Multicultural Education is needed in Japan too

The current reading about Multicultural Education is quite fun! 

One reading “Dimentions of Multicultural Education” (2010) explains it has 5 interrelated components which are “content integration”, “The knowledge construction process”, “prejudice reduction”, “An equity pedagogy”, and “An empowering school culture and social structure ”.

The author confirm that “the goal of Multicultural Education is allowing students from different racial, ethnic, and social-class groups will experience educational equality.”

Although many Japanese might question if they really need an institutional change to embrace minorities, Multicultural Education aims every single student to participate in different points of views rather than focusing on minorities or introducing marginalized cultures. In other words, it provides different ways of thinking, analyzing, contracting, and generalizing. 

Some researchers have found that one’s ideas or productions have relationships with their racial, ethnic, and cultural positions. 

And I was interested in an example of history of “The New World” in “The knowledge construction process” section. This recognition of history is based on the justifications of European colonialism, and simultaneously ignores Indigenous perspectives. Recognizing the nature that the history is inherited by winners, helps students to develop their ability to see the complexity and create empathy.