The Unifying Aspects of Cultures

SECTION:

Section: Intercultural Education

Nikolay Peter Hersey (Vienna)
Education in an Intercultural Setting

As a teacher (of science, social studies and health) at the American International School, Vienna, I have a unique opportunity to gently approach my students as a social activist and engage them as young people growing up as highly successful "nomads" in a global culture which is becoming increasingly concerned with fair distribution of natural, manufactured and skills-based resources. My students are typically between ages 11 and 14 years. It has been my practice to make available to them facts, problems and solutions from a wide pool of ecosocial themes rooted in the human struggle for dignity and recognition.

I argue that education in an intercultural setting is not just about learning about the "other" or trying to understand one's own cultural roots. It is also about recognizing that, as citizens of the world, we all share certain responsibilities and rights.

Themes we have belabored in school over the past fourteen years include refugees and integration, terrorism and patriotism (as related to the events of 9/11), "crime and punishment", renewable energy, nuclear energy and fossil fuels, recycling and pollution, commercial advertising and self-awareness, to name a few. My students go on to become influential people in various fields of human endeavor - sometimes on a large scale. It is my conviction that teachers have a right and a duty to round out academic training with extensive forays into areas of social interest to us all.

The fact that there are social and cultural dynamics at work beyond our immediate, personal control, and that regrettable decisions are made regularly and in widespread places within disparate cultural contexts makes me feel like the causes and consequences of our collective decision to enable, support and even promote abuses of one kind or another should be addressed with children and in classrooms. It is at the point where behavioral patterns are not yet set on "automatic" that much constructive learning can happen. A noteworthy side effect has been, for me, an opportunity to remain flexible and open to patterns of thought and behavior which are often the preserve of much younger people - at least in the culture in which I was raised and educated.

By listening to children think aloud in a safe, non-confrontational setting like my classroom, constructive solutions - even if they seem utopic or non-pragmatic at the time - can be forged and brought down on paper for adults (decisionmakers) to see and analyze. Giving the children a voice that will be heard outside the classroom - such as our booklet of stories in reaction to the events of 9/11/2001 - is an integral part of my approach to social activism in the intercultural setting of my international school classroom.

THE UNIFYING ASPECTS OF CULTURES