PART 1

Culture

Culture has been defined as a learned system of meaning and behavior that is passed from one generation to another. It is, however, essential to note that just like customs, values, and traditions, culture is learned from a particular environment.  Culture is the manifestation of a set of people with common and shared values, habits, rituals, customs and other social rules. This definition of culture refers to the static concept. In fact, culture is defined by human experiences that are linked to the social context in which people live.  To a great extent, culture is as a result of social construction thus making it essential to understand the relationships between people and the society they live in. Culture can also be as a result of essentialist beliefs where a certain cultural group may define their culture from their beliefs. The concept of small and large culture is also an important aspect of the study of culture.

Intercultural relationships

Intercultural relationships are concerned with how different groups and cultural settings relate to one another. Intercultural friendship will be an essential concept that will intend to emphasize the importance of embracing cultural diversity. This is of paramount importance especially in the recent years when there is increased globalization and internationalization of education environment. The concept will also look at the underlying challenges such as stereotyping and generalization talks on discussions that entail cultural diversity. Social interaction and acculturation form an important part of the intercultural relationship. Various studies such as Liu’s and the Chinese business people in Australia and the study by Moore & Barker helps understand the concept and how culture merge as a result of interaction.

Social identity and group categorization

It is evident that we are living in a pluralistic society where the existence of different intercultural groups exists. Each of this group will always strive to get its identity and thus making cultural diversity a difficult and controversial. As a result, Moore & Barker’s (2012) decided to explore the concept of Third Culture Kids (TCKs) and the role it plays in cultural identity. This refers to people who have spent a significant part of their childhood life in foreign country. It is an analysis that tries to explain how such individuals combine pieces of their home and host culture to form a ‘’third culture’’ that is a hybrid of the two. In their work, Moore and Baker explored the cultural perceptions individuals who had spent a great deal of their development years in foreign countries. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, every individual has an identity that makes them different from others. The concept of intercultural mergers as a result of interaction has also been elaborated.

Global citizenship/shared sense of ‘we’

It is always essential to cultivate an environment where the society strives to get collective identity rather than individual identity. This calls for people to embrace a different culture and view it as an opportunity for development. Killick in his article emphasizes the importance of students in multicultural education environment to embrace diversity and transfer this tolerance after school to ensure they become good global citizens. The assertion by Verkuyten can be used to promote a peaceful cultural diverse education environment where a shared feeling of ‘we-ness’ prevails. This requires that all the different cultural identities within the institution are given an opportunity to express their feelings. Also, the members in a diverse education environment should be in pursuit of inclusive identity rather than the pursuit of individual identity. Teachers and tutors in such environments should be proactive in ensuring that they instill a collective identity rather than individual identity on all the students. As Verkuyten asserts, the improvement of intergroup relations will ultimately lead to increased cultural tolerance amongst members of the different culture. This will consequently mean that the overarching identity of ‘we-ness ‘prevails over an individualistic approach that brings controversy.

Multicultural education vs. cosmopolitan learning

Rizvi and Reid bring about the concept of cosmopolitan and cosmopolitan learning in education. There is also the need to understand the multicultural education and how it helps international students and tutors to cope with the multicultural learning environment. Rizvi sees education as a platform where critical understanding and moral improvement of our children is realized. It is imperative that the students get conversant with the things happening in the outside world and not become preoccupied with normative learning. It is argued that cosmopolitan learning offers an opportunity for students to learn and appreciate other cultures.

PART TWO

TOPIC 1

1. Culture as socially constructed

Culture has been defined as a learned system of meaning and behavior that is passed from one generation to another. It is, however, essential to note that just like customs, values, and traditions, culture is learned from a particular environment.  Culture is the manifestation of a set of people with common and shared values, habits, rituals, customs and other social rules. Having said that, the concept of social construction in defining culture becomes of paramount importance. It is prudent to point out that the concept of culture differs from the concept of social beliefs and practices in a minor way. It is evident that every community has constructed mind sets of social reality and has implemented these as norms or social practices. What is said or done in a particular community forms an integral part of the people’s culture. Also, this also forms part of the social life in a given community. The only difference is noted when one compares social beliefs and practices of distinct group where cultural differences exist.

Cultures are constantly evolving in response to changes in the environment. Also, there are also high chances that one might get in a situation where he learns or works in a culturally diverse environment. It is essential to point out that one must embrace cultural diversity when such instances prevail. For instance, when teaching in a culturallycultural class, it is expected that the level of education provided should be standardized to all students. It is essential for the teachers to focus on critical knowledge and skills rather than putting much focus on the social diversity amongst students. The teacher has the obligation to promote cultural integration amongst the diverse learning community. It should be noted that the cultural diversity gives a chance for the students and teachers in a learning institution to learn about different languages, ideas and customs.

2. Discussions on research not on opinions

According to Verkuyten, it is important to base the discussion on identity and cultural diversity on research findings rather than on opinions and personal view. It is prudent understanding that embracing cultural diversity is essential for peaceful co-existence between members of different cultural background. Basing discussions on opinions rather than research findings may lead to skewed conclusions that may escalate divisions amongst people of different culture. Every discussion should be on the premises that cultural diversity should be accorded utmost value and respect.  The unity and adaptation of different societies will only thrive where people embrace their cultural differences. Social cohesion is important for overall development of a community.

Where discussions are based on opinions and personal views when a problem emerges, there are high chances that prejudiced remarks will emerge. Stereotyping and prejudice are a major cause of conflicts between people with different cultures. The case may be worse in instances where there is a negative attribute towards a certain group of a community. People will always feel attached to their ethnic, religious or racial groupings and any attempt to ridicule such cultural groups will have adverse effects to social cohesion. For instance, if there is a long draught in a particular setting, then people attribute the draught to a particular community, then there are high chances that the community will feel aggrieved and discriminated. In such instances, the community may decide to take revenge through violent means.  It is, therefore, essential to base discussions on sensitive social matters on the research findings rather than on opinions and personal views to promote cohesion and diversity in our social setting.

3. Bastian and Haslam on essentialist beliefs on immigrants

Essentialists’ beliefs are associated with stereotyping. Consequently, stereotyping is associated with negative attributions such as rudeness, unfriendliness and control. Bastian and Haslam also noted that stereotyping also has positive attributes such as politeness, intelligence and shyness.  They also assert that stereotype may be positive in the sense that they help to guide brief encounters by injecting a degree of predictability into interactions of people with diverse cultural backgrounds as each of them try to meet the expectation of others. In their research, the two proved that stereotyping from the side of the immigrants may increase their marginalization while the same also play a part in the host culture. Bastian and Haslam proved this by examining the relationship between essentialist belief and social identification and processes related to prejudice and intergroup perception.

The two noted that essentialist beliefs play an important role in the formation of prejudice. With this in mind, the two concluded that it was difficult for the immigrants to adopt the mainstream or the host culture. The immigrants felt inferior to the host culture and hence the level of marginalization increases. The research also explored the possibility that essentialist belief would be positively associated with the intercultural threat which would mean that the immigrants were under pressure to adapting to the host culture. This gave the host culture an upper hand thus increasing prejudice against the immigrants. The conclusion was arrived at after noting a great discrepancy between the demand for and perceived feasibility of adopting culture. In essence, the essentialist beliefs are said to have a major impact on prejudice against immigrants. They conducted research on immigrants who tried to adopt Australian identity as a self-guide during acculturation. The negative bias towards the immigrants noted during the research process led to the conclusion that essentialist beliefs play an important role in the psychology of social identity.

4. Hofstede’s model

Cultural diversity has become an integral part of life and more so in educational settings. As a result, educationalists have to come up with a way of dealing with diverse culture experienced in the learning process. Hofstede’s model is one of the widely used aspects used by practitioners in the education sector to explore different cultural aspect involved in the education sector.  It is prudent that players in the education sector take this model more critically to deal with the diverse culture especially in institutions of higher learning. The model asserts that all social interactions, including those in higher education learning settings, are culturally mediated. Hofstede regards intercultural relations as inherently conflicting and includes intercultural contact in the educational environment as part of these potential conflicts. This implies that if the model is taken more critically, these potential conflicts in learning environments will be avoided.

The model asserts that different social settings such as education shape the behavior of an individual. It is prudent to note that the model is concerned with teacher’s and student’s excellence depending on their countries of origin. Besides, the model also emphasis on the importance of group’s interests rather than individual excellence. This implies that there will be increased integration amongst the students in such learning institutions. Apart from increased integration, the perceived collective participation promoted by the model will also lead to enhanced student’s performance. Teachers are also encouraged to deal with students as a part of a group and not as an individual to cultivate cohesiveness and integration. The model describes learning as a collectivist culture that is used to shape the young ones into becoming active members of the society. It is for this reason that the model should be taken seriously to build foundation for a cohesive society.

TOPIC 2

1 Large culture perspective

Culture is defined as the integrated pattern of human behavior that includes communication, belief, practices, thoughts, customs, values, rituals and manners of interacting and how these attributes are transferred from one generation to another.  Language is an integral part of culture and plays an important role in identifying a person with a particular culture.  The language brings about the concept of small culture and large culture.  The large culture refers to the visible culture such as holidays, arts, food and literature. On the other hand, the small culture refers to the invisible type of culture that is associated with a group of people.  The most common type of small culture is language that includes verbal and non-verbal.

As aforementioned, language forms an integral part of culture and plays a significant part in defining culture. It is somehow difficult to adopt in a culture where one is studying in a place where the majority people speak in a different language from his own. For instance, studying abroad especially in china will put a person in an awkward position.  The language difference; and other cultural behaviors such as food, holidays and arts just to mention a few make it difficult to integrate in such cultural settings.  Though this may be viewed as a ‘’small culture’’ concept, there are still some concepts of large culture that are evident from this experience. The intercultural interaction of people with different language plays a significant role in the acculturation process. It is also prudent to consider the personal disposition that the foreigner brings to the host culture. The two cultures must come in a way that they integrate to form a large culture. Living in a foreign country learning a foreign language will requires tangible personal experience to enable one appreciate the new culture. At times, the small culture concept and the large culture concept are inseparable to a great extent.  While working or learning in a place where there exists language differences, one must adopt the language as a small culture as well as elements of large culture such as food and other tangible practices..

2. Holliday as a ‘’small culture’’ and ‘’large culture’’

Gan was also concerned with the concept of small culture and uses an example of a Chinese mainland student undertaking an international Baccalaureate Diploma Program in Australia. The work explains the tribulations and challenges that face the Chinese student in a foreign country where he finds the curriculum and their initial experiences as shock. The work of Gan also explores the strategies that help the Chinese student adopt to the new cultural setting. The Chinese student suffers from stereotyping culture from the western culture that views the Chinese students as being passive and on-critical learners. This stereotyping makes it hard for the Chinese student to integrate in the new cultural setting.

As aforementioned, it is at times difficult to define culture due to the concept of small and large culture. For instance, Holliday defines a ‘’small culture’’ in terms of the class room culture, disciplinary culture and student culture just to mention a few. The notion of small culture as put forward by holiday is to serve as an analytical tool that allows for flexibility and easier understanding of the concept. Although the Chinese student is facing numerous challenges in relation to curriculum and he western stereotypes, it is prudent that he adapts to the social institution of learning. Holliday connotation will help the student to adapt to both the learning culture (small culture) as well as other cultural norms in the Australian setting. Students’ culture should have its own unique internal norms and practices in the education setting but also there will be other overlapping national cultural norms and practices. in essence, holiday’s connotation of small culture plays a significant role in breaking down the complexity of interacting small cultures in the education system.

3. Role of educators in positive intercultural development

It s essential to note that with the increased level of globalization in the modern society, most education settings will experience have learners with different cultural background. As aforementioned in earlier chapters, it is essential that educationists cultivate an environment where cultural diversity is embraced and learner’s culture should be highly valued and respected. Educators or trainers have an obligation of ensuring that there is harmony in the culturally diverse classroom. To start with, the tutor must ensure that all the students or learners in the education environment feel that their culture is highly valued and respected. This means that the tutor has the responsibility of instilling social cohesion amongst the learners in the education sector. Actions of stereotyping and prejudice should not be allowed in any learning institution. Tutors must ensure that students who propagate stereotypes and prejudice are severely punished while those promoting cultural diversity are rewarded.

Also, the tutors have the responsibility of promoting cultural diversity in their duty of instilling knowledge and wisdom to the learners. Although culture plays a significant role in giving the identity of an individual, tutors must be focused on providing equal learning experience to all the students in spite of their cultural differences. Equal learning experience will help improve integration amongst students of different culture. It is also prudent noting that language forms an important part of cultural identity. With that in mind, the tutors must always ensure that their language choice in their work does not in any way affect the esteem of one cultural setting in the learning environment. It is the role of the tutor to ensure that students use their cultural diversity as a way of learning and appreciating new culture. It is wise to note that the cultural tolerance inculcated in the learning environment will play a significant role in the social cohesion experienced after school. Therefore, the tutors in the learning institutions must understand that they have a role to play in the realization of social cohesion and peaceful co-existence of the different communities in the world.

TOPIC 3       

1. Comparison between Moore & Barker’s (2012) and Liu (2011)

People will always strive to ensure to determine their cultural identity. In most cases, individuals will have the urge to know where one comes from. As a result, Moore & Barker’s (2012) decided to explore the concept of Third Culture Kids (TCKs) and the role it plays in cultural identity. This refers to people who have spent a significant part of their childhood life in foreign country. It is an analysis that tries to explain how such individuals combine pieces of their home and host culture to form a ‘’third culture’’ that is a hybrid of the two. In their work, Moore and Baker explored the cultural perceptions individuals who had spent a great deal of their development years in foreign countries. Their work aimed at analyzing how the intercultural relationship affects the social identity of such persons.

Just like Moore & Barker, Liu also had a great passion for understanding the concept of cross-cultural adaptation of immigrants. This passion led to analysis of how Chinese business people thrived in Australia. It is prudent to point out that both of them use samples of people of foreign countries whose intention is to integrate with the host culture. From the work of Moore and Baker, it is concluded third culture individuals will are more apt to possess a multiple cultural identity rather than having a confusing identity. Although they lack a clear self of belonging, the third culture individuals are competent intercultural communicators and perceive their experiences as beneficial.

On the other hand, in the case of Liu and the Chinese business people, the into the host culture and the identity negotiation is a dynamic process rather than an end product. Just like in the third culture individuals, there is a hybrid of Chinese Australian culture where there is a combination of Chinese and Australian elements. It is nevertheless essential to point out that the multiple levels were not competing for selves but instead were involved in contested negotiations. Both the Chinese businessmen and the third culture individuals suffer from an identity crisis as individuals will always maintain some elements of their culture. Nevertheless, the two studies proved that cultures merge into one another during interactions and plays a significant role in defining personal identity.

2 What does Liu mean by “cultures merge into one another during interactions?”

Liu was determined to explore the integration process of Chinese businessmen in the Australian culture. The exercise involved an analysis of cultural, ethnic and national identity and how they define the personal identity. The conclusion of Liu’s work is that cultures merge into one another during interaction. This means that, when one culture interacts with another, there are high chances that the two cultures will merge to one culture. In this context, the Chinese business people will have to adopt some cultural values from the Australian people. The interaction between the two groups of people with different social and cultural background will result in a hybrid culture that has some elements of the Chinese and Australian culture. Liu assets that the existence of multiple cultures are not competing but instead for a contested negotiation and forms a different culture from the two that existed before.

The same explanation is also in the work of Moore & Barker who have an analysis of the third culture individuals. From this analysis, the authors have taken example of individuals who have lived a great part of their lives in foreign countries. Such people will have to take with them the culture of their home country to the foreign land. Although culture is determined by the environment that individuals are brought up, the interaction of these two cultures bring about the issue of third culture.  Just like it’s the case in Liu, the new culture is a hybrid of the host culture and immigrants’ culture. The merge through interactions will ultimately lead to formation of new culture that will suit both the host and the immigrants. For instance, if a Christian moves to work in a non-Christian country, he or she must strive to fit in the new cultural set up. Nevertheless, there are high chances that one will not forego all the faith but the two cultures will merge to form a hybrid of Christianity and non-Christians.

3 intercultural friendship and just friendship

The whole of this course has been emphasizing the importance of embracing cultural diversity. Embracing cultural diversity will consequently lead to having intercultural friends who are open minded and present a creative way of looking at the world. Nevertheless, it is prudent to draw a line between intercultural friends and just friends. Intercultural friendship is more than just friendship with family members, acquaintances and the people that are close to you. Instated, intercultural friendship calls for one to respect and embrace differences such as ethnic, language, and religion amongst other facets that define culture. Also, intercultural friendship requires that one be proactive in educating others about essential values and beliefs without necessarily imposing them onto another. Intercultural friendship is also devoid of stereotypes and prejudice and also appreciating the diversity of culture that exists in the modern globalized society.

The concept of intercultural friendship has been put a notch higher in the Killick’s article that emphasis on ‘’seeing-ourselves-in-the world’’. On the article, the author is determined to emphasize the importance of undergraduates’ students participating in international mobility activities. By engaging in such activities, the students will learn to embrace the different cultures and thus promoting intercultural friendship. The increased integration will increase the ability of such student to develop more passions and interests that promote intercultural friendship. Killick advances the concept of intercultural friendship by putting emphasis on the students to embrace students with TCI and engage them fully in their daily activities.  Intercultural friendship is associated with fear to offend others and hence when students increase their mobility, then there will be few chances of conflicts and consequently peaceful coexistence between people with diverse cultural background.

4 The identity navigation process

Intercultural friendship has a great role in identifying and navigation process and intercultural adjustment of international students, transnational teachers or any new migrants.  From the above analysis intercultural friendship requires one to embrace other people’s culture in terms of language, religion or ethnicity. Such an approach would be ideal for international learning environment or any other immigrants as it will enhance peaceful co-existence between such groups of individuals. Hotta & Ting-Toomey (2013), used the identity negotiation theory to explore how the intercultural friendship will be of importance in international set up especially in international learning institutions where cultural diversity is eminent.

The research by the two was motivated by the increase of international students in the American campuses. It is prudent to note that these students must adjust and for an intercultural friendship that will help them live peacefully. The theory was based on premises that there are various intercultural adjustment patterns that should change for peaceful coexistence. They argue that the players in international stage must be wary of the international friendship dialectics of feeling visible versus invisible, communication openness versus closedness and feeling like a guest versus feeling like an alien. The authors’ emphasis on the importance of intercultural communication as well as intercultural and interpersonal conflict management has also been instrumental in advancing the intercultural friendship. Also, they have warned international educators and service providers to the pervasiveness of perceived cultural insensitivity and discrimination.  Such attempts can be instrumental in international education settings where promotion and appreciation of cultural diversity are paramount.

TOPIC 4

1 Contradictory attitudes of Australian University

The study by Summers and Volet (2008) and Doherty et al. (2009) were determined to explore the different attitudes of international students in an Australian university. For instance, Summers and Volet investigated the attitudes towards a culturally mixed group of undergraduate students in a business course. These students were involved in a semester-long project and were aimed at investigating the effects of monolingual or multilingual on the attitudes of the students. The findings of the study concluded that the students who completed their assignment in the culturally mixed group had constant attitude throughout the semester. However, the study also proved that those students who finished in a unmixed group had some negative attitudes towards the end of the semester. It was also noted that homogenous groups had a negative effect on overall student performance. The persistence of negative attitudes in the presence of monolingual group explains the importance of cultural diversity. The International education system should embrace diversity not only for intercultural friendship but also for improved students’ performance.

Almost similar study by Doherty explored the aspirations of a group of local Australia school students taking an international Baccalaureate Diploma curriculum at home. The results of the study revealed that some of the students were actively seeking out an intercultural education to enable them transcended their national border and develop a global instead of an Australian identity. There are contradicting attitudes between the first study and the second study. Nevertheless, the two studies underlying point is ensuring that education environment is internationalized to promote cultural diversity.

2 Garcia-Prieto paradox

Garcia-Prieto has also explored the concept of cultural diversity in the workplace at a micro level. In his work, Garcia asserts that diversity in work place is at times detrimental while at the same time its beneficial to the performance of the team. As a result, this has been classified as a paradox and there have been numerous attempts to explain the paradox.  It is argued that diversity of a team member’s perspective is expected to have a highly positive impact in the decision making process, creativity and learning. This is because the diversity will provide the group with abundance of ideas that can help improve the overall productivity and performance of the team members.

Nevertheless, the opponents of positivity that comes along with diversity argue that diversity brings challenges such as conflicts that may limit the performance or the productivity of the group. It is argued that diversity brings about social challenges and if the members of a team fail to embrace their adversity, and then there are high chances that conflicts will emerge and consequently hinder smooth operations within the organization. It is essential that managers and team leaders must learn to manage diversity for the overall enhance organizational performance.  Only good diversity management will ensure that the positive intention of cultural diversity in workplace is realized. Patterns of bias and oppressions amongst members of a particular team will definitely have adverse effects on the overall performance of the group.

3 Reducing spiral miscommunication in a multicultural education environment

The increased globalization has lead to internationalization of education environment and consequently communication across cultures has become an inevitable reality in education environment.  Nevertheless, there are always instances of spiral miscommunications in such institutions which have adverse effects on the development of intercultural friendship essential in such institutions. It is therefore essential that all stakeholders should be proactive in ensuring that spiral miscommunication is substantially reduced to increase prosperity and enhanced collective and individual student performance.

The multicultural educators have a leading role in ensuring that elements of spiral communication in multicultural education environment are substantially reduced. The teachers or the tutors have the responsibility of preparing their students on embracing a diverse cultural composition. This will be critical in ensuring that student will use a language that will be easily understood by all. On this note, the teacher also must be purely focused on providing equal knowledge using language that is well understood by all the students. It’s also prudent that we have reflective teachers applying observational, empirical and analytical skills to monitor, evaluate and revise instances that may bring about spiral miscommunication.

4. Stereotypes and communication

Stereotyping is a primary course for miscommunication especially between people with different cultural experience. It is imperative that communication in a cultural diverse environment must be sensitive and appreciative to the different cultural groups. Intercultural sensitive plays a significant role in enhancing understanding and social cohesion amongst members of the society.  Nevertheless, stereotyping has been asserted as a reason that has brought about miscommunication between different cultures.

For instance, stereotyping makes it hard for people with different cultural identity appreciate one another. This implies that people within a particular cultural identity will categorize things, events and people simply because it helps them mentally organize and make sense of the world around them. There are also high chances that people will make hasty conclusions about people with different culture hence not having objectivity in their communication.  The miscommunication brought about by stereotyping is likely to hinder effective performance of the team since there will be no concrete sharing of ideas and a certain cultural group feels superior to others. It is therefore essential that the issue of stereotyping is adequately addressed to ensure effective communication.

 

TOPIC 5

1  Multiculturalism is difficult and controversial

Verkuyten views multiculturalism as difficult and controversial especially in a multicultural education environment. This argument is based on the premises that we are living in a particularly plural societies in which people have placed great importance on their cultural identities. In that sense, Verkuyten argues that it is difficult to maintain cultural understanding in a cultural diverse environment since there will always be conflicts. The different cultural groups will always strive to show their supremacy over the rest thus increasing controversy. He also cites positive and negative effects of multiculturalism that affect the multiculturalism groups or identities. He concludes his argument by saying that cultural diversity requires an overarching framework in which everyone can feel at ease, comfortable and involved.

The assertion by Verkuyten can be used to promote a peaceful cultural diverse education environment where a shared feeling of ‘we-ness’ prevails. This requires that all the different cultural identities within the institution are given an opportunity to express their feelings. Also, the members in a diverse education environment should be in pursuit of inclusive identity rather than the pursuit of individual identity. Teachers and tutors in such environments should be proactive in ensuring that they instill a collective identity rather than individual identity on all the students. As Verkuyten asserts, the improvement of intergroup relations will ultimately lead to increased cultural tolerance amongst members of different culture. This will consequently mean that the overarching identity of ‘we-ness ‘prevails over individualistic approach that brings controversy.

 

2 Tolerance

Tolerance is an essential aspect that helps deal with issues of cultural diversity in a multicultural environment. It is through tolerance that the feeling of ‘’we-ness’’ that promotes cultural diversity is realized. Nevertheless, achieving this tolerance is not as easy task. As Verkuyten asserts, there are circumstances and limitations that may adversely affect the inter group tolerance.  It is prudent to note that some of the members of these cultural groups are pre occupied with intentions of pursuing individual identity rather than the collective identity where the feeling of ‘we-ness’’ prevail.  This increases the vulnerability of the attempts to enhancing social tolerance since at times it proves difficult teaching people new ways of embracing cultural diversity.

Verkuyten further assets that there is n single model that is ideal in all societies and contexts for all people. in other words, Verkuyten asserts that there is no ultimate solution to the tolerance problem that has been persistent in the pluralistic society we are living in. it is on this premises that he stresses the importance of all stakeholders involved in multicultural settings to consider the psychological processes and contextual dimensions that brings about adverse  effects on diverse cultural setting. With such information, it will be easy to design productive ways of managing cultural diversity and ensure that cultural tolerance prevails.

2 Students become Killick calls and global citizens

It is prudent to note that education environment provides an important platform where cultural tolerance and embracing of diverse culture can be realized. A study by Ippolito aimed at promoting intercultural learning among international and local post graduate students was an advancement of Killicks call of being global citizens. Ippolito was concerned with the teachers and students perceptions of the intercultural experience as well as the values and challenges that meet diverse cultural settings.  It is prudent to note that the study also focused on other factors such as language and unchallenged conceptions of privileged knowledge. Teachers and students relationships set an ideal stage where different cultural perspectives and identities prevail. In essence the education environment offers a pilot stage where one can test the cultural tolerance in a diverse setting is realized. It also moulds the students to step out of these learning institutions as good global citizens who have learnt to embrace cultural diversity.

The Ippolito study is work in progress of the Killick’s article that emphasis on ‘’seeing-ourselves-in-the world’’. On the article, the author is determined to emphasize on the importance of undergraduates students participating in international mobility activities. By engaging in such activities, the students will learn to embrace the different cultures and thus promoting intercultural friendship. The increased integration will increase the ability of such student to develop more passions and interests that promote intercultural friendship. Killick advances the concept of intercultural friendship by putting emphasis on the students to embrace students with TCI and engage them fully in their daily activities.  Intercultural friendship is associated with fear to offend others and hence when students increase their mobility, then there will be few chances of conflicts and consequently peaceful coexistence between people with diverse cultural background. In essence, Killicks calls for students to engage in practices that will lead to increased integration with people of different culture while in school and also carry this trait when they leave school and become good global citizens.

 

 

4 Cosmopolitan learning and social cultural identities

Rizvi and Reid bring about the concept of cosmopolitan and cosmopolitan learning in education. They define cosmopolitan learning as not concerned so much with impacting knowledge and developing attitudes and skills for understanding other cultures per se, but with helping students examine the ways in which global processes are creating conditions of economic and cultural exchange that are transforming our identities and communities (Rizvi, 2009). In their work, the two wants to emphasize on the importance of education in promoting cultural diversity not only in the education set up, but also in the society at large.

The approach asserts that it is essential that students do not focus too much on academic excellence at the expense of other cultural and social improvement. Rizvi sees education as a platform where critical understanding and moral improvement of our children is realized. It is imperative that the students get conversant with the things happening in the outside world and not become pre occupied with normative learning. It is argued that cosmopolitan learning offers an opportunity for students to learn and appreciate other cultures. In fact, Rizvi says that the hypothetical cosmopolitan learning he has in mind should offer an opportunity for students to examine political meaning of intercultural experiences. The approach should also address the issue of globalization and its effect on cultural diversity. Such learning will enable integration between people of different cultures. In addition, Reid &Sriprakash builds on Rizvi ideas and propagates that education should be programmed in such a way that it promotes multicultural tolerance.  They emphasize that the modern society is so pluralistic, where societies are mixed and overlapping rather fixed group and hence essential to prepare students in such capacities.  This change of mind is essential for a successful integration and tolerance in the cultural diverse society.

 

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