(Mitchell, 102)
However, this emphasis on difference that is characteristic of the contemporary ethnic studies is not to be taken as a form of absolute belonging or encapsulation of an individual in a certain culture. Multicultural education aims at teaching the differences between cultures and at equipping the individual with the necessary skills for the culturally plural environment. This means that the student learns to understand his own culture and the other cultures, but at the same time to detach himself from the unique identification with a nation or an ethnic identity:
Individuals are capable of having multiple identifications and attachments, including attachments to their cultural community, their nation, and to 'the worldwide community of human beings' (Nussbaum, 2002, p. 4). Gutmann (2002) contends, however, that democratic education should help students to develop their primary moral allegiance to justice -- not to any human community. She writes, 'Doing what is right cannot be reduced to loyalty to, or identification with, any existing group of human beings.'"("Diversity and Citizenship," 6)
The detachment from national identity means actually the implication in the overall, global context. As James Banks remarks, this is can help reduce the risk of terrorism and other such actions that are associated with strong religious or ethnic identification with a certain group.
In the United States, the ethnic minority groups such as the Afro-Americans, the Hispanics and the Native Americans have suffered from discrimination for a long time, in spite of the fact that they are a living part of the history. The Afro-Americans for example are present in the American history since the time of Columbus, through Diego el Negro who sailed with Columbus on his voyage to the continent (Mitchell, 4) Besides the well-known historical discrimination against these groups, many of the cultural critics comment on the poor conditions of life in which they live at present as well. As Andreas Torres shows, the Latinos and African-Americans in New York are still part of the proletariat class in their majority. This proves that the integration of these groups in society has failed to a great extent. The language barriers and the cultural ones are the most probable reason for the conditions in which the minority groups are likely to live in the United States:
To a degree that cannot fail to startle anyone who encounters the reality for the first time, the overwhelming portion of both groups constitutes a submerged, exploited, and very possibly permanent proletariat. The marked debility of their position relative to the citywide standard is clearly reflected in several indicators. Patterns of labor force participation, unemployment rates, and median family incomes indicate that the gaps between native minorities and whites have persisted for decades."(Torres, 61)
The problems that the minorities face on the territory of the United States are related, if not to discrimination, to the lack of cultural dialogue. This is why the proposition for a multicultural education that would prepare the individual beforehand for the multiethnic context is imperative. James Banks shows that the main teaching strategies that could help integrating the cultural backgrounds in the academic curriculum are crucial to the modern democratic society. As he points out, the multicultural education is an education for freedom, that is, an education that promotes the construction of democracy. The skills and strategies that can ensure optimal cultural dialogue are multiple.
Thus, in the second chapter of Teaching Strategies for Ethnic Studies, Banks describes the way in which the formulation of precise concepts can be extremely useful in articulating and understanding cultural facts and phenomena. His recommendation is for example that a comparative ethnic studies class should require the students to analyze some of the attributes of one or another ethnic group that lives on the territory of a certain nation, such as Filipino Americans, British Pakistanis and so on. The criteria for analysis should be origin, culture, assimilation, economic status, education, power and ethnic revitalization. (Banks, 89) This will allow a more effective understanding of the way in which the cultures interact in binary formulas on the territory of different states, and thus show the pattern...
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