Question

If I'm an elementary school teacher at a multi-cultural school, and have concerned that the children in my class show a lot of prejudice toward other students who are members of other racial or ethnic groups in class. How can I, or what can I do to reduce the prejudism between my students?

Answer 1

One of the most important challenges that teachers at all levels face in the school is to make students understand the importance of living in a multicultural society. This would mean as the society become more pluralistic and multicultural, students who get into educational institutions face a cognitive dissonance and a cultural shock which they carry it from their homes. This is because of their lack of exposure and experience with people from other cultures. One way an elementary teacher could remove this barrier is by making everyone celebrate the festival of other religions or cultures and make them discuss about the significance of celebrating that festival. Secondly, this could be done by mixing students from different cultures in teams, so that they would have enough time to know about each other. Continuous interaction between the students would provide them an opportunity to build rapport. Thirdly, children could be taken to different places for field trip to know different cultural practices in real time and interact with people from different cultures which would help them learn about other cultures better. Finally, they could be asked to role play other people from various cultures and make them speak about the significance of that culture. This would help the children understand that everyone is equal and important.

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