fuller, 1996) indicates that American Indian children often feel more comfortable participating in class after they have been granted time to 54 Chapter Two consider their answers and practice their skills. They also tend to delay answering questions. Native Americans traditionally excel in observational learning as well as learning through exploration and social dialogue. John-Steiner (1984) proves this assumption by studying Pueblo rural and tribal communities in Arizona and New Mexico. Native American children and adults are also inclined to holistic approaches to learning and often give cognitive preference to listening over talking. Both learning styles have been traditionally practiced, for example, among Navaho Indians (Keating, 1996). Most Native American students are bilingual. As they grow up speaking English rather than their tribal language, they are traditionally dominant in English (Crawford, 1995a). Because American Indian children are field sensitive, they feel more comfortable in a cooperative learning environment when small group activities are used as instructional techniques. They prefer to learn using spatial and visual information. A student might feel uneasy being singled out for praise in front of the group, whereas the same student might feel pride if the group receives recognition. Reprimanding an Indian child in the presence of peers is another wrong technique (John-Steiner, 1984; Baruth and Manning, 1992; Daniels, 2001). Although there has not been a strong historical tradition of home-school relations in Native American communities, parental involvement is gradually becoming an important part of successful classroom management. One of the factors interfering in teacher-parent relationships is the significant role that the extended family plays in a child’s life. Schools often misinterpret the active part that close relatives take in child-rearing as “lack of parental concern or avoidance of parental responsibility when it is neither’’ (Fuller, 2001: 129).

Hispanics Although the U.S. Hispanic population consists of ethnically diverse communities, such as Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and others, His- panics share a common language and some broad cultural values. Mexican Americans’ cultural background is predominantly Native American but is heavily Spanish in language, religion, and customs. Puerto Ricans represent a fusion of Native American, Spanish, and African heritages. Cuban Americans, the third largest Hispanic group, are descendants of former political refugees from Cuba. Despite a relatively high level of educational at- tainment and employment and their concentration in urban areas, Hispan- ics, the United States’s largest minority, are still unable to reach economic parity with the majority (Feagin, 1989; Cavalcanti and Schleef, 2001). For example, one of the acute problems that needs immediate attention among Culture and Cultural Differences 55

Hispanics is homelessness (Baker, 1996; Tan and Ryan, 2001). Hispanic people tend to be polychronic, because they undertake several activities simultaneously and are not frustrated by being interrupted. They often place more emphasis on completing human transactions, not necessarily on holding to schedules; they keep themselves informed about everything concerning their neighbors and colleagues and normally do not require or expect much background information. The main priorities for Hispanic students are the family, community, and ethnic group. The family is the most valued and prized institution, particularly in rural areas. As in Native American communities, the extended family plays an important role. Sometimes, children’s and teenagers’ status in the workplace has a higher priority than in the classroom. For example, when Latino students miss school, they may be working to help support their families (Dresser, 1996). In determining an individual’s status, age and gender are salient factors. In the United States, there is a growing influx of Latino students with little education in their home countries. For this and other reasons, the dropout rate among His- panics is rather high (Carrasquillo, 1999). I remember conversing with Hispanic children while visiting some of the schools and cultural places in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Florida. One day a Hispanic family with their four children invited me to visit Everglades National Park, located in southern Florida. The children, who had visited the park before, were very eager to show me around. The smaller ones held my hand, asked me to carry them on my back, and ben- efited from my shoulder pats and hugs. I had a feeling they were taking me for a relative and required me to behave like a relative. When we came up to the alligators’ habitat, ten-year-old Carlos, one of the boys of our ”extended family group,” began telling me a story about these amphibi- ous reptiles. Other children also from time to time added useful information to his story. As I was born and raised in a geographical region where snow covers the ground for at least six months every year and alligators can be viewed only in pictures or on television, I was absorbed by their collective story, from which I learned very specific information concerning these strong and sharp-jawed creatures. In interpersonal communication, Hispanics are not so territorial as Anglo-Americans. Handshakes, shoulder pats, and hugs are common among friends, family members, and schoolmates. Hispanic children respect adults and have respect for age. The teacher is an authority figure and is expected to play a positive role (Halverson, 1979; Fuller, 1996). Be- cause Hispanic children tend to be field sensitive and feel more comfortable in a cooperative environment, cooperative instructional methods and techniques are appropriate strategies in a Hispanic classroom. Dealing with behavior problems, a teacher is required to play an active, 56 Chapter Two nurturing role similar to a parent and to encourage and support the feeling of community. Hispanic children are rather sensitive to support or doubt from others, and to be publicly disciplined is often demeaning for them. With reference to a Hispanic child, the purpose of discipline should always be to change a behavior (as opposed to punishing a child), and any disciplinary measure should be undertaken away from the group (Fuller, 1996). Educators are expected to take into consideration Hispanic children’s cultural diversity, linguistic levels, and learning styles and consider these characteristics not as deficits but as strengths (Carrasquillo, 1999).

African Americans Constituting around 13 percent of the entire US. population, African Americans have gained much within the previous decades because of the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-68), a national hero of the United States. African Americans also remember their former leader and fighter for freedom Sojourner Truth (1797-1883). Many African Americans have become famous superstars and entertainers (Eddie Mur- phy, Bill Cosby, Michael Jackson, and Tina Turner). Myriad African Amer- ican athletes, ranging from Jesse Owens to Michael Jordan, have brought a special recognition to both America and world sports. These days there are African Americans in the US. government, television, cinematography, sports, and many other spheres of socioeconomic and cultural life. African American culture has had great influence in musical fields such as spirituals, jazz, and blues. Studies in black history have been included in college curricula because African Americans became interested in investigating their past and their role in the development of the United States. Realizing the importance of education for their career advancement, African Americans stay in school longer than in past decades. Most colleges and universities actively recruit African Americans, helping them to succeed (Tiersky and Tiersky, 1990). Some educators and teachers erroneously view African American parents as being unconcerned about their children’s education. Parents’ attitudes emerged from incorrect assumptions that schools had made about them in the past (Fuller, 2001). Recent studies indicate that African Ameri- can parents are concerned about their children’s academic success in school. Moreover, parents of successfulAfrican American students demonstrate involvement that is equal to, or even higher than, that of parents of successful students from European American families, despite the comparatively disadvantaged home environments of the former (Yan, 1999).In African American families, religion plays an important role in child-rearing practices. For example, findings (Christian and Barbarian, 2001) indi- Culture and Cultural Differences 57 cate that children of parents attending church at least weekly have fewer problems than those whose parents attend church less frequently. African American students are high on the context scale because they stay informed about their peers and everything that is going on in school and their local communities. During my numerous interactions with African American children and teenagers, I have noticed that they are distinguished from other ethnic groups by a special sense of solidarity: they are committed to their friends and accustomed to long-term relationships with them. Collectivistically and polychronically minded, African American students tend to feel comfortable in small-group and cooperative learning conditions, can be involved in many activities at once, and traditionally are not susceptible to external interruptions. They tend to pose questions on their own initiative and challenge teachers. Compared to their Anglo- Saxon peers, they are not so territorial and may “come close’’ in interpersonal interactions. In conversation, the average African American student is open to intejections of other students. Kaplan and Maehr (1999) assume that task goals (engagement in academic tasks for the purpose of learning and improving) are more conducive to African American students’ success than goals emphasizing ego objectives (engagement for the purpose of ”excelling and besting others”) (23).

Asian Americans The fastest-growing group in the United States, the Asian American community includes relatively recent immigrants from China, the Philip- pines, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and other countries of southeastern Asia. Although making up a highly diverse segment of the U.S. population, they possess some common cultural traits and values. Placing a considerable emphasis on hard work, they are normally industrious people. There are also other views regarding these characteristics. For example, Harris- Hastick (cited in Watkins-Coffman, 2001) indicates that the common view of Asian Americans as quiet and hardworking immigrants is a misper- ception and a stereotype. This “model minority” stereotype first gained currency in the 1960s and was used as a means of showcasing Asian Americans as nonrebelling and hardworking, in contrast with African Americans, who were portrayed as those angrily demanding help from the federal government. Asian Americans’ frame of reference is traditionally the country from which they emigrated, and they tend to evaluate their success in the new country by comparing themselves, not with elite members of the host society, but with their peers in the old country or with peers in the immigrant country (McKeon, 1994). Asian Americans tend to be high-context and 58 Chapter Two polychronically minded people. Their ethnic, generally urban community enclaves are small masculine societies where men tend to be ambitious and women soft and understanding. They prize the family and highly value education. They are likely to be polite, hardworking, inclined to listening, and reluctant to ask questions or to share or challenge ideas. They generally think carefully before speaking and prefer being called on to volunteering responses to questions. Students perform better when they clearly know what is expected of them; therefore open-ended situations may result in confusion. Children of Asian backgrounds have a specific tradition to be respectful to teachers and people in positions of authority (Kang- Ning, 1981; Fuller, 1996; Dresser, 1996,1999). Children from Asian cultural backgrounds are traditionally field dependent and like to learn by observation, memorization, and patterned practice. They customarily feel more comfortable in cooperative learning environments and benefit from positive reinforcement (Dunn, 1995; Daniels, 2001). Students are seen as integral parts of the family, and their academic accomplishments are perceived as bringing honor or shame to their families. Therefore, the performance of each individual-as opposed to the group-is valued. Children are required and expected to attend seriously to their academic responsibilities. If they perform poorly at school, they are apt to blame themselves rather than surrounding conditions. Mi- nami (2000) contends that Asian students, who traditionally acquire different interaction styles in their homes, are especially sensitive about being understood; therefore educators need to create environments that maximize their participation in classroom activities. Because Asian American parents’ expectations differ considerably from those of the host country, parents and teachers may misunderstand each other’s motives and behavior (Fuller, 1996).Asian students’ parents may not value extracurricular activities, considering them as mere play. There- fore teachers should be very sensitive dealing with these situations. As in working with families of any other ethnic and racial minority group, teachers’ approaches to Asian families should not be stereotyped. Lee and Manning (2001) suggest that in dealing with Asian American parents and families, teachers should respect both immediate and extended family members, understand diversity within Asian ethnic groups, provide opportunities to share differences between the U.S. and Asian educational systems, and recognize Asian traditions of respect toward teachers. Teach- ers are also advised to consider Asian parents’ English language proficiency, understand the importance of nonverbal communication, encourage children to be bilingual and bicultural, and eliminate the stereotypes that all Asian children are smart academically. Culture and Cultural Differences 59

Ethnic Russians

Contemporary Russia has become a vast and multicultural state owing to integration of numerous territories with different climatic, economic, sociopolitical, ethnic, and religious characteristics. The renowned Russian philosopher Nikolay Berdyayev (1990) pointed out that the immensity of land and absence of distinct boundaries has affected the development of Russian character. Throughout Russia’s history, commitment to the nation-state has been more important than individual success. A considerable part of ethnic Russians were and now are strong advocates of the Or- thodox Church. Berdyayev also maintained that ethnic Russians are followers of the “idea of their national house,” an idea based on perceptions of their centuries-old culture and traditions of education and teaching (40). The Russian people have embodied an eschatological “soul structure,” a special spiritual sensitivity. For example, Russian literature of the nineteenth century was the world’s most prophetic literature, full of pre- dictions of coming historical events. Berdyayev stated that the poetry of Pushkin, Russia’s greatest poet, contains a variety of clear hints on the up- coming revolution and summons to a rivalry. Among the ethnic Russians who have contributed to the national and global progress, we can name the poet Alexandr Pushkin (1799-1837); novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881); novelist and pedagogue Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910); composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893); chemist Dmitry Mendeleev (1834-1907); Emperor Alexander I1 (1818-1881; reigned: 1855-1881), who abolished serfdom in 1861; physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936); scholar, pedagogue, and psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934); and astronaut Yury Gagarin (1934-1968). Two great insurrec- tionists, Stepan Razin (d. 1671) and Yemelyan Pugachov (1742-1775), as well as the notorious mystic Gregory Rasputin (1872-1916), add to the overall picture. Following Hofstede’s (1998) logic, Russians may be considered a feminine people, easily absorbing and getting accustomed to different alien philosophies and ideologies. They adopted Orthodox Christianity from Byzantium in 988 and since then, save for a considerable period in the twentieth century, have been committed to the Christian canons. Until 1917, the majority of elementary and secondary schools with a Russian student population included theological disciplines. It is in Russia that the communistic ideology took root for a relatively long time. The Soviet epoch affected the psychology of ethnic Russians. Each newly elected leader-Joseph Stalin (in power 1922-1953), Nikita Khrushchev (1958-1964), Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982), Mikhail 60 Chapter Two

Gorbachev (1985-1991), Boris Yeltsin (1991-1999)-contributed to the welfare of the nation (Mackenzie and Curran, 1991; Kotkin, 1993). Gor- bachev is still kindly remembered in Western countries. Yeltsin did much to revolutionize all sides of life, transferring the country and its educational policy to democratic principles. Vladimir Putin continued the democratic course begun in the 1990s. Despite domestic sociopolitical changes, ethnic Russians have preserved most of their ancestral characteristic features. Present-day democratic reorganizations are helping revive inexcusably forgotten values and reshape modes of thinking and attitudes toward education. The contemporary Russian idea can be represented through the following variables (Belozertsev, 1997): (1) the existence of a historical triple wholeness, that is, a stable linkage between past, present, and future generations; (2) the social unity of the Orthodox Church, state, and society; (3) educational unity: the primacy of spirituality over materialism, good over evil, sobor- nos tl over individualism. The mentality of Russia’s citizens differs from that of Europeans and North Americans and even from other Slavs. Indi- vidually and socially, the nation-state dominates other societal organizations (Zimin, 2000). Russia’s role and place in human history, as Karsavin (cited in Zimin, 2000) states, is to overcome the transgressions and temp- tations of the West: individualism, rationalism, and social atomism. Whether it is true or not will be proved in future years. Even though Russia is large territorially, the scale of many things is smaller within the country than, for example in northern European countries, Canada, and the United States. Apartment buildings, private houses, supermarkets, the width of highways, Russian-made cars-all are smaller. Ethnic Russians are normally monolingual. In specific bi- and multiethnic settings, some people of Russian origin, owing to close contacts with a minority ethnic group, acquire a second language to some degree of fluency. Ethnic Russians are high-context people: everybody knows almost everything about everybody in an average community and educational institution. They are collectivistically oriented. ”It is impossible to be higher than a collective” remains a favorite maxim among thousands of Russian educators. Sarakuev and Krysko (1996) contend that ethnic Russians are tolerant, philanthropically and empathetically minded, unpretentious, valorous, hospitable, and bound to civic solidarity. On the whole, the average Russian is a creatively minded person, and Russia as a whole has a very great economic, sociocultural, human, and educational potential. Students of Russian background are mainly polychronic but when necessary can concentrate on one task. Low achievers often ask bright students for academic help. Information flows freely from class to class: stu- Culture and Cultural Differences 61 dents know about their peers’ academic outcomes and personal lives. The teacher is an authority figure, and strict discipline is considered a valuable asset in enhancing students’ academic performance. Each student has a fixed place at a table and is not allowed to move within the classroom or leave it without the teacher’s permission. Sitting in a place other than the assigned one, such as the floor or the table, is not allowed, except when the teacher organizes special work in small groups. Unlike Western Euro- pean and North American educators, Russian teachers and university faculty cannot permit themselves to sit on a table. Parents often blame educators and the overall system of education for their children’s academic and behavior problems. Despite Russia’s ethnic mosaic, the country has been historically molded as a monolithic whole; the mentality and characteristic features of ethnic Russians have subsequently affected all ethnic subdivisions.

The Tatars Tatars (formerly, Bulgars) make up the second largest ethnic group within Russia’s borders. The majority of contemporary Tatars live in the Republic of Tatarstan (capital: Kazan), located on the middle Volga River and its eastern tributary, the Kama. In addition to Tatars, this small republic boasts 106 different ethnic groups (Bondarenko, 1999). Most Tatars are adherents of Islam. Some numerically small Tatar communities popu- lating the middle Volga region and western Bashkortostan follow Ortho- dox Christianity. Their ancestors were converted to this religion in the sixteenth century, after Ivan IV (the Terrible) conquered Kazan in 1552. As Tatars were ”under the same roof” with ethnic Russians during the Sovi- et epoch, atheistic ideology has influenced on Tatars’ mentality. Some people are still attached to communistic morality and reminisce about the So- viet times. Such people are quite numerous throughout Russia, among all ethnic groups. Adhering both to Islamic culture and to their ancestral traditions and customs, Tatars are proud people, possessing highly developed self-respect and self-confidence. They pay tribute to their renowned national poet, Gabdulla Tukay. In professional activities, they are industrious and keen witted. Within multiethnic societies, they tend to form microgroups; they also easily mingle with members of other cultures in labor, education, and social activities (Sarakuev and Krysko, 1996). In the 1990s, there was ethnopolitical tension between the Federal Center and Tatarstan, which was normalized in the mid 1990s, after the signing of a series of documents (Arutunian, Drobidzeva, and Susokolov, 1999). Higher on the context scale than ethnic Russians, members of Tatar communities, school staff, and university faculty stay informed about 62 Chapter Two everyone and many things that happen around them and do not need ex- haustive background information. Unlike Russians, Tatars have what may be referred to as a masculine culture: they emphasize differentiated sex roles and material success and appreciate people who reach visible results by working hard. Collectivistically minded, they help each other in business, farming, household duties, and education. These traits are especially noticeable in rural areas. Tatars are adherents of the strong family: in rural areas the family and relatives often make up close-knit extended families. Family gatherings are a favorite pastime. The Tatar woman and her beauty deserve special mention. Battalov (1996) notes that many historians and contemporary eyewitnesses have left most favorable impressions of Tatar women, describing them as extremely charming and pretty. Normally, Tatar youth and adults are bilingual owing to early exposure to natural bilingualism. Urban Tatar children and teenagers are more proficient in Russian than their rural counterparts, who, in turn, are more fluent in their native language than in Russian. Even though there are many exceptions to the rule, this “urban-rural-bilingualism”axiom remains true with respect not only to Tatars but also to other non-Russian ethnic groups. Education is an asset in Tatar communities. Like their Russian counterparts, Tatar students tend to be polychronic and hardworking and have inquiring minds. Field-sensitive, they excel in a cooperative and collectivistic learning environment. Mutual help and collaboration of high- and low-achieving students is a common practice in class and after classes. Creating and sustaining favorable classroom discipline and order is an objective of prime importance for Tatar educators. Parents are very sensitive to their children’s academic progress and maintain close relations with teachers and school. Parents are proud when their children achieve in school, continue education in colleges and institutions of higher learning, and begin their professional careers successfully.

The Ukrainians Ukrainians make up the third largest group in Russia and live throughout the country. By their national character and physical features, they are close to Russians, but they also possess unique characteristics. Ukrainians have their own nation-state outside Russia, Ukraine (capital: Kiev), which was a separate socialist republic in Soviet times. They cherish their poet Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861), who is considered the father of Ukrainian national literature, and the pedagogue Anton Makarenko. Like ethnic Russians, they may be referred to as a feminine ethnic group: they place more emphasis on solidarity and equality, and conflicts are normally re- Culture and Cultural Differences 63 solved peacefully. Kukushin and Stoliarenko (2000) postulate that Ukrainians possess a well-developed sense of humor, cherish interpersonal communication and collectivistic styles of work and learning, and like to spend time outdoors. They like their work and themselves as performers of the work. Ukrainians are adherents of law and order. In comparison to other Slavic nationalities, they are more musically minded. They easily adapt to an alien environment and easily make friends. They also like to be noticed in professional and learning activities and to be in the ranks of the best. Their colleagues from other ethnic groups sometimes dislike this characteristic. In general, they are industrious, prudent, and calculating. Like their Russian counterparts, Ukrainian students feel comfortable in cooperative learning environments, are polychronic, and are not susceptible to interruptions while performing academic tasks. Information flows freely in the school environment and local communities. Ukrainian teachers maintain rather strict discipline in class, and children consider them authority figures. Students often volunteer questions, like to participate in discussions about interesting topics in class and during extracurricular activities, render academic assistance to low-achieving classmates, and cheerfully share reflections on their academic grades. Ukrainian parents are concerned about their children’s academic standing and sustain close links with teachers and the school administration.

The Bashkirs Formerly a nomadic people, Bashkirs now live in the settled communities of the Republic of Bashkortostan (capital: Ufa), the first autonomous republic founded in the former Soviet country. Some small Bashkir communities exist outside Bashkortostan. Like Tatars, Bashkirs adhere to the Muslim religion as well as to their national traditions and customs. Sociological surveys (Sarakuev and Krysko, 1996) indicate that Bashkirs are industrious, accurate, diligent, and unpretentious people. They can be hot-tempered interacting with others but always try to control themselves owing to a highly developed sense of responsibility. Hos- pitable, kindhearted, and cheerful, they build up microgroups within multicultural environments. Valor is a distinctive ethnic feature of Bashkir males. Bashkir regiments courageously fought against the Napoleonic army in 1812. In World War 11, the Bashkir cavalry, led by the legendary general Shaymuratov, showed tremendous courage and endurance fighting the Nazi Germans. Another hero of Bashkortostan, the ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993), marvelously performed on hundreds of stages across the globe. As with the Tatars, in the 1990s, there were some minor ethnopolitical 64 Chapter Two differences between Bashkortostan and Moscow that were later favorably settled (Arutunian, Drobidzeva, and Susokolov, 1999). Reserved as they may be, Bashkirs are high-context people. On the masculine-feminine scale, they may be referred to as a masculine ethnic group emphasizing divided sex roles and the necessity of hard work to achieve economic and educational success. Although Bashkir men tend to dominate in the family, they treat their wives respectfully and apprecia- tively. In rural families, Bashkirs are advocates of using elements of folk pedagogy, that is, educational and child-rearing practices that have been traditionally used by their ancestors (Akhiyarov, 2000). Adherents of a strong family, especially in rural areas, they keep close to their relatives, thus creating extended-family groups. The language situation among Bashkirs is virtually similar to that of Tatars: bilingualism proficiency is dependent on the urban-rural factor. The Bashkir and Tatar languages are very similar lexically, grammatically, and phonetically. Normally, an average Bashkir person fluently speaks Tatar and can be ranked as trilingual. Any Bashkir student can communicate comprehensibly with a Tatar counterpart, each using his own language. Bashkir-Russian-Tatar trilingualism may be a consequence of two factors: the sociogeographic proximity of Bashkirs to the two numerically largest ethnic groups, Russians and Tatars, and the linguistic similarity of Bashkir and Tatar. Field-sensitive and polychronic, Bashkir students prefer cooperative learning strategies. Our longitudinal observations show that they prefer listening to volunteering and challenging questions and ideas and excel in mathematics. Mutual academic assistance is a normal practice. Children can cheerfully discuss their academic grades and test outcomes. Students have a special respect for the teacher and the elderly and obediently follow instructions. Bashkir parents are very concerned about their children’s education and behavior and consider teachers authority figures and school a ”temple of science” for their children.

The Mari Mari (formerly, Cheremises), a Finno-Ugric people, have their own autonomous republic, Mari El (capital: Yoshkar Ola), located northwest of Tatarstan. Mari also populate the neighboring regions. The Eastern Mari, who inhabit Bashkortostan, have retained much from their pagan past. The sustained paganism within this eastern branch is considered a unique phenomenon among Finno-Ugric ethnic and language groups (Ibulaev, 2000). Mari are industrious, diligent, hospitable, and possess a high sense of responsibility undertaking a definite objective. They easily establish contacts with members of other ethnic groups and are gentle enough in in- Culture and Cultural Differences 65 tercultural interaction not to hurt the feelings of their interlocutors. Mari people’s ethnocentric drive is rather moderate and never oversteps its boundaries. Even though Mari are high context and polychronic, they may be reserved and work individually at a task to compete with each other. More feminine on the masculine-feminine scale, they emphasize modesty, equality, and solidarity, avoid or resolve conflicts by discussion, and have a strong tendency to build long-term relationships. The Mari folk pedagogy heritage contains rich material that can be used in ecological education. The material rests on the premise that people must have a caring attitude to fauna and flora, water resources and soil, food grains, and natural phenomena. As in Bashkir communities, trilingualism (Mari-Russian-Tatar)is not uncommon. A considerable number of Mari can converse in Tatar because of their close intercultural relationship with Tatars, who, as the second largest ethnic group in the Russian Federation, numerically predominate over other non-Russian groups in the middle Volga area and Bashkor- tostan. Evidence suggests that Mari students tend to be field dependent and polychronic. Achieving better academic performance in small groups, they can also work individually, volunteer questions, and discuss interesting topics and ideas. Academic mutual assistance is widespread. Mari children are considerate and courteous to parents, teachers, and elderly people.

The Chuvashes Chuvashes inhabit the Republic of Chuvashia (capital: Cheboksary), situated west of Tatarstan. They also have relatively stable communities outside Chuvashia. Chuvashes are diligent and assiduous in carrying out official duties and persistent in attaining aims and objectives, possess great capacity for work, and place high emphasis on the needs of the group rather than on their own personal interests. They believe that achieving success depends on hard work (Sarakuev and Krysko, 1996). According to the old Chuvash tradition, ”that person can be referred to as industrious who performs an unloved job with a sense of love” (Volkov, 1999: 6). The Chuvashes cherish their famous writers Konstantin Ivanov (1890-1915) and Yakov Ukhsay (1911-1988). The language situation in Chuvash communities is similar to that in Bashkir and Mari settings. The Chuvash-Russian-Tatar natural trilingualism among the Chuvash population may be attributed to their sociogeographic closeness to mainstream Russians and the second-largest nationality, the Tatars. In Chuvash communities, a striving for “thorough personality perfection” has been an invaluable idea in life and education. 66 Chapter Two

The very wholeness of the Chuvash people is considered to encompass all that is necessary for personality perfection. The saying ”People contain all that is stronger than the ever strongest and cleverer than the ever clever- est” has been a precious tenet in Chuvash educational traditions (Volkov, 1999: 52). Another tenet in folk pedagogy is based on the realization of seven characteristics: industriousness, health, intelligence, friendship, kindness, chastity, and honesty (Volkov, 1999; Akhiyarov, 2000). Accord- ing to the masculinity-femininity variable, Chuvashes predominantly pursue feminine values, such as fluid sex roles, interpersonal relationships, and collective concern for neighbors. Collectivistically and polychronically minded, students of Chuvash background progress academically in cooperative environments but are also able to achieve high results working individually. Volunteering questions and challenging teachers and educators often occur in secondary and college classrooms. As among their Mari, Bashkir, Tatar, Russian, and Ukrainian counterparts, the phenomenon of territoriality is not well developed among Chuvash children. While communicating, Chuvash students change personal distance; they may ”get too close” and touch each other on the hand or the shoulder and hug. Possessing an officially fixed classroom place, which one can not change or leave without the teacher’s permission (a common practice in Russia’s schools), does not refer to the notion of territoriality and personal space in this respect. An average Chu- vash student assists peers in completing academic tasks and discusses grades freely in the classroom.

The Dutch “Picture someone watching television in North America. Every day this person sees news programs featuring superpowers. . . . Holland is hardly mentioned. Most people cannot imagine that there was a time when Holland was one of those superpowers” (Stegeren, 1991: 1). This one phrase expresses all the legendary past of the Dutch, skillful seafarers and dike builders, whose contemporary culture is equally worth studying. Stegeren holds that two types have provided for Dutch identity and behavior: the preacher and the merchant. Diligence, temperance, and responsibility for people who suffer: these are the virtues the preacher imparted from the pulpit. The merchant has left such traits as an ”examination of reality, a sober-minded tolerance, and an international orientation” (19). Horst (1996) points out that the Dutch are democratic, peace loving by nature, satisfied with themselves and with their orderly little country. From a certain vantage point, Dutch culture can be viewed as a society of and for painters. They are obsessively fond of modern styles and do not forget their classical heritage. The creative spirit of Rem- Culture and Cultural Differences 67 brandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) and Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853-1890) is deeply embedded in the Dutch heart. Social psychologist Geert Hofstede (cited in Wesselius, 1999a) views the Dutch as a feminine society because of their advantage in trade, their attaching relatively little value to wealth and appearance, and their tolerance. According to Hofstede, feminine societies also have more women in male roles and vice versa. Leveling and restraint are other characteristic features of the Dutch. ”Act normal, and you will be conspicuous enough is a well-known remark in Holland. ”Somehow she’s just remained the ordinary girl she always was” is a comment a Dutch movie star can receive. ”Even at school, a student who grows too achievement-oriented will quickly fall victim to the mockery of his or her classmates” (Stegeren, 1991: 10). In communication the Dutch keep a distance between themselves and avoid physical contact as much as possible. Democracy, tolerance, and compassion are felt even in the prison system and policies relating to drug abuse, prostitution, and euthanasia or mercy killing. Prisoners receive relatively mild sentences, sustain a spirit of friendship with guards, use available sport facilities, and participate in group activities. Soft drugs like hashish are sold openly in special shops. Prostitutes have always been allowed to pursue their livelihood with relative freedom; if officially registered, they are entitled to receive al- lowances for holidays and illness (Stegeren, 1991). On November 28,2000, euthanasia was officially legalized in Holland. Dutch students tend to be field independent and low context and feel more comfortable working individually. Concentrating on one task at a time, they are independent of external judgment and quite tolerant of dis- turbances from peers. Compassionate and tolerant, parents are keenly interested in their children’s academic achievement and keep close contact with school. School participation councils include representatives of both the staff and parents, and the central government publishes a national guide providing general information about the education system and the rights and obligations of parents. Under the ”Going to School Together” policy, students from ordinary schools cooperate with their counterparts from schools for exceptional students. Dutch is just one language used in educational institutions; in secondary and higher institutions, some subjects are taught in English as well. Schools in the province of Friesland can also teach in Friesian (”Education in the Netherlands,” 1998).

The Germans In the past, the Germans contributed much to the socioethnic development of Europe. It is the former Germanic tribes, the Angles and the Sax- ons, that arrived in the British Isles in 440 B.C. and constituted the core of 68 Chapter Two the English culture and, later, through the English, added to the nucleus of European Americans. In the fifth century, Germanic tribes also promoted the collapse of the already deeply corrupted and declining Roman Empire and founded a new territorial and socioethnic order on the Euro- pean continent. German culture gave to the world such famous geniuses as the organist and composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), composer Ludwig von Beethoven (177&1827), poet and dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), and poet and dramatist Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805). The dominant themes in contemporary German culture are order and structure. The slightest violation or disruption of a carefully planned activity frustrates and disorganizes Germans (Sarakuev and Krysko, 1996). Time lies at the core of their culture; promptness is taken for granted; in fact, it is almost an obsession. For an average German, space is a sacred thing. A German’s home is his castle, his most important possession. Sticking to high morality with regard to family values, a German trea- sures home life. Germans respect privacy to a degree far beyond anything known in the United States. Since knowledge is power, secrecy is common. Students do not share information freely. Decentralization and compartmentalization are basic structural features in German culture. Ger- mans compartmentalize time with schedules and space by sealing themselves behind closed doors. In German culture, waste is a sin, and they wonder at how Americans can waste so much energy by heating, cooling, and lighting buildings at obviously excessive levels. They appreciate and demand fine workmanship, excellent design, and quality materials and expect things to wear well. They may be sensitive to definite external influences such as facts, numerical data, and other empirical assets. The term zum Beispiel (for example) is a frequently used phrase (Hall and Hall, 1990; Sarakuev and Krysko, 1996). The German working population and students do not expect fun at work, school, or university. In the sphere of skillful planning of the future, they surpass the majority of other ethnic groups. Their mentality encompasses a capability to abstract thinking and broad philosophizing. Unlike Americans and Russians, who tend to announce at the start what they are going to talk about, Germans can reach the point of the speech right at the end, providing much more information than most people from other cultures require (Hall and Hall, 1990). In sum, the most prominent national features of Germans are order and structure, punctuality, industriousness, privacy, practicality, territoriality, honesty, and directness. The German student, as a tiny part of the whole society, generally possesses all that is peculiar to German culture. For example, children learn compartmentalization early. Schools are compartmentalized and only academic subjects are taught. Unlike Russian and American schools, Ger- Culture and Cultural Differences 69 man schools pay little or no attention to extracurricular activities. The competition for university admission is fierce and based primarily on scholastic achievement (Hall and Hall, 1990). Elementary and secondary students are monochronically minded and susceptible to interruptions. Although the young and parents are rather independent of each other, parents require that their children do well at school.

The French The prime distinctive feature of the French is their high sensitivity to all that is related to their national history. The importance of French history to an average French person can hardly be overstated. Surrounded by thousands of monuments and statues to their glorious past, in both urban and rural settlements, the French tend to see things in their historical context and relate contemporary events to their origin (Hall and Hall, 1990). Both the French themselves and those of other nationalities remember and value the creative talent of the philosopher, writer, and pedagogue Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778); novelists Alexander Dumas pPre (1802-1870), and Alexander Dumas fils (1824-1895); political scientist and historian Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859); engineer Alexandre- Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923); painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919); general and politician Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), and singer Edith Piaf (1915-1963). Located where north and south meet, French culture has absorbed people from North Africa and the Mediterranean countries, adding a Latin flavor to the ethnic texture. Many things are centralized in French culture, with Paris as the nucleus of everything French for centuries. High on the polychronic scale, the French can do several things at a time, tolerate interruptions, love to talk and communicate with their whole body, do not always adhere to schedules and appointments, and change plans at the last moment. They pride themselves on the art of speaking their language with brilliance, fluency, and great precision. Considering France and the French language as the center of importance and power, they are reluctant and slow to learn foreign languages. At one time French was the language of the courts in Europe. The French also pride themselves on their numerous accomplishments and contributions to world culture (Hall and Hall, 1990). They are known as excellent football players and skillful movie makers and are recognized cosmetics manufacturers. The French revere literature and philosophical ideas, appreciate scholarly allusions, and are distinguished by subtle thinking, their love of the amenities of life, inexhaustible wit, and slight emotional excitability. For their special susceptibility to ideas, they were often criticized by the British and Germans, who prefer empirically proven information 70 Chapter Two

(Sarakuev and Krysko, 1996). The French relish conversation and can be totally absorbed in their discussions. As high-context communicators, they prefer subtlety and tact to frankness and fact and admire sophistica- tion, erudition, and nuance. Compared to Americans and Germans, they sit and stand close to each other in general conversation (Hall and Hall, 1990). Perfectionism in manners, individuality, pragmatism, logic, and re- alism constitute a strong current in French society. Historically, France has been known all over the world as a center of learning and education. The centralized system of education in the country affects both the school discipline, which is traditionally relatively strict, and teacher-student relations. As in many industrialized cultures, French students’ mentality is significantly affected by computers, television, and related technology. School-family cooperation is well regulated; communal organizations of parents help schools meet students’ urgent needs (Dzurinsky, 1999a). French students prefer an individualistic learning environment, require that teachers explain material well and use French eloquently and articulately, challenge questions, and make in- depth inquiries into the essence of the topics under consideration.

The Iews

Since the 70s A.D., when the Romans attacked Jerusalem, the Jewish people have been scattered all over Europe and, later, across the world. Feagin (1989) contends that Jews have been hated by dominant peoples around the globe for thousands of years: from the Egyptian and Roman persecutions to the expulsions in Spain in the late 1400s, to the brutal pogroms in Russia in the 1880s, to the Nazi massacres in the 1940s, “Jews might be regarded as the most consistently and widely persecuted ethnic group in the world history” (144). Comparing the death toll in the Holo- caust to other critical periods of the history of the Jewish people, Potok (1980) writes:

What a price we have paid for that land [Israel]:Seven hundred killed in the War of Independence; another thousand killed in the 1956 Sinai Campaign and the 1967 Six-Day War; three thousand killed in the October 1973 war; hundreds killed by terrorist raids. We offer ourselves grim consolation: all the wars have cost us less than three days at Auschwitz. (524)

Having survived against the most impossible odds, they proclaimed the Declaration of Independence in May 12,1948, in Tel Aviv and two days later, on May 14, received their long-awaited nationhood or ”rebirth (Kotliarsky, 1992). The Jews have given the world the Holy Bible containing the truths Culture and Cultural Differences 71 and commandments followed by a considerable part of the world’s population. The Bible has been translated into more than two hundred languages and some of its chapters into over a thousand different dialects (Shoam, 1989). The list of Jews who have contributed to the world’s progress could be very long. For instance, just in the sciences, Jews have won around 12 percent of the Nobel Prizes. Among the greatest Jews, we can name Simeon Bar Kokhba, who organized a revolt in 131-135 A.D. against Roman domination; the philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677); political philosopher and socialist Karl Marx (1818-1883); neurologist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939); Russian-born theorist Lev Trotsky (1879-1940); physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955); and writer Franz Kafka (1883-1924). Today, Jewish people live all over the world. Wherever they live, in Is- rael or other countries, they possess many common features and traits. The Jewish people are known to excel in many activities they undertake, especially in the sciences, cinematography and television, arts, banking, and different domains of business. One of the prominent national features of Jewish adults and youth is their cherishing and striving for knowledge. Immediately after the invention of printing by Johannes Gutenberg, the number of Jewish-owned printing houses began to grow rapidly. In the sixteenth century Jews owned printing houses in Venice, Bologna, Cairo, Constantinople, and Krakow. To gain knowledge about the world, the Jews of Israel use Hebrew, a language that, after a long restriction to litur- gy and literature, was revived a century ago, marking the renewal of Jew- ish life in the land (Shoam, 1989). Following the tradition of past generations, education, a precious legacy, continues to be a fundamental value in Jewish culture and is recognized as the key to its future. The educational tradition, based on national values, love of the land, and the principles of liberty and tolerance, aims to prepare children to become responsible members of a democratic, multicultural society. In Jewish schools subject areas are taught in He- brew with a parallel study of Arabic and one foreign language, mainly English; the Arabic schools located in Israel require all disciplines to be taught in Arabic with a parallel study of Hebrew and one foreign language. Educational television broadcasts scholastic programs and collab- orates with university faculty and teachers in developing new instructional strategies. Jewish students tend to be monochronic and concentrate intently on the material under study in both individual and cooperative learning environments. Students often volunteer questions and challenge teachers, but the teacher is an authority figure. Parental involvement is praised in schools; parent-teacher relations are warm, friendly, and based on mutual help. 72 Chapter Two

The Spanish

Spanish culture has developed in specific sociogeographical surroundings in comparison with northern European nations. The Spanish obtained a colonial empire with the "discovery" of America by Columbus in 1492 and the conquest of Mexico in 1519-1521 by Hernando Cortes (1485-1547) and of Peru in 1532 by Francisco Pizarro (1475-1541). Along with expanding colonial lands from the late fifteenth century, the golden age of Spanish literature and art produced works of social satire (Lope de Vega, 1562-1635; Miguel de Cervantes, 1547-1616), as well as spiritual intensity (El Greco, 1541-1614; Diego Rodriguez de Velbzquez, 1599-1660) (Famighetti, 1999). The Spanish know that Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), in whose veins runs Spanish blood, is one of the most renowned painters and sculptors of all times. Contemporary Spanish people tend to consider themselves as representatives of a former great empire that for a long time determined international policy and opened the Americas (Sarakuev and Krysko, 1996). Spanish, the fourth language in the world after Man- darin, Hindi, and English in terms of native speakers, also continuously reminds them of their past as well as present-day grandeur. Boasting a low divorce rate, the Spanish family is undergoing a tran- sition from an extended to a nuclear model, made up of a married couple and children, which is more in keeping with urban industrial societies. The level of legal and social equality of Spanish women has experienced a continuous growth due to their liberation from domestic tasks and greater participation in jobs outside the home, as well as greater enrollment in secondary and higher education. One of the most striking assets of Spanish culture is bullfighting. Originally done on horseback by the aristocracy, bullfighting was transformed to combating bulls on foot in 1724. Currently, this pastime for brave males is experiencing an unexpected revival both in Spain and in other countries that had been influenced by Spanish culture ("All about Spain," 2000; McGeveran, 2001). The Spanish have traditionally been religious and have praised a spirit of nobility, honor, and valor. These national preferences have shaped the people's adherence to spiritual and idealistic values and their capacity for being unpretentious and modest with regard to natural conditions. The prevalence of idealism and emotions over rationalism has initiated their creative success in the domain of literature, poetry, arts, and drama. To a certain degree, the Spanish may be exposed to favoritism and corpora- tivism in some spheres of group and social organizations as well as interpersonal interaction (Sarakuev and Krysko, 1996). Polychronic and high-context, Spanish students can attend to several academic activities at a time and bear interruptions without offense. An Culture and Cultural Differences 73 average student cherishes conversation with his or her peers and knows a lot about classmates and their parents and relatives; that is why the student does not need to be given much background information. Territori- ality is not a matter of such importance for Spanish students as for students from German and American cultures. The personal space between interacting students may be very small, and they may resort to friendly hand touches and shoulder pats. Secondary and university students feel rather comfortable working in groups and assisting each other in certain academic tasks.

The English Britain, or Great Britain, or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: these three names often embody one culture called the English. The core of the English ethnicity is considered to have been molded approximately from the tenth century B.C. to the twelfth century A.D. The English are known as the former major navigators and founders of huge colonies in the New World (Famighetti, 1999). Among them were not only famous explorers and navigators such as James Cook (1728-1779) but also notorious pirates. The English are proud of the dramatist and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616), often considered the greatest writer of plays and poetry of all time; physician Edward Jen- ner (1749-1823); naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882); Queen Victoria (1819-1901; reigned 1837-1901); statesman and prime minister Sir Win- ston Churchill (18761965); musicians Sir Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ring0 Starr who, as the Beatles, created a furor in the musical world of the 1960s and 1970s. Another legendary group, the Rolling Stones, who have been satisfying fans throughout the world for nearly forty years, also sprang from English culture. We maintain that the most fascinating thing about English culture is its export of the English language, which has been dispersed all over the globe and become the current lingua franca of the international community. Strongly adhering to their national traditions, the English are psychologically stable, diligent, affable, friendly, industrious, and practical. Compared to other northern European cultures, they are relatively firm advocates of a strong family. A centuries-long involvement in commerce, fueled by a puritanical style of life, resulted in the formation of such traits as prudence, enterprise, initiative, restraint, self-confidence, and self-discipline. The paradoxes of the English character encompass a blend of conformity and individualism, eccentricity and smoothness, cheerfulness and reticence, simplicity and snobbery (Sarakuev and Krysko, 1996).Also, they are fond of sports, casual in clothing, stick to traditional meals at assigned times, and adore humor. 74 Chapter Two

Like other English-speaking cultures, the English have a high masculinity rating (Hofstede, 1998). They tend to be monochronically minded, can intensely concentrate on an activity, and are susceptible to interruptions. They compartmentalize their personal relationships, but not to the degree that Germans do. As low-context people, they need additional information and detailed background data in communication. English students have a strong tradition of hard work. Field independent and industrious, they persistently carry out their academic responsibilities feeling more comfortable in individualistic environments. School and university students spend a lot of time playing sports. A considerable number of educational institutions keep to their long-established traditions. At the university level, the existing close pedagogical ties between students and faculty are maintained through tutorials, a system in which each student has a mandatory consultant (tutor) among the faculty. The tutor renders academic assistance to the student and provides him or her with the knowledge and skills about the world and how to function successfully in an interdependent society (Dzurinsky, 1999a).

The Chinese Chinese culture has had a long history of development. The Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties (from the twenty-first century B.c.) furthered the development of a slave society in China. Brilliantly well developed techno- logically and culturally, the ancient Chinese maintained extensive economic and sociocultural relations with Korea, Japan, Persia, India, and Arabia. They invented the magnetic compass, guf-tpowder, papermaking, printing, and the abacus. Great achievements were made in mathematics, astronomy, geography, and medicine. Zhang Heng of the Han Dynasty invented the seismograph, and Zu Chong calculated the value of pi to be between 3.1415926 and 3.1415927. A golden age of poetry bequeathed valuable works to later generations (Tu Fu, 712-770; Li Po, 701-762). Landscape painting flourished. Under the Northern Sung Dynasty, commercial and industrial expansion continued, facilitated by paper money and credit notes. Famous thinkers such as Confucius and Lao-tzu have made an impact not only on Chinese culture but also on world civilization. In the early 188Os, failure to keep pace with Western arms technology exposed China to greater European influence and hampered efforts to bar imports of opium, which had damaged the society and drained wealth overseas. In the Opium War (1839-1842), under Britain's influence, China expanded trade opportunities and had to cede Hong Kong (Famighetti, 1999). The peculiarities of sociopolitical and sociocultural development have considerably affected the shaping of Chinese national character and psy- Culture and Cultural Differences 75 chology. Industriousness, patience, endurance, persistence, self-control, and composure-all these features may be ranked among the first on the list. Dependent on, and committed to, the overall opinion of a group, the Chinese prefer working collectively and tend to help each other in difficult circumstances. The ideas of Confucianism have also influenced the formation of Chinese character. As a result, they have obtained such distinctive features as unpretentiousness, moderation, and a capability of enjoying life and being satisfied with very little. Likewise, various religions, such as Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism, have left imprints in people’s lifestyles and ways of thinking (Sarakuev and Krysko, 1996). Family is an important and valued asset in Chinese culture. Facing serious problems of overpopulation, China was compelled to implement family planning to control population growth. To protect women’s educational and personal rights, the All-China Women’s Organization was founded in 1949. The same year, the All-China Youth Federation was organized, including the All-China Students’ Federation (McGeveran, 2001). Despite the existing socioeconomic problems in the country and difficulties in the system of education such as lack of financial resources and gender imbalance among school students (Zaihui and Jianfeng, 2001), the Chinese central and local governments are doing much to promote better schooling and child development. Since the 1990s, China has promulgat- ed the Law to Prevent Juvenile Crime, the Education Law, the Law concerning Mother and Infant Care, the Law on Security of the Disabled, and the Labor Law (Tianbi, 2001). Since the early 1980s, schools for girls have rapidly increased in China, a trend reflecting the plurality of China’s schooling. Such schools provide girls with different types (public, private, vocational, etc.) of education (Ross, 2001; Yiru, 2001). One such institution with a good reputation is No. 3 Girls’ Middle School in Shang- hai (Ross, 2001).

The Japanese In the early days of Japanese culture, Chinese influence was strong. Buddhism was introduced in the sixth century A.D. From 1192 till 1867, Japan was dominated by a feudal system highly influenced by powerful local noble families and their samurai warrior retainers (Famighetti, 1999). With different degrees of intensity, the Japanese have had trade relations with the West since the sixteenth century. The Portuguese came there in the mid-sixteenth century and tried to convert the Japanese to Christiani- ty. Especially favorable contacts were established with the Dutch, who marked their four hundred years of relations with Japanese culture on April 19,2000. Seeking to preserve the country from foreign influence, in 76 Chapter Two

1639 the Japanese called a halt to foreign influences. Despite the closure of borders, some local nobles allowed the Dutch to return on the condition that they confined themselves to commercial activities and did not attempt to foist their religion on the Japanese. It was only in 1854 that the Japanese opened their borders to foreign trade with the West (Roon, 2000). Lack of fertile land, difficult climatic conditions, and a relatively se- cluded development from the outer world until the middle of the nineteenth century had a significant impact on coining the national distinctive features of the Japanese. Contemporary Japanese are well organized and respect authority figures: managers, the elderly, teachers. They are industrious, persistent, self-disciplined, persistent in attaining work and life objectives, steadfast in difficulties. Some Japanese adhere to the cult of ancestors and possess a sense of ethnic exclusiveness of being Japanese. Adhering to certain well-established social etiquettes and conventions, they are customarily group oriented and do everything possible to be useful to group members. This trait reveals itself both in the homeland and in alien societies where they organize ethnic enclaves (Sarakuev and Krysko, 1996). Hofstede (1998) reckons Japan to be the most masculine culture in the world. The Japanese are a high-context society, for information flows freely and from all sides; everyone stays informed about other people in an organization or educational institution (Hall and Hall, 1990; Taichi, 2001; KGhei, 2001). Industrious and hardworking, Japanese students attend seriously to their academic responsibilities. They prefer being called upon rather than challenging ideas and teachers, and they need concrete directions about what should be done and to what extent. Teachers and educators are respected people in Japanese educational institutions. Dzurinsky (1999a) says that in contemporary Japanese culture the pedagogical functions of the family and the school are being reconsidered, and there is a growing tendency to increase the role of the school. Worried about the decreasing role of the family, educators are seeking to develop different forms of home schooling. Despite these changes, the family remains a special asset in Japanese culture in general and in the sphere of education in particular. The mother remains the first and most charitable teacher for a Japanese child. Parents are anxious to become active participants in school life and “never cast doubt on teacher’s opinion in the student’s presence” (130).

Summary

This chapter has sought to depict some speculations on the nature of culture and to outline some sociocultural and ethnopsychological features of Culture and Cultural Differences 77 different groups. This knowledge will broaden educators' knowledge and improve their pedagogical expertise. The chapter has demonstrated that culture is multifaceted and can be approached from many perspectives, including among others the sociohistorical, sociogeographic, sociocultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious. The dimensions examined here are only some of many possible approaches. This chapter has attempted to inquire into cultural peculiarities and educational traditions of different ethnic groups. This knowledge base can provide educators the necessary pedagogical insights on how to deal with students from various racial and ethnic groups. On the basis of scientific literature and personal observations, I have depicted the U.S. ethnic mosaic and briefly portrayed the specific features of Anglo-Saxon, Native, African, Asian, and Hispanic Americans. I have also offered some reflections on the essential cultural and cognitive traits of ethnic Russians, Tatars, Ukrainians, Bashkirs, Mari, and Chuvashes, having in mind that a multiethnic Russia might be little known to the teaching and learning public at large. I have also sought to present some information on the Dutch, German, French, Jewish, Spanish, English, Chinese, and Japanese cultures and the ways the teacher-student and school-home relationships are developing in these societies. The limited space has made it possible to examine only a small number of groups. Interested readers may consult numerous reference books and Internet sites for information on other groups. To acquire more pedagogical insights into the ethnic and cultural diversity of their classes, educators need to maintain close contact with their local communities and their students' families.

Note

1. Sobornost is a special condition of a person's soul. This condition incorporates the idea of the unity of community and a touch of national instinct and a mystic inclination to one's native group. This Page Intentionally Left Blank 3

The Nature of Multicultural Education

This chapter examines a number of issues related to multicultural education as a concept and an educational trend. It focuses on some of the underlying principles of multicultural education and educational institutions that can provide such an education and some general strategies for implementing multicultural education.

History and Some Underlying Principles

Multicultural education ideas emerged in the West out of the desire to establish justice, equality, and freedom for every member of the society, regardless of ethnic, racial, religious, and class background. The need for developing proper contents and strategies of multicultural education arose considerably after the civil rights movement led by African Ameri- cans in the United States.

A Brief Historical Survey The civil rights leaders of the 1960s and 1970s used the Western ideals of freedom and democracy to justify and legitimize their push for structural inclusion and the end of institutionalized discrimination and racism (Banks, 1994). The civil rights moment in the United States had a tremendous impact on educational institutions as ethnic groups (first African Americans and then others) demanded that (1) educational institutions’ curricula reflect their histories, cultures, and perspectives; (2) schools hire more nonwhite teachers and administrators so that their children would have more successful role models; and (3) ethnic communities control schools and that textbooks reflect the diversity of peoples in the United

79 80 Chapter Three

States. The women’s rights movement also emerged in the United States and other countries. American feminists demanded (1) revisions of textbooks to include more material about women’s role and share in the development of the nation and the world and (2) the hiring of more women for administrative positions in educational institutions. Other marginalized groups (the elderly, the disabled, and gay rights advocates) articulated their grievances and demanded that institutions be reformed to meet their needs and rights. For example, the 1975 Education for All Handi- capped Children Act required that students with disabilities be placed in the least restricted environment. The word ”mainstreaming” came into use (Banks, 2001a). In the early 1960s, terms such as ”cultural pluralism” and ”diversity” began to appear in the pedagogical literature. First came a multiethnic education approach in which the contributions of various ethnic groups were integrated into the curriculum. In the 1970s, gender, exceptionality, religion, and other dimensions were added to the multicultural education concept; the focus was shifted from multiethnic to multicultural education. At least two factors contributed to the rise of multiethnic and, later, multicultural education: an increase of racial and ethnic consciousness and a more critical analysis of educational problems. Inspired by the civil rights movement, ethnic and cultural revitalization movements began to increase in other countries. People of Asian origin in Britain, the Indonesians and Surinamese in the Netherlands, and the Aborigines in Australia joined the struggle and demanded that institutions become more responsive to their needs (Lynch, 1986; Banks, 1994, 2001a). Changes occurred in Western European countries. Historically, three major contextual influences promoted an educational response to cultural pluralism in Europe: the early patchwork settlement of Europe by different linguistic and ethnic groups, the later equally varied religious overlay, and economic factors. European education policy makers gradually came to believe that proper multicultural-intercultural education should promote the teaching of the native language and culture of the country of origin, respect ethnic and racial peculiarities of minorities, and provide better study of the language and milieu of the mainstream society (Lynch, 1986). In the United Kingdom, the integration of the issues of ethnic and language diversity into school curricula has followed a painstaking path from assimilation to integration and to cultural pluralism. Multicultural education in the United Kingdom proved as difficult in terms of theoretical exploration as in practical policies (Craft, 1986). The Netherlands’ educators have also painstakingly blazed a trail to multicultural education. The endeavors moved slowly because Dutch policymakers and pedagogues delayed in defining the key concepts of The Nature of Multicultural Education 81 culture and in preparing guidelines for multicultural activities for teachers who had to deal with pupils from various ethnic and cultural groups and with different levels of acculturation (Eldering, 1996).In the 1990s the demand for intercultural education was low in schools unaffected by the influx of various ethnic groups in the past years. In the other schools, the amount of time devoted to intercultural education was limited (Hooghoff, 1991). In the 1970s multiculturalism and multicultural education issues began to penetrate into Australian educational institutions. Australia is no different from other Western countries in the way multicultural education has evolved historically, but these historical changes have, nevertheless, some slight peculiarities. For example, in 1981, 3.75 million people, or one-quarter of the Australian population, had a personal or family interest in a language other than English and in a culture outside the British tradition. In 1983, ethnic and racial diversity in Australia was represented by people from Bangladesh, India, Fiji, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Lebanon, Turkey, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Viet- nam, Laos, New Zealand (Maoris), and Oceania (Polynesian Islanders of various origins) (Bullivant, 1986). Multicultural policies did not come about initially because of Aboriginal demands but rather because of the influx of immigrants, and this immigration was the proximate cause behind the development of policies of multiculturalism. In the early 2000s, relations between Aborigines and non-Aboriginal Australians continued to command the attention of people concerned with the issues of multiculturalism (Laine and Sutton, 2000). In New Zealand powerful social influences and calls for greater awareness of cultural diversity in the curriculum became common in the 1980s. One of the main principles of the country’s curriculum framework adopted in 1993 was to recognize the multicultural nature of the New Zealand society and take this into consideration in curriculum content (McGee, 1995). In the 1980s and 1990s, considerable efforts were made to encompass the issues of language and ethnic diversity in schools, and more cultural and linguistic rights were obtained by the Maori (Snook, 1995). Russia, located in a vast Eurasian territory, has been, since ancient times, ethnically and culturally pluralistic but structurally and education- ally monolithic. As in the Netherlands, the concept of culture was for many years a forgotten legacy in Russian society. Until the mid-l980s, bilingual or multilingual education was a more common approach than multicultural education. The Russian educational tradition placed a primary emphasis on knowing another language in order to understand another culture. The term “culture” had been relegated to the activities of the ministry of culture, such as the organizing of cultural events, holidays, 82 Chapter Three and celebrations.The idea of multiculturalism and multicultural education, incorporating a whole range of issues such as ethnicity, race, language, gender, exceptionality, social class and the like, is relatively new in Russia. All these and other forms of diversity, of course, have been separately considered in Russia’s educational system, most of the time quite successfully. It is only since Gorbachev’s perestroika that the concept of multicultural education has come into use and the notion of culture has penetrated into pedagogy on theoretical and practical levels. Along with the notions of multicultural and global education, the term ”culturologi- cal approach has come into existence, embracing, in most cases, both multicultural and cross-cultural (global) contexts (Sinagatullin, 1998a, b). In twenty-first-century Russia, the ideas of multiculturalism and multicultural education are gaining momentum very rapidly. One of my fundamental assumptions is that the idea of multiculturalism and multicultural education in Russia has always been present on many levels of education to some extent. but has never been articulated in terms of culture and as a concept. Neither has there been any reorganiza- tion similar to the multicultural reform movement in the United States. The many reforms that have occurred in Russia within the last two decades have brought some changes in attaining equal and equitable education for all ethnic and cultural groups. As for global or international education, a closely related issue, the necessity of internationalizing educational matters was officially accepted in the former Soviet Union. But until the mid-1980s there was an apparent cultural and national bias toward anything foreign. Any praising of anything foreign was often treated as a hostile trend and labeled as a ”lack of patriotism.” Even though relatively slow practical progress in multicultural education is observed in countries other than Anglo-Saxon, a growing awareness of the need for multicultural and intercultural education has been identified in Albania, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Israel, Latvia, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Sierra Leone, and Sweden. There are countries (such as Belarus, Bulgaria, Burundi, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, and Singapore) that are marked by ethnic tension, yet responses from them did not indicate a need for intercultural relations in the curriculum (Tye, 1999).

Methodology Methodologically, multicultural education is determined by the intrinsic fundamentals of democracy, freedom, and human rights. All people, regardless of ethnic or cultural background, should have equal rights to quality education and access to learn more about the native and national cultures as well as cultures and values outside national borders. It is my The Nature of Multicultural Education 83 opinion that multicultural education is bound to further promote one fundamental issue: to resolve the contradiction between the ever growing attempts of ethnic and cultural groups to preserve and sustain their identities and the continual attempts of people to strive for mutual understanding and unification within the international community. As the aims of both can hardly be fully attained in the contemporary, changing world, the goals of multicultural education will remain important in human society for many years to come. Each individual is required to become a diligent citizen both of her nation-state and the entire world as well as to foster the welfare of the home society and all humanity. Both striking ethnocentrism and a complete loss of ethnic and cultural identities are incompatible with the true principles of multicultural education. Another methodological prerequisite rests on the assumption that multicultural education should foster each student’s personality formation and growth, the development of his or her humanistic characteristics. The previous two decades have witnessed a rapid collapse of morality across continents, a decrease and erosion of such characteristic features as humanism, empathy, love for neighbors, and a positive attitude toward alien lifestyles and viewpoints. This new century requires that we pay special attention to developing in students corresponding attitudes and values in order (1) to restore the fundamental humanistic characteristics that have been lost in the previous century, and (2) to meet the demands of the new epoch, which, despite rapid technological developments and a fast move of humanity to novel technological explorations, ultimately must be an era of humanistic spiritual breakthroughs. Still another underlying principle holds that the school, the school district, and, finally, the government and the overall sociocultural and socioeconomic infrastructure of a given society should work for the benefits of each child and student. The present-day, allegedly child-centered paradigm must be replaced by a multicultural education that is truly child- centered. Accents must be shifted to each personality without exception, as to a most costly and treasured possession and invaluable priority both within the school and larger community. Not a single child or teenager should be forgotten by educators or local and federal authorities. The philosophy that “We may sacrifice our ethnic and cultural identity for the grandeur of the nation” is irrelevant and inappropriate in multiculturally oriented schools and societies. It is reasonable to accept what Banks (2001a) says is the essence of multicultural education. He considers that this education incorporates at least three things: an idea, a reform movement, and a process. Multicultural education is an idea stating that all students, regardless of their gender, ethnicity, race, culture, social class, religion, or exceptionality, should have an equal opportunity to learn at school. As a reform movement, multicultural 84 Chapter Three education involves changes in the total school (and is not limited only to curriculum change) so that all children have an equal chance to experience school success. Multicultural education is also a continuing process whose idealized goals will never be fully realized. A major goal of such education is improving academic achievement. From a methodological perspective, the diversity variables analyzed in the first chapter may be understood and treated differently in different societies. Their degree of importance depends on numerous factors related to a society’s ideology, history, values, socioeconomic condition, educational policy, and other dimensions. For example, in the United States, both racial and ethnic diversity are important variables that need to be considered in educational institutions, whereas in Russia racial diversity is not so marked. In Russia, another reality is extremely important in educational institutions: the differences between urban and rural populations. Unlike the United States, Canada, and northern European countries, Russia has pervasive and pronounced differences between rural and urban cultural strata, resulting in restricted access for rural students to informational and cultural assets and in differences in academic achievement between rural and urban graduates. In addition to common problems related to many issues of diversity, addressing the requirements of rural education is a prime objective in Russia’s educational institutions. The terminology used in describing a society’s objective reality is often ideologically colored and influenced by history and policy. The term ”minority” refers to groups with a low socioeconomic position in the Nether- lands; in Canada and the United States, this term emphasizes mainly the cultural deviation from the majority in terms of race, ethnicity, language, religion, or behavior. Immigrants of German origin, considered a minority in Canada, may or may not be called a minority in the United States depending on personal opinion. Chinese groups are considered minorities both in Canada and the United States but not in the Netherlands, since they do not have a low socioeconomic position there (Eldering, 1996). Troyna and Edwards (cited in Eldering, 1996) state that the specific U.S. terminology can become a problem in European research because in Eu- rope differences in culture are mostly emphasized in terms of language and religion rather than ethnicity and race. In Western societies, religious life is often opposed to secular life and religious ideology to atheistic or materialistic ideology. In other cases, religion is opposed to ancient paganism. In theocratic societies, where religion is a way of life, people not only accept the canons of a given religion but also live this religion. One such country is Saudi Arabia, where Mus- lims constitute 100 percent of the population. The Islamic religious code is the law of the land. Alcohol and public entertainment are restricted, and women have an inferior legal status. There is no constitution and no par- The Nature of Multicultural Education 85 liament, although a consultative council was established by the king in 1993 (McGeveran, 2002). Other modes of life and beliefs are considered alien, and people pursuing other supernatural or materialistic ideologies are referred to as infidels. As Islam totally permeates people’s mentality and all sides of daily life, as well as education, there is no opposition to it in the home country. Consequently, anything related to religious diversity or the religious versus the secular virtually does not exist in Saudi Arabia.

Misconceptions The following misconceptions and shortcomings occur in dealing with multicultural education:

The need for multicultural education is conventionally associated only with societies containing ethnic, racial, and linguistic diversity. When the notion of cultural group is mentioned, educators and scholars tend to associate it not with differences in ability, social class, gender, religion, or residence (rural versus urban) but with ethnic or racial issues. This approach is problematic for several reasons. Teachers who cannot easily see how course content is related to cultural and normative issues will easily dismiss multicultural education with the argument that it is not relevant to their discipline. This is done frequently by secondary math and science teachers (Banks, 2001a). Especially strong emphasis in multicultural education has been placed on racism-related issues, because much of the debate on the entire phenomenon of multiculturalism has been centered mainly on the eradication of racism and/or the recognition and affirma- tion of cultural plurality (Bonnett, 2000). Multicultural education is often associated with educational problems rather than educational objectives. ”Multicultural education,” states Eldering (1996), “is more often a reactive education, in the sense that teachers only react to interethnic or multicultural incidents or conflicts in their classroom” (326). A big gap exists between theoretical foundation (what is said and conceptualized) and practice (what is really done). In most of the cases, the quality of multicultural education depends on the teacher’s initiative and enthusiasm.

Currently the central focus in multiculturalism is on the overall, ”generalized” school-community environment: teacher-student, teacher-parent, and teacher-community relationships. The issues of teacher education for a definite multicultural setting, requiring defi- 86 Chapter Three

nite multicultural approaches, is often ignored. It is as if teachers are empowered, by their expertise and by the very nature of their profession, to be universally competent pedagogues and relearn on the spot how to interact efficiently with students from various cultural groups. In most cases, multicultural education is perceived not as an ongoing process but as a separate, add-on subject that might be studied at least once during a student's school career. In this respect, Banks (1997) states:

When I asked one school administrator what efforts were being taken to implement multicultural education in his school district, he told me that the district had 'done' multicultural education last year and that it was now initiating other reforms, such as improving the students' reading scores. This administrator not only misunderstood the nature . . . of multicultural education, but he also did not understand that it could help raise the students' reading scores. (4)

Education, Pedagogy, and Upbringing Prior to discussing further issues, it would be worthwhile to draw some distinction between education, pedagogy, and upbringing. Evi- dence indicates that certain periods in America and Europe were marked by so-called individual periods in the development of educational canons, given that, on the whole, on both continents history has developed in a linear way; that is, what has been gained by ancestors has not been forgotten by descendants. History also recognizes that some societies have developed in cyclic ways. One such society was ancient China, where successive dynasties could negate and reject achievements of preceding dynasties and generations. Many human achievements that had been long ago gained by the Chinese were later forgotten in China itself and "rein- vented" in Europe after a considerable time. According to the American educational tradition, the term "education" encompasses (1) a process and result of teaching, (2) a process and result of learning, (3) a result of a prolonged learning (at an educational institution), (4) any growth in knowledge, attitudes, and skills development, and (5) an entity meaning one wholeness, similar to that of "medicine," "industry," and "agriculture." Implicitly, the term contains the idea of child-rearing, because any activity of educating inevitably entails discipline. To denote a process of teaching, the term "pedagogy" is also used. In Eastern European and Russian educational traditions, the notion of education has historically encompassed the same characteristic features, only the idea of upbringing has received greater emphasis in education The Nature of Multicultural Education 87 than in the United States and Canada. Along with the development of the general notion of education, the Russian tradition witnessed the development of another salient category called "pedagogics" (as a science) and "pedagogy" (as both a science and a process). Gradually pedagogy began to encompass two main ideas: teaching (didactics) and upbringing. Un- like Western Europe, where the notion of education has survived and begun to take on approximately the same dimensions as in the United States, in Russia the notion of pedagogy with the twofold subdivisions (teaching and upbringing) has taken a deeper root. Moreover, in the recent educational revival in Russia, pedagogy contains an even more distinctly pronounced idea of promoting better upbringing. The idea of personality formation and the development of a diligent and patriotic citizen emerges with a new content into the forefront of the educational system of a post-Communist Russia. Any textbook used in teacher training colleges and universities is subdivided into two salient parts: the theory of teaching and the theory of upbringing.This approach to pedagogics with its well-defined, twofold segments is less noticeable in Western Europe and least noticeable in North America.

Fundamentals of Multicultural Education

This section will further examine the nature of multicultural education with a special emphasis on factors that necessitate such education, dimensions of multicultural education, vertical and horizontal layers, approaches to multicultural education, and the difference between folk pedagogy, ethnopedagogy, and multicultural education.

Factors Necessitating Multiculfural Education There are a number of factors necessitating and stimulating the growth of multicultural education. Certain points surrounding the factors were analyzed in the first chapter. Below are brief remarks on the most important causal categories.

Changing demographics. The growing number of people of Asian, African, and South and Central American origin in the host countries (Canada, the United States, Australia, northern European countries) greatly increases their racial and ethnic diversity. The ever growing migration adds to demographic change. Arutunian, Drobidzeva, and Susokolov (1999) describe three types of migration: (1) pendulum- like (a regular shift from one place to another and back for employment, education, or other purposes) and seasonal (a temporary move 88 Chapter Three

from one region into another); (2) vertical (migration related to an increase or decrease of residential status, for example, a move from a rural area to an urban center) and horizontal (a move to an equal-status area); and (3) internal (a change of residence within one nation- state) and external (a move from one country to another). A growing awareness that the attitudes, knowledge, and skills constituting multicultural education are indispensable in keeping societies democratic andfree (Banks, 2002b). This is especially important where the notion of democracy and freedom must constitute both the means and the aims of education. lncreasing polarization of human societies. The divide between the rich and the poor, which societies confront today, cuts through not only economic but also religious, racial, ethnic, political, and sexual lines. Himmelfarb (1999) postulates that:

An American might now say, there is more in common between two church-going families one of which is working class, than between two working-class families only one of which is church-going; or between two two-parent families one of which is black, than between two black families only one of which has two parents. It is because their identity is defined primarily by moral and cultural values that many inner-city black parents send their children to Catholic schools, not because they themselves are Catholic (they often are not) but because they want their children to have a more rigorous education in a more disciplined environment than is available in the public school. (116-17)

The polarization is most conspicuous in the issues of abortion, gay marriage, and school vouchers. But it has larger ramifications and affects attitudes, beliefs, and practices ranging from private morality to public policy, from popular culture to high culture. As Him- melfarb notes, such polarization is ”more divisive than the class polarization that Karl Marx saw as the crucial fact of life under capitalism” (188). The negative aftereffects of polarization affect educational institutions in both economically advanced and developing countries.

The rise of ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism may transcend the boundaries of a moderate ethnic revitalization movement and become a cause of interethnic tension and conflicts. Arutunian, Drobidzeva, and Susokoev (1999) contend that there have been six types of in- The Nature of Multicultural Education a9 terethnic conflicts in postSoviet geographic areas, which have witnessed tremendous socioeconomic cataclysms over the past decade: (1) regional wars (in Karabakh and Chechnya); (2) short-term armed clashes (the Ossetian-Ingush, Fergana, Osh, and Sumgait conflicts); (3)unarmed conflicts (over a hundred in the postSoviet setting); (4) institutionalized conflicts (a form of an unarmed conflict when constitutional and juridical institutions contradict each other. Such was the case in the early 1990s, when certain institutional discrepancies occurred between the Federal Center and the autonomous republics of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Sakha, and Tuva); (5) manifesting conflicts (demonstrations, strikes, hunger strikes, and civil disobedience); and (6) ideological conflicts. "Swollen" ethnocentrism is often intertwined with religious centrism, as in the continuous conflicts in the Middle East between the Jews and the Arabs. Growing domestic and international terrorism aroused by different factors, ranging from ideological and political to religious and ethnocentric. All the world remembers the mind-numbing terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11,2001, which took away thousands of innocent lives. That made the attacks far bloodier than the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor when 2,388 perished on December 7, 1941. The September 11 attacks were followed by bioterrorism in the form of the spread of anthrax by mail. Religious changes, shown in the growing religious denominations and growing conversion of atheists into believers (as in Russia and the Newly Independent States), paralleled with a mass increase of atheists throughout the world (see chapter 1). Growing differences between urban and rural cultures and, consequently, urban and rural education. As was noted, these traits are noticeable in Russia and Newly Independent States (with the prob- able exception of the Baltic countries, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia), in most Asian, African, and Latin American countries as well as island states (e.g., Marshall Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia). Growing numbers of children with physical and mental or cognitive disabilities. Exceptional children need subsequent care and educational approaches in both mainstream and special classrooms. In addition to children with clear-cut handicaps, there is a growing birthrate of "weak" children, easily yielding to conventional ailments. 90 Chapter Three

Dimensions

Multicultural education is characterized by several dimensions that can be used as a guide by practicing educators (Banks, 2001a). The first dimension, content integration, necessitates the infusion of ethnic and cultural content into the subject area instruction. The opportunities to integrate multicultural content are not equal in different subject areas: in social studies, language arts, and music, there are ample opportunities for the inclusion of ethnic and cultural content; whereas there are fewer opportunities for the sciences and mathematics. The knowledge construction process, the second dimension, relates to the extent to which educators help learners to understand and determine the influence of cultural assumptions, perspectives, and biases on the ways knowledge is constructed within a subject area. Banks points out that students can examine the knowledge construction process while studying, for instance, such topics as the westward movement in America. In the didactic process, the teacher can ask the students, “Whose point of view or perspective does this concept reflect, that of the European Americans or the Lakota Sioux?” ”Who was moving west?” “How might a Lakota Sioux historian describe this period in US.history?’’ “What are other ways of thinking about and describing the westward movement?” (21). Similar questions may be posed concerning the “opening” of other parts of the world by the Europeans. Prejudice reduction, the third dimension, conveys an idea that teachers are required to help students develop positive and tolerant attitudes toward different ethnic, racial, and cultural groups. Evidence shows that ne- glecting this important dimension may entail disastrous consequences, similar to the events in Kosovo and Afghanistan, not to mention the continuous, decades-long misunderstandings in Northern Ireland and the Basque region in Spain. An equity pedagogy, the fourth dimension, has as its goal facilitating the academic achievement of students from different racial, cultural, gender, and social-class groups. Banks indicates that this strategy includes using a variety of teaching styles and approaches congruent with learning styles of children from various ethnic and cultural groups. As the fifth dimension, Banks defines an empowering school culture and social structure. All members of the school staff are required to participate in creating a school culture that empowers students from diverse backgrounds and promotes gender, racial, and social-class equity. To implement multicultural education successfully, the school should be thought of as a social system, and a change strategy that reforms the total school environment must be formulated and initiated. Banks says that one of the prime focuses must be on the school’s hidden curriculum, its implicit norms and values. This hidden or latent curriculum represents a The Nature of Multicultural Education 91 powerful part of the school culture, communicating to students the school's attitudes to a whole range of problems, including how the school views them as human beings and its attitudes toward males, females, exceptional students, and students from various religious, cultural, racial, and ethnic groups. These dimensions are relevant for consideration both on the level of a separate school and on broader levels, such as regional and federal educational strata. Nieto (1996) identifies seven key characteristics of multicultural education within contemporary society, which Ovando (1998b) summarizes as follows. Multicultural education is (1)antiracist (it does not gloss over the presence of racism but addresses it); (2) basic, because, along with other disciplines, it represents an integral component of education; (3) vital for majority and minority students; (4) pervasive in the overall schooling process; (5) an education aiming at social justice; (6) an ongoing and dynamic process; and (7) critical pedagogy, because both students and teachers, involved in a multicultural teaching-learning process, do not view knowledge as neutral or apolitical.

Horizontal versus Vertical Outlook Multicultural education embodies a great variety of approaches, programs, and practices and may vary in different schools and larger settings. From a horizontal perspective, multicultural education may incorporate a concrete diversity variable (or variables) in a particular school, district, state, country, or larger sociogeographical area, given that the general idea firmly remains intact-creating equal opportunities and quality education for all students. In one school, teachers may place a greater emphasis on ethnic issues, in another institution, on teaching children with alternative health (it may be, for example, a school for children with mental retardation), in still another school, on bilingual education. A rural school may be concerned with a problem of quality education and equal informational and computational opportunities for all students. Schools located in impoverished and disease-stricken settings require more emphasis on helping children from poor families and children suffering from various contagious and chronic diseases. For instance, in regions plagued with HIV/AIDS, educators and other school personnel need to employ special pedagogical and psychological approaches toward students infected with the deadly virus, as well as to establish closer relationships with parents. From a vertical perspective, multicultural education can consist of several enlarging layers making a conelike framework. In this sense, a classroom or a school can be viewed as a bottom or immediate layer; the district the school is located in, as a larger layer; the state and country, as still 92 Chapter Three larger layers. Consequently, we can say the ”school layer,” ”district layer,” ”state layer,” etc. In this conelike structure, the multicultural goals of a particular school may coincide with those of other layers in the hierarchy. For instance, in relatively monoethnic and socioeconomically prosperous countries, such as Japan and Holland, the multicultural initiatives of the school, school district, and country may be developed in congruence with commonly designed national objectives. A multicultural-for-all approach can be applied on all levels. In pluralistic societies, with ethnic, racial, and urban-rural groups dispersed unevenly throughout the country (such as Canada, the United States, Brazil, India, and China), the multicultural goals and objectives of a particular school may not coincide with the overall multicultural strategy of a larger layer. For example, a metropolitan area may be concerned with a multicultural-education-for-all program, whereas a school located in the same metro area may be concerned with a concrete bilingual program, in addition to implementing the overall educational objectives.

Approaches to Multicultural Education The two previous decades have witnessed a struggle of two pervasive groups in the matters of education in a multicultural society: assimilationists and multiculturalists. Both in Western and other societies, assimilationists contend that education must help students from ethnic and cultural minority groups acquire knowledge, skills, and values that are needed to participate in the mainstream culture. Assimilationists are not against integrating a multicultural content into the curriculum; however, they are reluctant to support efforts to construct an education grounded on an equal and unbiased basis for all ethnic, cultural, and immigrant groups. Multiculturalists require that education in an ethnically and culturally diverse society promote cultural pluralism and social equality, that all students have access to quality and equitable education and be able to function effectively in an interdependent world. Despite the fact that both groups often share common ground on a wide range of pedagogical issues, the twenty-first century both offers novel and unexpected challenges and makes alterations to the already existing multicultural problems. In both cases, educators are required to mobilize their creative efforts to address emerging problems. Challenges and problems will continuously emerge in the teaching-learning process and in attaining educational equality and equity. Banks (1997) indicates that educational equality is that ideal (similar to liberty and justice) toward which people work but never attain, because, for example, such categories as racism, sexism, and discrimination against people with disabilities will exist to a certain extent no matter how hard people work to do away with these problems. The Nature ofMulticultura1 Education 93

Among the many interpretations of multicultural education, this chapter will further examine the approaches given by Banks (1994), Eldering (1996), and Sleeter and Grant (as cited in Grant and Gomez, 2001). Banks (1994) identifies three major groups of approaches: curriculum reform, achievement, and intergroup education. Within each of these approaches, which are not mutually exclusive, there are different conceptions, strategies, and paradigms. Curriculum reform approaches require additions to, or changes in, the curriculum content. Banks conceptualizes four approaches in dealing with curriculum reform: (1) the contribution approach, in which the content of ethnic and cultural groups is linked mostly to celebrations and holidays; (2) the additive approach, presup- posing an addition of cultural content and concepts to the curriculum without changing its basic purposes and structure; (3) the transformative approach, entailing changes in the curriculum to enable students to view concepts, events, and problems from different ethnic and cultural perspectives; and (4) the social action approach, which enables learners to pursue activities and take civic actions related to the concepts and issues they have studied. Achievement approaches aim at increasing the academic achievement of low-income and disabled students, as well as students of color and women. Within achievement approaches, two conceptions are singled out: cultural deprivation and cultural difference paradigms. Banks holds that the cultural deprivation paradigm dominated the discussion of the education of people of color and lower-class students in the1960s, but in the 1970s and 1980s it was seriously challenged by the cultural difference paradigm. Intergroup education approaches are designed to foster the development of students’ more positive attitudes toward people from different racial, cultural, and gender groups as well as toward their own group. Eldering (1996) holds that multicultural education can be limited to pupils from ethnic/cultural groups (a particularist approach) or can be directed at all pupils (a universalistic approach). According to the position of minority cultures in the curriculum and the attention drawn to individual and collective inequality, multicultural education can follow the disadvantage, enrichment, bicultural competence, or collective equality approaches. According to the disadvantage approach, students from ethnic/cultural groups have educational disadvantages that pupils from the majority group do not. Multicultural education under this approach is aimed at removing these disadvantages. The enrichment approach is aimed at pupils from specific ethnic/cultural groups and is based on monocultural courses; this approach may also be designed for all pupils irrespective of ethnic/cultural origin and be based on multicultural courses. Monocultural courses are designed to address the ethnic, language, and cultural needs of ethnic/cultural groups. Multicultural courses are 94 Chapter Three intended for all pupils, regardless of ethnic/cultural background. The bicultural competence approach is mainly intended to make pupils from ethnic/cultural groups competent in two cultures. The collective equality approach emphasizes the collective equality of groups or cultures rather than the equality of individuals. Two subapproaches can be distinguished within this paradigm. The first one assumes the equal rights of the diverse ethnic/cultural groups in society. The second is intended to make the entire school system (not just the curriculum but also the staff, teaching methods, and representative bodies) more multicultural. Summarizing the approaches to multicultural education, Eldering contends that, in practice, multicultural education is usually aimed at pupils from ethnic/cultural groups. Multicultural education for all students is often limited to ideological discourse. Oftentimes, it exists only as an addition to, or a minor adaptation of, the regular curriculum. Eldering assumes that multicultural education tends to ”lean toward assimilation rather than toward cultural pluralism” (1996: 322). Sleeter and Grant (cited in Grant and Gomez, 2001) posit five approaches: (1) teaching the exceptional and culturally different, (2) human relations, (3) single-group studies, (4) multicultural education, and (5) education that is multicultural and social reconstructionist. The first approach fits students into the existing social structure and culture. Based on students’ learning styles, this approach accommodates exceptional or culturally different students by using strategies and culturally relevant materials that otherwise may be used in a pull-out program for students with special needs. The second approach aims at assimilating individual students into the dominant verbal and practical activities of the classroom and encourages instruction that includes collaborative and cooperative learning among students. The third approach is based on a separate teaching of knowledge about a particular group both to its members and to others. In the fourth approach, aimed at promoting social equality and cultural pluralism, curriculum is organized around the contributions and perspectives of different cultural groups. Proponents of this approach also advocate the staffing of schools with a diverse population and encourage both the maintenance of students’ native languages and multicultural acquisition for all students. Extending the previous approaches and supporting education for everyone, the fifth approach promotes social and structural pluralism, involves students’ active and democratic decision making, prepares educators to make both the formal and informal curriculum developmentally appropriate and culturally authentic, and supports the idea that effective classroom management is based on a teacher’s knowledge of self, students and their families, and communities. The Nature of Multicultural Education 95

Folk Pedagogy, Ethnopedagogy, and Multicultural Education

Keeping in mind the different viewpoints and approaches on the notions of education, pedagogy, and upbringing across cultures, this chapter will inquire into another triad: folk pedagogy, ethnopedagogy, and multicultural education. Multicultural education is closely related to folk pedagogy and ethnopedagogy. The idea of folk pedagogy, with a notion of pedagogy as an amalgam of teaching and upbringing, has over centuries been a focus of conceptualization and implementation on the other side of the Gulf Stream, especially in the Russian educational tradition. The idea of ethnopedagogy has been a focus of research in Russia since the early twentieth century. Folk pedagogy, a most ancient phenomenon of human culture, has been developed and perfected along with the development of humanity. Scrupulously guarding the sparks of intellectual and moral wisdom and transmitting to successive generations the achievements of human thought, deeds, and human relations, folk pedagogy has led humanity through the steps of growth. Folk pedagogy represents a complex of interrelated notions, ideas, and viewpoints, as well as habits and techniques of education, which are common to all peoples (Akhiyarov, 2000). Akhiyarov postulates that the advantages of folk pedagogy over the ar- tificially created, emerging, and dying educational systems lie in the fact that folk pedagogy (1) leads a human being along the main road of universal values; (2) is based on complete properties of man and fully reflects the essence of man; and (3) is based not on the knowledge base of individual pedagogues but on the qualities peculiar to all human society. Vinogradov (cited in Akhiyarov, 2000) subdivides folk pedagogy into the following facets. Folk pedagogy (1) aims at developing a personality on the basis of ideas of kindness, beauty, and truth; (2) encompasses a clear methodological basis; (3) is continually being developed; and (4) is a self-governing system. As a life-conformable, nature-conformable, democratic, and humanistic pedagogy, folk pedagogy cannot be ignored, because ignoring the traditions of folk pedagogy leads to the decline of society and humanity (Volkov, 1999). Among the most renowned Eurasian scholars who have contributed and advanced the ideas of folk pedagogy, we can name the Swiss educator J. H. Pestalozzi; Czech pedagogue Y. A. Komensky; Bulgarian adept P. Noykov; Russian educators and scholars K. D. Ushinsky, L. N. Tolstoy, and V. A. Sukhomlinsky; Bashkir scholar K. S. Akhiyarov; and Chuvash educators I. Yakovlev and G. N. Volkov. Ethnopedagogy is a science that inquires into the realms of folk pedagogy. Volkov (1999) suggests that ethnopedagogy studies the empirical 96 Chapter Three experience of ethnic groups in educating and rearing children and the influence of moral, ethical, and aesthetic attitudes on indigenous values of family, kin, tribe, and nation. Ethnopedagogy explains folk pedagogy and suggests ways to use it in the contemporary era as well as collects and in- vestigates the historical experience of different ethnic and cultural groups. Volkov postulates that this science examines and inquires into:

the main pedagogical concepts of an ethnic group (child-rearing, self- education, admonishing, teaching, and reeducation) a child both as an object and a subject of education functions of education (preparation for work, development of moral and volitional features, intelligence, care for health, a sense of love of the beautiful) factors of education (nature, game, language, traditions, environment, arts, religion, an ideal model-a personality symbol, event symbol, and idea symbol) methods of education (explanation, persuasion, exercise, advice, sug- gestion, request, hint, vow, promise, sermon, repentance, interdic- tion, and punishment) means of education (proverbs, tales, riddles, legends, myths, traditions, etc.) organization of education

The objectives and principles of folk pedagogy and ethnopedagogy are potentially embedded in the entire spectrum of ideas, objectives, and principles of multicultural education. One of the primary goals of multicultural education is to explore and analyze folk pedagogical traditions and learning styles of different ethnic groups. In other cases, multicultural education uses the outcomes of ethnopedagogical research-onducted in different societies and ethnic collectives-to address the diversity of students. Ethnopedagogy as a concrete science is related to multicultural education as a part to a whole.

Diversity of School Environments and General Strategies of Multicultural Education

Before examining possible multicultural strategies and approaches, it is reasonable to examine the diversity textures of different school environments. From the perspectives of this investigation, it is possible to subdi- The Nature of Multicultural Education 97 vide contemporary secondary schools into at least six types. Institutions with monoethnic (monolingual)student populations. Such educational institutions may be located in ethnically and linguistically homogeneous societies and settings and can contain both talented and low-achieving students, students from both wealthy and low-income families, students with different religious beliefs, as well as students with alternative behavior and health. Students in such schools may include children from the dominant culture, such as Anglo- Saxon students in the United States and Australia or students of Rus- sia ethnic backgrounds in the Russian Federation, and children from minority cultures who do not possess the official or dominant language. Such schools may be located in both urban and rural settings. Institutions with multiethnic (multilingual) learning groups. Schools of this type may function in ethnically heterogeneous nations (Russia, the United States, Afghanistan) as well as in relatively homogeneous nations (Japan, Greece). Such institutions may encompass students from different ethnic, cultural, immigrant, achievement, social-class, religious, and exceptional groups and may be located, depending on the country, in either urban or rural areas.

These two types of educational institutions are common in many contemporary societies. In addition, there are elementary and secondary schools (or single classes within a school) oriented, owing to circumstances, toward realizing specific objectives related to a particular type of diversity, such as language, ethnicity, exceptionality, religion, academic capabilities, socioeconomic dimensions, or demands of a rural situation. Such orientations may concern one or more schools within a school district. Educational institutions under consideration can be classified as follows:

Institutions for exceptional students and students with learning and behavioral problems. Despite a widespread trend to include exceptional children in mainstream classes, some children need additional and special nurturing and must be placed in special schools. There are a variety of special institutions, ranging from schools for pupils suffering from learning and behavioral problems to institutions for the pro- foundly handicapped. These institutions are usually attended by children of different ethnic, racial, language, social class, and religious groups from neighboring communities as well as remote locales. Among such schools that I have visited during my professional career, De Splitsing, a school for "difficult" students in the town of Emmen, the Netherlands, made an especially deep impression on 98 Chapter Three

me. I have never seen such a favorable pedagogical and psychological climate between the educators and their exceptional students as I happened to witness in De Splitsing. Teacher-student interaction rests on the principle of tolerance and mutual understanding. The school implements an educational project for early and very early school leavers who suffer from learning and behavioral problems. An essential goal is to guide young people back into regular education by means of help, relief, supervision, and education. Should this not appear feasible, the educators guide the students in the direction of the labor market. De Splitsing cooperates with the Youth-Work- Guarantee Organization, the Center for Professional Orientation and Professional Practice, and other job centers.

Institutionsfor gifted children. Elite schools and classes are set up to educate children with special cognitive and intellectual abilities who outstrip their counterparts in academic and creative performance. Globally, there was great emphasis on investigating the phenomenon of giftedness from the 1960s through the 1980s. U.S. educators, for example, inspired by the government, intensified the investigation of this phenomenon in the early 1960s to use the intellectual potential of the youth for the nation’s further progress. After Americans were staggered by the successful launching of the first Russian Sputnik in 1957 and the first manned spaceship in 1961, the following joke became popular: “We should immediately study physics and mathematics, otherwise we shall all have to learn the Russian language” (Asmolov and Yagodin, 1992). Concerning elite educational institutions, scientists and educators across the world are not unanimous. On the one hand, organizing such schools is complimented; on the other, others argue that placing talented learners into elitist environments violates the rules of educational and personal equality and equity.

Urban and rural institutions. The first chapter examined the advantages and disadvantages of rural and urban schools as well as rural and urban cultures. The conclusion was reached that the strategies of rural and urban education and rural and urban residents’ lifestyles vary more or less distinctly. Below, this chapter presents a possible typology of Russia’s schools, keeping in mind that these characteristics may be familiar to, and arouse the interest of, educators in the United States and other countries. Rural schools of Russia can be classified according to the following criteria: - Separate/joint functioning. There are rural schools proper and The Nature of Multicultural Education 99

schools attached to other institutions-kindergartens, agrarian technical schools, art schools, and the like-forming a joint educational institution.

- Staff sufficiency. Some rural schools are well staffed and do not lack teachers. Others, especially in remote regions, experience teacher shortages.

- Monocultural/multicultural enrollment. Many schools are attended by monocultural (monolingual) students. In multiethnic settings, children from diverse cultures sit in one class.

- Curriculum content. The majority of rural schools offer the standard curriculum content. Other schools, located in regions with dense farming communities, organize agrarian classes. Still others infuse the curriculum with religious content. Religion-oriented schools are quite new, and fairly rare, entities for contemporary Russia. Some rural priests open tiny religious schools in their own houses.

- Financing. The overwhelming majority of rural schools are fi- nanced from the state budget and completely depend on it. Some schools build their own budget in addition to the state-provided funds and are proud to be known as financially independent institutions. - Public/private. Standard elementary and secondary schools in rural Russia are public, state-funded educational institutions. Pri- vate schools, as new entities, are not numerous. Some parents venture to home school their children and decide that the advantages of such an approach outweigh the disadvantages.

- School district inclusion. Some schools enroll children only from the village where the school is located. This is the case if a village is a rather large settlement and located far from other populated areas. Other schools enroll boys and girls from neighboring rural communities as well.

- Settled-permanent /nomadic-mobile. The existence of mobile schools in Russia’s Siberian and eastern regions as well as in other countries prompts people to call standard schools ”settled.” - Mainland/island location. In the northern and eastern parts of the country, some rural schools are located in island settlements. Mainland residents often call these institutions l5nsular schools.” Conversely, people inhabiting island villages are accustomed to 100 Chapter Three

labeling schools located in continental Russia as mainland schools or ”schools on the big land.” Institutions with a bilingual-bicultural learning public. Such institutions function in the countries represented by (1) majority (numerically large) and minority (numerically small) segments of population such as the United States, Russia, Romania, and Sweden (for example, by Hispanics in America, Chuvashes in Russia, Hungarians in Romania, and Finnish in Sweden) and (2) two or more ethnic (racial) groups whose languages have more or less equal status in the nation (Cana- da, Switzerland). Like any other elementary through secondary schools, educational institutions with bilingual student populations may encompass students from different social class, gender, religious, academic achievement, and exceptionality groups and be located both in urban and rural areas. For example, in Russia, such schools function mainly in rural areas with stable, ethnically homogeneous, non-Russian populations. In urban centers, which in Russia tend to contain ethnically heterogeneous students, bilingual schools are organized according to special programs designed for educating students of non-Russian descent who are enrolled in such schools from the nearest community, as well as from remote areas. The next chapter will be devoted totally to the issues of bilingual education with a multicultural perspective.

General Strategies

Further considerations rest on an important premise about the impossi- bility of designing an ideal multicultural approach capable of fitting each educational institution in all societies, even though some basic multicultural content, approaches, and strategies may be relevant in all classrooms across all cultures. Basing our inquiry on the conceptual frameworks presented in the previous section and having in mind the specificity of different types of educational institutions, we can move to supporting two major approaches in multicultural education: the universalistic (multicultural-education-for-all) approach, aimed at addressing members of all ethnic, linguistic, gender, social class, and exceptionality groups in a given academic group (classroom, school, etc.); and the particularistic approach, also directed at meeting the needs of all students but primarily those of a particular ethnic or cultural group in specific circumstances, that is, in a specifically organized environment (in a bilingual school, a school for exceptional students, a rural institution, etc.). The Nature of Multicultural Education 101

Multicultural-Education-for-All Approach

In schools with monoethnic-monolingual student populations, a multicultural-education-for-allapproach can be appropriate. In such institutions, a greater emphasis should be placed on studying the cultures of racial and ethnic groups residing in neighboring communities and larger sociogeographiclayers. Learning to view the surrounding reality from the perspectives of other cultures, comparing alien viewpoints with their own, and developing, on this basis, a positive and tolerant attitude toward other cultures, religions, and lifestyles become major objectives in educating students in such institutions. Infusing the didactic process with global knowledge and universal values becomes another important goal. Other diversity variables such as gender issues, religion, social class, exceptionality, and age also represent a focus of prime attention. Children with physical handicaps (but who are mentally normal), mainstreamed with normal children, require special treatment. The teaching staff and other school personnel need to change their attitude toward the children with handicaps. Other students should find themselves in a prestigious position helping physically impaired children in the school, community, and elsewhere. In return, the physically impaired children would be crucially motivated to interact with their mainstream peers and feel full members of both the school community and a wider society. Students with cognitive disabilities (but who are able to study in a standard school) also need delicate nurturing. In many Asian, African, and Central and South American countries, especially in rural areas, students with covert and relatively overt signs of mental retardation often sit in one mainstream class. The lack of specialists capable of diagnosing and treating such children aggravates the situation. Nevertheless, educators are morally obliged to work with students with psychological problems in mainstream conditions, for it is virtually impossible to place all students showing minor signs of mental and learning retardation in special schools. Students from low-income families and immigrant minority groups need the school and district authorities to offer them definite favorable terms-for example, reduced prices for meals, for using public transportation, and for buying necessary textbooks, learning aids, and computers. Schools represented by multiethnic and multilingual student populations also require a universalistic or multicultural-education-for-all approach, given that special attention needs to be drawn to the cultures of various ethnolinguistic groups represented in the classroom. This task entails a wide range of strenuous efforts on the part of the teacher, who has 102 Chapter Three to be knowledgeable about the essence, historical background, and folk pedagogical traditions of the students from different ethnic backgrounds. Development of positive attitudes toward other lifestyles and customs remains an important task in multiethnic collectives. In addition to these objectives, other issues of diversity-gender, social class, exceptionality- require equal attention. With the consent of students and parents, different courses may be designed for representatives of definite ethnic groups within the school-for example, the German language courses in Hol- land’s schools with a relatively large number of German-born students, or the Finnish culture studies in Sweden’s schools that include Finnish student populations.

Education of Excqtional Children with a Multicultural Perspective Unfortunately, in spite of medical progress, a small number of children are born blind or deaf, with missing or deformed limbs, with hereditary HIV infections, with disorders such as Down’s syndrome, phenylke- tonuria, and galactosemia. These days there is a growing and unanimous understanding among governments, educators, and parents that each child and teenager with exceptionalities has purpose, absolute intrinsic worth, his or her own distinctive personality, a right to dignity, and a right to develop his or her potential. When the goals are set for creating a multicultural curriculum, in addition to the formal pedagogical and correctional strategies designed for exceptional students, programs may contain courses for certain ethnic, religious, or gender groups. Students would be interested to attend various clubs, circles, and societies as well as various extracurricular activities. Educators working with exceptional students are expected to consider their ethnic and cultural interests with a greater attention, scope, and enthusiasm than those working with normal students. Education of exceptional students requires alternative educational programs, depending on the form and degree of the children’s handicaps, and qualified teaching and working personnel. Hearing-impaired children have to learn to lip-read and to use sign language, to adapt and adjust to novel surroundings. It becomes important for them to participate in activities with hearing children from different ethnic and cultural groups. Evidence indicates that hearing-impaired children are rather friendly and make up strong informal groups of their own, follow clothing fashions, and prefer frequenting some favorite places (parks, cafes, and restaurants) where their cultural groups assemble at an appointed time. Interethnic interactions among them are stable and unstrained. Vi- sually impaired children also require special educational strategies. Chil- dren who are blind from birth have fewer psychological problems be- The Nature of Multicultural Education 103 cause they live in an alternative, light-free world, while a child whose eyesight failed later in life has myriad memory pictures. It is important for educators to provide blind students with abilities to understand and see the surrounding reality through hearing, tactile, and sense analyzers. Many children and adults suffering from physiological problems succeed in creative and professional activities, equaling or even surpassing their peers who do not have such problems. For example, such are the blind musicians Stevie Wonder of the United States and Salavat Niza- mutdinov and Diana Gurtskaya of Russia. One of the greatest presidents of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was formerly stricken with poliomyelitis, led the country in difficult times of depression and World War 11 and was elected to a fourth term in 1944. More difficult is the case with children suffering from cognitive and mental ailments. Educators are required to possess pedagogical tolerance and understanding in dealing with mentally retarded children and their parents. Mental retardation may be caused by hereditary factors, overuse of medicine, certain illnesses (such as German measles) and biological accidents during pregnancy, a child’s brain injury while being born, etc. A large number of cases are due to unknown causes. Meanwhile, it is necessary to note that individual human capacity cannot be measured at each given moment. We all change, especially at a younger age. Owing to efforts of educators, medical personnel, parents, and society, a great number of exceptional children change dramatically with time and join the ranks of the mainstream society. Broadribb and Lee (1973) conceptualize a child’s mental development as a ladder to be climbed. An intelligent child climbs high, an average child gets perhaps halfway, while a child with retardation is able to reach the first or second rung, ”but it is the same ladder for all” (216). Better support is needed for families having children with cognitive disabilities. In this situation, every parent goes through a period of guilt and self-recrimination (Roll-Pettersson, 2001). Some parents with such children pass through phases as in the adaptation-mouming model, while others experience incidents and events that they perceive as critical and difficult. Dmitriyev (1999) cautions educators against using the wrong terminology while interacting with exceptional students and their colleagues in the presence of students. Educators should avoid using phrases that equate students with their physical and mental condition (”blind,” “deaf,” “confined to a wheelchair,” ”idiot,” “fool,” ”crippled,” ”invalid,” ”neurotic,” etc.). Such words additionally draw a child’s attention to his or her disabilities and, each time, have a psychologically negative affect on personality formation. Instead, educators may say a “child with alternative eyesight,” a ”child with alternative hearing abilities,” etc. Using the phrase ’/normal child” might also be hurtful to children with exceptionalities, for 104 Chapter Three this statement implicitly reminds them of the existence of abnormal children, among whom they number themselves. Calling negative attention to some ethnic and racial features will be twice as hurtful for exceptional children as for their mainstream peers. Educational institutions should collaborate on behalf of gifted children with disabilities, who represent a special category of children with alternative mental and physical health. To accept the challenges of educating such students, it becomes necessary to provide assistance and care from central and local governments, teacher training institutions, experts in gifted education, parents, and the community (Radaszewski-Byrne,2001; Little, 2001).

Education of Gifted Children with a Multicultural Perspective The goal of reaching the ethnocultural needs of all students is also important in the education of gifted children with a multicultural perspective. There are relatively few institutions for educating talented and gifted students. Selective processes often occur within a school environment where academically advanced learners are placed in separate classes. For example, some secondary schools in Russia, hoping to advance their educational status to gymnasium or lyceum levels (in Russia, a gymnasium or lyceum is a secondary educational institution that provides a higher level of education), open gymnasium and lyceum classes for high-achieving and talented girls and boys. Newly organized classes have special programs and sustain close linkages with higher institutions. Within a certain period of time schools with such classes may become institutions enjoying full rights of gymnasia and lyceums. One such gymnasium, which I have recently visited, is located in Yanaul, a small town in northern Bashkor- tostan, Russia. In addition to the subject areas offered in all Russian secondary schools, the curriculum of the academically advanced classes in this gymnasium includes advanced-level courses in mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, Russian literature, and foreign languages. These courses are taught by visiting professors from higher pedagogical institutions. The qualified teaching staff put into practice effective instructional methods, ensure full accountability for the accomplishment of the mission and objectives of student education, and promote the development of each student’s talent through collaboration with families, psychologists, medical personnel, and faculty of higher institutions who guarantee highest expectations, individual success, and professional orientation. Many questions arise in this situation. If all goes well with talented, well-behaved, and high-achieving students in the specially selected classes, what about the students in the remaining classes? Do they feel psychological discomfort interacting with their talented and prosperous The Nature of Multicultural Education 105 peers? Do they consider themselves as belonging to a ”low academic layer”? Is such stratification beneficial for personality development of both elite and conventional groups of students? These and similar questions have been on the agenda for decades, and they will probably torture educators’ minds in the years to come. A teacher working with gifted children is required to work closely with their parents in developing and fostering the creative potential embedded in gifted children (Haensly, 2001). It is important to know that gifted children’s learning styles may differ from those of nongifted children, as shown in Chan’s (2001) study. Chan investigated the learning styles of 398 gifted and nongifted Chinese secondary students. Dimensions of preferred learning activities for all students included factors interpretable as learning through verbal interaction, learning by role-playing, and learning by doing. Gifted students showed much greater preference for learning styles related to interpersonal verbal exchange and autonomous (individual) learning. It was also noticed that gifted rural students might have different attitudes toward various aspects of schooling than their urban and suburban counterparts. Investigating differences in attitudes toward classroom activities among rural and urban/suburban gifted students, Gentry, Rizza, and Gable (2001) noticed that rural elementary students found their classrooms less interesting and challenging but more frequently enjoyable than their urban and suburban peers. Rural middle school students reported less challenge and less enjoyment than their suburban counterparts.

Rural Education with a Multicultural Perspective Rural schools require rural education strategies with multicultural perspectives. The term ”rural education” cannot be categorically opposed to urban education, because in both urban and rural schools educators use virtually the same curricula and programs. In a sense, the overall category of rural education has emerged out of historical necessity. Rural education has always played a significant role in ameliorating the life of rural communities, enhancing the agrarian-sector economy, and establishing an atmosphere of mutual understanding between different ethnic and cultural groups. It has been so in the United States, China, India, Russia, Japan, Congo, Senegal, Brazil, Costa Rica, and other countries. For example, in Russia, with a specific urban-rural milieu, it is abundantly clear to any insightful citizen that the decline of a rural school at a particular village leads to the decline of the village itself, with all the subsequent consequences (Sinagatullin, 2001a). Ermolaev (1991) notes:

The fate and future of the land that feeds us all, the fate of peasantry, villages and the rate and quality of social development depend on our long- 106 Chapter Three

suffering rural schools; and, lastly, if we close this sequence of interconnect- ed chain, the prosperity, or, on the contrary, the poverty and backwardness of our nation also depend on rural schools. (14)

The word ”rural” is often associated with the notions “uncultured,” ”illit- erate,” and “backward” in the minds of some urban students and even teachers. Sadly, biased attitudes toward rural reality are global and surface even in societies with less pronounced rural/urban differences. Re- garding the United States, Herzog and Pittman (1995) say (as cited in Sinagatullin, 2001a):

Click on your thesaurus, when your cursor is on the word ’rural’ and see what you find. Our computers listed ’provincial,’ ’uncultured,’‘unrefined,’ ’hinterland,’’backward,’ and ’forsaken’as synonyms for ’rural’. For ‘urban,’ the thesaurus listed ’civic,’ ’civil,’ and ’cultured’. Over time, such connotations have a way of becoming the norm. (38-39)

The list of similar quotes can be longer. The whole range of rural/urban diversity overtly and covertly affects educational issues. This chapter will briefly examine some pluses and minuses of rural and urban education, emphasizing that both rural and urban educational institutions undoubtedly reflect and shape the economic and sociocultural infrastructure of local communities and whole societies. Rural schools are in a favorable position for a number of reasons. As schools and classes are normally small, greater individual attention can be paid to each learner. Parent participation in school life and activities is easier to obtain, for teachers are relatively close to parents. Educators are challenged by the possibility of organizing a variety of extracurricular activities. Rural children and teenagers are traditionally more diligent and industrious and possess higher moral and physical characteristics. At the same time, rural schools typically experience teacher shortages and information deficiency and lack sufficient funding. Rural teachers are often compelled to teach a variety of subjects, build mixed-age groups of pupils, and solve a lot of out-of-school problems. Busing, successfully functioning in certain countries, such as the United States, is only a dream in others. The advantages of urban schools can be attributed to their closeness to the overall cultural, informational, and entertainment infrastructures, as well as access (not always!) to a better formal education that can be acquired by a persistent and hardworking student. The disadvantages of urban education can be attributed to all the existing negative factors common to metropolitan areas. Urban schools, colleges, and universities may be plagued by cases of drug addiction, juvenile delinquency, organized crime and violence, teenage pregnancy, venereal diseases, parental abuse, The Nature of Multicultural Education 107 different forms of mysticism and false religions, and school dropouts. Some students are not doing well in school attendance and completion. The number of deprived children from impoverished single-parent families is growing rapidly. Urban schools are normally large institutions. Cushner, McClelland, and Safford (2000) contend:

The larger a school is, the more impersonal it becomes, the less chance there is for the school to become a community and more students will ”fall through the cracks.” Nevertheless, for financial reasons, the consolidation of small schools is a major trend in the United States. Finally, most people seem attracted to the idea of bigness-a big football team, a big band, a big choir, a big building. (15)

In a modern, rapidly changing world, the accents can change their places, and what may be applicable and considered a norm in most rural schools may not be applicable, at certain periods of time, in some other rural institutions. A rural education that is multicultural should consider the peculiarities of rural culture and lifestyles, specific sides of the mentality of people working on the land, and socioeconomic aspects of rural life, in addition to other diversity variables (ethnicity, language, religion, gender, exceptionality). In fact, educating rural students is the realization of one of the important objectives of multicultural education, an objective that requires taking into consideration rural diversity and rural culture, which in many contemporary societies differ much from urban diversity and urban culture. These differences may not be antagonistic on the sociocultural level, but in some countries rural educators confront problems that their urban counterparts do not. Despite some differences on the socioeconomic and ethnogeographic levels, the problems rural educators encounter have much in common in different parts of the world. Therefore, the foregoing recommendations for educating rural students may be, to a significant extent, considered in countries with more or less marked rural-urban diversity. In addition to a multicultural-education-for-all approach that can be implemented in a standard rural school, rural schools necessitate that teachers (1) have a positive attitude and strive for the values concerned with rural education and rural settings, (2) possess a specific knowledge base, and (3) have professional skills necessary to effectively teach and rear rural children. In the domain of attitudes, rural teachers are required to add to their professional expertise the following characteristics (Sinagatullin, 2001a):

A positive attitude toward working and living in a rural setting. A teacher‘s professional duty and the so-called inner call should 108 Chapter Three

constantly summon him or her to settle in the countryside and contribute to enhancing rural education and sociocultural life. Respect- ing the historical heritage as well as increasing the contemporary welfare of the local community is another important mission of a rural educator. Rural teachers are expected to be proud of being a part of the prestigious teaching profession and of doing a noble job in the countryside.

An understanding of the concept of democracy and how to apply it in rural schooling. This objective becomes extremely important in Russia and other formerly autocratic countries. Many educators are inclined to underestimate democratic principles, whereas others go overboard in putting them into practice in the classroom and teacher- parent relations.

A good understanding of the concept of pluralism in human society, a task that is equally important for any multicultural teacher. Because of growing migration, the ethnic structure of rural settings is becoming increasingly a mosaic. With the changing structure comes a novel undertaking for rural teachers: they must help young people perceive and interpret human behaviors and social situations from different cultural and ethnic viewpoints. Teachers and students must come to realize that human diversity is a normal part of sociocultural life.

In addition to basic curriculum knowledge, rural teachers must possess a specific knowledge base to better teach and interact in the school and the immediate community (Sinagatullin, 2001a).

Acquaintance with, and knowledge about, the rural community. Knowing the rural community’s ethnic and cultural structure, socioeconomic problems, the concept of what a good community is and how to strengthen it, the role of the rural school in bettering the sociocultural atmosphere in the rural setting-all these factors add to teacher efficacy and ameliorate teacher-parent and teacher-community relationships.

An expanded, supplementary knowledge base about the country and the world and its multicultural makeup in addition to basic professional erudition. Most of the recreational and sports institutions (museums, libraries, bookstores, movie houses, clubs for children and teenagers, international youth organizations, fitness centers, and sports arenas) are located in metropolitan areas. Any urban student can enjoy any of these ”luxuries.” This is not an easy task for a rural The Nature of Multicultural Education 109

student, because villages have very few such ”splendors” or none at all. Rural students are often deprived of visiting such institutions. Despite access to computers and related technology, rural students depend more on teachers for knowledge, information, and direction than their urban peers. Therefore, a rural teacher, as a valuable-and, often, the only-source of information in an impoverished educational setting, should be much more knowledgeable about the world than his or her urban counterpart.

The rural teacher is also required to possess necessary skills. The attitudes and knowledge components are linked to and affect the skills‘ component of teachers’ professional competency (Sinagatullin, 2001a).

A rural educator must inspire students with love for the native land and indigenous culture. Both teachers, especially newcomers, and students should thoroughly learn about the rural community and its ethnocultural heritage. The more students understand their community and its needs, the more they are likely to stay in, or return to, their native place and take over their parents’ professional activity. A rural teacher must use and benefit from the positive factors of the school and rural infrastructure. It is commonly known that most rural residents remain patriots of their culture, customs, and farm- land. They also help each other in everyday life; sustain native cultural traditions; value their ethnicity, language, and cultural heritage; and respect teachers. Unlike their individualistically minded urban counterparts, rural students are usually good collectivists and do not shy away from physical labor. An observant teacher should take into consideration and make use of these and other favorable factors in child-rearing practices A rural teacher is expected to design and implement required techniques and strategies in working in small and mixed-age classes. For example, in small classes, consisting of three to five students, teachers are required to more frequently change from one task to another and pay more individual attention to each learner. Different-age rural classes, which are traditionally organized at the elementary level, pose a real challenge to teachers. For instance, if a class consists of one first- and two second-grade students, the teacher needs to be prepared to teach each grade and, during the lesson, skillfully switch from one grade level to the other. When needed, the teacher is also expected to ask an older student to render academic assistance to a younger one. 110 Chapter Three

In the twenty-first century, education in rural areas offers a real challenge to a thinking multicultural teacher. It is transparently clear that rural communities and the rural school contain many important values that will keep individual societies and the entire world strong and pros- pering in the years to come. Sustaining rural education and rural communities in good order must be a sacred goal for contemporary policymakers, governments, and educators.

Summary

This portion of the book has been devoted to some questions related to the nature of multicultural education. Initiated by the civil rights movement in the United States, the idea of multiethnic, multicultural, and intercultural education spread into many countries, from Canada to New Zealand, a land with a unique human diversity. Since the mid-l980s, the concepts of multicultural education have been making a corresponding impact on Russian education. From a methodological perspective, a search for the golden mean between the national and the international, the national and the universal, the national and the global, the indigenous and the cross-cultural, the multicultural and the global is a prime goal of multicultural education. The categories of the multicultural and the global should be incorporated within one overarching continuum, which, in this investigation, is called by one phrase: multicultural education. A multicultural teacher is confronted with an eternal objective of the unending integration of the multicultural with the global. In multicultural education, an ideal harmony between the multicultural and the global will never be reached. This objective embodies great challenges and opportunities for curriculum makers and educators committed to multicultural, intercultural, and global (international, cross-cultural) education. Multicultural education, necessitated by changing demographics, socioeconomic polarization, rise of ethnocentrism, changes in urban and rural styles of life, and growth of children with alternative health, is often erroneously associated solely with race, ethnicity, and language. Other important variables such as religion, social class, exceptionality, and gender are usually inexcusably thrown overboard. This state of affairs should be changed if we want to create a multicultural education that addresses all students and all their needs and problems. This chapter has sought to show some dimensions and approaches to multicultural education and has come to the conclusion that existing approaches do not yet effectively foster major goals and principles of quality and unbiased education for every student. An education that is multi- The Nature of Multicultural Education 111 cultural is expected to utilize the rich arsenal of folk pedagogical traditions of different cultures and the results of ethnopedagogical inquiry. The ideas of multicultural education can be realized in both standard and special schools (or classes), such as schools for exceptional students, schools or classes for gifted learners, etc. In educational practice, two major approaches to multiculturalize the curriculum are used: multicultural-education-for-all and particularistic. The former is aimed at meeting the ethnocultural needs of all students and can be used in any standard monoethnic or multiethnic school. The latter, also aimed at addressing the ethnocultural needs of all students, is directed at fulfilling the expectations and demands of a particular group. An education that is organized in such specific environments is called ”education of exceptional students with a multicultural perspective,” “bilingual education with a multicultural perspective,” etc. The pages to follow will focus on bilingual education from a multicultural perspective. As this is a salient issue and requires a deeper analysis, more space will be devoted to the discussion of this phenomenon. This Page Intentionally Left Blank 4

BiI i ng ua I Education with a Multicultural Perspective

In stable ethnic and language minority communities, it is easier to implement the ideas of multicultural education through bilingual education. Implementing bilingual education that also incorporates a parallel study of the minority and majority cultures provides an essential framework for effective implementation of the ideas of multicultural education and is an important part and a strong beginning of multicultural education. Bilin- gualism is associated with bilingual education as multiculturalism is related to multicultural education. This chapter begins by focusing on bilingualism.

Bilingualism as a Sociolinguistic Phenomenon

It is estimated that half of the world’s population is, with different degrees of proficiency, bilingual. As the population in most of the countries is becoming more bilingual and multicultural, the significance of bilingualism is growing rapidly. Even though bilingualism has been widely and exhaustively investigated and discussed, myriad puzzles are still unsolved (Lambert, 1977; Zakiryanov, 1992; Romaine, 1995; Wei, 2000; Mackey, 2000; Meisel, 2000; Ozerk, 2001).

The Notion of Bilingualism Many attempts to characterize or define this phenomenon have been undertaken by scholars and researchers in the fields of linguistics, psychology, language learning and teaching, and language planning.

113 114 Chapter Four

Bilingualism is ”complete mastery of two languages without interference” (Oestreicher, 1974: 9). “Bilingualism is not an all-or-none property, but an individual characteristic that may exist to degrees varying from minimal competency to complete mastery of more than one language” (Hornby, 1977 3). Bilingualism is the ”possession of two languages or a literary language and its dialect” (Prokhorov, 1989: 138). ”Bilingualism is not a phenomenon of language; it is a characteristic of its use” (Mackey, 2000: 26). Hamers and Blanc (2000) distinguish between bilingualism and bilinguality. The notion of bilingualism refers to the state of a linguistic community. Bilinguality represents the psychological state of a person who has access to more than one linguistic code.

There are reasons for these and other attitudes toward bilingualism and related issues. Language is an essential part of human culture, and language use is part of human behavior. A state of dual language usage is far from being readily accessible to investigation and research. Because bilingualism is a multidimensional and interdisciplinary phenomenon, experts from different academic fields bring different assumptions, criteria, and approaches in dealing with bilingualism using definitions that best suit their fields of inquiry and research aims. In most cases, scholarly approaches to bilingualism are centered around three controversial issues: (1) the degree of an individual’s proficiency in both or one of two languages; (2) the role and place of parents or a parent in the development of a person’s ability to express himself or herself verbally; and (3)the possibility of considering a person bilingual if he or she possesses two varieties of the same language. As far as the degree of proficiency is concerned, it is unrealistic to say that a bilingual person must always be proficient in two languages. The stumbling block is the very word ”proficient.” If this notion refers to all language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), it is easy to come to the conclusion that not many people exposed to two languages are fully proficient in all four skills in both languages. There are quite a lot of people from minority language groups who cannot read or write in their native and second languages but who are very fluent in oral language skills (listening and speaking) in both languages. If we consider only school graduates’ dual-language competence in defining bilingualism, there should be two definitions, one for educational purposes and another encompassing all the common people. Hoffman (1991) admits Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 115 that the definition of bilingualism as an individual’s proficient possession of two languages “expresses a perfectionalist and maximalist view”(21). In many, if not most, regions of the world nonfluent bilinguals outnum- ber fluent ones. In this respect, the nonfluent second-language user may be a more typical, if not ideal, representative of bilinguals (Segalowitz and Gatbonton, 1977). Regarding the degree of proficiency, it is better to consider minimal and developmental, rather than maximal and static, characteristics of an individual. Being bilingual always means becoming bilingual, not just being a ready-made (static) two-language holder. Even the best dual-language users are in the process of maintaining, bettering, or losing their skills in the use of one or both of the two languages. However, within a school context, it becomes important to encourage the strong definition of bilingual proficiency, that is, it is necessary to strive to develop strong skills in both the first and second languages (Col- lier, 1998~).Referring to public school programs in the United States, Col- lier maintains that all of them are directed to developing full proficiency in English. To reach a deep level of proficiency in English as a second language, it is also important to reach a sufficient level of proficiency in the first language. Second, the two languages a person possesses need not necessarily be inherited from parents or a parent. A large number of people in the world do not speak the mother tongue at all, but they are proficient in some other two languages. For example, in Russia, some Buryat, Kalmyk, and Yakut young people possess Russian and a foreign language that is included in all school curricula, but they are not even slightly proficient in their native language. Some Native Americans born and raised in the urban areas of Florida, New Mexico, and Arizona are competent in Eng- lish and Spanish, but they neither speak, understand, read, nor write in their indigenous languages. Third, a person possessing two varieties of the same language can hardly be considered bilingual. (When two varieties of a language exist side- by-side throughout the community, with each having a definite role to play, the term ”diglossia” is often used in scientific literature.) Admitting the contrary viewpoint is simultaneously acknowledging the fact that all or almost all people in the world are bilingual. It so happens that most individuals in any society use, with various degrees of acceptance and competence, at least two varieties of a language. For example, in Baghdad the Christian Arabs speak the general Baghdad dialect, Muslim Arabic, when talking in a mixed group, but when talking among themselves they speak a Christian Arabic dialect (Ferguson, 2000). A rural schoolteacher, for example, can use a local dialect of his or her native language with family and community members and the literary version of the language in commu- 116 Chapter Four nicating with students and colleagues. Any researcher writing a scholarly manuscript must use the scientific style of language, which may differ significantly from the style used by the same researcher in everyday communication. There are situations in which diglossia obtains whereas bilingualism is generally absent, and situations where bilingualism obtains whereas diglossia is generally absent (Fishman, 2000). Diglossia without bilingualism was present, for instance, in pre-World War I European countries where the elites used to speak French or some other fashionable language for their intragroup purposes, whereas the masses spoke the national language, such as German in Germany or Russian in Russia. Since the majority of the elites and the majority of common people rarely interacted with each other, they did not represent a single speech community, and their linguistic repertoires were too narrow to permit widespread societal bilingualism to develop. Bilingualism without diglossia occurs under the influence of different sociocultural and economic circumstances, such as rapid social change, social unrest, and widespread abandonment of previous norms before building new ones. For example, disturbed by the massive dislocation of norms and values in host societies, immigrants who used two or more varieties of their native language formerly kept apart may obtain a ”new” native language represented by these interven- ing varieties. This new language is formed under strong influence of the former varieties on each other phonetically, lexically, semantically, and even grammatically. Thus, immigrants gradually start using this ”generalized” language as well as the language of the host society. It is my opinion that a bilingual is one who possesses oral language (listening and speaking) or more skills in one language, which is likely to be a person’s native or first language or the dominant language in a society, and one or more skills (listening, speaking, reading, or writing) in any other language to an minimally adequate degree. This concept of being bilingual excludes proficiency in all skills, and the dominant language is not necessarily a person’s native language. Hence, this definition is mini- malistic with respect both to the degree of proficiency in two languages and to the number of language skills. At the same time, it reflects the developmental spirit of being bilingual.

Typology of bilingualism Bilingualism can be classified according to a wide range of criteria. For example, Wei (2000) differentiates between thirty-seven varieties of bilinguals. Only some of the possible classifications are presented here.

Oflcial/oflcial-unoflcial. Official bilingualism, which does not coincide with the actual distribution of bilingualism, is represented in many coun- Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 117 tries. Among them are Canada with French and English as official languages; the Republic of Chad, with French and Arabic; Finland, Finnish and Swedish; Haiti, Haitian Creole and French; India, Hindi and English (associate official); Ireland, English and Irish (Gaelic); Kenya, Swahili and English; and Madagascar, Malagasy and French (McGeveran, 2002). A state of possessing an unofficial language in addition to fluency in an official language can be referred to as official-unofficial bilingualism. For instance, the ability of any non-Russian citizen of the former Soviet So- cialist Republics to possess both the native language and Russian can be referred to as official-unofficial bilingualism. In these newly formed states, the language of the indigenous nations automatically became the sole official language; Russian, in turn, immediately turned into an unofficial vehicle of communication.

Minority-mujoritylmujority-minority. When an ethnic minority member possesses the language of a majority population or a language widely spoken in the country (not necessarily official), we deal with a minorital- majorital bilingualism. It is the main type of bilingualism in many Euro- pean countries. For example, in Russia, the term "national-Russian bilingualism'' is frequently used to describe this type of bilingualism (Zakiryanov, 1992). If a representative of a majority ethnic group is able to communicate in the language of some minority culture, we deal with a majorital-minorital bilingualism. This is a case in point, for example, when a U.S. citizen of European descent can speak the language of a Na- tive American ethnic group, or when a UK citizen of Anglo-Saxon origin can converse in Hindi or Urdu.

FoWeZitist. Folk bilinguals often come from a linguistic minority, and sometimes from oppressed linguistic majorities (in Third World countries), whereas elite bilinguals are usually highly educated, and some part of their education may be in foreign languages, which they may use nationally (Skutnabb-Kangas, 1981). One of the best examples in this regard is probably the Russian aristocracy of the nineteenth century. Most adults and children from aristocratic families learned and used French in addition to Russian.

VoZuntaryJorced. Many people decide to learn a second language vol- untarily, but some people are forced to learn a second language for economic, educational, or prestige reasons. In this context, the term "forced" refers primarily to a person's inner intentions. Today, an individual is unlikely to be constrained to learn another language by physical force or against his or her will, as was the case in the late nineteenth century when Native American children attending boarding schools specially designed 118 Chapter Four for them were forced to learn and use exclusively English. The use of their native tongue was forbidden under threat of corporal punishment (Fuch and Havinghurst, 1973).

NaturaZ/school/culturaZ. Skutnabb-Kangas (1981) holds that the term ”natural bilingualism” is used in reference to people who have learned two languages without formal teaching, in the course of everyday life. School bilingualism is the result of learning a foreign language at school by formal teaching. Cultural bilingualism largely coincides with school bilingualism, only this term is more often used to refer to adults learning a “foreign language for reasons of work, travel, and so on” (95-96).

RuraZ/urban. In some countries, there is a noticeable distinction between urban and rural bilingualism in terms of language proficiency. For example, in some remote parts of rural Russia, a sizable number of ethnic minority members are more proficient in their indigenous languages and less fluent in mainstream Russian. In urban areas, the reverse is true; some minority members are stronger in Russian and less competent in their native tongue.

InternaZ/internaZ-external. When a person possesses any two languages spoken within the boundaries of one and the same state (country), the person’s ability may be considered internal bilingualism. We deal with internal-external bilingualism when an individual possesses a foreign language in addition to the first language.

Inherited/inherited-achieved/achieved. Inherited bilingualism is transmitted to children in ethnically diverse families, from both parents. A child inherits both parental languages either simultaneously or sequentially. There may be inherited-achieved or partially inherited bilingualism, when one language of a bilingual child is parental, the other is acquired elsewhere. We deal with achieved bilingualism when a person possesses two languages that have not been inherited from either parent. For example, when a person of Chinese ethnic background who lives in the United States is proficient in English and Spanish but cannot converse in Chinese, this is a case of achieved bilingualism.

SimuZtaneous/sequential.This is a widely used subdivision of bilingualism showing the manner of the development of dual language quality in a person. An individual can learn two languages either simultaneously or sequentially. Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 119

EarZy/late. One can become bilingual at a very early age-for example, by inheriting the parental minority language and achieving fluency, at the same time, in the majority language (or inheriting two parental languages in a linguistically heterogeneous family). Another person can grow into a bilingual at a later age having been exposed, before that, only to one language. A considerable number of immigrants of the first generation become late bilinguals, because they learn or have to learn-for various reasons-a host language at a later age, after settling in the host country. There can be early simultaneous and early sequential bilingualism. Late bilingualism is always sequential.

Proficient/nonproficient. As far as proficiency is concerned, at least three types of bilingual individuals may be identified. A bilingual person can be proficient in both languages (balanced maximal proficiency), nonproficient in both languages (balanced minimal proficiency), and proficient in one language and nonproficient in the other (dominant proficiency in one of the two languages). Among non-Russian citizens of Russia-who are mostly bilingual, possessing with varying competence, both the mother tongue and Russian- the weakest point is their pronunciation habits in the second language. Many rural-born adult bilinguals, even those who have moved and lived in urban areas for a long time and frequently conversed with people of Russian descent, have an accent that is extremely difficult and often impossible to eradicate.

Receptive/productive. People who can understand, and possibly read, the minority language are called receptive or passive bilinguals; those who can talk, and probably write, in both languages are called productive or active bilinguals (Dopke, 1992).Characterizing bilingualism from such a perspective is reasonably logical.

Secular-reZigiouslsecuZar. A considerable number of bilinguals in the world use one of the two languages for religious purposes. For example, a great number of Tatars in Russia were baptized after the Kazan Khanat on the Volga River fell to Russia in 1552. Since those times, the Tatars who were converted to Christianity have been using Russian for both secular and religious purposes (for reading the Bible and performing other sacred duties and obligations) and Tatar only for secular purposes. Other dual- language speakers use both languages for purposes not related to belief in a supreme being. Their ability to possess two languages for materialistic, earth-bound objectives can be referred to as secular bilingualism. 120 Chapter Four

Consequences of Bilingualism

A particular bilingual person may maintain her state of being bilingual, “1ose”one of the languages and shift into a new type of bilingualism, become monolingual, or become trilingual. A bilingual individual may use two languages all her life without full loss of any of the two. In this respect, an individual can increase or decrease proficiency in one of the two languages or in one of the languages. A bilingual may lose one of the two languages and acquire, instead, another language. A linguistic change of this kind often occurs during the school years. For example, in Russia, some Bashkir children who move permanently to areas with a large Tatar population fail to maintain the Bashkir language and gradually shift to fully using Tatar. In so doing, they shift into another state of bilingualism requiring them to use Tatar and Russian, instead of their former bilingual state when they used Bashkir and Russian. A person competent in two codes of communication may gradually become monolingual. For example, an individual may lose the mainstream language and return to fully using the mother tongue when a society gains independence. After the former Soviet republics became self-governing countries, many children and teenagers of local ethnic origin began to exclusively use their mother tongue without referring to the former mainstream Russian. In other cases, minority members speaking the native and mainstream languages can lose their native language and drift to functioning totally in the mainstream language. For instance, within the last thirty to fifty years, many representatives of Evenki, Khanti, Itel- men, Nogai, Saomi, and Selkup nationalities have lost their mother tongues and shifted to fully using Russian. A great number of people from these ethnic groups have adopted Russian as their native language. For example, over 50 percent of the Selkups claim Russian as their mother tongue (Kazakevitch, 1996). In this respect, it is worthwhile to remember Ruiz’s (1995) prophetic statement: ”For minority communities, bilingualism is often a transitional state between monolingualism in the indigenous language and monolingualism in the language of wider communication” (77). Language loss is especially fast in South America. The major factors leading to language loss in this part of the world are economic and cultural. Almost all languages, except for Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, Dutch, and Kechua, are exposed to these two factors (Lizarralde, 2001). And finally, a person competent in two systems of spoken and written discourse can become trilingual or quadrilingual if he starts to converse naturally or begins learning intentionally any third or fourth language. On the social level, bilingualism may be subject to the following changes: both languages may undergo definite changes, one language Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 121 may replace the other, or a new language can be formed from the contact of the existing two languages. Both languages may undergo certain changes phonetically, grammatically, and lexically. For example, the Ossetic language, which belongs to the Iranian group of languages, has borrowed phonetic characteristics from the Dagestanian languages spoken around it. Many changes may occur in terms of vocabulary. For instance, English borrowed many words from French when French was the official language in England (Raskin, 1972). One of the two languages may endure greater changes, whereas the other may be subject to slight linguistic alterations. One of the two languages may completely replace the other. After Christopher Columbus opened a new continent for Europeans and many Spaniards began to settle on new lands, most Native Americans in Cen- tral and South America began to acquire Spanish, staying bilingual for some period of time; then gradually Spanish replaced Native Americans’ indigenous languages. In the same manner, Portuguese replaced most of the indigenous languages in the territory of modern Brazil. In a situation of dual-language contact, a new, blended language can emerge, such as a creole language. Appel and Muysken (1987) state that a ”creole language is a language that emerged when the pidgin had acquired native speakers”( 175). A creole language contains the qualities of something like ”bilingualism within one language” or ”woven bilingualism.” Creole languages predominantly exist in the Caribbean, West Africa, and on some of the islands of the Indian Ocean.

The Politics and Models of Bilingual Education

There are many written and unwritten approaches to language use, language planning, language education, and bilingual education that are used in the countries where different languages are used. This section will deal with language policies, language rights, and models of bilingual education.

Language Policies A language policy normally is part of a country’s bigger policy. Lan- guage policies have been an important means through which many countries have attempted to respond to linguistic and ethnic diversity. Kodron (cited in Lynch, 1986) differentiates six patterns of such responses:

Neglect of the language and culture of the minority group in formal schooling ( e.g., Frisian in Germany); 122 Chapter Four

Neglect of language as part of the normal school system, but with lip-service to culture and opportunity to use school premises on a paid or unpaid basis for voluntary instruction (e.g., Kurdish in Ger- many). Differential treatment of school and home language, with home language sometimes being dealt with as an extended foreign language or used for a few hours a week (e.g., Italian in French schools). Bilingual instruction up to a certain age limit, with the school language gradually taking over and the home language relegated to an inferior position (e.g., Welsh in the United Kingdom). Realization of the territorial principle in countries with more than one national language (e.g., Switzerland and Belgium). According to this principle, the regionally dominant language is taught in school, but another national language (or languages) is a compulsory first foreign language. Bilingual instruction throughout the school life of the child and sometimes an opportunity to sit for several national qualifications or an international qualification (e.g., in European schools, as well as in UNESCO and international schools).

Many contemporary nation-states need effective support from govem- mental and educational structures in conceptualizing and implementing language policies. For example, the United Kingdom urgently needs a national policy framework designed to promote appropriate language policies that could ensure that the linguistic needs of all children are met (Lamb, 2000).

Language Rights. Language policy is closely related to the notion of language rights. As with language policies, language rights often exist as a component of other, larger rights. For example, the Francophone minority in Canada is guaranteed the right not to assimilate and the right to maintain difference. In addition to entitling citizens to federal government services, Canada provides indigenous and immigrant minorities with subsidies for linguistic maintenance. The United States has tended to resist such nonassimilationist policies (Crawford, 2000). The language rights of linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples, especially educational language rights, play an invaluable role in supporting and maintaining linguistic and cultural diversity, and through them, biological diversity (Skutnabb-Kangas, 2001a). The most important factor for the maintenance of languages is their intergenerational transmission. Skutnabb-Kangas contends: Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 123

If children do not get the opportunity to learn their parents’ idiom fully and properly so that they become at least as proficient as their parents, the language cannot survive. As more children get access to formal education, much of the language learning that happened earlier in the community must happen in schools. (404)

Skutnabb-Kangas (2001b) maintains that basic linguistic human rights for maintenance of linguistic diversity are not protected by the present pro- visions in human rights law, and today languages are dying faster than ever before in human history. Skutnabb-Kangas acknowledges that, in a hundred years‘ time, 90 percent of world’s oral languages may be dead or moribund, that is, no longer learned by children. An individual who came from a home where a language other than English is spoken is referred to as a ”language minority person (student)” in the United States. This large language minority segment of American society includes a wide range of patterns of language proficiency. Some language minority students are fluent both in their native language and in English. Until recently, students who are monolingual in the home language or possess some English proficiency but are still more fluent in their home language were referred to as limited-English-proficient students. This term has recently been criticized for its negative connotations. It has been argued that the use of the term ”limited” concentrates on what children cannot do rather than what they can do and that it implies a bias against non-English-speakers as being less able in using English than English-speakers. Many educators have begun to use the more neutral term “English-language learner.” As language and culture are thoroughly intertwined, language minority students are almost by definition also culture minority students (Ovando, 1998a).

The Situation with Languages Other than English until the 1960s. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, contrary to commonly held current beliefs in the United States, other languages were used as languages of instruction in U.S. schools. For example, during the second half of the nineteenth century, non-English-language or bilingual instruction was provided in some form in some public schools. For example, German was taught in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Ne- braska, Colorado, and Oregon; Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish in Wis- consin, Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wash- ington; Dutch in Michigan; Polish and Italian in Wisconsin; Czech in Texas; French in Louisiana; and Spanish in the Southwest (Collier, 1998a). In the late nineteenth century, there were increasing demands for the assimilation of all immigrants into one linguistic and cultural lot. A new influx of immigrants between 1900 and 1910 added to this push for English- 124 Chapter Four dominant homogeneity. Schools began to “Americanize“ immigrants. In the 1920s, restrictive immigration laws were created against Europeans and Asians. Because of the decrease of immigrants, second-generation immigrants stopped using their indigenous languages, and bilingual education programs ceased to exist in U.S. public schools until the mid-1960s (Collier, 1998a; Crawford, 1995a).

A New Infrux of Bilingual Instruction. The first new bilingual program in the United States was begun at the Coral Way Elementary School in Dade County, Florida, in 1963. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the school designed a model that used Spanish to teach Cuban children. The successful implementation of this program led to the establishment of other bilingual schools in Florida and other states. Following Florida’s example, Texas began to use some bilingual instruction in schools. In the late 1960s bilingual education was practiced in thirteen states in fifty-six locally initiated programs, the large majority of which were Spanish-English programs. The development of a bilingual model in Florida was only one of the factors that ignited bilingual education at that time. The other two factors were a rise of Hispanic political influence and the civil rights struggle (Collier, 1998a; Griego-Jones, 2001; Ruiz, 1995). The first federal Bilingual Education Act (BEA) was enacted in 1968. Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the act became title VII of the Elementary and Sec- ondary Education Act (Crawford, 2000; Collier, 1998a).

The English Only Movement and English Plus. By the mid-1970s, the first political backlash was generated against bilingual education. Some people warned that if bilingual education promoted minority languages and cultures, it might promote the development of Quebec-style separatism within the country. Considering these and other concerns, in 1978 the U.S. Congress voted to limit title VII support to transitional bilingual programs. In 1981 Senator s. I. Hayakawa proposed a constitutional amend- ment declaring the English language the official language of the country. Two years later, Hayakawa helped to found an advocacy group, U.S. Eng- lish, to conduct a campaign for official English and against bilingualism in public life. This step was the beginning of the English Only movement. This movement had negative political effects on the overall picture of bilingual education in the United States. English Only fervor developed in the period of increasing linguistic and cultural diversity and increasing anxiety about demographic change. Nativist lobbies began agitating for strict quotas on legal entrants (Collier, 1998a).Despite the increasing multilingual population in schools and efforts to further promote the ideas of bilingual and multicultural education, the English Only policy is gaining momentum in U.S. schools (Roy-Campbell, 2001). Bilingual Educafion with a Mulficulfural Perspective 125

While the English Only movement was under way, its opponents ral- lied around a campaign known as English Plus. According to this policy, bilingualism is not considered a problematic issue but a resource that can help the United States progress on the national and international levels. As the world becomes more interdependent, the government must promote learning languages other than English through programs oriented toward developmental bilingual education (Collier, 1998a).

Foreign-Language Teaching and Learning. Unlike the situation in Euro- pean countries and Russia, the issues surrounding foreign languages and foreign language teaching have always represented a weak point in U.S. schools. One attempt to attend to these issues was made by the National Defense Education Act of 1958, which provided federal money for the expansion of foreign-language teaching. The Cold War mentality of that period and the launching of the first satellite by the Soviet Union in 1957 increased the need for the United States to compete for international status and power. This step, however, did not resolve two conflicting philosophies that persist to this day. First, the government has recognized the need to develop foreign-language instruction for improving relations with other countries, for economic development, and for national security purposes. Second, by insisting on the exclusive use of English, schools continue to encourage the loss of a natural resource that new immigrants bring to the United States. Many newcomers who enter school do not have access to classes taught in their indigenous languages. Most of the bilingual programs are based on transitional bilingual education, which is traditionally offered for two or three years. After this period students normally function exclusively in English (Collier, 1998a). Foreign language is a strong medium for promoting multicultural awareness (Martin, 2000). In the context under discussion, it is timely to remember what Archer (1958) said concerning learning foreign languages. ”The study of a foreign language,” he notes, “enriches the study of all other subjects and contributes to better understanding of other peoples’’ (125). Despite certain resistance to Western agendas and to learning English as a foreign language in Asian, African, and Latin American countries, the role of English in globalization and intercultural communication tends to mean that English dominates other languages (Phillipson, 2001). But from a humanistic perspective, even though English is an international language permitting people communicate cross-culturally, the ability to communicate with people in other countries requires the use of another language, that is, the language of a host society. Infusing the educational process with a foreign language and foreign culture may also significantly contribute to both human rights and citizenship education (Byram and Guilherme, 2000). 126 Chapter Four

Models of Bilingual Education

Bilingual programs take on different forms across the United States (Griego-Jones, 2001). Basically, a bilingual program is one that includes the following characteristics (Ovando, 1998a): (1) the continued development of students’ native language, (2) acquisition of the second language, which is English for many language minority students, and (3) instruction in the content area using both first and second languages. Each bilingual program or model includes numerous other variations, and many names have been given to different programs in bilingual/ESL (English as a second language) education.

Transitional Bilingual Education. Transitional bilingual programs provide students with instruction in their native language in all subject areas along with instruction in English. The students’ indigenous language is used for instruction until they have acquired a certain level of English proficiency. At this time they are moved from bilingual programs into monolingual, English-only classrooms. In the United States, transitional bilingual education was the main model for bilingual schooling in the 1970s and 1980s. In practice, transitional bilingual programs are generally perceived as re- medial and as another form of segregated education that has had limited success in advancing academic achievement (Collier, 1998a).

Developmental Bilingual Education. Also called maintenance or late-exit bilingual education, developmental bilingual education provides students with content-area instruction in both English and their native language. Instruction in two languages is provided either throughout students’ school career or for as many years as the school can afford. For example, in the 1970s and 1980s, the large majority of such programs were for grades K-5 or grades K-6 and were not continued at the middle or high school levels (Collier, 1998a).

Two-Way Bilingual Education. Two-way bilingual education, also called bilingual immersion or dual-language education, requires that speakers of both languages be placed together in a bilingual class to learn each other’s language and work academically in both languages. This model was developed in Canada in the 1960s and was designed for majority language students to receive their education through both English and French from kindergarten through grade 12. One form of maintenance bilingual programs is called early total immersion or the 90-10 model, according to which 90 percent of the school day (for kindergarten and the first grade) is in the minority language. The majority language is introduced in grade 2 or 3, and the time using this language increases until the Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 127 curriculum is taught equally in both languages by grade 4 or 5. This model is gaining popularity, especially in California and Texas. Another form, called the 50-50 model, presupposes the use of half of the instructional time in English and the other half in the minority language for grades K-12. In both forms, the percentage of instruction in each language is planned and the principle of maintaining separation of languages is observed (Collier, 1988a).

ESL and ESOL. As an important part of all bilingual programs, ESL or ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) programs provide learners with access to the academic curriculum taught from a second-language perspective. The most implemented and, at the same time, most expensive and least effective form of ESL is the ESL pullout program. Stu- dents lose time from the full curriculum and have no access to primary- language schooling to keep up with academic advancement at each grade while learning English. Some students assume that the language they learn represents a problem to be remedied. Another form is called the ESL content program, recognizing that both English and academic content should be taught together. This content model becomes very effective when delivered by a specialist in second-language acquisition who clearly has both the English language and content objectives in each lesson (Collier, 1998a).

Bilingual Education Including a Foreign Language. There are also bilingual programs that incorporate a foreign language as a medium of learning and subject area instruction. For example, such dual-language instruction is practiced in the Netherlands in some high schools and universities, which, in addition to using Dutch as a language of instruction, teach Eng- lish and also some subject areas in English. I was amazed at how proficient some Dutch students were in English and how they could use this language in studying different subject areas.

Second-LanguageLearning. Research on bilingual education and second- language instruction over the last three decades indicates the following:

Second-languageacquisition cannot and should not stand apart from learning the culture of the people natively speaking the second language (Collier, 1998c; Ovando, 1998b; Kenneth, McClelland, and Saf- ford, 2000).

Second-language acquisition, intentionally and unintentionally, entails and involves studying cultures and historical heritages of other peoples as well as the overall issues of global education. 128 Chapter Four

Listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in the first language may be transferred into learning the second language (Sinagatullin, 1983; Crawford, 1995a). For example, a student who can concentrate attentively while listening to a speech in the native language will likely be able to attentively focus on a speech in the second language. If a student is a slow speaker in the first language, he or she will likely speak in the same manner in the second language. Some early learners of a second language tend to construct the second language on the basis of formerly learned experience, and many errors of second-language acquisition are often of the same type that committed during the acquisition of the first language (McKeon, 1994). Early childhood is not always the ideal time to start learning a second language. Contrary to the popular myth that young children always learn a second language faster than adults, older children and adults, whose proficiency in the first language is more fully developed and who are more mature cognitively, acquire cognitively demanding aspects of the second language faster than younger children. The one area where older learners do not have an early advantage over young learners is pronunciation (Collier, 1998b). Older second-language learners also possess better memory-storage abilities and better abilities to weave together the systems of meaning in the first and second languages (Vygotsky, 1991). A strong area of influence of the first language on the second is pronunciation (Collier, 199813). Some students who receive greater access to or start learning a second language at a later age often retain the accent in the second language for a long period. As was mentioned, some rural-born citizens of Russia (despite their prolonged stay in urban centers and regular practice in Russian) are unable to get rid of their accent and, often, of some grammar mistakes for the rest of their lives.

A Glance at Russia: A Language Policy for Students from Non-Russian Ethnic Backgrounds

There has been no ample evidence that, within the last two to three decades, some of the people from non-Russian nationalities of Russia have been marginalized or ostracized. But there is something wrong going on as far as the entire ”language atmosphere” is concerned. This Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 129 chapter will examine the entire language situation in Russia’s bilingual areas, portray how language subjects are taught in bilingual schools, depict the contours of a three-language policy that is conceptualized and implemented in ethnic-minority settings, and concentrate on some essentials that are necessary for language teachers who are expected to encourage and foster this language policy. As was mentioned in chapter 1, the term ”minority” is very seldom used in Russian with reference to people from non-Russian ethnic and language groups. As this term is frequently used in Western countries and elsewhere and is not usually associated with bias, I sometimes use this term with reference to both Russia and other multiethnic countries. In all the cases, I mean the numerical aspect of the notion of minority.

The Language Situation Language is an essential component of culture, the most important means of human interaction and of uniting people into one ethnic group. ”When the native language ceases to exist,’’ notes the great Russian scholar Ushinsky (1954), ”the nation disappears too. A nation deprived of ethnic values can reestablish them; but if it is deprived of its native language, it will never be able to revert to its use again” (290). This means that language is not merely a universal vehicle of communication between people but also a means of preserving and transforming culture from one generation to another. Language reflects a people’s heritage, historical experience, and accumulated knowledge. Unfortunately, not all the existing languages in the world will be preserved in the future. Although the phenomenon of language loss is not acute in Russia and some other countries, the threat to linguistic resources is recognized as a worldwide crisis (Crawford, 199513). Ethnic minority (also language minority) individuals in Russia possess, with different degrees of competence, both the native tongue and Russian and may be considered bilingual. Bilingualism is densely represented in Russia’s multiethnic and multicultural areas. Russia includes twenty-one autonomous republics. Some of them boast three to five or even more minority ethnic groups. The most multiethnic republic is considered the Re- public of Bashkortostan, which has more than ten nationalities. Histori- cally dominant cities such as Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Ekaterinburg, even if located in areas with a largely Russ- ian population, have been becoming more and more multiethnic and multicultural within the last fifteen to twenty years. Having this mosaic picture in mind, one can only agree that the problem of bilingualism and related questions are considerably important in the territory of Russia 130 Chapter Four where a lot of ethnic groups are intertwined in geographic, socioeconomic, and sociocultural relations. What characteristic traits are increasing with languages in Russia? What is the real language atmosphere in Russia’s multicultural regions like? In the twenty-first century, at least two tendencies are observed in this respect. On the one hand, a great number of non-Russian young people are losing touch with their mother tongue, national culture, and historical traditions and are shifting exclusively into using the Russian language. According to Russian sociologists, this deviation is often referred to as ”self-hatred.” For example, my interviews of 164 ethnic minority university students in Rus- sia indicate that only 51 respondents can read and write in their mother tongue and only 38 students can recollect a minimum number of facts from their ethnic historical heritage. On the other hand, a reverse process-revitalization of the native language and culture-is also on the increase. In re- vitalizing and restoring the national heritage, language and culture become unsurpassed and matchless symbols for certain members of minority societies. This tendency, often emerging as a reaction to suppression of culture and language, sometimes promotes the rise and strengthening of ethnocentric intentions. Language revitalization-the imbuing of an already existing language with new life and vitality-should not be confused with the phenomenon of language revival and language reversal. Language revival denotes the bringing of a dead language back to life. Language reversal concentrates on cases when a language moves back into use. It is important to understand that the cause of preservation, protection, and development of language as an important vehicle of communication should not be the responsibility only of linguists and language teachers but also of local, regional, and federal authorities. The absence of adequate pedagogical and societal support results in worsening language norms and language culture.

Language Literacy and Language Proficiency In the autonomous republics and other territories represented by ethnic and language minority populations, the ethnic minorities’ language literacy and the quality of language instruction in schools leave much to be desired. Some bilingual school graduates do not have good command of their mother tongue. Most minority graduates who finish rural schools cannot speak Russian fluently. The weakest point of students’ language abilities-both in their native language and in Russian-are habits of writing. Only some of the young girls and boys who receive the secondary school certificate can comprehend, speak, read, and write in a foreign language as required by the school curriculum. The situation with foreign languages is still worse in rural schools. On the other hand, rural Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 131 bilingual students’ proficiency in their native language is generally supe- rior to that of their urban counterparts, because in rural settings children have greater opportunities to use their native language in everyday communication. Throughout Russia four foreign languages are mainly taught in secondary schools: English, French, German, and Spanish. Spanish is mostly taught in larger metropolitan centers. Within the last decade, as Russia has improved economic contacts with Turkey, China, and Arabic countries, in some regions Turkish, Chinese, and Arabic have increasingly penetrated into school curricula, mostly in the form of optional courses (Sina- gatullin, 2002). As for Arabic, before the 1917 October Revolution, it had been taught in all of Russia’s Muslim areas. After the revolution, instruction in Arabic was banned, but until the 1930s writing in the native languages of Muslim ethnic groups was based on the Arabic script. According to the bilinguallmonolingual criterion, there are four types of schools (or classes) in Russia: (1) “pure bilingual” schools in which representatives of only one non-Russian ethnic group study (such schools are mostly located in rural areas); (2) “mixed bilingual” schools where learners of more than one minority nationality sit in class; (3) “bilingual-monolingual” schools attended by children from one or more non-Russian ethnic groups as well as children of Russian descent who are traditionally monolingual; and (4) ”monolingual” schools attended by children of Russian origin only. Historically, the modem territory of Russia has been an ancestral land to all the people from non-Russian ethnic backgrounds who have interacted with each other using mainstream Russian. There- fore, almost all non-Russian young, middle-aged, and elderly people can, to a certain extent, converse in Russian and are bilingual to varying degrees. The exception is a growing number of urban youths who, under the influence of various circumstances, try to ignore and consequently get rid of their native language, culture, and national roots. Ethnic minority citizens learn Russian as a second language in a natural way, using it in school practice and everyday communication from childhood. Russia does not experience a problem with immigration to the same degree as, for example, the United States. Consequently, Russia hardly has ethnic and language minority citizens with zero knowledge of the Russian language. The refugees who now return from the Newly Independent States mainly are people of Russian nationality who do not need to be specially taught Russian to join the mainstream culture. All these returnees are fluent in Russian, because Russian was the official language in those republics throughout the Soviet Union’s existence. On the other hand, many citizens of Russian descent are monolingual with the exception of those ethnic Russians who, owing to close social and professional contacts with members of a certain non-Russian ethnic groups or to parental influence 132 Chapter Four

(in ethnically mixed families), managed to learn the language of another ethnic minority group.

The Language Policy Since the 1920s, Russia (and formerly the Soviet Union) has come to understand the need for an equitable language policy on the federal level for the children of non-Russian ethnic groups. It has come to understand that this nationwide language crusade should involve not only the languages spoken within the borders of Russia but also those spoken outside Russia, that is, languages related to international interests. According to this policy, each pupil from a non-Russian language background is expected to be taught and be proficient in at least three languages: the student’s mother tongue, Russian, and one (or more) foreign languages. This unwritten policy on language literacy has been important in a multilingual Russia. The realistic socioeconomic and ethnic picture of present-day Russia does not permit labeling this policy as a ”bilingual policy” or even the ”politics of bilingual education” because it deals with more than two languages and is designed to address both domestic and international perspectives. This language policy for ethnic minorities is part of the country’s overall policy toward non-Russian citizens. There is no document adopted on the federal level where this policy is written, but it is being designed and implemented in all autonomous republics and national regions. It means that school districts and educational institutions understand that not a single language of the three mentioned should be dropped from the curriculum while teaching ethnic minority students. Even though the entire language situation and the quality of language acquisition in multiethnic settings have a wide range of problems, this language policy has traditionally favorably addressed the ethnolinguistic and cultural needs of minority members of the society. Today, when Russia looks forward to establishing a common socioeconomic area within the country and entering the European and world economic markets, the need for such a policy is twice as great. The nation cannot do without such a federal course with reference to the ethnic minority population that constitutes around one-fifth of Russia’s entire population. This policy must be applied to all non-Russian students who are tomorrow’s brains and a large part of the nation’s workforce. In the specific multicultural, geographic, and economic conditions under which the minority communities live, (1)the indigenous language stands as a means of ethnic unity and verbal communication, a vehicle of economic and cultural contacts within the area where the ethnic community is located; (2) the second language (Russian) represents a mighty means of socioeco- Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 133 nomic and cultural interactions and a means of unity and interethnic communication across the country (the Russian Federation); and (3) the foreign language (or languages), along with Russian, is a vehicle of communication and consolidation on the global level, as well as a tool for economic linkages with other countries. Each of the three languages is bound to play its role and promote its own level of communication. Each is expected to foster the development of mutual understanding and help solve vital and novel problems human societies face nowadays. Even though it is not easy to design and implement this policy with reference to all minority members at once and throughout Russia, much has already been done in implementing this three-language paradigm in schools with students from non-Russian ethnic backgrounds. Language- policy makers and curriculum designers as well as language teachers also understand that this policy should concern minority students of Russia at an early age. Russian has been a dominant language in the territory of Russia for centuries. It is a historical reality. There has been no reason for selecting a second official language. In a huge country such as Russia, with so many ethnic communities, Russian-language proficiency is and will remain valuable for all ethnic-minority members (Formanovskaya, 1988). With the era of democratic changes, it has become easier for Russian teachers and students (as well as people of all walks of life) to communicate with people from other countries. For this reason, English, which has long held an international status, is of primary importance to most people in Russia. In many countries, English is spoken as the official language, in others it is a second unofficial tongue. For Russian citizens, English is a means of communication both with foreign visitors to Russia and with other people outside Russia’s borders. As a foreign language, English, especially the American version, is becoming a dominant language among other foreign languages taught in elementary, secondary, and higher schools. English transcends Russia’s borders through the mass media of movies, television, magazines, journals, books, music and through economic channels. Some Americans might be unaware that their native language has gradually gained the status of number-one language in the world. Also, many people in English-speaking countries might be unaware that for some of young people in Russia and other countries, receptive and productive proficiency in English offers an opportunity for socioeconomic success, either in the home country or abroad or on both sides of the border. Therefore, English-Russian dictionaries and English language study books with all the supplementary materials are quickly sold out in Russia’s bookstores. Although the English language classes are rather expensive, people are 134 Chapter Four motivated to attend them. Despite the impact of English on Russia’s educational institutions, instruction in other foreign languages is encouraged in schools, colleges, and universities. For a person of Russian descent, learning a minority language has always been considered optional. However, in some republics with a high percentage of minority members, it becomes important from sociocultural and economic perspectives for people of Russian nationality to possess the language of non-Russian people. For example, in the Republic of Tatarstan, the status of the Tatar language is constantly growing as the language of the media and everyday communication. More importantly, Tatar is rapidly becoming a business language. This means that proficiency in it is becoming an asset to a growing number of young businessmen of Russian ethnic background who inhabit Tatarstan. There are similar situations in other autonomous republics of Russia and in other countries. For example, in metropolitan Miami, Florida, Spanish is a second unofficial language, with English being the dominant and official means of communication. As Spanish grows rapidly as a business language, the ability to converse both in English and Spanish in the socioeconomic sphere becomes a cultural and economic asset with an international perspective (Fradd, 1996). It means that not only are Hispanics required to be proficient in mainstream English, but also people of Anglo-Saxon origin are expected to be proficient in Spanish. Today, it is becoming impossible to avoid one omnipresent truth the issues of language learning and language use are becoming more and more related to workforce development and economic globalization.

Professional Competency of the Teacher

The language teacher has a great responsibility for implementing bilingual education programs and for implementing the ideas and concepts of language policies in bilingual and multilingual societies. What is required of the language teacher who, along with other teaching personnel, is obliged to provide the essentials of a bilingual education with a multicultural perspective? This section will discuss some requirements for the teacher who is responsible for working with language minority students and promoting developmental bilingual education.

Language Expertise The language teacher is required to be proficient in and able to teach both the native language of students and the mainstream language. As Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 135 language minority students need positive role models, it is important that teachers with such dual-language qualifications be native speakers of the minority students’ language. This dual preparedness is ideal not only in schools providing transitional or developmental bilingual education but also in educational institutions implementing two-way bilingual education. Such dual-language preparedness is preferable to other forms where each language is taught by a separate language teacher in small and rural schools with language minority student populations. Some small rural schools, both in the United States and in many other countries, have no parallel classes. Classes in such schools are sometimes so small that teachers are constrained to conduct lessons in one mixed-age class, having combined several tiny classes. It stands to reason that in such learning environments it is not beneficial for one small bilingual school to hire two language teachers, one for teaching the students’ native tongue and the other for teaching the mainstream language. Schools that implement bilingual education programs can benefit from hiring teachers who are able to teach both target languages. This broad language qualification of one teacher cannot be limited exclusively to dual-language proficiency. The reader knows from the previous discussion that the language policy implemented in Russia’s bilingual and multicultural settings requires that each child from minority language background learn the native language, Russian, and at least one foreign language. Keeping in mind this three-language policy, some of Russia’s colleges and higher pedagogical institutions integrate their curricula with programs aimed at preparing language teachers capable of teaching all three languages. One such program was designed and implemented in the 1990s in the Birsk State Pedagogical Institute’s Philological Faculty (a faculty in Russia is equivalent to a university’s college in the United States). The students graduating from the philological faculty were prepared to teach their native language (Tatar), Russian, and either English or German. The teacher educators proceeded from the assumption that the philological faculty graduates would be able to teach all three languages simultaneously to the same students in rural schools and classes with Tatar-language minority students. In other cases, apart from this ideal scheme, the young graduates could also teach two of these three languages or, at a minimum, one of the three languages in required circumstances. Analysis of the pedagogical experience of the philological faculty graduates has provided some remarkable insights. The ability to instruct Tatar students in three languages enables a language teacher, on a much broader and deeper level, as well as more easily and efficiently: 136 Chapter Four

to integrate the educational process with knowledge about the native culture of Tatar students, Russian culture, and the culture of the relevant foreign language. to more easily infuse the educational process with a wide range of multicultural and global knowledge. to effectively develop students' positive attitude toward alien cultures. to effectively develop students' positive attitude toward their own culture, language, religion, and historical heritage. to regularly observe, accurately evaluate, and correctly assess each learner's academic achievement in all three languages. to help students comparatively analyze phonetic, grammar, lexical, and stylistic elements in any two or all three languages. This technique develops, broadens, and enhances students' linguistic thinking. to carry out the positive transfer of a student's past linguistic experience into the learning process of another language. Similar sounds, grammar patterns, or vocabulary items in two or more languages need not be attended to very scrupulously if a teacher uses a positive transfer technique from one language into the learning of another. For example, there are a lot of possibilities to use this technique while teaching English as a foreign language to Tatar students. Strange as it may seem, this Turkic language and the geographically remote English language have quite a lot of common features. For example, the category of gender is not represented grammatically in either Tatar or English. In both English and Tatar, the adjectivized noun is a widely used grammatical phenomenon. For instance, the English "brick house" and "straw roof" are kirpich yort and solam toba in Tatar. In both languages the attributes in these phrases are expressed by adjectivized nouns. Also, there is no need to begin teaching the English vowel sound [ae], as in "can" or "ban," or the consonant [h], as in "ham" or "hundred," as absolutely new phonological entities, because the Tatar language has similar, almost identical sounds. It is easier, in all these cases, to resort to the technique of positive transfer from the Tatar language into teaching English. to prevent the negative transfer (or interference) from one language into the process of acquiring another. Some common language and speech errors that are very difficult to eradicate are the consequences of negative interference from a language a student had been exposed Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 137

to earlier. For example, Tatar students learning English commit many mistakes in the usage of prepositions and tense forms. The main source of such incorrect verbal utterances is the negative interference of stable habits from either Tatar or Russian, or from both languages. Russian and Tatar are synthetic languages, and what is expressed in these two languages by means of case and conjugation endings is de- noted in English with the help of word order, prepositions, and other grammatical or syntactical means. Traditionally, only three grammatical tenses are found in Tatar and Russian, while in English there are more than ten tense forms. These and other disparities lead to mistakes, most of which, if not prevented at early stages of instruction of certain patterns, with time become habitual.

Multicultural and Global Expertise A multicultural education requires the language teacher to possess, and infuse the pedagogical process with, knowledge about the minority culture, the mainstream culture, and the cross-cultural knowledge base. Like any teacher committed to the ideas of multicultural education, the language teacher is expected to provide students with effective culture instruction through his or her subject, that is, through language. In implementing bilingual programs, it is essential for a multiculturally and globally minded teacher to facilitate students’ understanding of the fact that being bilingual is not a static state. Bilingualism is shaped in different ways owing to a variety of historical, cultural, political, economic, environmental, linguistic, psychological, and other factors. As human societies progress, people’s attitudes toward bilingualism will also change. However, one thing is worth remembering: in the course of the development of human societies, despite the negative tendencies related to the loss of biodiversity, culture, language, and knowledge, more and more people will become bilingual, and bilingualism will persist as long as this multicultural and multilingual world exists (Wei, 2000). Educators and education policy makers in many countries have come to understand the necessity of integrating bilingual programs with ethnic, multicultural, and global content. Evidence indicates that such an understanding is gaining momentum not only in the United States and other English-speaking countries but also in other parts of the world. For example, such an understanding is growing in the largest and one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world, China (Qingxia and Yan, 2001; Xing, 2001)) especially in its most remote and mountainous region, Tibet, where bilingual programs incorporate the study of Tibetan and Chi- nese (Nima, 2001). 138 Chapter Four

Communal Concerns

A teacher responsible for implementing bilingual education with a multicultural perspective should take into consideration the cultural life of the outside community to which bilingual children belong. Communi- ty plays an exceptionally important role in learning and sustaining the indigenous language of bilingual children. The opinion of community members is also important in designing and implementing language policies. Integration of the teaching process with communal culture must become a common task of school and school district staffs as well as of local legislative and executive authorities.

Summary

The chapter has drawn the reader’s attention to the issues of bilingualism, language policy, and politics of bilingual education and the language policy that is implemented in Russia’s bilingual and multicultural settings. The reader has also learned how competent the teacher is required to be in order to work in a contemporary bilingual classroom. In the context under analysis, bilingualism is represented as a salient part of the categories of multiculturalism, bilingual and multicultural education. Bilingualism can be categorized into officiallofficial-unofficial, minority-majority/majority-minority,folk/elitist, voluntary/forced, natural/school/cultural, rural/urban, internal/internal-external, inherited/ inherited-achieved/achieved, simultaneouslsequential, early /late, proficient /nonproficient, receptive/productive, and secular-religious/secular. On the individual and societal levels, bilingualism can undergo various changes. Language policies and language rights are often intertwined with larger policies on the sociocultural and socioeconomic levels. This chapter has sought to briefly show some of the approaches to language learning as well as some trends in bilingual education in the United States from the early days of the nation’s history until the contemporary epoch. The bilingual education implemented in the United States takes on different forms and may be subdivided into transitional bilingual education, developmental bilingual education, two-way bilingual education, as well as ESL and ESOL as important parts of many bilingual programs. The underlying motivation for establishing bilingual programs is not only linguistic but also political, socioeconomic, and sociocultural. On the other side of the Atlantic, in a multicultural Russia, a bigger language policy concerning three languages is being actualized with reference to students from non-Russian ethnolinguistic backgrounds. Accord- Bilingual Education with a Multicultural Perspective 139 ing to this policy, ethnic minority pupils are expected to learn and use three languages: their mother tongue, Russian, and at least one foreign language. Such a threefold language policy, which is difficult to implement, is in line with both home and foreign interests of Russia. And finally, the chapter has provided some recommendations on the professional competency of the teacher responsible for implementing bilingual education with a multicultural perspective. An ideal bilingual program requires the language teacher to be proficient in both the native language of minority students and the mainstream language, to be knowledgeable in minority students’ and mainstream culture, and to possess global literacy and competency. This Page Intentionally Left Blank 5

Making the Curriculum Multicultural

Among the many subject areas included in the curriculum, this chapter will concentrate on social studies, health, and music education, all areas with which I have expertise. This is not to suggest that multicultural practice cannot be extended to other disciplines.

Multicultural Concerns in Social Studies Education

Traditionally, social studies includes national and world history, national and world culture, national and world geography, political studies, sociology, psychology, anthropology, neighborhood and community studies, culture and society, etc. The social studies curriculum reflects major sociopolitical, socioeconomic, and ethnocultural developments in the home society and the world (Zevin, 2000; Parker, 2001; Howard, 2001). In the educational systems of some countries, such as Russia and the Newly In- dependent States, elementary- and secondary-school subject areas are traditionally subdivided into the humanitarian disciplines, approximately equivalent to those of social studies in the United States, and the sciences, such as mathematics, chemistry, biology, zoology, physics, etc. Humani- ties in Russia also include languages and literature. In this book, I will use the term ”social studies” to describe the disciplines that are taught in Rus- sia’s schools and that are similar to those included in social studies in the United States. It means that languages and literature (traditionally included under the humanitarian subject areas in Russia) will be intentionally excluded here. Educators have hardly ever agreed on a common definition and goals of social studies education. Some educators argue that social studies education should transmit knowledge about the past (didactic goals); others

141 142 Chapter Five maintain that the information must be digested, analyzed, and applied in order to be useful (reflective goals); and still others want social studies to serve as an agent of social change and citizenship education (affective goals). These dimensions (didactic, reflective, and affective) grow out of daily school practices as well as disputes about educational theory and philosophy. Social studies may include virtually any topic-past, present, and future-related to human behavior (Zevin, 2000). Schools normally approach the existing goals of social studies by three subgoals: by transmitting, developing, and constructing knowledge; by developing attitudes and values; and by developing skills. For example, in the elementary- and middle-grade levels, U.S. students should know the following topics: (1)the history, geography, and culture of their neighborhood, community, and home state, as well as of the entire United States and the world; (2) the foundations and principles of democracy; (3) the laws and government of the community, state, and nation; (4) basic human institutions (the family, education, religion, economy, and the government); (5) human-environmental interaction; (6) current events in the home country and the world; and (7) gender issues (Parker, 2001). First, we will briefly trace the historical development of social studies education in the United States and compare it to that of Russia, a country that has been experiencing great changes in the development of humanitarian or social studies education within the last several decades.

A Short Historical Survey Banks (2001b) describes five major periods in the development of social studies education in the United States. The traditional, or prerevolution- ary, period extended from the time when the National Council for the So- cial Studies was founded in 1921 until the 1960s. Dominated by history and geography subject areas, social studies education placed an emphasis on developing patriotic, loyal, and unquestioning citizens and memoriz- ing isolated facts about people, places, and events. The struggles, victo- ries, hopes, and voices of groups such as women, people of color, and low-income people were mostly invisible in social studies curricula, textbooks, and programs. For example, Native Americans appeared in textbooks either as impeding the spread of European civilization to the west or as "good" Indians, allies to Europeans. African Americans and Latinos appeared in traditional social studies curricula largely in the contexts in which they interacted with, or became problems for, the newcomers. The second period-the era of the social studies revolution in the 1960s and 1970s-had mixed results. Banks points out that this revolution had significant influence on social studies curriculum development and on textbook writing, as well as on the research, teaching, and writing of so- Making the Curriculum Multicultural 143 cia1 studies literatures by scholars and university professors, but reforms failed to become institutionalized on a large scale. The third period, the 1970s and 1980s, influenced by the social reform and civil rights movements, marked an era of the development of reflective citizens for a democratic society. To become effective citizens, it was necessary to learn how to apply social science knowledge to the solution of social problems such as racial discrimination, discrimination against women, and improvement or protection of the environment. The fourth period, from the 1980s till the 1990s, marked by the resurgence of history and the rise of multiculturalism, is characterized by diverse and conflicting trends in the social studies. Two major developments-the resurgence of what is called the ”back to the basics” movement and inconsistency with the emphasis on factual history-were visible trends during this period. The fifth period, the quest for standards during the 1990s, is characterized by the efforts to establish national standards in the subject areas taught in the nation’s schools. These efforts yielded mixed results. For example, the standards developed by the National Council for the Social Studies, which contain ten thematic strands, have not evoked much discussion within the profession and have had little irifluence on practice. As far as Russia is concerned, it is also possible to subdivide the development of social studies education into five relatively conventional periods. The period prior to the 1917 revolution may be called a classic time of national Russian patriotism, when an emphasis in studying national history and other humanitarian subject areas was placed on developing patriotic attitudes. Learning values was based on the realization of the national idea made up of an amalgamated triad: a belief in the czar, Ortho- dox Christianity, and narod (people as a whole). The second period, lasting from 1917 till the mid-l950s, is characterized by a materialization of the communist ideology; the social studies subject areas, especially history, were at the forefront in this effort. National autonomous republics were founded within Russia’s borders to meet the interests of non-Russian ethnic groups. The third period, from the mid-1950s until the mid-l980s, was marked by a milder actualization of the leading communistic ideology in the sphere of social studies education. However, any divergences from the Marxist-Leninist line were considered a mistake. Textbooks, manuals, and reference literature used in any educational institutions in teaching social studies subject areas were methodologically based on the canons of communistic ideology. As was mentioned previously, until the mid-l980s, the concept of culture had not been sufficiently explored, either theoretically or empirically. The fourth period, from the mid-1980s until the mid-1990s, saw a rapid 144 Chapter Five shift in the transformation of social studies education-as well in the whole system of national education-into a democratic path. This period may be called "transitional," because many values in the educational structure were not stable: the nation had already transcended the boundaries of communism but had not yet reached democracy. Most frustrated and concerned in the 1990s were teachers of history and political studies. During this period of political and ideological fermentation, it was extremely difficult to adequately react to, digest, conceptualize, and reflect divergent emerging ideas in schools and universities. It was noted earlier that, in such a huge multiethnic nation-state as Russia, the ideas of multiculturalism and multicultural education had been present implicitly long before the time of the Gorbachev perestroika, but both in the whole educational system and in social studies education, they began to be articulated only from the mid-1980s. The current period, which began in the mid-l990s, is characterized by democracy moving into wider segments of life. Even though democracy is a "hard nut" for many people, in general, the learning public came to understand the essence of democratic principles. Social studies education is being enriched by novel ideas and approaches. New textbooks and didactic materials have been, and are being, written by a younger generation of scholars, university faculty, and pedagogues whose creative activity falls in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Goals of a Multicultural Social Studies Education The social studies curriculum, in both secondary and higher educational institutions, reflects integral sociopolitical, socioeconomic, and ethnocultural developments on the national and international levels. A major goal of multicultural social studies education is to help students acquire attitudes, knowledge, and skills needed to successfully function within their own microculture, mainstream culture, and the global community. Another, closely related goal involves developing active and reflective citizens of a nation-state, as well as active participants in improving socioeconomic and cultural life of the whole planet. Apparently, the aims and goals directed at infusing social studies education with a multicultural context coincide with those of multicultural education that incorporates broader issues and subject areas. However, the goals and approaches put forward in social studies lessons are realized through a definite number of subject areas built on relatively concrete methodological and theoretical bases for the development of an arsenal of values, attitudes, knowledge, and corresponding skills. In addition to preparing reflective citizens for decision making and citizen action, the contemporary, rapidly changing epoch requires that we Making the Curriculum Multicultural 145 place a special emphasis on transnational or global education. A new century is witnessing a rapid approach of a global society, a global village, the so-called new world order that is preparing novel challenges and opportunities for human beings. Rapid growth in technology and communication helps people interact with any part of the world from any spot. Not only nations but also individuals have become interdependent and interactive with each other (Levashov, 2002; Kollontay, 2002). In light of this, multicultural education must transcend the boundaries of the nation and educate students for global cultural literacy and competency. Only this (along with similar multicultural competencies) will enable young people to be ready for life in the new era. Stepping into the new century, humanity faces serious problems: establishing a stable peace on earth; combating ethnocentrism and religious centrism; seeking answers to environmental issues such as the greenhouse effect and global warming; providing efforts at combating HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other deadly diseases; seeking methods to com- bat smoking and alcohol and drug addiction; finding solutions to the increasing socioeconomic polarization of human society-these and other related problems can be conceptualized, attended to, and solved only by global initiatives and global participation, by common efforts of all racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. Today, it is unwise to say, for example, “Water pollution is not a problem in our country. Our rivers and lakes are clean and teeming with trout and other fishes,” or “We live far from sub-saharan Africa, and HIV/AIDS is not yet urgent in our culture, therefore, let us attend to more immediate problems.” Today it becomes abundantly clear that there is no ”Asian greenhouse effect,” ”Brazilian deforestation,” ”Californian air pollution,” ”Antarctic ozone layer,” ”African AIDS,” ”Eu- ropean alcoholism,” or ”Australian cancer.” All these disasters and pesti- lences, despite their temporary predominance in one single society or sociogeographic area, have global implications and require transnational, unified efforts.

Multicultural Competency of a Social Studies Teacher Multicultural social studies education requires that the teacher be multiculturally competent in the corresponding subject area. Multicultural competency includes, but is not limited to, competency in culture and related issues and sociohistorical, sociogeographical, sociological, and technological competency.

Competency in the Area of Culture Studies. Such competency encompasses considering such aspects as the notion of culture and surrounding issues, students’ cultural interests, and their participation in organizations 146 Chapter Five such as social clubs, hobby circles, fraternities, sororities, etc. Such competency also represents a level of knowledge and skills enabling a social studies teacher to multiculturally evaluate and ameliorate a given learning environment by teaching and interacting with children from various ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups, with children with alternative physical and mental abilities, male and female students, with students from urban and rural areas, students from low-income and single-parent families, as well as with talented and low-achieving students. The phenomenon of culture, as noted earlier, is multifaceted and can be approached from different angles. The word "culture" may be applied to a whole historical period of human existence (Paleolithic culture), life in vast geographical areas (European culture), life of certain ethnic groups (Norwegian culture), and specific religious groups (Buddhist culture). Other criteria-such as gender, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, communication, space, time-are applicable to this phenomenon to differentiate people from various racial and ethnic backgrounds. These criteria, which are traditionally referred to to characterize a whole ethnic group, allow exceptions. For example, being territorial is spoken of as a characteristic of all Germans; but among this ethnicity there are people who, for different reasons, are not so territorial and are more inclined to proximity-indifferent interactions. Conversely, there are Spanish people who are rather territorial and try to maintain distance while communicating with others, although it is generally accepted that the Spanish have a close personal distance while interacting with their interlocutors. A teacher competent in culture studies is expected to know that cultural peculiarities of some minority students often prevent them from pro- gressing equally with the mainstream part of the group, so that they are considered slow learners or even mentally retarded in this social system; whereas in other social systems-for example, in home and ethnic community environments-these children may be considered normal or even gifted. For instance, many African American and Hispanic students labeled mentally retarded function normally and are considered quite normal in their homes and communities. Boys are more often classified as mentally retarded than are girls (Banks, 2001a). Such cases provide a basis for some scholars to consider the phenomenon of mental retardation as a social category. A similar social mismatch manifests itself in other countries. For instance, many minority students from rural schools in Russia who move to urban high schools or enter urban colleges and universities find themselves in new social surroundings, different from their previous rural school and community settings. These rural students, having moved to urban institutions to continue their secondary or higher education, are often labeled as nonactive learners because of their passive participation Making the Curriculum Multicultural 147 in classroom discussion and social activities, as well as on the grounds of their being shy and modest while interacting with faculty and other adults. These predispositions, unusual for students from Russian ethnic backgrounds, can be attributed to the peculiar cultural traits of the students from non-Russian ethnic backgrounds, especially Bashkir and Tatar students. The majority of them are talented and industrious learners among their ethnic peers, but they are too shy to fully express themselves within larger multiethnic and mainstream groups. Concerning gender issues, a competent social studies educator should know that the ways of learning, thinking, and knowing of male and female students may differ to some extent regarding specific phenomena. Ramirez and Castafieda (1974) maintain that, generally, women find per- sonalized and generalized knowledge more appealing than abstract knowledge. Investigating some female microcultures in the United States, Gilligan (1982) discovered that sensitivity to the needs of neighbors and caring are prevailing values among women, whereas men are characterized as rather objective and individualistic. My observations among the students, aged twenty to twenty-two, of the Moscow Pedagogical State University and Birsk State Pedagogical Institute permit certain interesting observations regarding male and female students’ attitudes to various types of knowledge and values related to the basic curriculum. I have noticed that, while studying didactics, male students find more appealing the sections of the science that deal with principles and content of teaching, whereas female students are more interested in the issues of the motivation of learning and methods of teaching. The course on general psychology also differently attracts male and female students’ attention. The former are more interested in individualistic conceptions, such as those offered in Freud’s and Adler’s theories, whereas the latter tend to prefer society- and group-oriented conceptions proposed by Fromm, Erickson, Vygotsky, and other psychologists. Male students tend to come to generalized and holistic conclusions concerning psychological categories; female learners like to be engaged predominantly in detailed analysis and come to smaller, but practical, conclusions. Interestingly, metaphysical and supernatural ideas may be differently approached by male and female students of different ages. For example, male freshmen and sophomores tend to believe mainly in documented knowledge and information and are less attracted by such odd issues. Fe- male students of the same age, in similar circumstances, are more absorbed by such metaphysical, bizarre topics as UFO sightings, people’s abduction by humanoids, existence of life in other dimensions and of such prehistoric creatures as the Loch Ness monster, disappearance of planes and vessels in the Bermuda Triangle and the Great Lakes area, the ”Philadelphia experiment,” the idea that extraterrestrial aliens are living 148 Chapter Five among human beings, etc. Closer to graduate years, both male and female students tend to believe presumably in documented, scientifically proven information and knowledge. One more interesting paradox has been discovered. It concerns pre-service students’ reflective attitudes toward the information depicting celebrities and famous people. While touching upon famous, brave, handsome, and robust male heroes, both mythical and real, such as Her- cules, Julius Caesar, Peter the Great, Thomas Jefferson, Walt Disney, Mikhail Gorbachev, Tom Cruise, and Leonard0 de Caprio, as well as famous male pop groups, neither male nor female students show any hint of psychological discomfort or envious feeling. Both sexes seem to be delighted to learn, recall, and hear more about similar characters. Female heroes, beauties, and stars, such as Cleopatra, Queen Victoria, Clara Barton, Natalie Goncharova (Pushkin‘s wife, who is considered to have been Moscow’s most beautiful woman in the 1820s), Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana, Mother Theresa, Julia Roberts, and Britney Spears, raise quite opposite reactions among Russian female students, while males remain equally delighted. A considerable number of female students manifest a psychological uneasiness and a kind of jealousy when famous women, particularly beauties, are given special attention by the teaching personnel or depicted in the subject-area content.

Sociohistorical Competency. Sociohistorical competency requires that the social studies teacher know about different ethnic and cultural groups’ historical developments and historical heritages, their indigenous customs and habits, folk pedagogy heritages, and modes of interethnic interaction. In the Anglo-European and Eurasian educational traditions, it is customary to view historical events predominantly from a Eurocentric perspective. For example, the textbooks on history and various reference literature published in the United States, Canada, Russia, and northern European countries contain a huge amount of information about the discovery of the non-European part of the world by European explorers and navigators. For example, it is stated that North America was opened by Columbus and later explored by Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain, Robert La Salle, Henry Hudson, and other Spanish, Portuguese, British, Irish, and French pioneers; the Siberian region was explored by ethnic Russians; New Zealand was first sighted by Abel Tasman, a Dutch navi- gator; Australia was discovered by James Cook; the Philippine islands were visited and explored by Ferdinand Magellan; the modern territory of the republic of Nauru was discovered by the British; the territory of Papua New Guinea was first visited and explored by Europeans in the fifteenth century; the territory of the Seychelles was explored by France in Making the CurriculumMulticultural 149 the same century; the Cape of Good Hope was settled by the Dutch in the early seventeenth century; Sri Lanka was explored by the Portuguese; and the territory of Tonga was first visited and explored by the Dutch (McGev- eran, 2001,2002). In an education oriented to multicultural standards and norms, it becomes vital to teach students to view sociohistorical events from the perspectives of various ethnolinguistic and cultural groups. In societies where majority and minority (or numerically large and small) segments of racial, ethnic, or language groups are present, it is important to view minority cultures from the dominant-culture perspective and the majority culture from minority-culture perspectives. This important objective is closely related to knowledge-construction issues. For example, while teaching in a Yakut-Russian bilingual classroom in the Siberian part of Russia, teachers are required to show the Russians’ and Yakuts’ dislocation on the Yakut Autonomous Republic area from the perspectives of both Russians’ eastward movement and the migratory processes of the Yakuts before Russians had come to Siberia. Yakut students as well as students of other ethnic origin inhabiting the Yakut Autonomous Republic need to understand one delicate and simple truth: the Russians opened the Yakut lands in Siberia for Russians and other peoples of the territory of Russia, not for Yakuts, because the latter had already opened and explored these lands for themselves long time ago. Teaching in a Maori-English bilingual classroom in New Zealand, educators need to help students view the coming of Europeans as a meeting of two worlds: the world of the native people, the Maori, and that of Eu- ropeans. It is important to underline, as in the previous example with the Russians, that the Europeans opened the modern territory of New Zealand predominantly for Europeans, that the Maori were already there when the Europeans came. But the Maori themselves are not native to the islands either; they are also ”newcomers.”The Maori, a Polynesian group from the eastern Pacific, had reached the territory of New Zealand before and during the fourteenth century A.D.; that is, they had discovered and explored the islands much earlier than the first Europeans. The first Eu- ropean to sight New Zealand, Abel Janszoon Tasman, was not allowed to land, and later the British captain James Cook explored the coasts in 1769-1770 (McGeveran, 2001). From a historical and wide sociocultural perspective, it is imperative that teachers use information from a wide array of social sciences and historical research and approach different events and topics from different perspectives. For example, the Buddha’s sermons can be discussed not only from religious but also from philosophical perspectives; the Bill of Rights can be viewed not just as laws but also as social values; and the notion of nationalism can be studied not only from a short-range (nineteenth- century) but also from a long-range historical perspective (Zevin, 2000). 150 Chapter Five

In teaching historical content, it is essential to engage students in authentic problem solving. Authentic instruction involves learners in the process of analyzing historical information and knowledge and may involve (1) formulating questions on historical topics; (2) gathering information from various sources and evaluating their reliability and authen- ticity; (3) comparing various accounts; (4) taking the perspective of people in the past; and (5) connecting various pieces of information into coherent explanations (Barton, 2001). In this respect, including in the teaching process visual and audiovisual material such as historical films, photographs, and family pictures becomes a prime objective. For example, an old picture can help children make required comparisons with the present and put historical periods in sequence. As Barton notes, a "picture can be worth a thousand words-and maybe a lot more" (278). Students, especially in elementary grades, enjoy working with pictures, particularly those including people. A multicultural teacher, skilled at infusing the curriculum with global knowledge and information, cannot avoid mentioning the greatest historical events that occurred in different cultures. Remembering renowned, history-making personalities and their creative foundation will be equally interesting and useful. From a historical perspective, the twentieth century was especially turbulent; that century witnessed numerous interesting events and undertakings, progressive and epoch-making, as well as regressive and intriguing. Some of them involved virtually all of humanity. Among the greatest events of the previous century, one can name (Young, 1997; Famighetti, 1999; McGeveran, 2001):

in the sociopolitical sphere: the Russian Revolution of 1917; the reformation and modernization ("Westernization") of Turkey led by Kemal Atatiirk (1923-1938); Mahatma Gandhi's historic campaign of nonviolence and civil disobedience leading to India's independence from Britain in 1947; the birth of Israel in 1948; the women's liberation movement in America and Europe in the 1960s; the worldwide triumph of the Beatle,, (mid-1960s-1970s); the breakup of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War era in the 1990s; Nelson Man- dela's becoming president of South Africa in 1994

in economy, technology, and science development: the formulation of the relativity theory by Albert Einstein in 1905; Premier Piotr Stolypin's initiative to reform the Russian economy in 1906-1911; Henry Ford's commercial development of the automobile in the United States (1903 and onward); the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928; the successful experiment in uranium fis- sion in 1942 (Eurico Fermi and Leo Szilard); the arrival of the com- Making the Curriculum Multicultural 151

puter age; the determination of the molecular structure of DNA in 1951 (Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins); the launching by the USSR of the first artificial satellite (1957), the first manned spaceship (1961), and the first woman in space (1963); the stepping of the first men (Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin) on the moon in 1969).

The twentieth century witnessed the creative and professional contribution of a great number of people. Some of the individuals mentioned here are continuing to make invaluable contributions to the development of humanity in the twenty-first century. The young learning public would be curious to learn about (Young, 1997; McGeveran, 2001,2002):

educators, scholars, and social scientists: U.S. educators Nicholas Butler and John Dewey; Leo Vygotsky (pedagogue and psychologist, Russia); philosopher Benedetto Croce and educator Maria Montes- sori (Italy); Karl Mannheim (sociologist and historian, Hungary); Gunnar Myrdal (social scientist, Sweden); Arnold Toynbee (historian, UK); Jos6 Ortega y Gasset (philosopher, Spain) writers: Eugene ONeill and William Saroyan (U.S.); William Somer- set Maugham and Thomas Stearns Eliot (UK); Sigrid Undset (Nor- way); Albert Camus (France); Ernst Junger (Germany); Par Lagerkvist (Sweden); Albert0 Moravia and Giuseppe di Lampedusa (Italy); Ferenc Molniir (Hungary); Osip Mandelstam, Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Sholokhov, and Ilya Ehrenburg (Russia); Vladimir Nabokov and Joseph Brodsky (Russia-U.S.); Octavio Paz (Mexico); Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral (Chile); Rabindranath Tagore (India); Mishima Yukio (Japan); Amoz Tutuola (Nigeria); Christina Stead and Patrick White (Australia) movie stars: Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Mitchum, Clint Eastwood, and Harrison Ford (U.S.); Jean Marais, Alain Delon, Jean- Paul Belmondo, and Catherine Deneuve (France); Barbara Brilska (Poland); Leonid Utesov, Lubov Orlova, Igor Iljinsky, Michael Ul- janov, Viacheslav Tikhonov, Armen Dzigarkhanian, and Ludmila Gurchenko (Russia) singers and musicians: Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Madonna, Rod Stewart, Garth Brooks, and Creedence Clearwater Revival (U.S.); Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour (France); Sir Elton John (UK); Fiodor Shaliapin, Ludmila Zikina, and Alla Pu- gacheva (Russia) 152 Chapter Five

dancers: expressive dancer Isadora Duncan and jazz dancer Bob Fosse (US.); Kenneth MacMillan (UK); Mary Wigman (modern dancer, Germany); Russians Maya Plesetskaya (prima ballerina) and Rudolf Nureyev (premier danseur) sports figures: Paavo Nurmi (distance running) and Clas Thunberg (speed skating) (Finland); Gillis Grafstrom, Ulrich Salchow (figure skating), and Arne Borg (swimming) (Sweden); Sonja Henie (figure skating, Norway); Pat McKay (karate, UK); Paul Litjens (field hockey, the Netherlands); Katarina Witt (figure skating) and Christ1 Cranz (skiing) (Germany); Toni Sailer (skiing, Austria); Boris Mikhaylov and Evgeny Firsov (ice hockey), Larisa Latynina and Olga Korbut (gymnastics),Gary Kasparov (chess), Irina Rodnina (figure skating), and Lidiya Skoblikova (speed skating)(Russia);Jesse Owens (track and field), Joe DiMaggio (baseball), Phil Esposito and Wayne Gret- zky (ice hockey), Muhammad Ali (boxing), Bobby Fisher (chess), and Michael Jordan (basketball) (US.); Jose R. Capablanca (chess, Cuba); Pel6 (soccer, Brazil); Yashiro Yamishita (judo, Japan); Rod Laver (swimming, Australia)

The preceding century also witnessed disasters with calamitous and ruinous consequences (Young, 1997; Famighetti, 1999; McGeveran, 2001):

World War I (1914-1918), in which over 8 million lives were lost the assassination of Czar Nicholas I1 and his family in Ekaterinburg, Russia (1918) the sinking of the British liner Titanic (1912) the Great Depression in the United States and European countries in the 1930s World War I1 (1939-1945), which involved 61 countries and killed an estimated 55 million soldiers and civilians the assassination of President John Kennedy of the United States (1962) the US. presence in the Vietnam War (1964-1976) Russia’s presence in the Afghanistan war (1979-1989) the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India by Sikh extremist bodyguards (1984) the Chernobyl catastrophe in Ukraine (1986) Making the Curriculum Multicultural 153

numerous interethnic, interracial, and interreligious conflicts in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, India, the Middle East, and the Balkans the sinking of Russia’s Kursk submarine in 2000

A skillful history or other social studies teacher will selectively include these and similar materials and data in discussing a corresponding theme in a particular classroom. For example, in discussing the history of the United States, it would be worthwhile for an American teacher to remember, among other famous personalities, Henry Ford, who revolution- ized the car industry by using the assembly-line method to build cars; while analyzing Brazilian culture, the teacher cannot avoid reminding students of PelC, one of the greatest soccer players of the previous century. Russia’s twentieth century history will not be complete without mentioning Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to go into space, or the fame Russia’s ice hockey players had and still have in the world. Reminding students of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World will inevitably arouse their curiosity about the ancient Greek and Roman cultures. These wonders are the following (Famighetti, 1999):

1. The Pyramids of Egypt. The only surviving ancient wonder located at Gaza on the west bank of the Nile River above Cairo. Among the pyramids, Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerimus were often grouped as the first wonder. 2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. They were laid out on a brick ter- race 400 feet square and 75 feet above the ground. 3. The Pharos (Lighthouse) of Alexandria. The lighthouse was designed about 270 B.C. by the Greek architect Sostratos. Estimates of its height range from 200 to 600 feet. 4. The Colossus of Rhodes. This bronze statue of the sun god Hellos was worked on for twelve years in the third century B.C.by the sculptor Chares. It was probably 120 feet high. 5. The Temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus. This huge temple was built about 550 B.C.It was begun in honor of a non-Hellenic goddess who later became identified with the Greek goddess of the same name. 6. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. This marble tomb, the source of the word ”mausoleum,” was built in what is now southeastern Turkey by Artemisia for her husband, Mausolus, king of Garia in 154 Chapter Five

Asia Minor, who died in 353 B.C. The construction was about 135 feet high. 7. The Statue of Zeus (Jupiter) at Olympia. This statue of the king of gods, reputedly 40 feet high, was made by Phidias and placed in the great temple of Zeus in the sacred grove of Olympia about 457 B.C.

Sociogeographical Competency. Sociogeographical competency embodies a level of professional mastery that is necessary for a geography teacher to integrate the teaching process with information about the geographical location of different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups, contemporary migration patterns, major facts about different cultures of the world (population, ethnic and linguistic makeup, governmental policies, economy and workforce, mass media, arts, education, and other domains of life). For instance, in introducing students to contemporary Canadian culture in an American classroom, the multicultural teacher can enrich their knowledge with the following information (Saarinen and Rybkina, 2000; McGeveran, 2002; Malloy, 2001):

Diversity and multiculturalism are the keynote of Canadian culture ranging from its geographical configuration to the lifestyles of different ethnic groups. Canada, the world’s second-largest country, surpassed only by the Russian Federation, includes fertile plains suitable for agriculture, vast mountain ranges, lakes and rivers, wilderness forests, and arctic tundra in the far east. The Canadian population of over 30 million is 77 percent urban and 23 percent rural. Ethnic groups include descendants from the British Isles, French, other Europeans, Amerindians, and others, mostly Asian. Chief religious denominations include Roman Catholicism, the United Church, and Anglicanism. In 1971, Canada became the first country in the world to adopt a multicultural policy. The government passed the Employment Equi- ty Act in 1986 and the Canadian Multicultural Act in 1988. The multiculturalism policy affirms that Canada recognizes and values its rich ethnic and racial diversity. Through its multiculturalism policy, the government intends to help build a more inclusive society based on equality, respect, and the full participation of all citizens, regardless of ethnic origin, race, language, or religion. Even though Cana- da’s approach to multiculturalism is often praised by the UNESCO World Commission on Culture and Development, the country is experiencing considerable difficulties in paving the way to multiculturalism. One such difficulty is the relationships between provincial governments and the aboriginal nations, which are not always fa- Making the Curriculum Multicultural 155 vorable. The renewed version of the federal government’s multicultural program works toward three main goals: identity (fostering a society in which people of all backgrounds feel a sense of belonging and attachment to Canada), civic participation, and social justice. Diversity is recognized as an asset in the domestic and emerging global economy. Canadian companies recognize the benefits and are drawing on the cultural diversity of the workforce to obtain language and cultural skills necessary to compete in world markets. As French and English are official languages, the country provides special measures to enhance the vitality and support the development of French and English minority communities. The two languages have equal status in terms of their use in all institutions of the government of Canada. Education in Canada also reflects the diversity of the country. Comprehensive, diversified, and available to children from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds, education pursues two huge goals: providing individuals with opportunities to develop themselves and providing society with the skills it needs to evolve in its best interests. The level of English-French and French-English bilingualism is rising rapidly among Canadians. More and more children are learning French in schools. For example, enrollment in French immersion programs rose from 40,000 in 1978 to 313,000 in 1996. The multicultural and multiracial nature of the nation is reflected through the media. Such television programs as North of 60, Degras- si Junior High, Jasmine, and Ces enfunts d‘ailleurs are examples of this trend. The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television has a special Gemini Award, the Canada Award/Prix Gemeaux du multicul- turalisme, which honors excellence in mainstream television pro- gramming that best reflects the country’s cultural diversity. Nine radio stations in five cities devote much of their time to specific ethnic groups, mainly the German, Italian, Greek, Ukrainian, Por- tuguese, and Chinese communities. Numerous cable companies transmit programs in a variety of languages on community channels. In the print media, ethnic newspapers flourish across the country. For example, in Toronto there are more than one hundred daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly ethnic-language publications. Arts and cultural institutions serve the needs of, and reflect the contributions from, people of diverse cultural backgrounds. Artists, writers, and moviemakers from diverse communities articulate a new definition and cultural model of Canadian culture. For example, Nino Ricci won the Governor General’s Award for his novel The Lives of the Saints, moviemaker Mina Shum’s Genie Award-winning movie, Double Happiness, had an extensive theatrical release, and 156 Chapter Five

Atom Egoyan’s movies have received global acclaim. Ed Poitras and Stan Douglas, by representing the country at the prestigious Venice Biennial, have expanded and redefined the perception of Canadian culture inside and outside the country. Throughout the world, Canada is known as a modern and progressive nation, respecting the cultural diversity and contributions that different people make to its prosperity. Canada has an excellent reputation for compassion for all its citizens and people worldwide. The country has one of the best health care systems in the world, plays a substantial role in peacekeeping efforts regionally and internationally, and has a solid reputation for generosity in providing aid to poorer countries.

Similar information on various countries will not be superfluous to enriching the multicultural competency of teachers of history and political science, as well as teachers responsible for culture and language instruction. It is known that climatic and geographic conditions may influence people’s health, productivity, and development of their ethnopsychological traits and features. Interesting as it is, information on these topics should be delivered accurately and diligently so as not to place members of certain racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural groups in a psychologically unfavorable position among other students. For example, students of Russian background who attend class with students of other ethnic and cultural groups would feel extremely uneasy if a teacher, consonant with Erikson’s allegation (cited in Kukushin and Sto- liarenko, 2000), points out that ethnic Russians are not well organized by nature because, historically, they used to live in a cold climate with long winters during which they did not and could not productively work. Being idle during long, severe winters added to the development of such national traits as absence of structure, spontaneity, uneven rhythm of labor activity, and the rushing into work during the second, warm half of the year. Such allegations, which injure the pride of one ethnic group in the presence of members of other ethnic groups, are incompatible with the goals and principles of multicultural education. Similar statements, which can be, of course, articulated in a heated, scientific debate and published in some journals and books, are inadmissible in a multiethnic classroom. Enlightening students with the knowledge about the Seven Natural Wonders of the modern world will be pleasurable for them. These wonders have been widely noted by world travelers during recent centuries (Famighetti, 1999): Making the Curriculum Multicultural 157

1. Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, located in the Hi- malayan range, on the border of Nepal and Tibet. The summit was first scaled in 1953. 2. Victoria Falls, a 343-foot waterfall on the Zambezi River in Africa, on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. 3. The Grand Canyon, an exceptionally deep (more than one mile) and extremely beautiful steep-walled chasm in Arizona, in the southwestern United States. The canyon is about 217 miles long and up to 18 miles wide. 4. Pericutin, one of the world's youngest volcanoes, which was discovered in 1943 west of Mexico City, Mexico. 5. The harbor at Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), one of the world's most beautiful natural harbors, surrounded by low mountain ranges whose spurs extend almost to the waterside. 6. The northern lights, a spectacular natural phenomenon consisting of rapidly shifting patches and dancing columns of light of various hues. 7. The Great Barrier Reef, a chain of coral reefs in the Coral Sea, off the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. It is the largest known de- posit of coral and extends in a northwest direction more than 1,200 miles.

Sociopolitical Competency. Sociopolitical competency represents a level of professional mastery that enables a social studies teacher to provide students with information on the existing sociopolitical situation in the home country and abroad and on the overall political atmosphere in the relations between cultures with different racial, ethnolinguistic, religious, ideological, and political orientations. A sociopolitically competent teacher must know that the words "racial" and "ethnic" have been used in different meanings in scientific and popular literature. Human race, white race, German race are the terms that illustrate a variety of meanings of this notion (Feagin, 1989). Race may refer to physical features in a different way. Two persons with identical physical characteristics (phenotypes) can be classed as members of different races in two different societies. Caucasians who acknowledge some African ancestry are normally considered black in the United States, whereas the same individuals would be considered white in Puerto Rico, where hair texture, social status, and degree of eminence in the community are often at least as important as physical characteristics in determining 158 Chapter Five a person’s racial group or category. In Puerto Rico upward social mobility considerably enhances a person’s chance of being ranked as white. In this country and most areas of Latin America there is a strong relationship between race and social class (Banks, 1997). Broadly speaking, one may proceed from an assumption that a racial group is normally distinguished by real or alleged physical characteristics that are subjectively selected (Feagin, 1989). As for the term ”ethnic,” one may agree with Feagin that this notion has been used both in a broad and a narrow sense. Broader definitions have included racial groups; narrower approaches have incorporated cultural or nationality features. The teacher needs to know that the world is rich with different well-established sociopolitical organizations and political parties. The evolution of human history has given rise to two huge and widespread forms of governing: republican and monarchical. Russian politicians and historians traditionally further subdivide these two types of governing. The republican norms of governing can be classed into presidential (the United States), parliamentary (Italy), and mixed (Russia, France) types of social organization. The monarchical branch is represented by absolute (Saudi Arabia), parliamentary (the United Kingdom, Japan), and so-called dual- istic (Kuwait, Morocco). To be sociopolitically competent, a social studies teacher must be aware of what is happening in ”hot sports” in the world. Even though interethnic and political conflicts are undesirable, they nevertheless occur, sometimes quite unexpectedly.

Sociological Competency. Sociological competency includes (1) knowing different statistical information on racial, ethnic, language, religious, political, gender, social class, and rural-urban groups in the local community, the home country, and abroad and (2) being competent in conducting sociological surveys to gather necessary data and information. Conduct- ing sociological research, in this context, is closely related to ethnographic research, which will be discussed in the next chapter. Statistical information enriches students’ knowledge and ensures their more thorough understanding of the problems under analysis. For example, in considering gender issues, students would be interested to learn that in 2000 the largest proportion of males in the world was in Qatar, (193.2 males per 100 females), United Arab Emirates (150.9 per loo), and Kuwait (150.3 per 100); the largest proportion of females was in Latvia (85.2 males per 100 females), Ukraine (86.1 per loo), and Estonia (86.5 per 100). Athletic female students would be enlightened to know about the growth of women’s participation in different kinds of sports and Olympic games over the previous century. For example, in 1900, only 1.6 percent of athletes in the summer Olympics were women, whereas in 2000,42 per- Making the Curriculum Multicultural 159 cent were women More women throughout the world receive higher-education, professional, and scientific degrees. For example, in the United States women earn a greater number of associate, bachelor, and master’s degrees than men, a trend that began in the 1980s. In 1999-2000, women earned 60 percent of all associate degrees conferred, 56.3 percent of all bachelor’s degrees, and 57.7 percent of all master’s degrees. Women’s participation in space exploration is also worth remembering. In addition to Valentina Tereshkova’s flight into space in 1963, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983. Shannon Lucid set a record for length of time in space (188 days) in 1996, and Eileen Collins in 1999 became the first woman to command a shuttle (McGeveran, 2001). It is necessary to avoid wrong comparisons and conclusions based on casual statistical information and casual, emotion-based personal observations about specific ethnic and cultural groups: such information may negatively influence the self-esteem and feelings of certain students. It is wrong, for example, to say, ”Surveys indicate that the representatives of this ethnic group possess higher capacities of long-term and short-term memory,” or “The people of this culture are lazier than the people of that culture,” or ”Figures on the country’s economic development show that this society is unable to organize decent life like the people of that society,” or ”Many respondents think that the language of this ethnic group sounds rougher than that of other ethnic groups,” or ”Our interviewing indicates that the national meals of this people are tastier than the meals of other peoples inhabiting this area,” or ”To my mind, the folk music of this people sounds worse than that of the neighboring people,” or ”This nation is unable to create good movies.”

TechnologicaZ Competency. A contemporary teacher is required to be skilled in using computers and related technology. For a social studies teacher attracted by the ideas of multicultural education, this task is equally important. The amount of easily available information is growing much more rapidly than ever before. In the twenty-first century, new teachers and educators are expected to be more proficient computer users and Internet guides for their students. New teachers are expected to load and use curriculum software, keep attendance and achievement records on spreadsheets, use various word processing programs, search the Inter- net for instructional resources, and teach students to perform the same activities (Parker, 2001). In social studies, computers can contribute to knowledge construction, skills application, and communication (Parker, 2001). In using the computer to build knowledge, it is necessary to use electronic databases that are relevant to social education. Databases can be purchased on laser videodisks or the smaller CD-ROMs (compact disk-read only memory) 160 Chapter Five and accessed through various online services on the Internet. Use of the computer to practice social studies skills is related to its use in knowledge construction, because this construction concentrates on knowledge-building skills: gathering information, interpreting charts, comparing examples, forming and testing hypotheses. The computer becomes students’ essential asset in short- and long-distance interpersonal communication. Within seconds, a child can send an e-mail message to peers in another classroom, school, state, or country; and if a peer is at the computer at that very time and wants to respond, the sender can receive a response within a couple of minutes. Using e-mail, children can inform anyone, even the ”president of the United States, of the decisions they have reached on public problems” (Parker, 2001: 301).

Pluralistic Approaches in Health Education

Health is considered one of the top priorities in human society. Being healthy gives us hope and motivates our creative activity. An Arabian proverb says, ”He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.” Evidence shows that different ethnic, religious, and cultural groups may have different orientations to, and perceptions about, being healthy; different attitudes to the causes and nature of diseases; and different preventive and healing measures. Working with diverse students, educators can seek to meet the following objectives.

An Understanding of the lmage of a Healthy Person in Diferent Cultures The state of being healthy is differently perceived across cultures. In contemporary Western European countries, Canada, the United States, and Russia, where the notion of ideal health is influenced, to a large extent, by the media and where the prevailing health system is almost totally biomedical (Cushner, McClelland, and Safford, 2000), an ideal healthy man is portrayed as robust, muscular, tall, and, probably, equipped with techniques of physical self-defense. An ideal woman is depicted as tall, slim, and model-like. This information may be mislead- ing to many students from Asian cultures, who are normally shorter. Stu- dents who are stout by nature or obese owing to certain diseases may also feel uncomfortable under the pressure of the information about ideal healthy males and females. Equally, older women, who naturally gain weight, may be very sensitive to such issues. Many women feel uncomfortable when they see slender contestants in beauty contests. I believe Making the Curriculum Multicultural 161 that women of different ages, as well as of different physiological structures, should also participate in such competitions. It is abundantly clear that all women, despite their age and constitution, like to look beautiful, and, in reality, they me beautiful. Biased attitudes arise when women see pictures of specially selected, pretty, young women in magazines and ad- vertisements. In this, a reasonable paradigm change is also needed. Many ”queens of the year,” Miss Americas, and Miss Universes and whatnot are annually presented with costly gifts just for their natural beauty. These ”misses” do not do anything of extraordinary benefit to humanity, except that they are born with a natural beauty. The entire pompous atmosphere of beauty contests and their costly prizes may create uncomfortable, uneasy, and biased attitudes among a considerable number of women. They may think of ”being thrown overboard,’’ because, to them, being really beautiful means fitting the standards of the contestants in such competitions. It is hardly accurate to associate a woman’s attractiveness only with slimness and facial beauty. It is a centuries-old truth that woman’s beauty is revealed both in form (in her physiology) and content (in her soul). The category of beauty is a subtle issue and should be a topic of special discussion. A woman’s internal and external beauty is also largely dependent on a particular man’s considerations and speculations concerning a particular woman. As for a man’s analogous characteristics, his overall beauty is also determined by internal and external characteristics and may be revealed by a specific woman’s speculations. As for a woman’s purely external beauty, it may reveal many paradoxes, one of which is noted by Sapirstein (1955). He confesses that one of the strangest paradoxes related to beautiful women is that they ”find it hard- er than most others to achieve a satisfying sexual and emotional relationship” (72). The category of being physically beautiful, a very delicate and subtle issue, requires an accurate approach when discussed in relation to health education in a multicultural classroom. To young boys from low-income and immigrant families, the information about robust and muscular men may also impose a false belief and cause bewilderment and helplessness. This ”muscular image” may provide young men with a general impression that “being healthy and modern” means training in health clubs and wellness centers. Address- ing American culture, Acosta-Deprez (2001) indicates that gyms and health clubs are relatively common in the United States, but recent immigrants and people from impoverished settings may not have access to them or even want to join them for economic as well as personal and social reasons. Stoutness and obesity are traditionally considered undesirable. Within 1 62 Chapter Five some ethnic and cultural groups, being stout is not criticized or condemned; on the contrary, moderate stoutness is looked at as desirable and praiseworthy. Such is the case with some rural Tatar and Bashkir communities in Russia’s southern Ural Mountains areas. In their communities, a moderately stout person is often considered the image of a healthy human being. Slim constitutions, both men’s and women’s, often become a topic of discussion and even criticism among middle-aged and older people.

Knowledge of the Factors Causing Diferent Ailments and Psychoemotional Imbalances Physiological and psychological ailments children and adults experience may be caused by some common factors, such as contagious disease, as well as by a wide range of factors pertaining to the cultural lifestyles of a certain ethnic group.

Factors Pertaining to Specific Ethnocultural Lifestyles. Some physiological ailments are caused by traditions and customs fervently pursued by a given group. The very fact that a specific custom or tradition may ultimately result in an ailment is often vaguely perceived. For example, investigations undertaken by scientists proved that prolonged use of nas among Iranian and Pakistani teenagers and adults irritates the mouth cavity and causes various ailments, including cancer. Analogous negative effects were caused by chewing the betel nut in India. A considerable number of U.S. children and teenagers are stout or obese. The factors causing children’s stoutness are many and can be, in large part, attributed to contemporary American lifestyles. As a rule, a child’s stoutness may be inherited and coupled with the intake of calorie-rich meals and beverages. The phenomenon of obesity and stoutness among the young is occurring in beer-drinking countries, such as Germany. Conversely, a certain percentage of Cambodians and Lao carry a genetic defect called thalassemia, a form of anemia that accounts for their dainty look and inability to gain weight. Thalassemia may also be found among some Mediterranean ethnic groups. The symptoms are similar to that of anemia: fatigue, retarded growth, and paleness (Dresser, 1996).

Disability as a Special State and Factor. Represented in all ethnic, racial, and gender groups, children and adults with physical and mental disabilities need special care. A disability can cause secondary health problems, as Acosta-Deprez (2001) notes, due to ”lack of adequate rehabilita- tion, personal assistance, and maintenance therapies, inconsistencies and Making the Curriculum Multicultural 163 inequities in existing programs, and lack of insurance” (284). Because of oversights and limitations, children with disabilities often fall prey to various stresses and frustrations, further aggravating their primary abnor- mality.

Factors Related to Socioeconomic Problems. It is true that children who are most at risk for school failure come from poor families. These risks may be exacerbated when poverty accompanies cultural backgrounds that are not well represented in school practices and expectations. Poverty is often associated with inadequate nutrition and poor health care, child abuse, lack of adult supervision, assistance, and positive role models, and drug addiction. In low-income families, the risk of falling ill and being disposed to emotional ailments is higher than in families with higher income. Many students from low-income and single-parent families challenge the most dedicated teachers. But it is also true that many of these students are academically gifted and talented, although their gifts are not immediately revealed by standardized mental ability tests. I do not accept the assumption that children from low-socioeconomic-status families always and everywhere show poor academic achievement. This American belief (and, today, a belief of some representatives of the younger generation in Russia too), automatically transferred to the sphere of education, emerged from the general concept still rooted in the American character that those successful financially and in rank are successful in all other domains of life. This is why the weak performance of children from low-income families is often attributed to poverty, but the low achievement of students from wealthy and affluent families is blamed on the school.

Factors Related to Urban Life. In addition to declining morality, urban residents complain about their health more often than rural and farm residents because of the deteriorating quality of air and drinking water, as well as an abundance of continuous stresses and frustrations they encounter. Urban communities have a higher percentage of heart diseases, arthritis, stroke, and obesity. As for the last misfortune, not only teenagers but even a great number of elementary school students are affected by overweight in industrialized countries.

Factors Related to Modern Technology. Students from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds use computers and related technology. Despite its positive impact on education, technological progress has brought about numerous problems related to students’ health. Overuse of computers and television entails an increased intellectual load and neuroemotional and 1 64 Chapter Five visual tension. Elementary and secondary school children overdose on horror, action, and thriller movies that depict scenes of murder, fierce fighting, monsters, sexual abuse, alien sightings, pornography, eroticism, and vampirism. Continuous stresses caused by such movies and scenes, coupled with other problems related to the school environment, community, and family, emotionally exhaust students and result in emerging various psychic imbalances such as neurosis, neurasthenia, and inappropriate behavior (Akhmadullina et al., 1999).

Knowledge about the Cultural Attitudes toward Food and Dining Practices Health is closely related to the foodways of different ethnic and cultural groups. ”Healthy food,” ”healthy meals,” and ”healthy dinner ” are the phrases that we use frequently in the business of living. According to modem medical research, eating healthy food is associated with consumption of low-calorie, low-fat, and vitamin-rich products. This sugges- tion is also considered to be a preventive measure against any possible and yet-undiscovered ailment. In most cases, medical science recommends, in addition to certain medical suggestions, giving up smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages. In other cases, people are advised to reduce or eliminate their consumption of meat products. School medical personnel and educators tend to follow these and similar scientifically proven recommendations. But these modem, scientific requirements may not be congruent with some ”healthy food concepts” peculiar to specific cultural, religious, racial, and ethnic groups. For example, consumption of fatty meat and fatty soup, least recommended by modern medicine, is a normal, ethnically praised practice among rural Bashkirs, Tatars, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, and Kirghiz. In their communities, fatty meat and fatty bouillon is believed to offer special strength to men. Fatty pork (or pure fat) is a national food in Ukrainian communities. Also, a balanced use (increasing or reducing) of fat- and calorie-rich food depends on a person’s occupation. People whose occupation is based on physical labor usually are not harmed by high fat consumption because they burn a considerable number of calories regularly exercising their muscles; whereas for people involved in sedentary professions, con- suming great quantities of calorie-rich food is not desirable. Alcohol consumption is generally considered an evil practice, resulting in myriad diseases and other societal disasters. In Muslim countries, this is an easily explainable truth, whereas, in some other societies, where specific alcoholic beverages are considered national drinks, ”explanations” are not easy. For instance, beer is a favorite and almost ”national” drink in Germany and the Czech Republic, as are wine in France and some ethnic Making the Curriculum Multicultural 165 communities in the Caucasian region and vodka in Russia. People in these areas do not advocate consumption of alcoholic beverages for health or the development of children and teenagers, but historically and traditionally, adults have consumed these drinks as part of their diet. Continuous overconsumption of alcohol and becoming an alcoholic is another problem requiring a special discussion. In addition to the measures that make health and nutrition education more relevant and appropriate, ODea and Caputi (2001) recommend that teachers and health educators know and consider such factors as socioeconomic status (SES), age, weight, gender, and body image. In their survey, which included 1,126 elementary and secondary students from twelve Australian schools, O’Dea and Caputi found that low SES children were more likely to be overweight and to skip breakfast and less likely to receive weight-control advice. Physical self-esteem was highest among boys of low SES and lowest among overweight girl students of middle and upper SES. The survey results provide some suggestions to help low- SES students avoid eating problems and overweight, but it is necessary to be careful and avoid inadvertently creating body-image concerns where they currently do not appear to exist.

Knowledge about the Perceptions and Treatment of Diferent Ailments across Cultures People may perceive and cope with different ailments differently. For example, Cambodians, Hmong, Lao, Mien, and Vietnamese believe that illness can be the result of an imbalance of hot and cold. Other causes of illness are punishment from spirits, gods, or demons and magic spells. Popular cures are cupping, coining, pinching, and using herbal remedies and Tiger Balm for muscular and respiratory symptoms. The Chinese use cupping, acupuncture (metal needles inserted into the skin at precise points), and moxibustion (heating crushed wormwood or other herbs di- rectly on the skin). Many Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Brazilians believe in Santeria. When believers become sick, they invoke an Orisha (saintlike deity). Most Haitians believe illness is the result of natural and supernatural causes. Before utilizing medical assistance, they use home remedies and seek prevention and treatment from voodoo priests and priestesses. Haitians believe that through curses, spells, and magic, an evil individual can cause children to fall ill. Therefore, they teach children to avoid unfamiliar places. Believing that blood is part of the soul and might be used for sorcery against a person, Haitians are wary of blood tests. Many Southeast Asians may also object to having blood tests (Dresser, 1996). According to Jewish law, young boys must be circumcised on the eighth day. Removing the prepuce is performed both as a religious and 166 Chapter Five cultural rite and as a hygienic procedure. The same ritual, performed both with religious and hygienic purposes, is observed among Muslims. Tra- ditional Mexicans believe that illness is caused by imbalance of the four body humors: blood-hot and wet, yellow bile-hot and dry, phlegm- cold and wet, and black bile-cold and dry. They cure ailments by cor- recting the imbalance through elimination or addition of heat, cold, dry- ness, or wetness. Before entering the traditional health care system, Mexicans may employ a wide range of healers: the hierberu (herbalist), purteru (midwife), curandero (healer), mattria (medium), and bruju (witch) (Dresser, 1996). Throughout Russia honey is considered a most effectual and universal remedy. Herbal use is also a common practice. Against colds, some Russian people may use small portions of vodka with pepper. This last remedy is never recommended for children. Attitudes toward drugs and herbs contamg similar ingredients can differ across cultures. Drug production, sale, and use are prohibited in almost all cultures, and in some there are severe laws against drug cultivation and sale. But in Holland, a compassionate and tolerant society, the so- called soft drugs can be bought in drugstores. By providing this example, I am only pointing out the difference in attitudes to drug use, but I do not mean that if drugs are sold openly in one society, it must be a example to follow for other societies. It is possible to categorize some of the frequently used preventive and healing practices of certain ethnic groups according to their use of certain ”healing substances.” For example, ethnic Russians obsessively believe in the healing powers of honey. In Russian folk-medicine traditions, honey is recommended for almost all known and unknown diseases, external (on the skin) and internal, physiological and psychological. It is possible to say that Russians often use “honey medicine.” Some groups in southeastern Asia (Chinese, Cambodians, Lao, and Vietnamese) often recommend using various balms; their practices in balm use may be referred to as “balm medicine.” Bashkirs and Tatars believe in the healing power of bouillon and soup, made of chicken, beef, and horsemeat. Their practices in this respect may be called ”bouillon medicine.” For example, when my mother, a Tatar, fell seriously ill with dropsy in 1958, many people, including medical personnel, treated her with chicken bouillon. Since then, she has believed in bouillon’s majestic powers and has been advising all sick people, especially those suffering from colds, to consume bouillon and soups. In some cultures, people believe in the healing and purifying powers of sweating. For example, across the United States, Native Americans use a form of sweat lodge for purifying the body, mind, and spirit. Participants sit inside an enclosed structure, often made of bent willow branches and shaped like an igloo. They sit on mats or blankets. Other people, who are Making the Curriculum Multicultural 167 in charge, sprinkle water over hot rocks, and the steam that is formed makes the participants sweat. The sweating process is accompanied by praying, singing, and drumming (Dresser, 1999). Many people across Russia-both ethnic Russians and members of other ethnic groups-also believe in the healing powers of sweating. They sweat and wash their bodies in the banya, or steam bath. In banyas, most people steam their bodies to extreme temperatures, beat themselves with a venik (a birch or oak twig), and often plunge into a cold bath or even roll in the snow in wintertime (Kuharets, 2001). There are public banyas in every urban settlement in Russia. Many urban residents prefer to visit the banya for sweating only. In rural areas, almost all families have a banya of their own, and they wash and sweat in it every week or even more often. Rural banyas are normally made of wood. By sweating in the banya, many people in Russia also fight their obesity.

Knowledge about Connotations Various Cultures Attach to Particular Symbols and Signs When a person encounters what is considered an omen of bad luck, the individual’s inner world ”facilitates” the surfacing of psychological imbalances and frustrations. Bad luck omens differ across cultures. The Chinese tend to shun the number four and the color red; these symbols are associated with bad luck. Therefore, it is undesirable to assign Chi- nese tourists to rooms with a number four. Physicians do not use red ink in writing prescriptions, and teachers do not make corrections in students’ exercise books or write their names in red. Red in Chinese culture has a negative connotation and is often associated with death. Also, many Chinese people believe that guests should not wear black or white at a wedding. Both colors have negative connotations. Yet black is not universally a negative wedding color. Wearing white to a wedding in India is believed to bring bad luck, and even death, to the wedding couple. In Indian culture, only an enemy wears white to a wedding (Dress- er, 1996).

Knowledge about Sexual Relations from the Health Education Perspective In the epoch of rapid spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), safe sexual relations are facilitated by the use of contra- ceptives. In many countries of Asia, contraceptive use by men or women, as well abortion, is against cultural and religious beliefs. Gay and lesbian sexual relations are prohibited in some cultures because of religious or cultural beliefs. In others, homosexual relations are accepted, and homosexual men and women are not marginalized. In Western cultures (mostly 168 Chapter Five among nonreligious people), premarital sexual experiences are not praised but they may not be condemned. Men and women may not feel emotional and psychological remorse for not being a virgin when they enter marital relations. In most Muslim cultures, a woman is supposed to be a virgin, and the only acceptable physiologically and psychologically healthy relationship between a woman and a man should be in marriage.

Skills of Promoting Preventive and Healthful Measures The whole school atmosphere should be directed to organizing adequate healthful and preventive measures. Much depends on the collaboration of educators and teachers with school medical personnel, psychologists, teachers of physical education, and the school cafeteria staff. Medical workers and psychologists are required to monitor each student’s health, help design and implement preventive measures and health education programs, and infuse the curriculum with health education content taking into account the ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity of students. Teachers of physical education need to involve students in various sports activities and physical exercises, taking into account their state of health, cultural and religious traits, configuration of their body (slimness, stoutness, and height), and their age. Individual approaches are needed in organizing physical training lessons. For example, for one student, exercising can be a powerful tool in reducing stoutness; for another stout student, excessive exercising can be harmful. Cafeteria workers, who are responsible for preparing meals for students and teaching staff, should be alert to the needs as well as taboos of students from various ethnic, religious, and cultural groups. For example, they are expected to know that Muslim students may not eat pork and are likely to ask for another diet. Meals that students consume in school cafeterias must be prepared from ecologically healthy and fresh products. Food poisoning often occurs in contemporary kindergartens and educational institutions, especially in countries with a warm climate. Obviously, in working with the diversity of students, it is necessary to know that multicultural pedagogy requires that educators consider individual, culturally determined, and universal measures that are necessary for all students irrespective of their ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Popov (1997) recommends using a system of preventive measures that may be instrumental in any multicultural classroom, with the proviso that in each situation, educators are expected to take into consideration cultural, ethnic, and religious factors and factors pertaining to students with physical and mental disabilities. He contends that the measures should consider the proper organization of Making the Curriculum Multicultural 169

the teaching process (the duration of the lesson, school day, and school week; organization of lessons, breaks, and holidays) prevention of students’ academic overload and negative frustration prevention of neuroses and negative behavioral reactions hygienic conditions for using computers and other modern technology prevention of diseases and traumas of students’ motor system (poor posture, flat-footedness, rickets, rheumatism, and injury); prevention of contagious diseases (AIDS, the flu, etc.) prevention of drug and alcohol abuse students’ extracurricular and home schedules (the preparation of homework and participation in social activities) students’ nutrition students’ physical toughness (by air, sun, water, by walking barefoot, etc.) personal hygiene

There are many newly emerging strategies and methods that have proved effective for curing certain ailments. One such method of prevention and healing that is currently gaining ground in the United States is the Ntu approach to health and healing (or Ntu psychotherapy) developed by the Progressive Life Center (PLC). The evolving Ntu approach provides therapeutic services and psychoeducational programs that are framed in an Afrocentric understanding of the world. Pluralistic in its nature, the Ntu approach is based on using ancient Eastern principles of healing, New Age concepts of the mind-body relationship, an Afrocentric worldview, and methodologies acknowledging the highest expression of human potential (Gregory and Harper, 2001). As the incidence of all skin cancers is increasing in the world, among both adolescents and young people, it becomes important for teachers and health educators to develop students’ sun-related knowledge, promote their cancer awareness, and teach self-care skills. After analyzing sun-protection issues among Australian secondary students, Livingston et al. (2001) recommend changing basic concepts such as the belief concerning the attractiveness of tanned skin and shifting attitudes toward using sunblock and avoiding unnecessary exposure. Skin cancer is becoming a problem not only in sun-rich geographical regions such as the 170 Chapter Five

Middle East, North Africa, and Australia but also in areas with less sun exposure, such as Europe (Hewitt et al., 2001). Most of the territory of the United States is also highly exposed to sun. Even the central and southern parts of Russia, whose climate is traditionally considered cold, are highly exposed to sunrays in late spring and summer. Today it is important for education institutions, parents, and medical workers to organize measures to protect the younger generation against STDs such as gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, genital herpes, HPV (human papilloma virus), and, of course, HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that each year in the United States more than 500,000 people are reported with gonorrhea, around 100,000 with syphilis, and about 4 million with chlamydia (Santrock, 2002). Sadly, STDs are an increasing health problem, especially among high school and college students. There is every reason to believe that “STDs are being rejuvenated.” Santrock recommends knowing the following strategies for protecting against STDs. An individual must:

know his or her own risk status and that of his or her partner. Many people lie about their STD status. obtain a medical examination. Experts advise that couples who want to start a close relationship should undergo a medical checkup to rule out STDs before they engage in sex. practice safe sex. It is necessary to know that condoms protect against STDs only partially. For example, they are less effective against the spread of herpes.

In general, there is no safe sex with an unknown partner. There is one important law to be known by every human being: Mutual fidelity with your sexual partner or monogamous (husband-wife) fidelity is the only safe way to protect oneself from a sexually transmitted bacteria or virus.

lnvolving Parents in Health Education In a multicultural classroom there should be a very close relationship between teachers and parents in health education approaches. Parents must understand the importance of being healthy and strive for their children to be healthy, happy, and high achieving academically. In most cases, they know their children’s health problems much better than the teaching staff and other school personnel. In family-oriented cultures (Chinese, Hispanic, Native American, African American, Gypsy, Bashkir, etc.), all members of an extended family try to participate in educating a child. When a family member falls ill or is hospitalized, all the other family Making the Curriculum Multicultural 171 members want to be with the patient. Regarding the prevention or treatment of certain ailments and emotional imbalances, misunderstandings between parents and teachers may bear ethnic, religious, and cultural tinges. Teacher requirements for a healthy lifestyle, based on modern, scientifically and medically proven approaches, may be incongruent with the approaches practiced in students’ families and their cultural communities. In many countries of Asia and Central and South America, prior to using the services of modern, formal medicine, people use their cultural means of treatment. I have already offered a number of examples of folk remedies. Using multicultural approaches to health education requires delicate handling on the part of both educators and parents. In most cases, herbal use, cupping, and other folk remedies and preventive measures prove to be even more effective than remedies and treatment used by formal medicine. There are also many cases when, ultimately, only technology-based medicine and factory-manufactured remedies can prevent or cope with a given disease. Some health topics are best approached not through ethnicity-by-ethnicity analysis but from a global perspective. For example, combating HIV/AIDS must be attended to as an outgrowth of not just cultural but also global change. In a mobile world, any contagious disease can spread in no time. It is important to understand that, despite ethnic, religious, and cultural differences, humanity is a single sociocultural and physiological organism, and if an influenza or HN/AIDS epidemic breaks out in one part of the world, it must become a matter of universal concern. There is a cogent example to follow: when earthquakes or other natural disasters occur, people throughout the world mobilize their efforts to save the victims and repair the damages.

Pluralistic Approaches in Music Education

To begin the story, it is worthwhile to acquaint the reader with interesting insights provided by students in responding to an intriguing question included in a survey under the common title ”Do we know ourselves and this multicultural world?” The survey was conducted in Russia among secondary-school graduates. The sample students included 360 respondents from Russian, Ukrainian, Tatar, Bashkir, and Mari ethnic backgrounds in equal proportion: 72 students of senior grades, aged from six- teen to eighteen, in each ethnic group. Responding to the question ”Which of the three phenomena-literature, music, and painting-makes the most favorable impact on you and elicits most pleasant and favorable inner impressions and associations with the past and/or present and why? (put in rank order),” 41 Russian, 52 Bashkir, 46 Tatar, 44 Ukrainian, 172 Chapter Five and 45 Mari respondents placed music first in rank. Thus, 63 percent the teenagers gave preference to music as a phenomenon making a co siderable impact on their everyday lives as well as their psychological ai emotional state. To explain the reasons for such preferences, the respo dents provided the following answers (selected responses are presentec

Music is a special thing, that is why I put it as a first priority. I have heard it at home, during our relatives’ gatherings and elsewhere. When I happen to hear an ”old song,” a ”needed person” or event, associated with the song, immediately occupies my mind. (a Baskkir respondent)

Music influences me more than any other human creation. I am unable to explain why it is so: as soon as I catch the sounds of a familiar tune or song, I recall my past and want to return to it for at least a couple of minutes. When I buy a new tape with new songs and start listening to it, I expect the unknown with each new song. (a Tatar respondent)

Many people recollect their past listening to a piece of music. It is different with me. As soon as I recall my previous years in my memory, for example, my being an elementary student, I often recollect the songs that we performed at school during socials and excur- sions. Of course, literature and painting are great things, but, when comparing these three things, I give preference to music. I remember my first teacher who taught music herself. She was like mother. (a Mari respondent)

I feel omnipresent, flying above the earth and seeing a motley, breathtaking landscape when I listen to a familiar or new, well-designed piece of music. For me, there is no good or bad style, or good or bad groups. I prefer “that good” which any style or group contains. In fact, I myself select ”that good.” Music is more expressive than novels, poems . . . (a Russian respondent)

I have grown up in a surrounding where music and dancing never stopped ringing in my ears. I often sing: in different places and doing different jobs. Sometimes I think that my voice sounds better than voices of celebrated stars. People will agree with me that music is a powerful thing. (a Ukrainian respondent)

I love both to read and enjoy music. Books are needed for gaining knowledge and enhancing literacy, paintings and music-for spiri- Making the Curriculum Multicultural 173

tual growth and spiritual satisfaction. Only music, in my opinion, elicits a more pleasant aesthetic impressions than reading books and viewing paintings. (a Tutur respondent)

Although the respondents were not great in number and represented only a specific ethnogeographical region, their responses invite contem- plation. Most respondents express favorable reflections on music as an important phenomenon in their lives, in their associations with various events, people, and places. Music promotes their aesthetic and spiritual growth and personality development. Music, created by different peoples inhabiting different countries, can immediately arouse a person’s most favorable associations with, and reflections on, the whole globe, taking the individual away into a vastness. Acquaintance with various styles and genres created in different cultures may be likened to examining a globe in a geography classroom: one makes a breathtaking journey across the globe wondering at the diversity that is quite near at hand. In school practice, music education is mainly restricted to elementary and middle schools which have specially trained music teachers who conduct music lessons in a number of classes. Smaller schools, especially in rural settings, may have one music teacher for the whole school or, sometimes, no specialist at all. This is true with reference to Russia’s rural elementary schools. In senior grades, the inclusion of music education in the curriculum is largely dependent on the school administration’s pre- rogative and enthusiasm. In senior grades music education is often restricted to extracurricular activities conducted within different clubs (clubs of modern, classical, folk music) and to students’ participation in school choirs or brass bands. Many American music educators are struggling for the survival of their programs (Koza, 2001). In European countries and Russia, the picture is no different. This chapter will examine three issues surrounding multicultural music education: misconceptions arising in music education, content development, and some pedagogical recommendations that might be helpful in dealing with the diversity of students.

Misconceptions Several misconceptions hinder the effective integration of music education with multicultural content. One of the misconceptions rests on an am- biguity about whether music contains a universal message. The capability of music to unify people of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds is often misunderstood among the teaching and learning public at large. First, the idea of the universal is erroneously conceived as unifying all people of all continents. For example, if a definite style of music, accepted 174 Chapter Five and loved in the United States and other Western countries, is rejected in other countries, it is thought that this style or piece of music does not possess a universal message. In other cases, the very notions ”universal” and “unifying” are subconsciously perceived to have ideological and political content. Being universal is often understood as being able to literally unite and bring together people from different continents into one spot to perform beloved songs and fight against specific evils. The following assumptions can be offered regarding this misconception. Being universal does not always mean addressing the aesthetic and spiritual needs of all human beings without exception. Stating music’s in- capability to possess a universal message is like negating the “undying force” and “universality” of such drinks as tea and coffee. The greatness of these beverages is in their satisfying the tastes of a considerable majority of the world’s population. Even though tea or coffee is less accepted and consumed in some societies, on the average, their ”universal message” in satisfying people’s vital needs is evident. Similarly, jeans, a product of American culture, have become clothing of everyday, universal wear for millions of people outside the United States. Jeans incorporate a message of universal value not because they satisfy the needs of all people in the world but because they satisfy the demands and tastes of a great number of people (young, middle-aged, and old) in many parts of the world. Music can hardly contain a universal message, but a musical creation as a social construct can become a universal phenomenon and, thus, contain a universal message if it transcends the boundaries of the ethnic and the national and becomes a beloved musical piece for a considerable number of people from a broad spectrum of ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds. The unifying nature of music is revealed in the fact that music can summon people of various backgrounds to listen to a specific composer’s masterpieces or to one beloved piece of music. The very fact that the physical carriers (records, disks, and cassettes) of specific musical creations are sold out in various cultures and different parts of the world is a mighty proof. Like other domains of art, music helps people to transmit feelings to each other. Leo Tolstoy (1989) says that by means of any art people transmit to each other their feelings, whereas by means of verbal language they transmit their thoughts. Art, including music, is a means of communication, a means uniting people within the spectrum of similar feelings. Tme art can be told from false art by one salient feature: true art is catching. ”The stronger is the catching capability of an art, the better is this art represented as an art” (423). Tolstoy writes:

The art is a human activity based on the following: one person, by means of consciously known external signs, transmits to other people the feelings Making the Curriculum Multicultural 175

that he experiences himself; by doing so, other people become caught up by and go through these feelings. (420)

Tolstoy speculates that any art is a means of communication between and among people. The more people participate in communicating by means of a musical style, genre, or given piece of music, the more universal and unifying it becomes. As the proverb says, ”The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” Denial of the seriousness of modern popular music styles and, on the whole, all the spirit of modern music is another misconception in music education. It is erroneously assumed that the only worthwhile music styles for use in the curriculum are folk music and classical music. The hackneyed paradigm of idolizing classical music does not truthfully and adequately reflect the musical spirit of the contemporary era. Traditional- ly, musicologists, music educators, and the public at large have included in classical music only well-known masterpieces by celebrated composers, such as Beethoven, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. The idea of natural conversion and transformation of popular musical creations into the category of classical music is vaguely perceived. Any ethnic piece of music can become classic if it continuously satisfies people’s aesthetic needs, being performed in movies, the theater, and people’s gatherings and reproduced in different manners (choral, orchestral). Some songs of the legendary groups such as the Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Boney M, and Abba or the songs performed by Elvis Presley, Pete Seeger, and Rod Stewart have undoubtedly become classic. For example, the Beatles’ songs ”Yesterday” and ”Let It Be” can be put on this list, as can ”Sailing,” performed by Rod Stewart. A third misconception arises from the assumption that music education should be conducted by specially trained teachers or even professional musicians. Even though this statement is apparently true in its essence, in multicultural music education, accents may change their places. It is reasonable to ground this argument on the fact that schools throughout the world experience a chronic shortage of music experts, on the one hand, and lack academic hours for music instruction, on the other. For example, in Russia’s schools, where music education is conducted from the first through eighth grades, one music teacher sees around four hundred to five hundred students in a week. In this situation, reaching the goals of multicultural music education through the professional efforts of one or two music teachers becomes impossible. It becomes evident that multicultural music education can and should be implemented by classroom teachers as well. In this respect, Koza (2001) notes that music experts can experience considerable difficulties in reaching every student, and classroom teachers, who know the students well, can offer invaluable insights. 176 Chapter Five

Understanding the importance of music instruction from the very start of students’ academic career, elementary teacher education institutions provide student teachers with appropriate knowledge and skills to conduct music lessons. In Russia the music component of the elementary teacher preparation curriculum incorporates around 250 hours, or 3.3 percent of the number of academic hours allotted to the five-year teacher preparation program. A fourth misconception is grounded on the fact that some people, while listening to a piece of music consisting of both instrumental and vocal components, place most emphasis on the vocal side. Consequently, perceiving music’s essence becomes dependent on whether the listener comprehends the words of the song. Unable to comprehend the meaning of the vocal text, “word-bound” enthusiasts think, “What‘s the use of listening to this song? I cannot understand it.” Thus, they restrict their aesthetic interest to a musical creation to the minimum. They can be motivated to listen only to those musical creations whose lyrics they understand. To dispel this misconception, students must be given sufficient knowledge of music as a domain of art. Students must be taught that not only the words matter but also the instrumental parts, which transmit specific feelings to listeners, so that they perceive music as a whole. Finally, it is commonly assumed that only musical styles that are created in European and other Western countries are worthy of study. Today this viewpoint is being spread into the vast territory of the American, African, Eurasian, and Australian continents. This trend toward ”westernization” and “Europeanization” of children’s musical minds is especially detrimental in music education that is multicultural and social reconstructionist. On the other hand, it is equally undesirable to introduce students exclusively to their native music, rejecting other styles as alien and unworthy.

Content Development Among many objectives and principles promoting improved content in multicultural music education, I recommend two approaches: the ”conelike” approach (the so-called expanding approach) and the approach based on considering the diversity of musical genres and styles (the genre-diversity approach). According to the first approach, multicultural content should (1)reflect the interests of various ethnic and cultural groups represented in the classroom; (2) include music and elements of musical culture of other ethnic and cultural groups residing in the nation-state, as well as music ap- preciated on a broader societal scale (such as Anglo-Saxon music in the United States or Russian music in the Russian Federation); and (3) include Making the Curriculum Multicultural 177 music made outside national borders. The second approach presupposes integrating the content with different musical genres, irrespective of who initiated these genres or when. For example, according to the second approach, multicultural music education may include (1)folk music characteristic of the ethnic groups represented in the classroom, the nation-state, and foreign countries; (2) classical genres (instrumental and vocal classical music) by famous national and foreign composers; and (3) national and international modern music. Including religious music in the curriculum should not be an ambigu- ous question in school practice. The world is witnessing a growing number of religious denominations, many of them accompanying their sacred rituals with instrumental and vocal music. Religious music is pleasing to the minds of representatives of particular religious beliefs, has artistic value apart from its religious significance, and enriches a child’s overall music education (Koza, 2001). An invaluable objective of multicultural music education is integrating the content with folk (country) music and folk genres. Folk songs and melodies reflect a people’s aspirations, expectations, and innermost dreams. We noted earlier that Bashkirs, one of the ethnic groups inhabiting Russia, are high-context people, adherents of the strong family, their national traditions, and customs. They are also a singing people and sustain their folk musical traditions. Let us illustrate how multicultural music education can be infused with the folk content in classrooms with a Bashkir student population. Following the conelike approach, the music education in such a classroom may include Bashkir, Russian, and foreign folk music. The following recommendations illustrate only one possible approach to content development in a classroom that has students from a minority ethnic group. First, Bashkir children’s music education should incorporate Bashkir folk genres and styles; among them, the following salient Bashkir genres may be included (Kashapova, 1995):

1. ozon kuy, drawling tunes, devoted to the fates of various historical characters and heroes 2. kiska kuy, short tunes or melodies, performed by dancers 3. uzlau, national variations of guttural singing 4. senlau, the wedding lamentation 5. kubair, the creative activity of folk singers, sesens, characterized by improvised and monotonous singing 6. bait, a song depicting a significant event 178 Chapter Five

7. munadzat, a prayerlike address to God, based on the vocal intoning of the poetic genre

In the past, songs belonging to these genres were performed without instrumental accompaniment. These days they may be accompanied by various folk and modern musical instruments, such as the kuray (an instrument made of raw reed) and the accordion. Akhiyarov (2000) contends that in Bashkir communities songs and folk tunes have accompanied labor operations, such as cattle grazing, transporting merchandise to markets, sawing, and weaving activities. Many songs have been performed in leisure hours. Children, who used to be close at hand, heard folk tunes and were glad to join adults. Folk songs contained not only idyllic melodies but also patriotic words about people and land, thus making an impression on children’s development, encouraging their tendency to help parents. Folk music that accompanied labor played a significant role in child-rearing practices. Sounds of native music-songs and tunes-elicited intelligence and enhanced feeling. Bashkir pedagogues excelled in propagating the ideas of folk music and music education. The Family and Pedagogy society, formed in 1909, succeeded in propagating the inclusion of music education in the curricula of local Bashkir colleges and gymnasia. Folk music was and is an important element of folk pedagogy among Bashkirs. Second, it is reasonable to enrich Bashkir children’s multicultural music education with a Russian folk component. Very hospitable and cheerful by nature, ethnic Russians have created a variety of folk music styles. BiZinas, ancient musical epics, are devoted to various events. His- torical songs, depicting significant events or periods of Russian history, are performed during major holidays and festivals. So-called labor songs remain extremely popular, especially in rural communities. Ceremonial songs are also devoted to certain significant events. At family gatherings, wedding parties, and holiday celebrations Russians often sing or listen to lyric songs that depict a great variety of earthly occurrences, pre- or postmari- tal relationships of the man and the woman, relationships between parents and children, etc. Widespread among Russians are dance songs and tunes. A short variation of a dance song is called a chastushka. Third, it is necessary to enrich the folk music education of students from Bashkir ethnic backgrounds with a global perspective, providing them with insights about the folk genres of peoples living outside Rus- sia’s borders. For example, Bashkir students can be introduced to the music styles of the United States. The first people to settle the American continent, Native Americans, had songs for many occasions. Some songs were accompanied by musical instruments. Dancing and music were an important part of their lives and religions. Even today we hear melodic Making the Curriculum Multicultural 179

Native American music and see graceful dancing at special festivals. For example, "Navajo Melody" appeals not only to guests and tourists visiting Navajo communities (Aitov and Aitova, 1999), but also to people who hear it in other places within and outside the United States' borders. With the coming of Europeans, a variety of new genres originated. A number of legendary styles were created by African Americans. Having added African rhythm to religious songs, they created spirituals. Having combined European musical instruments and songs with African rhythm, the musicians of New Orleans made a new musical style, jazz. "When the Saints Go Marching In" is a beautiful jazz creation of African American musicians. The great song "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child is known throughout the world. In the early 1890~~another style came into being on the Mississippi River Delta-the blues. In 1914 W. C. Handy wrote the most famous blues song of all times, "The St. Louis Blues" (Aitov and Aitova, 1999). The epoch of cowboys generated one of the idyllic modes of musical expression called country music. Country music has spread all over the globe. Rock and roll, created and performed by such trailblazers as Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, and Elvis Presley, has also permeated all contemporary cultures. In introducing students to American music, it is worthwhile to add to the music content the three most frequently sung songs in English (Young, 1997): "Happy Birthday to You," "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" (originally the French "Malbrouk"), and "Auld Lang Syne." Unquestionably, these masterpieces have become favorite songs not only of people in Anglo-Saxon countries but also of people living in other countries. Introducing Bashkir students to Bashkir, Russian, and American music (and to other foreign genres) will inevitably help them appreciate music as an important domain of art and add to their spiritual scope. In a similar way, the folk music can be added to the curriculum of classes with other minority groups.

Pedagogical Recommendations Creating music education with a multicultural perspective requires the inclusion of all students in the pedagogical process, integration of music with other curriculum disciplines, and effective use of students' extracurricular time.

Inclusion. A prime rule in music education is including all children in the teaching process. Multicultural music education cannot be elective. In- cluding all students requires that teachers use an individualized approach. Some students have natural and well-developed vocal characteristics. Others can easily develop these characteristics after a series of 180 Chapter Five exercises with a music expert’s assistance. Still others will experience great difficulties in singing. This third group should not be subject to criticism and exclusion from whole-class activities such as group singing and choirs. According to official programs of music education, adopted in many countries, acquiring knowledge about musical culture and developing vocal skills and skills of notation are important objectives in elementary and secondary schools. Aliev (2000) formulates similar objectives for Rus- sia’s schools: Music teachers are required to ”develop students’ musical capabilities, singing voice, as well as help them acquire knowledge and skills in the domain of music, including skills of notation’’ (22). In multicultural music education, when the goals is to attain equitable and unbiased music education for all students, it becomes impossible to address the needs and interests of all students if teachers stick strictly to such objectives. Students with alternative mental and physical development, academically low-achieving students, and students from cultures where singing is not highly valued as in Euro-American cultures may not fit the high-level standards required by similar formal programs. In multicultural music education, being musically educated should not necessarily mean being able to skillfully sing and read and play notes. Ac- quainting students with a variety of musical styles and genres, both native and foreign, and with creative biographies of famous composers, singers, and music critics; inviting professional singers, songwriters, and composers from different ethnic and cultural groups to school; and attending concerts and performances become important parts of multicultural music education. These empowering activities require students to use listening skills. And further, who said that every student should ultimately become a professional musician? The latter objective may be pursued by a talented child who is keenly interested in music and who loves playing some musical instrument. Learning about music by listening, seeing, inquiring, and meeting and interacting with professional performers and music experts is an accessible activity for all students, regardless of their academic achievement, psychological and physiological faculties, cultural and religious background, or age. This active-perception approach, along with other relevant pedagogical strategies, can ensure all students’ inclusion into acquiring the wonderful world of music and musical culture.

Integration. Integrating music with other subject areas is another effective approach in multicultural music education. Introducing music within a larger context has a positive effect on the quality of both subject area and music acquisition. In many cultures music is intertwined with other aspects of life (labor and religious activity, family and extended family Making the Curriculum Multicultural 181 gatherings, festivals, dancing, and other forms of entertainment). For example, in Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Tatar, and Chuvash communities, holiday gatherings are often accompanied by singing songs and short couplets. Singing plays an important part in Christian public worship. In Russian Orthodox Christianity, singing in holy shrines is not accompanied by musical instruments, whereas in some other Christian denominations, especially in the United States, singing may be accompanied by classical and modern musical instruments. A newcomer visiting an evan- gelical church in the Unites States may erroneously take the musical part of worship for a rock concert, as I once did. Music is an integral part of the cinematography of India, which is the world’s largest producer of feature- length movies. Integrating music into the social studies curriculum may be an effective technique to make music education more multicultural. For example, while discussing the Second World War in a U.S. secondary school, it might be worth&hile to start a lesson with composer Irving Berlin’s wartime anthem, ”God Bless America,’’ which captures the patriotic spirit of that era. Likewise, while discussing the geographical location, cultural peculiarities, customs, and habits of any given culture, it would be beneficial to incorporate into the lesson short musical interludes created and treasured in that culture. Such pieces of music may include folk styles, music performed by national instruments, and the national anthem. For instance, in introducing U.S. culture to a European audience, it might be of interest for students to listen to a couple of folk (country) songs. In enriching U.S. students’ horizon with information about Scot- tish culture, it is difficult to avoid mentioning the Scottish national instrument, the bagpipes. Studying Russian culture in an American or Eu- ropean school may be accompanied by listening to the famous Russian song ”Katusha” (a girl’s name). Introducing Bashkir culture to any other ethnic audience can be accompanied by music performed with the the Bashkir instrument the kuray. Favorable conditions for integration arise in language classes. Integrat- ing music into foreign-languageteaching is a common practice in Russia’s educational institutions, and many educators succeed in broadening students’ musical scope by infusing foreign-language lessons with music from other cultures. Among the most successful experts in implementing such approaches is Valerie Aitov, associate professor at the Birsk Peda- gogical Institute, Bashkortostan, Russia. While teaching English to secondary and higher students from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, Aitov acquaints them with British and American music styles and genres. Many school and institute graduates whom he taught English are able to perform at least a dozen songs from British and American folk and modern repertoires. His book From Indians to “Titanic,” in which he 182 Chapter Five offers folk and modern popular songs as well as creative biographies of British and American musicians, has become a best-seller among students from different age groups. Music can be integrated in science and mathematics teaching (Gold- berg, 2001). For example, it is possible to introduce the study of acoustics through demonstrating musical instruments. Goldberg says that there are many Native American song collections, such as Songs $Earth, Water, Fire, and Sky, that relate specifically to nature and earth. There are also many songs in popular music about nature and science. The relationship between music and math may begin to be understood by listening to some music. This is how Goldberg explains this phenomenon:

Take reggae, for example. Notice the recurring patterns on the part of the instruments. Are the patterns of equal length? Or, sing a familiar folk song such as 0, Susanna, and discuss the mathematical relationship between the verse and the chorus. Are they the same length? If not, how would you describe the difference?Is the chorus the same as, or longer or shorter than, the verse? Is it half as long as the verse? A third longer? How does Old Mac- Donald convey addition and the song BINGO convey subtraction?. . . All the activities just described provide students with real-life (and familiar) ap- plications of particular mathematical concepts. Students begin to associate numbers, lines, shapes, patterns, and the like to real situations. (150).

Making Use of Extracurricular Time. Benefiting from using extracurricular time for music education is one more important task for an insightful teacher. Among the many teachers whom I know personally, Venera Timiryanova, an elementary Mari-born teacher from Birsk, is one of the most skillful experts in using extracurricular time for multicultural music instruction, thus adding to the scanty academic load designated for music education. Normally, her elementary classes include Bashkir, Russian, Tatar, Mari, Chuvash, and Ukrainian students. Annually, one of her extracurricular activities is devoted to the kuray that Bashkirs have used as a solo and ensemble instrument for more than a thousand years. The students come to learn that famous Bashkir ku- raists of the past (Baik [1710-18141, I. Mirzakaev [1780-18771, G. Argin- baev [1856-19211, Y. Isanbaev [1891-19431) were marvellous impro- visators. She likes to provide students with an episode from Isanbaev’s life. In 1925 Isanbaev was invited to Paris as a guest performer. When the Bashkir kuraist appeared on the stage, he, literally in front of the audience, made a kuray from a raw reed and performed several beautiful melodies. The French audience was amazed and wondered how a person could produce such nice tunes manipulating a piece of reed. When Isan- baev finished playing, a Frenchwoman stepped up on the stage and pre- Making the Curriculum Multicultural 183 sented the Bashkir musician with her personal golden ring. She put it on his finger herself. During the same activity, the multiethnic class enjoys listening to a number of Bashkir melodies performed by older boys. They traditionally sing such Bashkir melodies as "Old Baik," "Rural Song," and "The Urals." The kuray is an old and widely used musical instrument; nevertheless, many students from non-Bashkir background know very little about it and are amazed at the enormous possibilities of this stalk of reed (Sina- gatullin, 2001b). In another activity Mari music accompanies the Mari folk game Pam- palche and is a salient part of the whole activity. Venera Timiryanova's students like to play this interesting musical game, which can take different forms in different grades. The main characters in it are Pampalche, a charming girl, heroine of the Mari fairy tales; Salika, her sister; Koksha, a clever and very strong boy; Varash, a wicked kidnapper; and a group of children. The game is played as follows (Sinagatullin, 2001b):

In the game, in a spacious room (or an open field), a group of children play different games to the accompaniment of Mari music. Pampalche and Sali- ka appear and join the children. Suddenly Varash emerges and kidnaps Pampalche. Salika calls to the kids for help. All children call: "Koksha-savior, Koksha-savior, come and help us!" Koksha appears, wearing the Mari national attire, singing a song, and leading a group of strong boys. After children tell Koksha what has happened to Pampalche, Koksha promises to rescue her. "To save beautiful Pampalche," says Koksha, "I need five boys. I will organize several contests among all the boys and select five of the bravest and most robust fellows." So he does. "Varash is afraid not only of human strength but also of nice melodies," says Koksha. The whole group of children continues performing Mari folk songs. To the accompaniment of the songs, Koksha and the selected five fellows save Pampalche from the hands of Varash. (29)

Summary

The preceding pages have concentrated on how to effectively create a multicultural curriculum and have examined this objective with respect to social studies, health, and music education. The social studies curriculum, reflecting a wide range of cultural, socioeconomic, and humanitarian issues, is a sigruficant part of the school curriculum. Passing through several historical stages of development, the social studies curriculum has undergone considerable changes in the United States, as well as in other countries, such as Russia, where the curriculum changes have largely depended on socioeconomic and cultural changes. Multicultural 184 Chapter Five social studies education requires the teacher to possess a certain level of cultural, sociohistorical, sociogeographical, sociopolitical, sociological, and technological competency. Teachers of history need to possess sociohistorical expertise and mastery, but a corresponding level of mastery will also be necessary for a geography or culture studies teacher. Any level of additional multicultural and global competency is important for a teacher of any subject. Because health is one of the top priorities of human existence and good health is a springboard for fruitful creative and professional activity, health education should stand at the center of any contemporary educational institution. Making health education multicultural means ensuring students’ understanding of the image of a healthy person in different societies, providing them with the knowledge of what causes disease and how people from different cultural backgrounds perceive and treat various diseases, as well as with the skills to undertake preventive measures. Pluralistic approaches in music education make it incumbent upon teachers to think deeply over misconceptions hindering the process of teaching musical culture, to build a relevant content that can address the aesthetic and cultural needs of all children, and design and put into effect relevant pedagogical strategies. In contemporary, music-deficit schooling, it becomes important to integrate music into other subject areas. The following section of the book will be concerned with the multicultural expertise of the teacher whose professional career is related to working in a culturally pluralistic classroom. 6

Multicultural Competency of the Teacher

The issues examined below should be read as pedagogical recommendations to teachers and educators who work in multiethnic and multilingual schools or classrooms, that is, in schools where the multicultural-education-for-all approach is most suitable. The recommendations may also be useful to any educator who works or plans to work in any other type of school, classroom, or community and who wants to address the growing diversity of students. The teacher’s multicultural competency may include at least three components: attitudes, knowledge, and skills.

Attitude

Attitude is an important salient part of any multicultural teacher’s professional expertise. The phenomenon of attitude is most closely associated with a teacher’s feelings, ways of thinking, and dispositions toward teaching and interaction with the diversity of students. In this study, I take attitude also as a category depicting the degree of a teacher’s understanding and readiness to make the pedagogical process more multiculturally centered and productive.

A Positive Attitude to Diversity A multicultural teacher is required to understand that human diversity is an omnipresent phenomenon that has existed since the birth of the human race. As noted earlier, human diversity incorporates not only racial, ethnic, and language differences, as it is often understood, but also social, political, economic, gender, residence (rural or urban), age, exceptionality, and other issues and is continually changing. Migration adds

185 186 Chapter Six significantly to this change. Increasing numbers of people from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds change residences within one country or move into other countries. Prior to emigrating from their native countries, most people have only a slight notion of the host society’s culture. For instance, people immigrating to the United States normally consider it a perfect country, full of wealthy people living in spacious homes. Others envision this country through the contents of books and movies, shown throughout the world, and imagine the American society as consisting of gunfighters and fat people. Conversely, certain people who have never been to Russia visualize Russians as drinking vodka and all the country as covered with snow. Undoubtedly, gunfighting in America and vodka guzzling in Russia are equally highly exaggerated categories. In comparison to the United States, few people from other countries used to immi- grate to Russia. As for emigration from the country, prior to democratic changes, also only a small number of people crossed the Soviet Union’s borders for good. The few people who left the country in Soviet times were mostly dissidents opposing official policy. Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s case is probably a classic example in this respect. Working with the diversity of students, educators need to have positive and tolerant attitudes toward alien values, cultures, and standards of life, toward children with alternative health, toward parents who may have different expectations of, and attitudes toward, schooling and teacher-parent relations.

An Understanding of the Importance of School Reform Movement It is important to understand that multicultural education is an educational reform movement aimed at reorganizing schools and other educational institutions so that pupils from all racial, ethnic, cultural, and gender groups will have equal opportunities to learn (Banks, 2001a). Therefore, the whole class and school atmosphere should address the requirements of this goal. Teachers should also recognize that their work is a most significant activity capable of helping reform the curriculum and the entire educational environment. The multicultural teacher is expected to:

be an active participant in promoting culturally responsible and responsive formal and informal curricula be skillful in using and benefiting from the positive factors of diversity in educating children be able to promote mutually favorable teacher-parent and school- community relationships Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 187

possess and enrich required professional knowledge and skills to cope with the diversity of students be able to facilitate students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes so that they can successfully function in a pluralistic society elaborate and foster effective professional orientation of students contribute to educating students for global literacy and competency

Striving to Enhance the Multicultural and Global Horizon

The pedagogical profession requires that each teacher continually widen and deepen his or her professional mastery. Like an athlete who consciously or subconsciously fears losing professional shape and strength and feels a need for recurrent physical training, and like a musician who feels uneasy without regularly playing the piano or violin, a multicultural teacher should feel an inner need for a regular enhancement of his or her multicultural knowledge base and professional skills that are necessary to effectively interact with the diversity of pupils. There are many ways to achieve in-service professional growth. We will focus on a few of the most important methods.

Formal In-Service Teacher Education. In-service teacher education programs provide educators, teachers, and school administrators with necessary knowledge and skills at regular intervals. Such programs function in all countries. Unfortunately, the ideas of multicultural education are included only in a limited number of school districts as well as universities that help organize in-service teacher education. On a larger scale, such ideas are conceptualized and implemented in in-service teacher education programs mostly in the states with visible ethnic and linguistic minority populations, such as California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Hawaii, and Florida. On the other side of the Atlantic, in Russia, in-service teacher training programs are designed and implemented by special regional or republic-level in-service teacher training institutions (in most parts of the country they are called ”institutes of education development”), pedagogical institutions (colleges, institutes, and universities), and local school districts. Even though professional development curricula in multiethnic and bilingual settings contain bilingual-education programs, programs of teaching native language and culture, teaching mainstream language and culture, as well as national and world cultures, in Russia the overall ideas of multicultural education are implemented, as in the United States, predominantly in multilingual, multiethnic, and bilingual areas by the most enthusiastic members of in-service teacher training 188 Chapter Six staffs. Among the regions and republics infusing teacher professional development programs with a multicultural/bilingual content, we can name Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Mari El, Udmurtia, the Chuvash Repub- lic, Buryatia, and Yakutia.

Gaining from the Colleagues’ Professional Experience. Visiting peers‘ classrooms and extracurricular activities in the school and elsewhere and learning from them is an important approach to enhance one’s pedagogical expertise. A prime goal of a multicultural teacher, especially at the start of his or her career, is to benefit from seeing and learning from other teachers’ lessons and modes of teacher-student interaction in implementing multicultural strategies. Teachers can benefit from visiting not only standard schools where orientation on multicultural education is realized but also schools for children with alternative mental and physical health, schools or classes for gifted children, schools in remote rural settings, and those in inner-city areas. Seeing how people of the same profession conduct lessons and interact with children and parents from different racial and cultural backgrounds, viewing how other teachers motivate children to learn, articulate lesson objectives, select means of teaching, use the needed content, teach, and evaluate and assess learners, as well as how they use computers and other technology help motivate teachers and promote their professional and personality growth. As the ideas of diversity, multiculturalism, and multicultural education are conceptualized and implemented in a limited number of school districts, schools, and classrooms, even in the countries with pronounced ethnic and cultural diversity, an insightful teacher-intending to work toward attaining equal and equitable education for all-can also gain experience from visiting any teachers, whether or not they are advocates of multicultural curricula. Any teacher, experienced or inexperienced, tries to use elements of an individualized approach to children from different cultural backgrounds, strives for pupils to achieve academically, and cares especially for children with disabilities and children from impoverished settings. Teachers can learn about their colleagues’ pedagogical experience by participating in teachers’ conferences and workshops where participants can share insights on problems related to the teaching profession. To support such important work for teacher growth, the chapter will further focus on the professional activities my Russian colleagues and I are organizing according to the plan of the pedagogical center School-College-In- stitute that was set up in Bashkortostan in 1997 (Usmanov, Sinagatullin, and Bayanova, 1999). This complex now encompasses over twenty educational institutions (elementary and secondary schools, gymnasia, lyceums, pedagogical colleges, and institutes) located in four regions of Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 189

Bashkortostan and helps organize for rural and urban teachers regional and local conferences, workshops, and meetings devoted to the issues of multicultural education. One such conference, ”Enhancing the Teaching Process in the Multicultural Setting,” organized in the town of Birsk, made a particularly strong impression on the teachers. For two days teachers from different ethnic (Russian, Bashkir, Mari, Tatar, Ukrainian, and Udmurt) and religious (Christian, Muslim, and atheist) backgrounds were busy visiting and analyzing lessons in mathematics, the Russian language, foreign languages, and musical culture. The teachers also made re- ports on their topics of investigation, shared pedagogical insights on myriad problems regarding subject area instruction and classroom management, and visited school museums, laboratories, computer rooms, and sporting centers. Most of the teachers responsible for delivering ”open” lessons and activities demonstrated novel techniques and strategies of teaching and classroom control while working with diverse students. Analyzing the lessons, the conference participants concluded that working in a culturally pluralistic classroom, the efficacy of using a required instructional style depends, among other things, on the teacher’s expertise and skills and on how well the teacher knows students’ individual, cultural, and learning styles and dispositions. The participants also noted that teacher training institutions should place special emphasis on preparing teachers with bilingual and bicultural qualifications to address the needs of rural communities with non-Russian ethnic groups, and that schools should do more to multiculturalize the symbolic, so-called hidden curriculum. The participants also agreed to further shape and implement the ideas of multicultural and global education taking into consideration the diversity of students in each individual school. Another event, the workshop “The Innovative Development of the School” for schoolteachers and principals, also organized under the aus- pices of the pedagogical center, was conducted in the gymnasium at Yanaul, a town located in northern Bashkortostan. The student and teacher population of the town of Yanaul and the Yanaul school district is ethnically diverse and consists of people of Russian, Udmurt, Tatar, Bashkir, Mari, and Ukrainian descent. One lesson, devoted to the prevention of smoking, attracted most attention among the participants. The teacher, L. R. Uzbekova, started the lesson by pointing out that smoking is a global problem that has crept into all cultures and societies. People of all racial, ethnic and cultural groups, both men and women, young and old, poor and rich, and people inhabiting all climatic zones get ”hooked by this drug. She was right to call smoking the most widespread example of drug dependency in the world. Each year more people die from smoking- related diseases than from drug abuse, homicide, or AIDS. Using pictorial 190 Chapter Six aids, the teacher explained to the pupils that nicotine powerfully affects the central nervous system and the brain. After each inhalation, nicotine goes into the lungs, then into the bloodstream and the brain. Smokers have more than twice the risk of heart attack, two to four times the risk of sudden cardiac death, and an even greater risk of lung cancer. Young girls and boys have a higher risk for early death from smoking. Consequences of heavy smoking, like those of HIV infection, do not spare anyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, social class, age, or gender. Throughout the world, in urban areas there are more smokers, more female smokers, and more young smokers (who start smoking at earlier ages) than in rural regions. Uzbekova pointed out that, in addition to the suffering caused by direct smoking, smokers harm surrounding people from secondhand smoke, which is a mixture of the smoke exhaled by smokers and that coming from burning cigarette ends. Young children are especially sensitive to secondhand smoke. The teacher provided both national and global information on the harmful consequences of smoking. Providing statistical data, she underlined that, in some countries, the smoking rate has decreased. People began to understand the deadly harm smoking brings to their health. For instance, in the United States, from 1985 to 1999, the smoking rate among different ethnic and racial groups decreased notice- ably. In 1985,38.9 percent of Anglo Americans smoked; in 1999, the number had decreased to 27.0 percent. With reference to African Americans and Hispanics, the rate decreased from 38.0 percent to 22.5 percent and from 40.0 percent to 22.6 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, smoking among high school graduates across the United States increased by 2.9 percent within the same period. The teacher pointed out that a relatively large number of young people start smoking in elementary school. She also stated that smoking is extremely harmful for women, and especially for young girls who will soon become mothers. Medical workers and psychologists underline that quit- ting smoking is a more difficult task for females than for males. I myself never heard or read anything so articulate, expressive, and eye-opening regarding smoking and its aftereffects as the information, knowledge, and admonitions that the teacher delivered to the elementary students and the educators who came to evaluate the lesson. The spirit of the lesson touched all who were present. The techniques, approaches, and examples the teacher demonstrated were pertinent models for colleagues to follow in their efforts to infuse a health education lesson with multicultural and global content.

Self-Education. Nothing will help teachers sustain and increase their pedagogical mastery if they do not continually enhance their skills. For Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 191 teachers committed to multicultural education this task is equally important. Every teacher holding a university diploma understands that preservice education is a basic and invaluable tool. But it is also understand- able that the knowledge and information acquired in the preservice period cannot last long, because pedagogical and psychological sciences are advancing and being enriched, especially in this new century, by novel ideas, information, and approaches. So are instructional techniques, methods, and strategies. Knowledge and information about the world-an invaluable component of a teacher’s expertise-is also changing extremely fast. Therefore teachers must regularly enrich their global knowledge through mass media and other sources. Being knowledgeable about the world and knowing how to sustain and renew global competency and literacy are sacred tasks for a multicultural teacher. An effective way of learning about human diversity is seeing the world. Seeing places and learning how people from different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds organize their lives; learning more about alien cultures, their customs, traditions, and historical heritages; learning about the ways different cultures cope with the issues of education and how they use folk pedagogical traditions; getting acquainted with other educators and proponents of multicultural and global education; collecting and enriching the personal didactic arsenal (with video, audio, and pictorial aids, books, etc.) for future use in the classroom-all these and other activities must become part of a teacher’s self-education program. Sadly, not all educators can afford such explorations. In most countries, teachers’ salaries leave much to be desired. Par- ticipating in teacher exchange and international grant programs goes only a little way toward the objective of globalizing teachers’ knowledge. It is high time that governments and high-ranking educational authorities draw special attention to these and corresponding problems related to the teaching profession.

Knowledge Base

It is said that knowledge can move mountains. Sterne (cited in Prochnow and Prochnow, 1964) wrote, ”Nothing in this life, after health and virtue, is more estimable than knowledge” (397). Teachers with a multicultural orientation are in a more difficult position than teachers who simply implement the requirements of a standard mainstream curriculum. First, multicultural teachers need, like any teachers, to possess, sustain, and refresh subject area content and global knowledge; second, they have to gain, digest, and process more knowledge on the diversity of classroom students and of humanity; and third, they must construct and ”adjust” 192 Chapter Six knowledge and information to provide students with equitable and equal opportunities for school success, regardless of their ethnic and cultural characteristics. A multicultural teacher is expected to possess the following knowledge base.

Knowledge about Ethnic, National, and Global Values Possessing knowledge about ethnic, national, and global values and virtues, as well as about attitudes, values, and customary qualities distinguished among gender, age, social class, rural and urban, and other cultural groups is an integral component of a multicultural teacher's expertise. One can frequently encounter the notion of core or dominant values-that is, primary standards and principles promoted by a particular culture-and peripheral, subsidiary, or variant values, or priorities that are of relatively less importance. The characteristic features of values are not written on walls and mir- rors so that a person can look at them in the morning, "refresh their essence" in memory, and plunge into "fulfilling their regulations." The survey conducted by Schwartz and Bardi (2001) shows that, despite salient and compelling differences in the values priorities of various groups, there is a surprisingly widespread consensus regarding the hier- archical order of values that are important for an average human being. Among the ten value types (achievement, conformity, benevolence, hedonism, power, self-direction, security, stimulation, tradition, and universalism) selected by the authors, a sample from thirteen countries put benevolence, self-direction, and universalism as most important; power, tradition, and stimulation values as least important; and security, conformity, achievement, and hedonism in between. On the basis of their study, Schwartz and Bardi come to the conclusion that there is a common pancultural baseline of value priorities, that is, there is a striking level of agreement across cultures regarding the relative importance of various types of values. This pancultural values hierarchy can be understood as reflecting adaptive functions of values in addressing three requirements of societal functioning (in order of importance): "cooperative and supportive primary relations, productive and innovative task performance, and gratification of self-oriented needs and desires"( 287). It is reasonable to assume that values are deeply rooted, dynamic principles monitoring a person's behavior, lifestyle, and modes of interaction, irrespective of continually emerging specific situations. They are deeply embedded because a person often subconsciously materializes their nature and essence in verbal and professional behavior. They are dynamic because any person in a normal human environment, especially a multiculturally minded educator, regularly grows in knowledge and skills, Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 193 continually opening the realms of the unknown in the outer world. Val- ues are those standards and virtues to which people should attain to be good human beings, good members of the community, nation-state, and global society. Attaining and becoming such a person is a matter of extreme difficulty. If this task were not difficult, human society would have long ago reached an ideal state of development and prosperity. The value system of an ethnic group often represents an amalgam of ethnic and acquired features. From an ethnopsychological perspective, the value system is traditionally reflected in the mentality and national character of an ethnic group. Chapter 2 examined the ethnocultural characteristics of a number of groups. The picture may be enriched by a brief reference to several other ethnic groups (Sarakuev and Krysko, 1996; Aru- tunian, Drobidzeva, and Susokolov, 1999; Kukushin and Stoliarenko, 2000).

Arabs traditionally value patience and are religious, resourceful, in- genious, and communicative. Turks value tolerance and are religious, capable of endurance, and unpretentious. Lithuanians value honesty and are optimistic and industrious. (Lithuanian youth are considered more independent from their families than the young people from other Newly Independent States.) Belorussians are capable of great endurance, unpretentious in any circumstances, emotional, and try to avoid conflicts. Uzbeks respect family and extended family values and the elderly and are strong patriots of their ancestral land. Yakuts value unpretentiousness, are capable of enduring cold and hunger, and are physically strong by nature. Chechens value honor, respect the elderly, possess decision-making skills, are capable of great endurance, and are attached to their kin- dred ties. Georgians value and respect valor, friendship, and the elderly and are hospitable and proud of the people who work on their homeland. Azerbaijanis have a special respect for the elderly and are rather emotional and communicative. Armenians respect family values and the elderly, easily build business contacts with members of other ethnic groups, and are generous and hospitable. 194 Chapter Six

Religious groups, which may encompass members of various racial, ethnic, and language groups, pursue definite sets of spiritual and ritualis- tic values. For example, there is no unanimous mutual understanding in evaluating biblical values and truths among Christian denominations, even though all members believe that Jesus Christ will return in the endtimes and judge people according to their deeds. The greatest priorities for a Christian are to love God and to love one’s neighbor. Among the core sacramental and cultural rituals of Christianity are baptism, repentance, and marriage. The core value and the first pillar of Islam is the confession of faith that reads, “I bear witness that there is no god but God, and Muhammad is the prophet of God.” Based on the first pillar, other pillars encompass ritual prayer, almsgiving, fasting during the month of Ra- madan, and a pilgrimage to Mecca. Buddhists consider life to be a miserable human state; in it and behind it, there is no ultimate reality. Accord- ing to Buddhist teaching, the life of a human being is a chain of sufferings conditioned by her or his striving to live and survive. Buddhists’ value system necessitates resorting to right thoughts, words, meditation, and deeds, which are indispensable for ending the cycle of suffering, birth, and rebirth and reaching a state of absolute blessedness, Nirvana. Hindus, adherents of Hinduism, pursue polytheism. They value and believe in the existence of one divine principle; the many gods are only aspects of that unity. In all its forms, life is an aspect of the divine, but life appears as a separation from this divine, a meaningless cycle of birth and rebirth (sam- Sara), determined by the purity or impurity of past deeds (karma). For Hindus, the aim is to improve one’s karma or escape samsara by pure thought, acts, and/or devotion. They also value and revere various spirits and sacred animals, such as the cow and the ape (Kukushin and Sto- liarenko, 2000; McGeveran, 2001). The values and cultural ethos of urban and rural residents are characterized, on the average, by certain distinctive features, as we saw previously. For example, urban residents tend to be more individualistic, more pragmatically oriented, less tolerant and patient, and have less respect for family values. Rural residents are likely to be more collectivistic and more tolerant and patient, to respect family values, the elderly and the land they live in and work on, and not to shun physical labor. Today, people are participants in a pluralistic democracy. Teachers are required to provide students with values and civic virtues necessary for personal liberty (Gaudiani, 1991), for decision making and social action in a global community. Such values, virtues, and qualities as respect and love for parents and homeland, honesty, kindness, empathy, industriousness, good health, justice, mercy, and self-discipline are respected and ap- preciated in all cultures. Also, we need to discover modern values and virtues for a globally interdependent world by studying different cul- Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 195 tures. Gaudiani suggests that the study of strengths and virtues of different cultures could reveal each society’s contribution to a global culture where the individual and the community are both valued. All cultures have something to teach and something to learn from. By studying various cultures and discovering commonly shared, distinct, and developed values, it is possible to identify the virtues most likely to assure that plu- ralistically democratic societies create a quality life for human society. Values can be taught, untaught, and changed. There are extremes when an individual ventures to substitute a set of values for diametrically opposite beliefs and virtues. We mentioned earlier the conversion of thousands of Russia’s former atheists (communists)to Christianity, Islam, and other religions. Several years ago I spoke to a Polish citizen, a former zealous communist, who adopted Catholicism in 1997. ”Did you experience any psychological difficulties when you decided to become a believer?“ I asked this man, who was nearing his pension age. ”I did not,” he responded. ”Even though I might not have been inspired by the Creator, I followed the biblical Saul’s example.” It is necessary to remind the reader that Saul, or Paul, is a biblical person who first fiercely persecuted Christ and his followers and then, after a revelation from God, became a fervent adherent of Christianity. I believed then that the Polish man, who mentioned Saul and who must have known this Bible story well, was honest to me in his confession; but I also believed earlier and believe now that changing one set of values and priorities for another, jumping from one political party to another, can become for some people like changing one pair of gloves for another. It would have been decent if people who change priorities and virtues were always pursuing decent intentions.

Knowledge about the Phenomenon of Diversity and Surrounding Issues The first chapter of this book was devoted to various issues and dimensions of human diversity. The conclusion was that human diversity, incorporating social, ethnic, religious, linguistic, age, gender, and rural- urban layers, is a natural process in human history and that the contemporary diverse world is continually and rapidly changing. It is necessary to add, in the context under consideration, that not only does each societal, ethnic, and cultural group have its own diversity infrastructure, but also each individual within a culture is characterized by unique personal diversity. These subdivisions may be called “group (or societal) diversity” and ”individual diversity.” Group diversity is determined by pervasive, most salient characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, religion, and language, according to which human beings are subdivided in societies. For 196 Chapter Six example, one can say that Singapore is an ethnically and linguistically pluralistic society, or this class in Sri Lanka encompasses Sinhalese, Tamil, and Moor children, or this community in Sweden consists of both monolingual and bilingual residents, or this professional community in Ger- many embodies majority and minority people, or that Canada is a multilingual culture. In other cases, we may note that Singapore is a religiously diverse society, or this class in Sri Lanka consists of children adhering to Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim religions, or this community in Sweden encompasses people of both Swedish and Finnish descent, or this community in Germany includes both Catholics and Muslims, or that Cana- da consists of people of European, African, and Asian origin. The notion of individual diversity incorporates an idea that each member of a racial, ethnic, religious, or language group, simultaneously ”belongs” to other subcultures determined by the individual’s personal interests, inclinations, and other tangible and intangible characteristics. The combination of group and individual diversity makes each human being unique. Teachers committed to multicultural education are expected to know and take into consideration the entire range of each student’s existing and emerging characteristics, ranging from ethnicity to the student’s hobbies and choice of future profession. By referring to a number of ficti- tious high school students in various cultures, I will attempt to show that each student has his or her own, individual culture made up of an amalgam of inherited and acquired features.

Arthur, a well-built, muscular, even-tempered English student from Manchester, England, learns French and Spanish, thus widen- ing his language culture. As he goes to the Anglican Church, he belongs to the Christian subculture. While staying in the school environment during the first half of the day, he becomes a member of the school subculture that differs from the out-of-school cultural and social stratum. He is a male student and has all the qualities peculiar to his male counterparts. These psychological and physiological characteristics differentiate Arthur from his female peers, who, in turn, possess their own specific features and traits. He is a pizza lover and knows many things about the pizza culture. As for beverages, he prefers tea with milk or cream. Arthur confesses that it is his grandmother, who consumes around ten cups of tea a day, who has taught him to love this fragrant beverage. He also knows that some ethnic groups in the Russian Federation, especially Tatars and Bashkirs, prefer drinking tea with milk or cream, that is, in the same manner as most Englishmen and Englishwomen do. Keenly interested in music, Arthur likes to listen to modem pop music, especially performed by Sir Elton John. He regrets not having Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 197 learned to play some musical instrument, but his mother keeps telling him that loving music does not necessarily mean playing it or singing. He prefers wearing fashionable clothes and has an ultramodern haircut. He is one of the best soccer players in the school and has won several prizes. As a fervent fan of the Manchester United team, he lives by the interests of his fan peers. If all goes well, Arthur plans to devote himself to sports and become a soccer player.

Noriko, a group- and collectivistically oriented Japanese student, highly respects her parents and the elderly and adheres to Shinto- ism. She may be referred to as bilingual because, owing to a serious attitude to learning English in school and frequent interactions with English-speaking peers from other countries, she has reached a certain degree of mastery in using this language. Noriko feels things very intensely and is empathetically minded, interacting with people in need. She often remembers her relatives whose parents suf- fered during the atomic bomb explosions in Hiroshima and is equally sensitive about any other grave misfortunes, such as the 1995 terrorist attack in Oklahoma City that left 168 people dead; the earthquake in Turkey on September 17, 1999, which killed over 17,000 people; the railroad disaster in Gaubati, India, on August 2, 1999, that left 285 passengers dead; the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, and the Pentagon in Washington, in 2001, which killed thousands of innocent people; and the collision of the Russian TU-154 with a Boeing plane on June 2, 2002, in the skies over Germany, which took 71 lives, including 52 children. Inclined to cooking Japanese national meals, she is keenly interested in how to make the national cuisine still more exotic. She de- votes her free time to mastering cooking skills, sharing her novel techniques with her mother and school peers. Cooking is her hobby, a favorite pastime. Even though Noriko is a high-achieving student and may enter a university, she looks forward to becoming a cook and offering customers finger-licking meals.

John, a high school student from Cleveland, Ohio, lives in a spacious two-story house with his parents. Like most of his classmates, he feels comfortable in an individualistic learning environment and challenges his teachers with questions regarding the subject areas and global problems. As John started to gain weight, teachers and health educators recommended that he exercise and use a bike to get to school and back. He obeyed their request. In addition to his daily bike trips, each Sunday he makes a bike trip in a nearby park with his girlfriend, Olga, whose parents emigrated from Russia several 198 Chapter Six

years ago. Each time after their bike trip, John and Olga stop at a nearby privately owned cafeteria to have a cup of coffee. In so doing, they want to make their small contribution to support small private businesses in the United States. John considers that he does not need to learn any foreign language in school because English will help him interact with other individuals cross-culturally. John is a high-achieving student, especially in social studies. He plans to continue his education at a university and become a history teacher. Even though he has read and heard much about the history and culture of racial, ethnic, and religious groups in the Unit- ed States, only recently has he come to learn about the Mormons’ version of peopling the American continent. He knew about the existence of such a religion with its center in Salt Lake City, Utah, but, until recently, he had never got closely acquainted with the teachings of this, America’s biggest homegrown religion. After looking through the Book of Mormon (a book that among the Mormons is considered holy scripture comparable to the Bible), John learned about one more version of how America had been peopled in ancient times. John has learned from the Book ofMorrnon about an account of the Nephites and Lamanites who had come to the Ameri- can continent from Jerusalem in 600 B.C. and of the Jaredites who arrived later. The book states that the Lamanites are the principal ancestors of the American Indians. Atheistically minded, John did not believe this account, but, nevertheless, he added this religious version about the settling of the Americas to his overall ”knowledge arsenal.” John is knowledgeable about computers and other technology that is used in his school. His classmates and even teachers consult him on different issues of computing. John strongly believes that any contemporary high school graduate stepping onto an interdependent world must be highly skilled in computer use.

Sarah, a Jewish student, born in Nazareth, group-oriented, proficient in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, excels in all subjects in school. A moderate adherent of Judaism, she prefers urban life. As Sarah lives just several miles from the Yizreel Valley, she knows a lot about its history. Once she read in a book by the American bible scholar John Hagee that in this valley the final battle of ages, Armageddon, will involve all of the nations in endtimes. Whether this might occur or not, she loves Nazareth and the holy land she was born on. She has learned to play the violin within the last five years, and her parents predict for her a successful musical career. But Sarah wants to be a TV star, like American celebrities Lucille Ball and Bar- Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 199 bara Walters. Someday she wants to go to Los Angeles and visit Hol- lywood, Universal Studios, and Hard Rock Cafe on Beverly Boule- vard, which is frequented by movie stars. In her leisure hours, Sarah is fond of viewing American and French movies. Her favorite movie stars are Sharon Stone, Johnny Depp, and Brad Pitt, but her favorite movie is Gone with the Wind,starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. She looks forward to moving to Haifa after receiving her school certificate.

Rafael, an Amerindian student from a tiny village in Peru, respects a spirit of collectivism and goes to the Roman Catholic Church. He is bilingual and highly respects his parents and relatives. Rafael has a sweet tooth and never misses a chance to consume ice cream, a piece of cake, or a cup of sweet lemonade. He also prefers very sweet coffee. He is a good chess player and annually participates in various chess championships. Last year he won second place among twenty-four competitors of his age in the regional tournament. He loves his village and its people and wants to take root in his ancestral land. Knowing that his land is legendary, he considers himself a descendant of the former Inca Empire, which had long ago culturally surpassed other ancient civilizations in pre- Columbian America. Recently, Rafael has learned from TV that some scientists speculate that the ancient Atlantis civilization might have existed on the territory of modem Peru! This hypothesis has added to his self-esteem and self-respect about his homeland. His special love for cattle breeding is almost an obsession. As soon as his classes are over, the young cowboy rushes to his father’s farm and attends to numerous cows and sheep. Succeeding in his father’s occupation is his life objective. As things do not always go quite well in agricultural Peru, he hopes to develop some novel ideas of how to advance the cattle-breeding enterprise in his country-

Diana, a student from Zambia, collectivistically oriented and polychronically minded, very communicative and empathetic, loves her parents and other relatives and respects the elderly and her teachers. She adheres to her indigenous beliefs and is the youngest of her five brothers and sisters. Diana dates a fellow of English origin, even though her parents are against her relationship with the young white man. Since childhood, Diana has been physically weak, suffering from many diseases and missing her classes. As her parents are poor, they could not afford to help their daughter with her health problems. Nevertheless, she excels in many subject areas, and 200 Chapter Six

is fluent in Spanish, English, and her indigenous language. Several years ago she was struck to find out that over half of all the people who live with HIV/AIDS worldwide live in sub-Saharan Africa. Recent figures showed a progressive increase of HIV/AIDS cases both in Africa and in other continents. Indignant with contemporary medical science and out of pity for the diseased, she has firmly decided to study medicine with the intention of inventing a drug against this global plague. Diana is sure that this is a curable disease, and the hope to help humanity never leaves her, because she keeps remembering how Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin and saved millions of people from deadly diseases.

Greg, a communicative and sociable teenager, lives on Grand Ba- hama Island, speaks Creole, and goes to the Baptist Church. He is proud that it was on San Salvador, one of the Bahamas, that Christo- pher Columbus set foot on October 12,1492. Greg and his two older brothers have grown up in a single-parent family. He has a great interest in reggae, a musical style originated by Bob Marley, who was born and died in Jamaica. Greg corresponds with some of his friends in Kingston, Jamaica, and Miami, Flbrida, who are fervent enthusiasts of Bob Marley’s creative career. Both Greg and his friends are mesmerized by Bob Marley’s greatest hit, ”No Woman No Cry.” Any person reaching Greg’s answering machine first hears a fragment from this song. Both of Greg’s brothers are taxi drivers and attend to numerous tourists coming to the exotic country from different parts of the world. The driving profession has never attracted Greg. Instead, he has a special liking for two things: the sea and dolphins. He plans to become a trainer of dolphins and work at Dolphin Experience, a leading educational and research facility in the field of marine mam- mal education and research on the health and maintenance of bot- tlenose dolphins. This institution is located in the north of Grand Bahama Island. Because he loves dolphins and other sea creatures, Greg does not eat any seafood. He prefers to stop at a local Burger King restaurant and enjoy a delicious and calorie-rich meal.

Helen, a student from Germany, is monochronically minded, prefers order in all things and independence in decision making, and adheres to materialistic philosophy and atheism. Unlike her classmates, who are rather casual about clothing, Helen prefers classic styles and wears head gear even in warm weather. She prefers cold water to any other beverage and usually has a substantial breakfast. As she is a vegetarian, she adheres to certain values that Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 20 1 differ from those of nonvegetarians. For example, she has a special liking for domestic and wild animals and is a proponent of a healthy style of life. She is against such pastimes as visiting parties, bars, and restaurants. When her father and family friends go hunting or fishing, she becomes furious: she refuses to prepare meals from the game and catch they bring home. Helen also prefers classical music to other styles; her favorite composers are Schubert, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake, which she once saw on a Berlin stage, made an incomparably pleasurable impression on her. She is interested in the ancient Greek culture. Although she is from an extremely wealthy family of an automobile mogul and may lead a carefree life, her decision to become an archeologist and learn the Greek language remains firm and unshakable. Helen challenges her geography and history teachers by volunteering questions and amazing them with her brilliant knowledge of ancient cultures. She has already visited Greece with her parents and has been amazed by seeing the Pantheon and various museums. Exploring and opening the unknown about ancient Greece has become her prime objective in life.

Averon, a rural-born, collectivistically and polychronically minded Maori student from New Zealand, adheres to his ancestral beliefs. He is a healthy and robust fellow. Talented and hardworking, he excels in mathematics and physics and skillfully operates the computer. He likes to wear blue jeans made by the Levi Strauss company and often wonders how this piece of clothing could become so popular throughout the world. Averon knows that Levi Strauss was a young German who immigrated to San Francisco in 1850 and realized his great idea: he bought a fabric called serge de Nime from France, dyed it blue, and made fashionable pants. Averon likes to watch American westerns, especially with John Wayne starring. He has a special liking for the way this legendary movie star personifies his roles. Averon likes to take care of his younger sister and two younger brothers. He often prepares meals for the young ones and helps his parents in the kitchen when the family and relatives come together on various holidays and festivals. He has inherited his cooking as well as folk pedagogical skills from his mother, grandmother, and numerous relatives. Understanding that the fauna of New Zealand are under threat, he joined the Save the Wildlife school club and does everything possible to make his personal contribution to sav- ing wildlife. He hates the annihilation of mammals, birds, and fish, 202 Chapter Six

especially endangered and threatened species, by poachers. To protect these species, he is thinking of becoming a professional ranger after finishing school.

Knowledge about Students’ Learning Styles Evidence indicates that children bring to school a variety of learning styles from their families, kindergartens, and local communities. Learning style may be approached from different perspectives. It is even more difficult to build a relevant typology of learning styles, especially in a contemporary, rapidly changing, and technology-related multicultural society. For example, Cushner (1990) looks at learning style from a psychological viewpoint. In addition to one general approach, predicting behavior as stimulus-response (S-R) model, another approximation suggests the stimulus-organism-response (S-0-R) model. According to this latter model, relationships between stimuli and responses are best predicted from information about the mediating processes that occur within an organism. Proposed as one such mediating process, learning style is seen as ”individual variations in how people perceive, think, solve problems, learn and absorb and retain information and/or skills” (102). Learning style can be looked at through the lens of an experiential learning cycle. Hughes-Weiner (cited in Cushner, 1990) relates the phases of this cycle to learning in an intercultural context. One preferred fashion of learning, concrete experience, refers to the experiences people from different cultures bring from the real world. A second preference, reflective observation, involves perception of, and response to, information. People from different communities and societies are likely to make different assumptions about the world and thereby acquire different bodies of language. Abstract conceptualization, a third preference, includes the formation of concepts and generalizations based on the individual’s inferences regarding distinct pieces of information. Active experimentation, a fourth preference, includes learning through practical manipulation of concrete objects or interaction with people from different cultures. Without claiming a complete coverage of these issues, I will focus further discussion on factors that affect, determine, and sustain students’ reflective choices in a culturally pluralistic classroom.

Social Factors. Social factors, often intertwined with ethnic and cultural ones, tremendously influence the character of individuals’ learning preferences. For example, a sense of collectivism, Russian society’s prevalent feature, which was strengthened during Soviet times, has made a huge impact on classroom practice. Collectivism has a lot of advantages. A sense of collectivism among children working in small groups helps stu- Mulriculrural Competency of the Teacher 203 dents closely collaborate with each other in solving difficult pedagogical tasks. Advanced students willingly render assistance to slow learners both in and after classes. When a student is stressed or frustrated, peers usually support the ”sufferer” by a word or by just being around.

Cultural Factors. In early studies of human capacity and cognition, references were made to the dependence of cognitive abilities on cultural criteria. This does not, however, seem to be the case. Fundamental capacities of individuals to think and reason are not likely to be affected by cultural differences. Research conducted under culturally appropriate conditions maintains that ”unschooled individuals are capable of rigorous abstract thinking” (Cushner, 1990,109). A sacred goal of striving for knowledge and acquisition of the surrounding reality has been historically pursued by all cultures. In the course of time, different cultural groups, for many reasons, got accustomed to using specific cognitive and learning styles. In so doing, some cultures did stick very close to the rules of nature. For example, Navajo Indians, who have a traditional belief about the role of education and the pursuit of knowledge, often apply holistic approaches toward learning that result in a state of being called hozho (harmony or balance) (Keating, 1996). This approach is related to each of the four cardinal directions, which are symbolic of some major areas of learning. For instance, the north includes concepts such as the importance of respecting and understanding nature; the south is related to the understanding of all essentials of making a living, including elements of law, vocational education, and livestock management; the west is symbolic of understanding the social and emotional skills related to building strong family and interpersonal links; the east symbolizes the need for an orientation to life that includes a spiritual and physical dimension. According to Navajo tradition, a complete person is considered one who can concentrate and converge all these areas of knowledge. In other cultures, observational and interactive learning styles have made a considerable impact on children’s cognitive development. One may refer to the research conducted by John-Steiner (1984) in rural and tribal communities in Arizona and New Mexico. She comes to the conclusion that the Pueblo children she studied excel in observational learning and learning through exploration and social dialogue. They tend to observe adults involved in sequences of activities integrated over time (farming, craft! pottery, and tanning). Children are allowed to take a larger part in performing some of these activities. They are not rebuked for making mistakes, neither are they tied to a specific reward system. It was noticed that Pueblo children, learning from elders, friends, and peers, also prefer learning on their own: examining different objects, taking toys Chapter Six apart, roaming the woods, and playing in the fields during summertime. All these playful and exploratory activities develop a sense of wonder and sharpen children’s curiosity. It is also customary in Pueblo communities for children to interact often with the elderly, who verbally teach them some craft or introduce them to the realms of the unknown. The activities and social expectations verbalized by the elders form an ever present framework to young children. And these patterned experiences and words are acquired by children through listening and social dialogue. Learning through listening to, and interaction with, the elderly has also been a common practice in Bashkir communities of Russia, especially in rural areas with a stable ethnic texture and sustained historical traditions (Akhiyarov, 2000). In most Bashkir rural communities, children and teenagers are often reared by wise and experienced elders. Learning by listening and interaction with old men and women, traditionally called “learning by wisdom,” has always made a positive impact on personality formation and promoted the development of a patriotic attitude toward the homeland and its people, as well as toward indigenous customs and traditions. Akhiyarov indicates that a process of ”interaction with an elderly person encompasses a sense of the land’s past that the elderly individual carries within himself” (152). Considering dimensions of culture, students can be subdivided into field dependent (sensitive) and field independent. Field-dependent learners tend to perceive effects of the whole, prefer a personal client-therapist relationship, work cooperatively with others, and like to assist. They are verbally proficient, concerned with the social environment, and are sensitive to support or doubt from others. Field-independent students, on the other hand, are task-centered, more independent of external judgment, skilled in spatial areas such as mathematics and science concepts, and inclined to analyzing parts of the whole and arranging them into a whole. They prefer a formal client-therapist relationship and have a higher regard for working independently and for individual recognition (Halver- son, 1979; Cohen, 1994; Slavin, 1995). As already mentioned, students of northern European countries are predominantly field independent, whereas students from Latino, African, and Asian cultures tend to be field sensitive. US. students of European descent are field independent. Con- versely, Native Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans are field dependent and prefer a collectivistic working environment. With reference to Russia, a unique socioethnic region, one interim insight will fit the course of inquiry. It rests on the prerequisite about a relatively distin- guishable and exposed line of socioeconomic and cultural demarcation that exists between the urban and rural styles of life. Both ethnic Russians and non-Russian children and teenagers in rural areas are more inclined to field-dependent and collectivistic strategies of learning and cognition, Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 205 whereas most urban residents and young people tend to be field independent. Other things being equal, the field-dependent/independent issue, with reference to the learning public of Russia, seems to be not only an ethnic but also an urban-rural issue. In high power distance cultures, teacher-initiated learning often occurs; students are expectant of how and what the teacher would ask or propose to do; in low power distance cultures, students themselves may prefer certain learning techniques. In territorial cultures, students prefer individual styles of learning and concentrate on work; in proximity-indifferent societies, where spatial proximity is a matter of minor importance, cooperative styles are often practiced. In monochronic cultures students tend to do one task at a time, whereas in polychronic communities learners may prefer doing several tasks simultaneously, maintaining susceptibility to interruptions.

ReZigious Factors. Religion affects cognitive preferences. A religion based on a belief in supernatural and heavenly forces (such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) gradually crystallizes a style of learning that is oriented to the formation of imaginative, expectant, and eschatological mode of thinking; whereas a learning environment that provides students with empirical, earth-bound, and materialistic proofs and evidences molds a scientific and materialistic style of cognition. For example, according to the didactic princip ;e of scientific approach, realized in Russia’s schools, colleges, and higher institutions, knowledge and information embedded in the curriculum must be scientifically proven. The ambivalent feeling that students in secular institutions experience was discussed in chapter 1. Whether religious and scientific ways of thinking contradict each other or not must be a special and larger topic of investigation.

Urban/XuraZ Factors. Two salient segments of human society-urban and rural-play a definite role in shaping learning preferences. Urban students’ learning preferences are developed under the influence of a specific multidimensional environment, full of speedy life, ultramodern technology, and hundreds of other emerging factors. Urban young people, especially in large metropolitan centers, tend to be pragmatically oriented and are less dependent on ethnic values. Rural students are normally less pragmatically oriented and more dependent on the values of the indigenous culture. Therefore, rural students’ learning styles are more influenced by eth uc customs, habits, modes of national labor management, and styles of social interaction and dialogue. As was mentioned, rural-born and -raised students in Russia, owing to specific social, economic, and cultural reasons, are more disposed to collectivistic and field-dependent learning strategies than their urban counterparts. 206 Chapter Six

Parental Factors. Family stands as a salient factor in shaping a child’s learning style. In the countries of Central and South America, where interests of extended families predominate, children tend to excel in cooperative learning, whereas in individualistic societies of northern Europe, students prefer individual forms of learning to learning in cooperation and in groups. Deeply rooted family practices may be a cause of an emergence of students with relational and analytic learning styles (Hillard, 1989; Cushner, 1990). Cohen (1969) maintains that relational learners may come from families where functions are shared between the family members or the members of the extended family (including relatives, neighbors, and friends); analytic learners are likely to emerge from families in which assigned duties are specialized and formally distributed between the members. Concentrating on the whole picture rather than on concrete components, relational learners tend to be field dependent, whereas learners with analytic stereotypes, focusing on individual parts of a whole rather than on the whole context, are disposed to be field independent. Relationally oriented individuals are also more emotional and social in focus and less capable of finding linear relationships; analytically minded individuals are unlikely to be interested in emotional and social topics and more easily find linear and causal-consequential relationships. Rela- tional and analytic learning modes can also be coined by socialization practices and depend on learners’ individual characteristics.

Academic Factors. Although styles of learning are relatively consistent over time, schools and curriculum experiences exert a significant effect on learning styles. A student may (1) progress in shaping his or her traditional cultural learning style and achieve academically, (2) acquire and master another style of learning, and (3) get used to utilizing multiple styles of learning. As students from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds come to one classroom, they have to adapt to the requirements of novel situations. In changing and novel circumstances, with the requirements differing from those peculiar to domestic and communal settings, a refocusing and reshaping of the organization of learning and cognitive skills takes place. When such a shift occurs, a student often flexibly re- builds styles of learning to adapt to change in a new learning environment.

Technological Factors. The infusion of computers and related technology into the pedagogical process has had a significant impact on education. Increasing numbers of personal computers have made the learning process easier. A rapid increase of computers in schools, homes, and libraries and access to a variety of television channels have almost turned the printed text into a subordinate medium of information. Numerous ed- Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 207 ucational programs for children, teenagers, and adults are available on TV programs and video cassettes. Children and adults with physical and mental disabilities can make use of distance-learning programs. Students are free to download ready-made essays and diploma projects through the Internet and to easily translate texts from one language into another. For a student, it is not necessary to be proficient in spelling rules, because the computer can correct orthographic errors. With the impact of new technology on education and everyday life, technology-based and quick- to-access styles of learning are vigorously taking shape. Technology- based styles are often contrasted to centuries-long and well-proven learning practices based on interaction with the teacher and work with a written text. The question “Why did people stop reading books?” might be likened to the one concerning why people stopped visiting theaters and movie houses. The answer is not difficult in either cases: one of the reasons that contemporary students read less lies in the fact that modern technology facilitates learning practices and addresses students’ informational needs; similarly, the decreasing rate of theater and movie attendance can be attributed, in large part, to the emergence of numerous and easy-to-access information and movie channels that can satisfy all possible tastes. In spite of the ever growing technological and computational modernization of pedagogical strategies and methods, student-teacher interactions within classroom and school environments still remain the most powerful means of learning and personality development. Modern technology contributes a lot to this live and invaluable teacher-student communication, exerting a great effect on the acquisition of knowledge and information about this beautiful planet located within the solar system, in a safe corner of the galaxy Milky Way.

Individual Psychological Factors. Styles of learning also depend on the learner’s inner psychological characteristics. For example, a melancholic or phlegmatic personality may prefer staying alone and working at a task individually, delay answering questions, and prefer to be called upon rather than volunteer responses to questions. Conversely, a sanguine or choleric child might prefer group work and be quick to respond. It is scientifically proven that there are no direct relations between types of character and mental abilities. Much may depend on the individual’s value system. A pragmatically oriented teenager is usually inclined to gain knowledge and skills needed for economic and career opportunities. This pragmatic learning style can be contrasted with a knowledge-oriented style motivated by the value of knowledge itself and the need to broaden knowledge about the world in order to be an educated human being. Use of a learning style and the quality of acquisition depend on emo- 208 Chapter Six tional and motivational factors. The greater a student’s interest in a target area of acquisition and the greater his emotional involvement, the greater the probability of his finding ways to internalize the topic under discussion, through a variety of modes of learning or through the one he is inclined to. Vygotsky (1991) maintained that ”only that knowledge can be inculcated upon a learner that has come through his emotional feelings’’ (14142). Likewise, persistent learners, feeling a sense of responsibility for the results of their education, also may attain subsequent objectives and, despite novel surroundings and instructional styles, succeed in adapting and using adequate techniques to carry out academic tasks.

Biophysical Factors. Individual biophysical characteristics may be an important factor in determining a student’s learning preferences. Although many learners prefer using, in varying proportions, all possible analyzers required by given learning situations, some give special preference to a concrete analyzer (visual, auditory, tactile, or kinesthetic). Most preferred among students is visual learning, which provides a person with direct insights about print-embedded information and the surrounding world. Physical position is not the least factor in cognitive activity. Most preferred may be sitting, reclining, lying, or even walking. In northern Amer- ican and northern European elementary and secondary schools, students are permitted more casual physical postures than in Latin American, Asian, and African educational institutions. For a newcomer to the United States, seeing a student sitting or lying on the floor during a lesson often causes a certain culture shock. Also, American students’ practice of eating and drinking during academic time may look incompatible with traditional standards of classroom behavior. According to traditional, strict norms of classroom discipline, students in the Eastern Hemisphere normally occupy their places at the tables and spend all lessons in the sitting position. Moving within and leaving the classroom may be allowed only by a teacher who is considered an authority figure. The teacher will never sit on a table or resort to drinking water or lemonade unless he or she is feeling unwell. Biological orientations may vary with reference to learning sessions. The average student predominantly prefers morning sessions, probably because most educational institutions function mainly in the first half of the day. Other students would rather study in the second half of the day, leaving morning and daytime hours to attend to other occupations. As for the time for doing homework, preferences also vary. Some students do it right after classes so as to be free until bedtime. Others prefer evening sessions, after attending to nonacademic activities after classes. Still others like to concentrate on doing homework and other cognitive activity in the late evening or late night. Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 209

Environmental Factors. The immediate surrounding leaves its imprint on learners’ cognitive preferences. Full silence or moderately noisy atmosphere, bright or lower light, cool or warm air, neatly cleaned or un- cleaned room, casual air of the room-these factors either facilitate or hinder cognitive processes. Some students require complete silence; others prefer keeping their radios tuned to modern music. Bright light is necessary for one student; for another, overbright light may be irritating. Warm conditions may frustrate some students, reducing the impetus of their cognitive intentions, while other learners may prefer such warmth. Some students may be indifferent to how the room looks. Even though the interior may resemble the Augean stables, the learner may be fully absorbed in productive learning. Another learner, inclined to order and structure, would prefer extreme cleanliness and order in the surroundings. Physical and environmental preferences may be consonant with ethnic and culturally driven attributes. Comparing the learning characteristics of three hundred culturally different students in grades 4 to 6, Jalali (as cited in Cushner, 1990) found certain differential preferences in the learning styles of African, Chinese, Greek, and Mexican Americans. African Amer- icans preferred quiet, warmth, bright light, mobility, routine and patterns, action-oriented instructional techniques, and afternoon or evening learning sessions. Chinese Americans had a higher regard for sound, bright light, variety (rather than routine), and morning sessions. Americans of Greek descent gave preference to variety and mobility. Mexican Ameri- cans habitually preferred low light, structure, and tactile and visual instruction. The boundaries between learning preferences are thus not clear-cut. Every student has a learning style. Cultural learning preferences are predominantly learned; individual learning predisposition may be both learned and innate. Learning preferences can be changed over time or un- learned. In sum, learning style can be specified as a purposefully determined and relatively habitual activity (either innately driven or formally acquired or representing a mixture of both), aimed at cognizing objective reality in a given learning situation in the formal classroom or elsewhere. This observation should be read not as a definition as such but only as a possible logical and interim outcome of the discussion.

Knowledge of the Traditions of Folk Pedagogy The traditional, historically proven approaches and methods, or folk pedagogical approaches, that are used by parents, relatives, and community members with reference to children and that had been used by their pre- decessors usually make a considerable impact on children’s personality growth and on shaping their learning styles and cognitive predisposition. 210 Chapter Six

The principles of folk pedagogy of different groups have much in common, because they normally proceed from the overall value patterns characteristic of the whole human race. Since ancient times, people have had a clear understanding that all that surrounds a child has a corresponding educative impact (Kukushin and Stoliarenko, 2000). Tolstoy (1989),who is more known to the world as author of the epoch-making novels Anna Karenina and War and Peace and less known as one of the renowned scholars and educators of his times, writes, ”Children’s games, sufferings, parents’ punishments, books, labor, learning, both forced and free, the arts, science, life-all educate” (208). Expressing similar feelings, Volkov (1999) maintains that ”all the surrounding reality, beginning from the sun and the human heart and ending with a grit and a drop of dew-all these educate” (67). There is a close interrelation between folk pedagogy and classical scientific pedagogy. Classical pedagogy, in a variety of its branches and ideas, absorbs the best traditions of folk pedagogy of different peoples. Conversely, folk pedagogy makes use of the strategic and tactical arsenal of classical pedagogy (Kukushin and Stoliarenko, 2000).

Means ofFoZk Pedagogy. Many means of folk pedagogy are used in different cultures. Frequently used among them are fairy tales, folk music, proverbs, riddles, and anecdotes. Fairy tales are a widely used means of teaching in various cultures. They contain ideas that educate children and teenagers as well as older people. Traditionally, fairy tales carry the following overt and covert themes (Volkov, 1999): (1) in the struggle between good and evil, the former ultimately comes out victorious; (2) those who commit evil deeds must be punished accordingly; (3) human beings are required to be brave, generous, and kindhearted, defend the weak, and help the poor. Many fairy tales express the ideas of proverbs such as “A friend in need is a friend indeed,” ”Time discovers truth,” ”If parents want honest children, they should be honest themselves,” ”Children have more needs of models than of critics,” ”He who can give has many a neighbor,” ”The love of money and the love of learning seldom meet,” “Life is in labor.” Some fairy tales show the privileges of love and strong friendship over hatred and shaky human relations. This is a theme in many Chechen fairy tales. As an invaluable phenomenon in child development,folk music reflects a people’s aspirations, expectations, and innermost dreams. The role folk songs and melodies play in educating the young is difficult to overesti- mate. Volkov (1999) points out that folk songs ”depict the external and internal beauty of man” (101) and are assigned to enhance students’ aesthetic growth and other sides of personality development. Among the first tunes a baby hears may be lullabies that are traditionally sung by moth- Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 21 1 ers; they also may be performed by sisters (even brothers), grandparents, relatives, and friends. Singing lullabies to little ones is considered an element of folk pedagogy among many peoples (Volkov, 1999; Rodznova, 2000). Volkov assumes that ”lullaby pedagogy is the most nature-conformable pedagogy in human history” (89). Each culture boasts at least one bedside song or tune, normally named by one word meaning ”lullaby.” Proverbs encompass a great spiritual power, and their effect on people’s emotions can be likened to the impact of the Word of God upon a believer (Volkov, 1999). Psychologically, their tremendous influence can be attributed to the fact that they express common social opinion and incorporate folk philosophy, sociology, and psychology (Akhiyarov, 2000). Kukushin and Stoliarenko (2000) define the proverb as a sort of ”ethnos- tereotype that is sifted by time and deposited in folk memory, therefore proverbs can serve as empirical indicators of national character” (224). Proverbs are easy to memorize and always incorporate a ”pedagogical moment-edification” (Volkov, 1999: 62). As some words used in proverbs are sometimes difficult for children to understand (especially at an elementary stage), teachers first should explain the terminology of proverbs that they intend to use in the didactic process. Interestingly, one and the same idea can be depicted almost by the same verbal forms (symbols) in various cultures (Volkov, 1999).For example, the idea ”there is no place like one’s native land” is important among many peoples. Amazingly, the Russian proverb ”Russian land is mother, an alien land is mother-in-law” almost coincides in form with the Adigey proverb ”Homeland is as mother, an alien land is as mother-in-law” and with the Ossetin proverb “Homeland is mother, an alien side is mother-in- law” (33). A similar idea, depicted by different lexical means in different cultures, is found in the English proverb ”East or west-home is best.” Working with riddles helps teachers and parents reveal the degree and level of children’s curiosity, observation, quickness of wit, and creative thinking and helps develop their analytical thinking. Riddles are actively used in various subject areas, especially in elementary classes. Short anecdotes can provide students with insights about how to behave and help them arrive at their own solutions in subsequent situations. An ancient anecdote on a pedagogical theme tells how Khadsha Nasretdin, a famous oriental folk hero, taught a lesson to his teacher. A long time ago, Nasretdin was a schoolboy. Once the teacher took all the pupils into the garden, gave each a spade, and asked them to dig the ground. The teacher stood aside and watched. The pupils rushed into digging, but Nasretdin drove his spade deep into the ground and, having crossed his hands behind, approached the teacher. “Why are you not digging?“ asked the teacher. “Oh, my teacher, I’ve come here to learn from 21 2 Chapter Six you, not from your pupils,” answered Nasretdin. Hearing Nasretdin, all the other pupils first burst into laughter, but then looked at the teacher and said. “Really, we also want to see how we need to operate with a spade while digging. We want to follow, oh, teacher, your example.” After this incident, the teacher changed his opinion on how he should teach children to dig as well as other skills.

Factors of Folk Pedagogy. Folk pedagogy is also based on making use of a wide range of factors facilitating children’s cognitive and intellectual development. Further discussion will focus on such factors as family, play, nature, work, religion, holidays and festive events, cultural rituals, and hunting. In the overwhelming majority of cultures, the phenomenon of family and its welfare, essential ideas of preparation for family life, and accumulation and sustenance of family values have been consonant with folk pedagogy and have been a sign of hope for a happy future. The family ini- tiates and promotes the growth of personal qualities and skills such as industriousness, inclination to certain types of work, development of established norms of hygiene, the understanding of what is good and what is bad, formation of curiosity, verbal mastery, elementary skills of counting and measuring, as well as respect for parents and other people. The family offers a natural caring and supportive environment for child development. Traditionally, the family promotes the use of different methods of pedagogical influence, such as

Playing with children. Older members of a family and extended family members can help organize and participate in play activities. Watching and monitoring children’s daily duties and responsibilities. The presence of adults makes a special impact on child behavior: noticing an adult’s presence and attention, a child is likely to perform an activity more accurately and behave more decently. Involving children in work. Family members have greater opportunities to challenge a child into various types of tasks. Helping children. When a child is involved in an activity, an adult family member can easily help the child to better perform and achieve a result. Providing children with an example to be imitated. A family adult can easily show or propose a sample of behavior or activity worthy of guidance or imitation. Involving children in listening. Listening is known to represent an Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 21 3

active engagement promoting the acquisition of objective reality. An adult usually prepares a child for listening by telling the child to be attentive and not to digress from the main point. It is especially useful for children to listen to adults’ opinions about some important issues that concern them, and about what people must beware of and to their wise admonitions and examples. By carefully listening to the adult, children are provided knowledge and wisdom and simultaneously develop important skills of listening comprehension. Involving children in social dialogue. Without difficulty, an adult family member can draw a child into participating in a dialogue, provide the child with insights about the surrounding reality, and ensure the child’s understanding of necessary admonitions. It is especially useful for young children and teenagers to interact with family and extended-family elders as well as with other older women and men. In many Asian, Middle Eastern, African, and Central and South American cultures, people have a special respect for the elderly and their wisdom, their wise advice, and the nurturing and secure environment they usually create in interacting with children and young people. Old people embody a nation’s past and present. This truth is highly praised among the Dagestanians and Chechens, who understand that old men and women are a live voice of the past in the present, that there is no present and future without the past. In this respect, it is very timely to remember Rasul Gamzatov, a Dagestanian poet, who once said, ”If you shoot into the past with a pistol, the future will shoot at you with a cannon.” In the folk traditions of the Tatars, the old man is symbolized as a wise, kindhearted, white- haired, and white-bearded man; the old woman, as a kindhearted woman in white shawl. Tatar children are sure that they can always address any old man or woman for advice, help, and protection. Old people (grandparents, relatives, and neighbors) play a great role in talent recognition and development. For instance, grandparents, by long-range observations and interactions with children, can provide invaluable information that is needed to open their talent and set the stage to further their effective schooling (Feldhusen, 2001); Preparing children for life (in a broad sense). The family provides an educating environment in which a child becomes an adolescent and prepared to step into a world where the child is awaited; at the same time, the child is entering an unknown world where he or she is not always welcomed, and the trails are not easy to blaze.

The family is a great source and prime place where intergenerational transmission of values takes place. Intergenerational transmission, in 214 Chapter Six turn, is one process that leads to cultural continuity (Schonpflug, 2001). Favorable conditions for promoting transmission of values in families can be created by warmth and benign ways of thinking among family members. These two important characteristic features may be present in all types of cultures, even groups using authoritarian parenting (Rudy and Gmsec, 2001). The family and parents may exercise a considerable positive impact on preventing such negative inclinations as alcohol and drug abuse. Kloep et al. (2001) conducted a special investigation with a sample of four thousand rural young people (aged 11.8-16.5 years) from Norway, Scotland, and Sweden in order to study their reported drinking behaviors and their views on various social aspects of alcohol. The survey results show that parental attention can tremendously help children avoid drinking. Be- yond ethnicity, the predictors for ”low” drinking among children were “involvement in activities with parents” and ”parental concerns about drinking.” Interestingly, the most powerful predictors for ”high” drinking were ”involvement with friends” and ”participation in commercial leisure” (279). The results also show that, among the young people from the three countries, Scottish teenagers drink most. Family is a prime cell of society. Tragically, human society has seen negative changes in family structure. Over the last two to three decades, the divorce rate in the world has risen considerably, especially in North America and Europe. For instance, in 1932, the divorce rate in the United States was approximately 1.6 per 1,000 population, whereas in the first part of the twenty-first century it reached around 5 per 1,000 (McGever- an, 2001: 871). It is estimated that in the United States two-thirds of all the marriages will be disrupted through separation or divorce. Another increasingly common family configuration is one in which two persons of the same sex are raising children, either adopted or biologically related to one of the adults. Still another family-related question is growing poverty. Over 12 million American youngsters live below the poverty level (Cushner, McClelland, and Safford, 2000). One more family-related negative phenomenon requiring attention is homelessness among children. For example, in Russia this disaster emerged shortly after the 1990s. Among the causal factors of child homelessness in Russia one can name alcohol or drug abuse of both parents, unfavorable psychological atmosphere between parents and other close family members (sisters, brothers, and other relatives), poverty in families, and an increase in nonformal groups of children that involve other children who, under the influence of these peers, may eventually leave their parental environment for the sake of freedom and independence. As a serious activity for preparing children for adult life and labor, pIay may contain and be related to songs, dances, fairy tales, riddles, patters, Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 21 5 etc. ”Play,” writes Volkov (1999), ”represents a materialization of tale- dreams, myth-wishes, fantasy-dreams, a dramatization of memories about the beginning of humanity” (133). Play is a multidimensional, complex concept, ranging from an infant’s simple exercise to an older child’s participation (Santrock, 2002). Vygotsky (1991) maintains:

Play, a natural peculiarity of human nature, is inherent not only in man; an animal’s baby is also fond of playing. Consequently, this fact must have some biological sense: play is needed for some purpose and has a special biological designation, otherwise it could not have existed and been widely used. . . . Play is natural school for an animal. Thus, kittens, playing with a ball of thread or a dead mouse brought by an adult cat, learn to catch live mice. This biological meaning of play as school and preparation for future activity is fully confirmed by studying human play (p.124). . . . [Play] is the first school of thought for a child. (123,124,127)

The biodiversity of the natural environment, with all the flora and fauna included, is even more amazing than human diversity. The natural environment makes a tremendous impact on child development. Maria Montessori, one of the greatest pedagogues of all times, writes (cited in “Great Quotes,” 1997): “Anew education from birth onward must be built up. Education must be reconstructed and based on the laws of nature and not on the preconceived notions and prejudices of adult society” (16). The natural environment of the homeland has special power over people, positively affecting child-rearing practices as well as nurturing and enhancing young people’s abilities and skills. In folk pedagogical traditions of many peoples (Aborigines of Australia, native Africans, Na- tive Americans, etc.), the categories of nature and people are insepara- ble, and the unity of these two categories represents one of the har- monies of life. The environment of an alien land may also have an ineffable impact on a student’s learning, education, and creative activity. Many students in mobile cultures easily adapt and adjust ta new surroundings, despite existing difficulties, and find new natural environments quite empowering and productive for self-realization and self-education. Equally, many poets, artists, and musicians find foreign nature a framework for success. For example, the natural beauty of New Mexico, a southwestern state in the United States, attracted many artists who came and are still coming there to create masterpieces. What may be the most significant contribution to New Mexico art came in the late 1920s in the person of Georgia OKeeffe, one of the greatest painters in American history (Harris, 1993). It has been a tradition among many peoples to educate their children to treat the land with reverence to preserve the ecobalance. Such has been and is a tradition among all indigenous peoples inhabiting the American 216 Chapter Six continent, from the modern territory of Canada to Chile and Argentina. The native tribes of the American continent were surprised by how ruth- lessly the Spanish, Portuguese, and other European newcomers began to divide the land and intervene in the laws of nature. Today, despite the protective environmental legislation endorsed in all the countries of North and South America, a rush to supermodernization and relentless exploitation of natural resources are destroying the ecosystem. Especially tragic is the situation in the Amazon basin (Lizarralde, 2001). Today the environmental situation is worsening throughout the world. The greenhouse effect and global warming are knocking at the door. In recent years, carbon dioxide, a naturally occurring greenhouse gas, has been building up in the atmosphere as the result of human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) and deforestation. In addition, human-made greenhouse gases (chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlo- rofluocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexaflu- oride) and several nongreenhouse gases (carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen) and nonmethane volatile organic compounds contribute considerably to the greenhouse effect by producing greenhouse gases. The increasing buildup of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide is believed by many scientists to be the major cause of global warming in the 1990s and at the present time. Over the twentieth century, Earth‘s average tem- perature rose by approximately one degree Fahrenheit and is estimated to rise by two to six degrees over the twenty-first century. Global warming could bring about major changes in natural habitat and crop production. The United States remains the world’s leading producer of carbon dioxide, followed by China, Russia, Japan, India, and Germany (McGeveran, 2001: 232). In addition to these abnormalities, other cataclysms are taking shape, such as air pollution, shrinking of surface water supplies, destruction of frontier forests, and destruction of animal species, most of which have been included in the endangered and threatened categories. Involving children and teenagers in work related to household and farming ensures a platform for developing their industriousness and businesslike characteristics. Akhiyarov (2000) contends that ”labor education is a nucleus of folk pedagogy” (158). For example, in Tatar, Bashkir, Khazakh, and Chuvash rural communities, it is customary to appoint younger children to attend to young domestic animals. Sharing this activity between boys and girls, parents usually have their youngest son tend a young calf and their youngest daughter, poultry. The children carefully carry out their duties. Attending to cattle and poultry helps develop the children’s sense of responsibility for domestic animals in particular and the animal world in general, increases their solicitude and industriousness, and strengthens their will. In Tatar and Bashkir communities, children are often involved in col- Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 21 7 lective labor enterprises organized by villagers. One such enterprise is the uma (from Tatar: collective work), collectively organized, disinterested assistance for one family in a specific labor activity (building a house, preparing hay, gathering the harvest, etc.). During umas, parents often come with their children, who either help adults in the work or gain useful insights just by observing the enterprise and collaborating with adults. The idea of preparing a child for labor activity is imprinted in Mari folk pedagogy. Even Mari lullabies embody a hope that a child will be a future helper of parents (Akhiyarov, 2000). For a teacher committed to the ideas of multicultural education, it is important to know that religion, in all its forms and dispositions, remains a strong factor in folk pedagogical traditions. Contrasting religion to atheism, Volkov (1999) holds that religion helps to develop a person’s sacred standing and spirituality. But these qualities are determined not only by being religious; atheists who espouse human rights and democratic principles, as well as basic human assets and values, do not concede a privilege to believers. Both religious and ancient pagan traditions contain huge educational potential, and it is unwise to categorically reject all that is associated with religion and paganism. Christianity places a special emphasis on love for children. The fundamentals of Islam teach people to be merciful, charitable, honest, and sincere. These are the qualities many young people lack today. According to Buddhism, Buddha used articulate, simple language teeming with sayings, parables, and short stories. The very personality of Buddha used to have a considerable effect on the young and the old. Al- though, according to contemporary understanding, many pagan beliefs and polytheistic religions in the past contained awful rites, such as sacrifice and blood feud, ancient paganism has left to the world a great legacy applicable in child-rearing practices. It is worthwhile to remember Genghis Khan (1162-1227), a Mongol chief who consolidated pagan nomadic tribes into a unified Mongolia and created an empire extending from China to the Adriatic Sea in Europe. The Khan, whom Volkov (1999) ranks as one of the wisest folk educators of his times, created the Yassa, a document consisting of two parts: folk sayings and a code of laws. The Khan used Yassa to rule and educate his people. Volkov equates the document to an ethnopedagogical constitution because it was saturated with a folk pedagogical spirit and contained useful and educational admonitions to children and young people. The first article of the codes contained a decree depicting the outcomes of wrong education. It was stated in the decree that children did not follow fathers’ moral admonitions, younger brothers ignored the words of elder brothers, husbands did not have confidence in wives and wives did not follow husbands’ commands, fathers- in-law looked unfavorably at brides, brides did not respect mothers-in- 21 8 Chapter Six law, elders did not educate the young, and the young did not follow elders’ admonitions. The decree pointed out that people did not possess order, and human relations as well as the relations between children and adults should be changed. The code of laws also forbade lying, stealing, committing adultery, and harming neighbors. Collecting, digesting, and using the scattered religious and pagan legacy (or religious and pagan diversity) must be an important task for multiculturally and globally oriented educators, curriculum makers, and parents. National holidays, festive events, fairs, and carnivals make a tremendous impact on children’s imagination and personality development, especially when the young people themselves participate in the activities. For example, Tatars and Bashkirs have an annual national holiday Saban- tuy (from Tatar: plow party). In the repertoire of events, a sabantuy includes Kurask, the national wrestling form of the Tatar and Bashkir peoples (wrestling in its many forms exists among Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Yakuts, Georgians, Japanese, and other Asian ethnic groups). The young and the adolescent join the competition, and the winners usually receive a live sheep as a reward. Sabantuy has these days virtually become an intercultural festival and is celebrated not only in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan but also among the corn growers of the Volga basin area, the northern Caucasus, and Siberia. Adults, youth, and children get caught up in a vor- tex of holidaymaking, expressing their joy over the ending of the seasonal sowing and the beginning of the haymaking season. This holiday, common to all rural and urban residents and celebrated with a great enthusiasm, enhances children’s deeper understanding of the folk spirit and essence of what working on the land is. Tatar and Bashkir children and teenagers are also proud of participating in the annual Fresh Meat Holiday organized in the fall. On an appointed day, rural families invite their relatives and friends to help slaughter cattle and prepare meat for winter storage. Young boys and girls observe how people cope with the cattle and are allowed to render feasible assistance to adults. In some cultures, it is customary to invite the young to participate in various cultural rituals. For example, in New Mexico’s Native American communities, children participate in the Harvest, Comanche, and Corn Dances that are so much a part of the Anasazi Indian culture. Certain communities celebrate their own specific feast days such as San Ildefon- so’s Day, during which villagers perform the Animal Dance and Santa Clara’s Dance (Harris, 1993). Periodically, Native American children and teenagers participate, together with adults, in the Gathering of Nations, at which representatives (dancers and singers) from tribes across North America come together to compete in a three-day festival in April at the Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 21 9

University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Competitions are categorized by the sex and age of the participants, with women and girls competing in Fancy or Shawl Dancing, Jingle Dress Dancing, and Traditional Danc- ing. Men vie for recognition in their own major classifications of Grass Dancing, Fancy Dancing, and Traditional Dancing. By observing and participating in different cultural rituals, young people begin to feel a sense of togetherness and pride in their indigenous culture and acquire skills of communicating with adults and peers in specific conditions as well as corresponding skills in the activity they share with others. In many cultures, adults used to, and in some cases still do, involve the young in hunting, fishing, and other activities related to pursuing animals for food. For example, teaching children to hunt with the help of hunting birds (falcons, hawks, and golden eagles) was a widely used practice among Bashkirs. Adults taught the young how to pursue game in different periods of the year using natural signs in the forest, field, water, and mountains. Successful young boys were rewarded with presents such as eggs, some fowl, or a bow and arrows (Akhiyarov, 2000). Participation in hunting develops young people’s physical endurance and psychological characteristics and helps adults test them in atypical and extreme conditions. Today, for some people in the world, hunting and fishing are major factors of survival. These activities play an invaluable role not only in folk pedagogy proper but also in the formal education process, requiring teachers to maintain close linkages with parents, extended-family members, and the local community; organize field trips; and consider students’ learning styles and cognitive preferences.

Pedagogical Skills

To address the challenges of increasing diversity, it becomes important for a multicultural teacher to possess specific pedagogical skills.

Developing Students’ Positive Attitude to Native and Global Values To learn about students’ competency in their own native values, I included the question “What are the most important values indicative of your nationality (fill out at least five blanks in rank order)?” as an item in the survey “Do we know ourselves and this multicultural world?” As was stated in the previous chapter, the student sample of Ukrainian, Russian, Tatar, Bashkir, and Mari students included learners from senior grades. In reflecting on the survey question, among the 1,080 blanks that 360 re- 220 Chapter Six spondents filled out, 73 percent of the answers to this question contain, to a great extent, a global, universal idea. These answers or characteristics are, generally: ”love,” ”industriousness,” ”empathy,” ”honesty,” ”helping people in need,” “love to parents,” “marital fidelity,” ”keeping away from (not stealing) national and other people’s property,” ”defending the weak,” and ”being a good citizen.” Obviously, these characteristics or values may be held by any citizen of the world, and undoubtedly also by Ukrainians, Russians, Tatars, Bashkirs, and Mari, that is, the respondents themselves. These values are extolled in the Holy Bible and the Koran. For example, most of these human categories are congruent with the biblical commandments “Honor your father and your mother,’’ “You shall not commit adultery,” ”You shall not steal,” ”You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,” ”You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidser- vant, or his ox, or donkey, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (May and Metzger, 1977). Some respondents indicated features that, for the most part, are not characteristic of their ethnic group. For example, a Russian male student indicated “pertinence to pragmatic (materialistic) values” as a prime value for people of Russian ethnicity. Conversely, the dominant idea of the Russian national psychology embodies primacy of spiritual life over materialism. This response might be true with reference to specific individuals of Russian origin, but not to the whole people. An- other respondent, a Mari female student, named “deep religiousness” as a dominant characteristic of Mari culture. The response might be also true only of specific Mari people and Mari communities. On the whole, the Mari people, especially the eastern Mari, although religious, tend to adhere to their ancient, pagan customs and rites. Only 20 percent of all responses pertain to specific ethnic and cultural characteristics of the represented nationalities. Forty-five Russian and 31 Ukrainian respondents concurred that ”collectivism” is a major feature of their indigenous cultures. That adherence to ancient and pagan traditions is an important element of Mari culture was confirmed by 24 Mari exam- inees. Fourteen Tatar and 15 Bashkir students pointed out ”respect for the elderly” as a national characteristic of their peoples. Four Bashkir and 2 Tatar students extolled dzigitlek as a top national characteristic feature of their ethnic groups. Derived from the word dzigit, meaning a “diligent fellow,” dzigitlek symbolizes a brave and honest young man’s readiness to defend women, the weak, the young, and the old and to render a helping hand to anyone in need. In a way, the oriental category of dzigit can be likened to that of gentleman in Anglo-Saxon culture. Sarakuev and Krysko (1996) indicate that among the former Soviet cultures, Kazakh males are especially strong adherents of dzigitlek. The survey outcomes provide evidence that most students are unaware Multicultural Competencyof the Teacher 22 1 or only vaguely aware of what the category of value incorporates and what values are characteristic of their indigenous ethnicity. Their responses to the survey item illustrate their being relatively knowledgeable about global values and their labeling some global values as their people’s indigenous credo. These attempts should not be considered as erroneous responses. Conversely, they demonstrate the students’ emerging awareness and acceptance of the pertinence of global values to their ethnic characteristics. Predominance of accentuating, consciously or subconsciously, universal values gives one more piece of evidence that each ethnic group as part of global society carries universal traits, common standards of and attitudes to life, and common cultural, spiritual, economic, and psychological needs, that we all are and should be “one whole lot.” Students’ positive attitudes to native and, especially, alien values and modes of life cannot be developed during one or two lessons or extracurricular activities. Nor can it be done within one or two weeks. It requires time and energy. Oftentimes, developing attitudes involves behavior change. Not only the classroom but the whole school should represent a favorable environment for children’s personality development and the development of their positive attitude to indigenous and global sets of values.

Teaching Children to Be Tolerant toward Other Cultures In considering tolerance, which is closely related to the notion of positive attitude, Dmitriyev (1999) assumes there are four stages that students should pass through to become a tolerant member of human society. Learning to be tolerant is the first stage; it involves developing a sense of tolerance and a liberal attitude toward the diversity of students. Tolerance as a phenomenon can be perceived by students as a forced and disap- pointing necessity. Understanding and acceptance of other cultures is the second stage. At this stage, educators help students study other cultures and support the diverse ethnic and cultural traits that students bring to the classroom from home and community environments. For example, if there is a Spanish student who speaks English with an accent in an Amer- ican classroom, the teacher will injure the pride of this student by saying, ”Haven’t you learned yet to speak English?” or “Everybody in America must be proficient in English.” Instead, the teacher may say, ”You’ve got a very interesting accent. I like it.” It is necessary to know that cultural differences students possess are not their weak, but their strong, points. The third stage is respecting cultural differences. This stage presupposes an admiration for, and a high evaluation of, different lifestyles and behaviors. For instance, a schoolboy seeing a girl with a number of braids will understand that she has a right to such a hairstyle and will not laugh at 222 Chapter Six her. Rather, he will be interested to learn about the origin of the coiffure. Approving of cultural differences, the fourth stage, presupposes the development of students’ active position: students will not wonder whether or not to interact with counterparts from other ethnic and cultural groups. Teachers, at this stage, should be capable of critically looking at the styles of interactions with children to find out if there are biased and prejudiced attitudes in their own behavior. They will ask themselves, ”Are my attitudes toward children from poor families biased?” or ”Do I not have any prejudice toward Hispanics or Native Americans?”

Instilling in Students a Positive Attitude toward Increasing and Changing Human Diversity In reading about human diversity in this study, it is important to understand that humanity is coping not merely with diversity but with dramatically increasing and changing diversity. These two attributes, increasing and changing, introduce a very salient dimension into the entire notion of diversity. As the diversity variables (such as race, ethnicity, gender) have not been thoroughly investigated theoretically and empirically for educational purposes, teachers and educators lack necessary insights, teaching materials, and instructional strategies that could be instrumental in addressing the diversity of students. Instead, some teachers use their own knowledge and pedagogy in dealing with students from different ethnocultural backgrounds and, working by the trial-and-error method, hardly succeed in providing effective subject area instruction and attitude formation. Evidence indicates that minority racial, ethnic, and language groups, exceptional children, and children from low-income and impoverished settings are still marginalized, ostracized, and stigmatized in some societies. Marginalized attitudes often occur through the symbolic curriculum. In ethnically and culturally pluralistic classrooms, teachers need to reexamine and rethink their educational philosophies by display- ing sincerity, sensitivity, compassion, and understanding to all students and by accepting and being tolerant of a wide variety of views, responses, and behaviors. Educational institutions can benefit from inviting people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds to participate in class and after-class activities. There are always many people in the local community and elsewhere who, interacting with students, can deepen their knowledge about the country’s legendary past, ethnocultural customs and traditions of their local communities, their own school experiences and careers, simple norms of decency and behavior, what is allowed and what is not in a frag- ile world-that is, they can provide the students with more knowledge about human diversity. For example, in Russia, inviting respected people Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 223 and the elderly to school is a common and worthwhile practice. I myself remember how our elementary teacher used to invite my classmates’ parents, who really represented a multiethnic and multicultural melting pot-veterans of labor and World War 11, famous sportsmen, painters, workers, peasants, and representatives of the intelligentsia-who used to provide us with breathtaking information about the past and present of a multicultural Russia and about themselves. I still remember some of the stories and admonitions I heard from them. I remember the teacher’s inviting my father, a veteran of World War 11, who told the class about his participation in the war against Nazi Ger- many, about being wounded, and about how he went to war as a soldier and returned as an officer of the Red Army. I also remember listening to and interacting with a front-rank collective farmer, a villager of Chuvash ethnic background, whom the teacher invited to address the class. He told us about rural life and about the pleasant and difficult sides of rural labor. The collective farmer, a man in his fifties, was so charming, modest, and easy to talk with that, even though it happened in the early 1960s, I still remember his wrinkled face. I can also see his toil-hardened hands and remember a couple of his country jokes. Obviously, interactions with such people help (1)develop respectful attitudes toward the ethnic, social, and cultural groups represented in the classroom and the community, (2) instill a sense of pride on the part of students who belong to the same cultural group as the guest, and (3) unite more closely the multicultural classroom collective. In many cultures of Central and South America and Central and South- eastern Asia, the young and the middle-aged have a special concern for the elderly, of any social, political, and religious background. Interaction with old men and women provides a useful framework for developing a sense of patriotism, as well as a respectful attitude toward the invaluable humanitarian legacy and wisdom from people from different ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds.

Developing Students’ Empathetic and Compassionate Attitude toward Children with Alternative Health and Living Conditions Developing students’ empathy with people with alternative physical and mental abilities is a prime objective in a multicultural teacher’s work. This objective parallels another important goal: the teacher is required to teach students to be empathetic and tolerant toward people with alternative conditions of life. These are people who, for various reasons, are homeless and suffer from hunger and deadly diseases, people who have experienced natural disasters, terrorist attacks, regional conflicts, and wars. In the third millennium, with many social evils loudly exposed, it 224 Chapter Six has become very important for educational institutions to teach students to (1) help the poor and people in need, (2) feel other people’s needs as their own, (3) hear the cries of the mentally and physically impaired who often fall victims to evolution, and (4)become caring and contributing members of society. Empowering students with appropriate attitudes and concerns requires that the school environment and school-family relationships address and facilitate an appropriate and adequate input.

Developing Supportive Attitudes toward Members of the Opposite Sex Despite the centuries-long mutual existence of men and women, differences (caused by psychological, socioeconomic, and other factors) between them still exist, and in some instances are becoming more marked, providing that a major biological function, the continuation of the human race, is being carried out. Some contemporary male students exhibit rather rough and rigid styles of behavior toward their female peers. And certain female students lack a caring, nurturing, motherly attitude toward, for example, younger schoolboys. One often hears, both inside and outside school, such notorious phrases as “I don’t care,” “It’s not my business,” ”It’s her (his) problem.’’ These and similar verbal expressions are almost identical in meaning in many human cultures. It is vital to provide children with insights about how to genuinely interact with members of the opposite sex. I think that it must become important for male students to be more sensitive to their female counterparts and their subculture. Male students are expected to be constantly aware of the fact that it is the woman who is the most active participant in the continuation of human life. There is a statement generally attributed to Sigmund Freud: “The great question. . . which I have not been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is ’What does a woman want?”’ (cited in Famighetti, 1999, 39). Probably, a woman wants to be treated with that natural and humane care, as well as attention and nur- ture, that she has not been sufficiently granted yet, either in the Northern or the Southern Hemisphere.

Classroom Management Skills When the task is set on integrating a multicultural content into the curriculum, the quality of classroom management largely depends on how well the teacher knows students’ core values, communication styles, socialization pattern, interactional and relational styles, learning styles and cognitive preferences, and patterns of ethnic identification, as well as how the teacher addresses racial, social class, gender, and disability issues. On Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 225 the whole, classroom management mastery depends on the entire pedagogical expertise of a multicultural teacher. Classroom management includes a variety of activities aimed at creating a productive and favorable learning environment. An integral part of classroom management is classroom control or discipline, which encompasses primarily the behavioral aspects of children’s interaction with the teacher and peers during the educational process as well as the teacher’s ability to cope with that behavior. As interesting and motivating as lessons are, disciplinary problems can and will arise. Al- though problems in controlling students may be a symptom of a larger problem, Morris (1986) maintains that good order in the classroom results from united efforts on the part of students, teachers, parents, and administration. ”Effective discipline becomes increasingly difficult when one or more of these agents fails to function properly” (135). In this respect, not only the teacher but also students should know what is required of them in the classroom, the school milieu, out-of-school community and, in large part, in the home or host society. This last statement is particularly relevant in working with students from Asian backgrounds: they need to know well what is expected of them. There is a close linkage between classroom control and teaching. The more the teacher is involved in the active process of teaching and the more students are motivated and actively occupied with cognitive activity, the fewer problems may arise with discipline. Conversely, the more able is the teacher in handling discipline, the easier may be the process of teaching and learning. In dealing with classroom management and classroom control, two phenomena, as ancient as human history, cannot be avoided: punishment and praise (or reward). These are sensitive variables, especially in a culturally pluralistic audience. As in any group of students, in a multicultural classroom punishment is known to have both advantages and disadvantages. As Heizman (1983) notes, subjecting a student to a penalty for wrongdoing can (1) bring a rapid halt to an undesirable behavior and, perhaps, a long-term reduction of future occurrences of the behavior, (2) help pupils discriminate acceptable from unacceptable behaviors more rapidly, and (3) reduce the possibility that others present will imitate that behavior. Problematic aspects of punishment are the following: punishment can lead to aggression, has a tendency to generalization, and may have a negative influence on the self-concept or perception of the environment (if it is directed at the individual rather than at the behavior). Also, when pupils are constantly singled out for punishment, they may be avoided or ridiculed by their classmates. And finally, pupils may escape or avoid a punishing situation. Praise also has both favorable and unfavorable characteristics. Praise 226 Chapter Six instills in a student a hope that he or she is behaving decently and correctly and elicits the student’s further motivation to behave or learn better. If the student is praised much and often, praise also loses its essence, because many pupils get used to being praised: they start awaiting praise for any minor action and begin behaving and working only for the sake of an expression of approval and admiration from teachers, parents, or adults in general. It is universally acknowledged that teachers serve as role models. In any culture, teachers’ techniques and methods of instruction, modes of behavior, witty phrases, wise admonitions, humorous stories or anecdotes, gestures, ways of dressing, modes of communication with colleagues, manners of behavior elsewhere-all are noticed, heard, and remembered by students and are often imitated in similar situations and circumstances. It is in this that the uniqueness of the teaching profession lies. What happens between teacher and learner inside and outside the classroom is of such significance that its effect often goes on forever. One of the miracles of the pedagogical profession is that, in everyday life, teachers and graduates keep on encountering each other; and, as soon as a former student meets or hears of a former teacher, the teacher’s part in his or her education and development is immediately recalled. Even more exemplary is the teaching profession in cultures where teachers are especially respected, revered, and rarely challenged. For example, in classrooms with students of Asian and Latin American origin, the ways teachers behave and interact and their admonitions make a uniquely significant impact on students’ personality development. In a multiethnic and multicultural classroom, frustrating situations may arise more often than in a standard monoethnic classroom. These situations, arising in dealing with a single student, group of students, colleagues, parents, and school administration, often result in teacher stress, and a wide range of continual stresses can cause teacher burnout. Teach- ers are often frustrated owing to lack of knowledge about their students’ cultural, religious, and historical backgrounds, their cognitive and behavioral characteristics and traits, and their families and communities. Some teachers, regardless of their professionalism, experience, and age, leave the profession because their state of psychological and physical exhaus- tion does not permit them to work any longer. A multicultural teacher may be recommended to pay attention to the following considerations in classroom management. It is advisable:

To start out with firm discipline without injuring the ethnic and cultural pride of any pupil. It is much easier to lighten up than to become more strict when problems start emerging. Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 227

To love and treat each pupil as being of equal value. Russians, for instance, believe that love is a methodological notion in child-rearing practices. The Russian philosopher Sorokin (1991) referred to love as one of the greatest energies, ranking with the notions of truth and beauty. “Love,” wrote Sorokin, ”is a vitamin for the healthy development of a child” (131). It becomes important for the teacher (1) to let students know that he or she loves them, (2) to focus special, nurturing attention and favor on low-achieving and ill-behaving children as well as on children with alternative physical and mental abilities, who are often less noticed and less loved, and (3) to remember and pronounce each student’s name distinctly irrespective of the ethnolinguistic peculiarities of its pronunciation. In most cases, instead of assertion and punishment, misbehaving and low-achieving children need help and nurturing treatment. To be honest and trust all students, regardless of their ethnocultural characteristics, academic achievement, and personal behavioral dispositions. Pupils, in turn, have more confidence in educators who trust and treat them honestly. My experience indicates that in collectively oriented and high-context cultures, students have a tendency to gather empirical evidence and information and do not trust the teacher automatically. Sometimes, even the teacher’s professional rank and experience are not sufficient to gain pupils’ trust. Students’ faith is gained after some period of witnessing the teacher’s work. The teacher’s dignity is often obtained from parents, community members, and other teachers indirectly, through students.

Lesson Organization Skills

A human activity usually consists of at least five objectives. We put forward a goal of what we plan to do, select necessary means for materi- alizing the goal, conduct the planned activity, and discuss by ourselves or with others the result of the activity (whether we have performed the activity effectively or ineffectively). We are also required to be motivated: there should be a special impetus for us to carry out our plan well. For example, when a person is thirsty, she sets a task to find some water. Being thirsty highly motivates her to find and drink at least several drops of any beverage. She discovers that she has money to buy liquid and a car to drive to a nearby shop. She drives to a shop and buys a bottle of min- eral water and satisfies her vital needs. Then she discovers that, after slaking her thirst, she feels refreshed and fantastic. Conducting a lesson also includes, but is not limited to, at least five objectives: (1) setting the 228 Chapter Six goals of the lesson, (2) selecting necessary means of teaching (an appropriate classroom, knowledge and information, books and reference literature, technical and nontechnical means of teaching, appropriate methods and techniques of instruction, etc.), (3) organizing the process of teaching and assessing, (4) summing up, and (5) motivating students’ cognitive activity.

Goals. Goals must be declared articulately and, if necessary, explained. Not only the teacher but also all the students should know what is expected of them. Starting a lesson with the phrase, ”Good morning, children. Open your books to page 88, we shall do exercise 2” is exactly an example not to follow. For instance, students of Asian backgrounds, who usually need to know what, how, and to what extent they are required to perform an academic task, need a more thorough explanation of lesson goals and procedures the teacher is going to undertake. The goals for low- achieving students and students outperforming their peers may differ from those designed for all the class. Low-achieving learners need individual care and tolerance on the part of the educator, whereas gifted students often need supplementary assignments suiting their level of academic advancement.

Means of Teaching and the Teaching Process. While conducting a lesson, the teacher uses specific means of teaching and instructional styles in order to deliver a required message to students. Field-sensitive and collectivistically minded learners (Hispanics, Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars) usually feel comfortable in a cooperative learning environment, whereas field-independent and individualistically minded children (Americans of Northern European origin, Germans, the English, the Dutch) prefer working individually. Monochronically minded students, such as the English, Germans, and Norwegians, are susceptible to interruptions, tend to compartmentalize themselves, and are reluctant to share the results of their academic performance. Polychronically minded learners, such as pupils of Native American, African, and Asian ancestry, may perform several activities at a time, are easily distracted from the topic under discussion, assist their peers in solving academic tasks, and cheerfully share the results of their cognitive activity. It is also essential to remember that some Ger- man students may prefer working cooperatively, and some Hispanic students may feel comfortable studying individually. In most cases, multiple instructional styles are most suitable in the didactic process. The contemporary computer-oriented epoch requires teachers to develop students’ skills of using and extracting knowledge and information through computers and related technology. Use of computers has two sides: positive and negative. On the one hand, computer use makes the Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 229 learning process easier, to some extent, both at school and at home. On the other, overuse of computer technology, as well as the TV screen, despite the model of the machine, negatively affects a person’s psychological state and eyesight. A developing, young organism is especially susceptible to overexposure to the computer and TV.

Assessment. An important part of the educational process is classroom assessment. A multicultural teacher can use both standardized or external tests and nontest methods such as question-response techniques, performance assessment, and group and class discussion. Multicultural teachers should not refuse to use traditional, standardized tests requiring selection, substitution, correction, and other simple tasks; nor should teachers be easily carried away by such tests working in a culturally pluralistic group. Ellwein (1996) postulates that standardized tests cannot always be a regular and meaningful part of the educational process. Such tests are not sensitive or concrete enough to guide day-to-day activities. Their use constrains students’ role (because they have no power to shape their own testing experience) and limits parents’ role to that of consumers and recipients of testing information. In traditional testing practice, values are not readily discussed. Ellwein creates a vision for ameliorating classroom assessment by changing educators’ attitude primarily to the above-mentioned points. Ellwein’s recommendations can be well applied in a multicultural classroom. First, assessment should be undertaken frequently and regularly, through the whole educational process. The evidence the teacher gathers will document the learning process; it will also serve as a springboard for generating new questions. Second, a critical aspect of assessment is professional judgment. Teachers need to exercise a variety of ways to know their students and be able to gather corroborating evidence and interpret it wisely-that is, consider the conditions under which it was gathered as well as the implications for acting on it. Third, students must play a much more active role in classroom assessment. They should be encouraged to generate and collect information about their learning activities. Participation in assessment activities enables pupils to understand their efforts and experiences in a way that is impossible with standardized testing practices. Fourth, parents can become active partners in assessment practices. Both teachers and students can generate information that provides accessible and meaningful pictures for parents. Having this information at hand, parents will better understand how their children’s academic performance compares with what they see at home. Fifth, assessment practices should include the values component: educators are required to identify and monitor the ways their values influence what and how they assess and consider the values of students, parents, 230 Chapter Six schools, and community from multicultural perspectives. Vygotsky (1991) maintains that assessing and evaluating students’ responses and academic achievement necessitate that teachers keep in mind two kinds of academic achievement levels: relative and absolute. When a student’s present level of achievement in a subject area is compared to the student’s previous level of performance in the same subject area, the current level of advancement is called a ”relative success.” If a student’s present-day level of achievement is compared with that of the present generalized achievement of the whole class (or the level established by curriculum developers), the level of academic achievement of this student is referred to as an ”absolute success.” A mistake most educators make is that they tend to compare and measure children’s current answers against the average level of the performance of the whole class. This average level often equals the level of an average or even a strong pupil’s achievement. Following this strategy, teachers often underestimate or wrongly estimate and evaluate a weak student’s progress, progress that might be even greater than that of an advanced pupil if the weak student’s progress is analyzed according to the relative-level criterion. Discussing two situations with unequal levels of achievement might be helpful. For instance, a low-achieving student who knows the names of ten countries and their capital cities and can show them on the map learns about ten more countries for a certain lesson. An advanced student from the same class who knows thirty countries also memorizes the location of five more countries for the same lesson. As for the absolute criterion, the second student has a much better performance level, because he already knows thirty-five countries; but according to the relative level of achievement, the first learner has made more progress, because he has doubled his scope of geographic knowledge, and for this reason, he deserves more praise.

Lesson Outcomes. Outlining lesson outcomes may include the assessment of students’ overall performance by giving grades and explaining the reasons, explaining the content of homework, and other necessary procedures and announcements. It is necessary to draw outcomes before the bell rings, otherwise students’ attention will be distracted and the essence of all the useful information may be lost.

Motivation of the Teaching Process. The efficacy of cognitive activity is largely dependent on the degree of motivation that a student possesses to productively carry out a cognitive incentive. Even though the motivational objective is mentioned last here, it should be a key aspect of each lesson. In multicultural education a variety of ways may be used to increase students’ motivation. The entire favorable academic atmosphere of the school-a warm and respectful attitude of teachers and administra- Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 23 1 tors to each student as well as mutually favorable relationships between students-may be a prime way to enhance students’ motivation to school success. Among other tasks, it is necessary:

to treat students on an equal and equitable basis regardless of their ethnocultural characteristics to be tolerant of students’ ethnic and cultural peculiarities and promote a favorable learning environment for each student and the whole class to effectively use required instructional styles and technical and nontechnical means of teaching to favorably address students’ cognitive preferences to respect and expand a variety of cognitive and linguistic strengths that students bring into school from families and communities to effectively use grades as a means of reward and punishment to use and benefit from developing close relationships with parents in discussing academic achievements and solving pedagogical problems

In motivating students’ cognitive activity, it is important to elicit their emotions. Vygotsky (1991) notes:

[Elmotional reaction must lie at the core on the educating process. Prior to introducing certain knowledge, the teacher is required to elicit a student’s corresponding emotion and relate this emotion to a novel item of knowledge under consideration.. . . Only after passing through a student’s feelings will a certain piece of knowledge be effectively acquired. (14142)

In small rural classes, as mentioned earlier, the whole situation with the organization of the lesson may differ. For example, in an elementary class consisting of three students, one student may be extremely talented, a second one on an average level of academic progress, and a third student may be a low achiever. In this case, the teacher is obliged to adjust to each student’s level of performance and set goals, select means, build the teaching process, assess knowledge, and motivate learners by using different approaches and techniques to meet the academic and psychological levels of development of each student. More difficult is the case when a rural teacher has to work in a small class made up of students of different age groups. For example, a rural teacher may simultaneously work with one first grader, one second grader, and one third grader. In this case, 232 Chapter Six the teacher should keep in mind three separate programs. Schools of this type are not uncommon, for example, in rural Eurasia. Both in teaching and in classroom management, no one technique, method, or strategy is applicable to all cultures, to all children in one classroom, and to one child in all circumstances. An insightful teacher, always having in mind students’ ethnic and cultural characteristics and their learning styles and cognitive preferences, applies the technique most consistent with a given student’s learning style and behavior at each given moment of the pedagogical process.

Knowledge Construction Knowledge is dynamic and debated among knowledge creators and users. Any fragment of knowledge should be appropriately constructed. Knowledge is a social construct; it reflects the experiences, perspectives, and values of the peoples and cultures that construct it. There is a need for all citizens to have a common core knowledge that (1) reflects cultural democracy and serves the needs of all the people, (2) contributes to the public virtue and public good, (3) reflects the experiences of all the nation’s citizens, and (4)empowers all people to participate effectively in a democratic society (Banks, 1994). In the United States, Canada, and most Eurasian countries, including Russia, modern textbooks, reference literature, and mass media often resort to reflecting historical events, human activities, and their achievements from the perspective of the dominant culture and predominantly from Eurocentric perspectives. In designing and actualizing the goals and principles of multicultural education, there should be a paradigm shift from traditional to multicultural norms of knowledge construction, a shift that considers the peculiarities of a given ethnocultural diversity of learners. For example, introducing students from a majority culture to a minority culture within a nation-state (like introducing American students of ELI- ropean origin to Chinese culture or students of Russian descent to Buryat culture) necessitates that the majority culture members learn about:

the origin and history of the minority ethnic group and their relation to the majority group and other racial, ethnic, and cultural subdivisions the basic values and religious beliefs of the target group and their connection with those of the majority and other cultural and religious groups the major contributions of the target group to the development of national and global welfare Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 233

the linguistic peculiarities of minority groups and their relation to the language of the majority culture the contribution of the majority group to the entire nation-state as well as to the development of the minority group

Another goal that arises in constructing knowledge and enriching students’ informational scope is that educators should be careful not to introduce and direct students to false knowledge that “finds niches” in the minds and souls of the contemporary generation. The printed text, TV and Internet channels, casual acquaintances-all may stand as sources and transmitters of false knowledge and information. A huge amount of false knowledge is disseminated through false sects. For example, in the 1990s the representatives of the sect the Great White Brotherhood propagated their canons of ”faithful life” in Russia and other Newly Indepen- dent States. The sect leader, Mary Davy Christ, a former Komsomol work- er, pretended to be the Messiah (i.e., real and live God) and, with her followers, propagated false knowledge, deluding weak-charactered and weak-minded people (Egortsev, 1997). Therefore, information and knowledge should correspond to well- known facts, and students should be taught how to tell true from false knowledge that corrupts and erodes pupils’ inner psychological world.

Student Socialization A multicultural teacher is expected to understand the importance of socializing students, and to possess the skills necessary to do so, and to know that socialization practices are shared differently in different cultural environments. In the United States, Canada, northern Europe, and Baltic and Slavic countries (such as Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Russia, and the Czech Republic) secondary and university students’ social development is highly praised, whereas in some Asian countries educators and, especially, parents may be less interested in children’s social growth. Dresser (1996) notes that many newly arrived students from Asia to the United States reveal that their parents do not allow them to participate in extracurricular and out-of-school activities: students are expected to come straight home after classes. But when parents discover that involvement in social and extracurricular activities increases university admission and scholarship opportunities, they often change their attitude. On a large scale, student socialization is related to social education, and people pro- fessionally involved in social education are called social educators or social pedagogues. For instance, there are college- and university-based social educator preparation programs in Russia. Young social educators find 234 Chapter Six jobs in various educational institutions, pedagogical centers, police stations, and elsewhere and work with children, teenagers, and adults. There is some consensus that socialization processes may occur at three stages of life (Cushner, McClelland, and Safford, 2000): (1) primary socialization, involving the socialization of young children by families and other early caregivers; (2) secondary socialization, involving the school, neighborhood, and the peer group, as well as mass media, television, and the Internet used at home; and (3) adult socialization, involving the socialization of adults into roles and situations for which they may have been unprepared by previous socialization: marrying, taking a new job, etc. Socialization is a unique process by which people learn what is required to be successful members of a given group. It is such a potent and powerful process that people are hardly aware that some other realities could exist (Cushner and Trifonovitch, 1989). On a narrower scale, the process of socialization normally undergoes several manifestations (Cushner, McClelland, and Safford, 2000). One result of socialization is ethnocentrism: the belief that one’s way is the best one. For example, most Americans will consider eating with the fingers (traditional practice in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, and many other Asian countries) not as simply different from but beneath their own table manners. A major expression of ethnocentrism is resistance to change, which hinders a person’s adaptation and understanding of other cultures and ways of life. Cushner, McClelland, and Safford indicate that:

People are creatures of habit who find it difficult to change, whether at the individual level, the institutional level, or the societal level. People often work from one set of assumptions, one pattern of behavior. Because of the way in which they are socialized, these habits of thought and behavior are so much a part of them that they find it very difficult to think that things can be done in any other way. Some habits people develop are positive and constructive; others are negative and limiting. (18)

Another result of socialization is demonstrated in the way individuals learn to perceive the surrounding reality and categorize information they receive. Perception and categorization are both cognitive processes shaped by socialization. Normally, people receive a lot of information through their senses. Responding to different stimuli, they organize their world into groups of things sharing similar characteristics and then respond according to that category. For instance, a human eye can distinguish more than eight million colors, which people group according to some scheme, mostly on the spectrum revealing red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet as the major categories. The color of the sky, oceans, and seas is traditionally depicted as ”blue,” that of grass and leaves as ”green.” But in traditional Japanese language, the colors span- Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 235 ning blue and green wavelengths are referred to by the term oai. If asked the color of both the sky and the grass, the response will be "oai." This may be explained by the fact that, historically, the Japanese have learned to put these particular categories (blue and green) together, whereas Euro- Americans have grouped them into two. Still another result of socialization is seen in stereotype formation. As examples of categories of people, stereotypes obtain their power by providing categories that may encode some information so as to help people avoid having to pay attention to all the sensory data available around them. Negative stereotypes enable people to keep their ethnocentric ideas intact by preventing them from noticing contradictory evidence before their very eyes. It is much easier, for example, to stereotype girls as weak and passive than to notice that some of them may be stronger than boys. But the powers of socialization, as Cushner, McClelland, and Safford maintain, have limits. First, socialization is limited by the nature of the child as a physical organism (for instance, while a child can learn any particular pattern of living, it is not the case that any child can be taught beyond his or her biological limits). Second, as an unending process, the phenomenon of socialization is never completely finished (a child socialized to some patterns can learn new ones). Third, socialization is limited in its powers because people do not remain passive recipients of socialization but always act on that socialization. It is important for a multicultural teacher to understand that students become socialized and form their cultural identity by acquiring appropriate values, attitudes, knowledge, and skills through a variety of socializing agents such as family, school, church, community, neighborhood, peer group, electronic media, sports, the arts, print media, the workplace, and technology. Some of the socializing agents, such as family and peer groups, operate face-to-face; others, such as mass media, use technological means to operate from a distance. The previous chapters have already provided brief accounts on the role of some of these agents in human society and multicultural education. The issues of child socialization and the critical role of the social environment in child development were scrupulously examined by Vygotsky (1991) He indicates that human behavior is made up of biological and social peculiarities. The biological factor determines that basis that the human organism is unable to come out of and over which a system of acquired reactions is built. This new system of reactions is totally determined by the social environment in which an organism grows and develops. The social environment is the key factor in child development, and the role of the teacher amounts to controlling this key factor. Therefore, an ideal child development process is possible on the basis of an appropriately organized and directed social environment, and, consequently, the 236 Chapter Six fundamental issues of child development can be solved only after solving the overall social problem. The overall objective of social education should be directed to moving apart the boundaries of the personal and the limited and to adjusting contacts between a child’s psychological makeup and the extensive spheres of the already accumulated social experience. According to Vygotsky, an initial and prime objective in child upbringing and development is solving the entire social problem. It may hardly be possible to completely meet this overarching objective in all cultures; but it is quite possible for teachers, school administrators, and school district authorities to ameliorate the classroom, school, and local community environments so as to involve students in various after-class activities, as well as in the process of improving the school environment, community, and larger social layer by developing decision-making and social-action skills.

Ethnographic Research A professional ethnographer tries to understand the natural and social environment by collecting information by observation, interviewing, studying maps and artifacts, and taking pictures. ”Ethnographers try to understand complex settings through the eyes of the observer and the participants’’ (Boyle-Baise, 1996: 378). A multicultural teacher should also use certain skills of ethnographic investigation. Such investigation in a culturally pluralistic setting, contends Boyle-Baise, helps educators (1) better understand classrooms, schools, and communities where actions and meaning are complex, and people look at them differently, (2) discover strengths and perspectives of different sociocultural groups, and (3) learn about various folk customs and folk pedagogical traditions of the people whose children attend the school. Teaching children to conduct ethnographic investigations is considered an important means to elicit their curiosity and motivation (Marcus, 1998; Carpenter, 2000-2001).

Summary

This chapter has examined the types of multicultural competency needed by a teacher who intends to work with diverse students.The theoretical and practical recommendations offered may be helpful for any teacher who is inspired by the idea of multicultural, intercultural, and international education. As far as attitudes are concerned, a multiculturally minded teacher is required to have a positive attitude to diversity, to understand the importance of the school reform movement, and to possess a constantly grow- Multicultural Competency of the Teacher 237 ing will for enhancing the multicultural and global horizon (by participating in formal in-service teacher development programs, learning from other educators’ experience, and through self-education). With respect to knowledge, a teacher committed to multicultural ideas needs to possess knowledge about (1) ethnic, national, and global values; (2) diversity and culture; (3) students’ learning and cognitive preferences that may be affected by social, cultural, religious, urban, rural, parental, academic, technological, psychological, biophysical, and environmental factors; and (4) the folk pedagogical traditions of various ethnic and cultural groups represented in the classroom, school, and larger layers. The arsenal of folk pedagogy includes, but is not limited to, invaluable means of teaching, such as fairy tales, folk music, riddles, proverbs, and anecdotes. Folk pedagogy profits from using a plethora of factors facilitating and strengthening child-development processes. Family environment, play, nature, work, religion, holidays and ethnocultural rituals and rites, hunting-all may be included on the list. These means and factors are used not only in folk pedagogical traditions of many ethnic and cultural groups across the globe but also in classic or formal educational systems. To address the diversity of students, a multicultural educator must also know how to develop learners’ positive attitude to indigenous and global values, to teach them to be tolerant toward alien cultures and lifestyles, to de (elop a positive attitude toward increasing and changing diversity, to elicit in them a compassionate attitude toward people with alternative health and living conditions, and to develop caring attitudes toward members of the opposite sex. It also is necessary to be skilled in classroom management, lesson organization, knowledge construction, student socialization, and ethnographic research. This Page Intentionally Left Blank Conclusion

This book has focused on some theoretical and practical issues in constructing multicultural education in a diverse society. The important questions that have been raised in this study have made it possible to draw some conclusions on a range of issues. The contemporary human world is becoming diverse and continually changing. Growing numbers of people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds are interacting with increased regularity and frequency. The schools also reflect the ever growing diversity in human societies. Un- precedented humanitarian, educational, and technological progress is paralleled by the growth of regressive processes. Growing and changing diversity poses new challenges and opportunities for multicultural teachers, educators, education policy makers, and parents. Teachers involved in multicultural education are expected to have a good understanding of the larger phenomenon of culture and related issues as well as ethnopsychological and cultural characteristics of their students. For example, multicultural teachers can apply in their work a criterion-based approach to culture, approaching it from sociohistorical, sociogeographic, sociocultural, ethnic, linguistic, religious, anthropological versus nonanthropological, subjective versus objective, gender, power distance, individualism versus collectivism, communication, space, and time criteria. Multicultural education, initiated by the civil rights movement in the United States, has spread beyond that country’s borders and is taking hold in the Eurasian continent, including Russia, a country with the largest territory in the world. Multicultural education can be implemented both in standard and nonstandard schools, such as schools for exceptional or gifted students. The rural school, which in many countries differs distinctly from the urban school (with Russia as a brilliant example), is another important springboard for implementing multicultural education.

239 240 Conclusion

In some multilingual and bilingual areas of the world, multicultural strategies are realized through the spectrum of bilingual education programs as well as through other approaches to ethnolinguistic diversity. Ideally, in bilingual settings, a language teacher is expected (1) to be proficient in and able to teach three languages: the native language of minority students, the mainstream language (like English in the United States or Russian in Russia), and a foreign language; and (2) to be psychologically and pedagogically prepared to teach culture content through any of the three languages. In creating and implementing a multicultural curriculum, it is necessary to consider the nature of each subject area. For example, multicultural social studies education obligates the teacher to possess a required level of sociohistorical, sociogeographical, sociopolitical, sociological, and technological competency. In health education, teachers need to ensure students’ understanding of the image of a healthy person in different societies, provide them with the knowledge of how people from different cultural backgrounds perceive and treat various diseases, and ensure the development of skills to undertake preventive measures. In contemporary, music-deficient schooling, pluralistic approaches in music educatim make it incumbent upon teachers to think deeply about misconceptions hindering the process of teaching musical culture, to build a relevant content that can address the aesthetic and cultural needs of all children, to design and put into effect relevant pedagogical strategies, and to integrate music into other subject areas. A teacher of any subject who is committed to multicultural education is expected to have appropriate attitudes, knowledge, and skills to favorably address the diversity of students. For example, a multiculturally minded teacher is required to have a positive attitude toward ethnic and cultural diversity, know about students’ learning and cognitive preferences that may be affected and shaped by a wide range of cultural and educational factors, and to teach students to be tolerant of foreign cultures and lifestyles. The teacher’s professional expertise will be enriched if he or she is knowledgeable about the folk pedagogical traditions of various ethnic and cultural groups represented in the classroom and the local community. This book has covered only a small number of topics on diversity, multiculturalism, globalism, and multicultural education. If any of the issues, analyses, or recommendations happen to inspire educators or readers from other walks of life to further think of, conceptualize, and further enrich such ideas, then I will consider that some of the goals put forward in this work are on the way to being met. References

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Aborigines of Australia, 5,80,81,215 balm medicine, 166 achievement approach. See multicul- banya, 167 tural education Bashkirs, 63-64,162, 164,171, 177,204, Adler, A., 36, 147 216,218; folk music of, 177-78 African Americans, 45,56-57, 170, 179, Beatles, 73,150,175 204,209; music of, 179 beauty, 160-61 age periods, 33-36 Beethoven, L. van, 68,175,201 ailments, factors causing, 162-64; eth- behavioral approaches, 37 nocultural, 162; socioeconomic, 163; Belorussians, 8, 181, 193 urban, 163; technology-related, bilingual education, 121-28; develop- 163-64 mental, 126; models of, 126-27; Akhiyarov, K., 95 transitional, 126; two-way, 126-27 Albanians, 7 Bilingual Education Act of 1968,43, alcohol consumption, 164,214 124 Aldrin, B., 151 bilingualism, 113-21; consequences of, Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress, 20 120-21; definition of, 114; notion of, Americans, mainstream, 32,45, 51-52, 113-16; typ010g~Of, 116-19 97,117,197-98,228 Billy the Kid, 51 anthropological vs. nonanthropologi- biodiversity, 6 cal criterion, 44. See also culture Birsk Pedagogical institute, 147, 181 Arabs, 48,49,193 black English, 10 Armenians, 193 blues, 179 Armstrong, N., 51,151 body language, 11 Asian Americans, 45,57-58 bouillon medicine, 166 assimilationalists, 92 Brazilians, 165 Atatiirk, Kemal, 21,150 Brooks, G., 151 Azerbaijanis, 193 Buddhism, 18,194,196,217 bullfighting, 72 Bach, J., 68,201 Buryats, 115 bagpipes, 181 Byzantians, 20

255 256 Index

Cambodians, 162,165,166 decentralization of schooling, 14-15 Canada as multicultural society, Declaration of Independence, 51 154-56; English and French in, 155; democracy and Russian education, ethnic groups in, 154 14-16 Celiics, 7 demographic change, 87-88 Cervantes, M. de, 72 Dewey, J., 30,51,151 chastity, 31 Diana, Princess of Wales, 148 Chechens, 193,213 dining practices, 164-65 Chinese, 8,74-75,86,165,166,167 disability, 162-63 Chinese Americans, 118,209 discipline. See classroom management Christian Arabs, 115 diversity: rural vs. urban, 21-24; so- Christianity, 18-19,20,43,194,195, cioeconomic, 16-18; sociopolitical, 205,217 13-16 Chuvashes, 8,65-66, 100, 181,216 divorce, 214 civil rights movement, 56,79-80 Dostoyevsky, F., 59 classroom management, 224-27 drug abuse, 22,214; attitudes toward, Cleopatra, 148 166 Cochise, 53 Dutch, 66-67,75,148,149 cognitive and mental disability. See exceptional children education, 86-87 cognitive social approaches, 37 education, multicultural and social re- college period. See age periods constructionist. See multicultural Columbus, C., 5,29,72,121, 148,200 education compartmentalization,68 Eiffel, A.-G., 69 Cook, J., 5, 73,148, 149 Einstein, A., 29,71,190 Cooper, F., 51 English (ethnicity), 7, 73-74,228 Coral Way Elementary School, 43, 124 English language, 136 Cortes, H., 72 English Only Movement, 124 Cosby, B., 56 English Plus, 125 country music, 179,181 environment, 216 Crazy Horse, 53 Erikson, E., 36 Creoles, 10,121; Gullah, 10; Hawaiian, Eriksson, L., 5 10; Louisiana French, 10 ESL (English as a Second Language), Cubans, 43,54,165 43,127 culture, 3949,14548; criterion-based ESOL (English for Speakers of Other approach to, 40-49; definition of, Languages), 127 3940; high and low, 44-45. ethnic values, 192-95 cultural rituals, 218-19. See also folk ethnocentric conflicts, 88-89 Peda~ogy ethnocentrism, 88-89 Crusaders, 18 ethnopedagogy, 95-96; multicultural curriculum planning, 15 education and, 96; nature of, 95-96; curriculum reform approach. See mul- Evenki, 120 ticultural education exceptional children, 27-28,89,101; education of, 102-104; hearing im- Dagestanians, 213 paired, 102; visually impaired, Darwin, C., 29,73 102-3 Index 257 fairy tales, 210. See also folk pedagogy proaches in, 160-71; parental in- family, 212-14. See also folk pedagogy volvement in, 170-71 fatty food, 164 healthy person, image of, 160-62 field dependent and field independent Hickok, Wild Bill, 51 students, 204-5 Hinduism, 194,196 Finns, 100 Hispanics, 7,32,54-56,100,204,228 Fleming, A., 150,200 HIV/AIDS, 27,91,102,145,171,200. folk music, 177-79,210. See also folk See also sexually transmitted dis- pedagogy eases folk pedagogy, 9696,209-210; classi- Hmong, 31,165 cal pedagogy and, 210; factors of, holidays, 218. See also folk pedagogy 212-19; means of, 210-12 homelessness, 58,214 foreign-language teaching/learning, homosexual relations, 167 15,125,127,130,132 honey medicine, 166 fraternities and sororities, 13 human diversity, 5-6,84,222 French, 7,31,69-70 human relations. See multicultural ed- Fresh Meat Holiday, 218 ucation Freud, S., 36,71,147 Hungarians, 100 Fromm, E., 36,147 hunting and fishing, 219. See also folk Peda~ogy Gagarin, Y., 24,59 Gamzatov, R., 213 individualism vs. collectivism criteri- Gandhi, M., 150 on, 4546,228. See also culture gender diversity, 29-32,14748, Indonesians, 80 158-59,224 institutions: for bilingual-bicultural Georgians, 193,218 students, 100; for exceptional stu- Germans, 7,8,50,67-69,146,228 dents, 97-98; for gifted learners, 98; Geronimo, 53 with monoethnic populations, 97; gifted children, 28-29; education of, with multiethnic learning public, 104-5; learning styles of, 105 97; urban and rural, 98-100 giftedness, 28 intergroup education approach. See global education, 144-45 multicultural education global values, 220-21 Iranians, 162 global warming, 216 Irish, 7 Goethe, J., 68 Isanbaev, Y., 182-83 Gorbachev, M., 14,60,148 Islam, 18,43,194,195,217 Greek Americans, 209 Italians, 31 Greeks, 7,31 Itelmens, 120 Gypsies, 170 Ivanov, K., 65

Hagia Sofia, 20-21 Jackson, M., 56 Haitians, 165 James, J., 51 Harrison, G., 73 Japanese, 48,50,75-76,218,235 health, 26; deterioration of children’s, jazz, 179 26-27 Jefferson, T., 42,148 health education: multicultural ap- Jesus Christ, 194,195 258 Index

Jews, 8,70-71 Lithuanians, 193 Jordan, M., 56 Longfellow, H. W., 51 Joseph, 53 Judaism, 205 Magellan, F., 148 Julius Caesar, 148 Makarenko, A., 62 junior school period. See age periods male-female relations, 31-32 Mandela, N., 150 Kalmyks, 115 Maori, 31, 149 Kazakhs, 164,216,218 Mari, 8,64-65, 171,189 Kechua, 120 Marley, B., 200 Kennedy, J., 152 masculinity/ femininity criterion, Khanti, 120 4647. See also culture King, M. L., Jr., 56 McCartney, P., 73 Kirghiz, 164 Mendeleev, D., 59 knowledge, 191-92,232; construction Mexican Americans, 43,209 Of, 232-33 Mexicans, 165 knowledge and information explosion, middle school period. See age periods 24-26 Mien, 165 Kokhba, S. B., 71 migration, 14 kolkkozes and sovkkozes, 24 Milky Way, 207 Komensky, Y., 95 monochronic and polychronic dimen- Koreans, 8 tions, 49,205. See also culture kuray, 181,182-83 monolingualism, 120 Moors, 196 Lakota Sioux, 32'90 Mordva, 8 language(s),9,129; atmosphere in Russia, 129-30; change, 12; contact, Mormons, 19,198 12; death, 13; literacy and proficien- Moscow Pedagogical State University, cy, 134-38; policies, 12,121-22; poli- 147 cy in Russia, 132-34; principal, Moscow Temple of Christ the Savior, 9-10; reversal, 130; revival, 130 19-20 language planning, 15 Mother Theresa, 148 language rights, 122-23 Muhammad, 194 language teacher competency, 130-32, multicultural education, 79-100; ap- 137 proaches to, 92-94; dimensions of, Lao, 162,165,166 90-91; factors necessitating, 87-89; learning style, 202-9; analytic, 206; methodology of, 82-85; misconcep- multiple, 206; relational, 206; tions in, 85-86 technology-based, 207 multicultural-education-for-allap- Lebanese, 7 proach, 101-2 Lemon, J., 73 multiculturalists, 92 lesson, 227-28; assessment in, 229-30; multicultural teacher, 185; attitudes of, goals of, 228; motivation of stu- 185-190; knowledge of, 191-219; dents during, 230-32; teaching skills of the, 229-36 process at the, 228-29 Murphy, E., 56 Lincoln, A., 29 music, 173; folk, 177-79,210; popular Index 259

and classic, 175; religious, 181; uni- polarization of human societies, 88 versal mesage of, 173-75 Polynesian Islanders, 81 music education, 173; content of, Portuguese, 75,149,216 176-79; misconceptions in, 173-76 positive transfer, 136 praise. See classroom management Napoleon, B., 18 preschool period. See age period national character, 49-50 Presley, E., 175,179 native Africans, 215,228 prosperity and poverty, 16 Native Americans, 7,52-54,55,115, proverbs, 211. See also folk pedagogy 166,170,178,204,215,218-19,228 psychodynamic theory, 36 native Asians, 228 Pueblo, 2034 natural environment, 215-16. See also Puerto Ricans, 43,54,165 folk pedagogy punishment. See classroom manage- Navajo, 54,179,203 ment negative transfer, 136-37 Puritans, 30 Nirvana, 194 Pushkin, A., 59,148 Nogai, 120 Putin, V., 60 nonfarm and farm groups, 23 Norwegians, 228 race and racial groups, 157-58 Nureyev, R., 63,152 racial and ethnic diversity, 7-9; growth Of, 7-8 obesity, 161-62 racial conflicts, 8-9 objective vs. subjective criterion, 45. Rasputin, G., 59 See also culture reggae, 182,200 Old Zufii Mission Church, 53 religion, 18, 205; changes in, 20-21; de- Ortiz, S., 53 finition of, 18 Osceola, 53 religious diversity, 18-21; in the Unit- Owens, J., 56 ed States, 19; in Russia, 19-20 rock and roll, 179 Pakistanis, 162 Rolling Stones, 73 Paul (Saul), 195 Roman Empire, 5, 8 particularist approach. See multicultur- Roosevelt, F., 51,103 al education Roosevelt, T., 22 Pavlov, I., 59 Rousseau, J.J., 69 pedagogy, 87 rural education, 105-110 Pele, 152, 153 rural English, 11 perestroika, 12,82,144 rural life, advantages of, 22 Pestalozzi, J., 95 rural schools, 98-100 Peter the Great, 148 rural teacher: attitudes of the, 107-108; phenomenological approaches, 37 knowledge of the, 108-109; skills of physical disability, 101. See also disabil- the, 109. See also rural education ity Russians (citizens),11, 186 play, 214-15. See also folk pedagogy Russians (ethnicity),5,8,59-61,166, Picasso, P., 72 167,171, 189,204,227,228; folk Pizarro, F., 72 music of, 178 260 Index

Sabantuy, 218 spirituals, 179 Sacagawea, 53 Sputnik, 24 Saomi, 120 Starr, R., 73 Scandinavians, 48 student socialization, 233-36 schooling, organization of, 14-15 submissiveness to man, 31-32 schools of Russia, 131 Sukhomlinsky, V., 95 scots, 7 Surinamese, 80 second-language learning, 127-28 sweating, 166-67 self-education, 190-91 Swiss, 48 Selkups, 120 symbols and signs, 167 senior school period. See age periods Syrians, 7 Seowtewa, A., 53 Sequoya, 53 Tamils, 196 Seven Natural Wonders, 156-57 Tasman, A., 148,149 Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Tatars, 8,6142, 164,171,213,216,218, 153-54 228 sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), Tchaikovsky, P., 59,175,201 167,170 Tecumseh, 53 Shakespeare, W., 73 terrorism, international, 89 Shintoism. 197 thalassemia, 162 Singalese, 196 tolerance, 221-22 singing in Christian public worship, Tolstoy, L., 59,95 181 trait and behavioral approaches, 36-37 single-group studies. See multicultural treatment of diseases across cultures, education 165-67 sign language, 11 trilingualism, Chuvash-Russian-Tatar Sitting Bull, 53 natural, 65 Slovenes, 7 Truth, S., 56 smoking, 189-90 Tukay, G., 61 Smolny Institute for Noble Girls, Turks, 193 30-31 Turner, T., 56 social status, 17 Twain, M., 51 social studies education, 14142; goals of, 144-45; history of, 14244 Udmurts, 8, 189 social studies teacher, 145-60; culturo- Ukhsay, Y., 65 logical competency of, 145-48; so- Ukrainians, 8,6243,164, 171,181, 189, ciogeographical competency of, 228 154-57; sociohistorical competency Ulster, 7 of, 148- 54; sociological competency uma. See work of, 158-59; sociopolitical competen- universalistic approach. See multicul- cy of, 157-58; technological compe- tural education tency of, 15960 upbringing, 87 socioeconomic changes, 17-18 urban life, positive and negative fac- sociopolitical changes, 14 tors of, 22-23 Solzhenitsyn, A., 186 urban-rural population, proportions Spanish, 5,31,72-73,146,216 of, 21 lndex 261 urban schools, 106-7 Washington, G., 42 Ushinsky, K., 31,95 Wayne, J., 151, 201 Uzbekova, L., 189-190 Welsh, 7 women, new era of emancipation of, Uzbeks, 164,193,218 32 women’s liberation movement, 29-30, valeological education, 26-27 150 VelAzquez, D. R., 72 work, 216-17. See also folk pedagogy venik, 167 Victoria, Queen, 20, 73,148 Yakovlev, I., 95 Yakuts, 115,149,193,218 Vietnamese, 165,166 Yanaul gymnasium, 189 Volkov, G., 95 Yassa, 217-18 Vygotsky, L., 59,147,151 Yeltsin, B., 60 This Page Intentionally Left Blank About the Author

Ilghiz M. Sinagatullin is the department chair of pedagogics, theory, and elementary education at Birsk State Pedagogical Institute in Bashkor- tostan, Russia. He has been a visiting scholar at Kent State University Col- lege’s Graduate School of Education. His interests include diversity and global education, rural education in bilingual settings, teacher education in bilingual settings, folk pedagogy, enthopedagogy and enthnopsychol- ogy, and language policy. He received his doctorate in pedagogical sciences from Moscow State Pedagogical Sciences and has published over eighty articles on pedagogy.

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