A Prologue To Intercultural Education

Since the occurrence of human culture, intercultural interaction happened among various cultural and ethnic groups of human being. Nowadays, human have to confront with intermingled and complex intercultural conflicts and collision on the accumulation of intercultural history.On the course of social and economic development, intercultural conflicts have not been decreased nor eliminated, but have getting more and more intermingled in the name of the conflicts of social and economic interests, which has becoming a vital issue related with the worldly peace and human development for the present time.Thereupon, in 1990s, UNESCO began to advocate intercultural education with vigorous and major efforts in the whole world. This dissertation is a trial to search any possibility to undergo intercultural education into educational practice in China.In Chapter 1 of this dissertation, the author tries to analyze and dissect the intermingled intercultural conflicts in order to expose the features of the conflicts: popularity, intensity, complexity and everlasting. With the analysis, it is clearly demonstrated of the rigorous situation and complicated phases. This obviously presents the necessity and imminence of intercultural education.The concepts and rationales on intercultural education have been shaped in Chapter 2 of this dissertation. The definitions of intercultural education from UNESCO's recommendations have been redefined so that the author could search for a definition of intercultural education in the register and context of this dissertation, particularly for the intercultural education practice in present China.Chapter 3 is absolutely far from the present analysis. It brought a historical review on the intercultural reality of human being. The author, with the guide of the supervising tutor, separated the intercultural history into three phases: tribally ethnic phase, national phase, and forward worldly phase. Positive and negative experiences have been searchedthrough the analysis of the intercultural history and such a map has been sketched. Detailed analysis has been taken on various typical historical events in this chapter, but this is certainly not a panorama of intercultural history of human being. At the end of this chapter, the author presents some enlightenment lessons in order to shape the educational objectives of intercultural education in the sequential chapter.In Chapter 4, the first taxonomy of intercultural education in China has been suggested: the general objectives and the sector objectives. Following the categorization method of Bloom, the educational objectives of intercultural education have been divided into three sectors: knowledge, attitude and competence. Under each sector, the author enlists some subheadings with necessary demonstration and analysis. The positive functions of command necessary intercultural knowledge, the positive attitudes toward alien cultures and the fundamental abilities for effective and efficient intercultural interactions have all been recommended by the author.In the last chapter of this dissertation, the author emphasizes more on how to take intercultural education into educational practice in China. Discipline education, particularly in the subjects as English and History, is considered as the first arena of intercultural education. However, projects are considered as the most effective means because students can confront with realistic intercultural interactions then. Minority nationality education is also analyzed and social education, including family education, is recommended as a key arena of intercultural education.Intercultural education has just emerged in China. There will certainly be a long way to go to take it into wide spread educational reality. This dissertation is wished to be a starting point of this difficult, challenging but great task.