How to better carry out multicultural education in China

Abstract: This article summarizes the connotation of multicultural education and its basic features, the background, rise and development of multicultural education in the West, the inspiration of foreign multicultural education for the development of multicultural education in China, the necessity of carrying out multicultural education in China's national minority areas, and the specific suggestions. Keywords: multicultural education, ethnic areas, minority education, the connotation of multicultural education and its basic features: Multicultural education (Multicultural education) refers to a country where a variety of cultures of many ethnic groups ****exist, and allows and guarantees the equal development of the cultures of all ethnic groups, in order to enrich the education of the whole country. Its goal is "to enable groups belonging to different cultures, races, religions, and social classes to learn to maintain peace and harmonize their relations with each other in order to achieve ****survival". Multicultural education is based on the theory of cultural relativism, which asserts that all cultures have their own value of existence and development, and that different cultures have different contributions to the progress of human civilization. In education, different cultures, especially the cultural traditions and non-mainstream cultures of disadvantaged groups, should be respected and supported, and children of disadvantaged groups should have equal rights to education and opportunities for development. It originated in the American society in the 1960s and has achieved obvious results in multi-ethnic countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia. Its connotation and basic features can be summarized as follows: 1. Multicultural education is a kind of concept of the genus "education", and it is an educational activity. 2. Multicultural education includes concepts, ideas and other levels of consciousness, as well as processes, results and other levels of action, and it is a complete process. 3. An important theoretical foundation of multicultural education is the theory of cultural relativism, that is, all kinds of human cultures are relative existences and have their corresponding values and meanings; all kinds of human cultures should be respected, free and equal; all kinds of human cultures continue and develop in inheritance (heredity) and evolution (mutation); no culture is completely excellent or inferior, and no culture is static.4. Multicultural education's The purpose of multicultural education is equality and freedom in cultural education, focusing on cultural identity, learning, respect and development, with the goal of enhancing the learning achievements of disadvantaged groups. 5. Multicultural education is a reform and innovation of monocultural education, a symbol of the development of postmodern cultural education, and represents the trend of the harmonious development of human cultural education. Second, the rise and development of multicultural education world-renowned multicultural education research experts James-A-banks (James-A-banks) (United States) and James Lynch (United Kingdom) that the multicultural education occurs in the background mainly includes two factors: one is the multicultural education occurs in the demographic composition of the factors; the second is the multicultural education occurs in the social movement of the factors. The second is the social movement in which multicultural education takes place. This conclusion summarizes the facts of multicultural education in the West. Looking first at the first aspect, the presence of a multiethnic population creates the problem of multicultural education in the context of the existence of multiple cultures***. This multiethnic presence is mainly due to immigration in the West. Again, in terms of the social context in which multicultural education occurs, Western societies have made the protection of human rights and the promotion of equality the main purpose of the *** enjoyment of the state, and have thus sought to create an egalitarian system of thought within social organizations that includes all races, ethnicities and cultures, and groups. Multicultural education arose out of the civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s, one of the main goals of which was to eliminate public prejudice in the areas of public ****sites, housing, employment and education. The result was a major impact on the education of racial groups - first blacks and then other ethnic groups - requiring that the curriculum in schools and other educational institutions be rebuilt to reflect the culture, history, and experiences of minorities. Minorities are demanding that schools hire more minority teachers and principals to ensure real success for minority students. Minority communities, through the influence of their community-governed schools and their curricula and textbooks, have gradually advanced this movement and deepened it to include Race, Class, Gender, Disability, and Other marginalized. James-A-banks describes five stages in the historical development of multicultural education in his famous book Multicultural Education: Theory and Practice: The first stage (mono-ethnic studies) is mainly the beginning of the black civil rights movement and the demand of African Americans for an increase in the number of teachers corresponding to their cultures in education, the revision of textbooks, the reaction to cultural content, and the self-control of schools. Phase II (multiracial studies) focused on examining the experiences of racial groups from a comparative perspective and responding to the cultures of several major minority groups in the curriculum; Phase III (multiracial education) saw increasing recognition by educators that the lack of curricular reforms was making true multicultural education reforms ineffective; Phase IV (multicultural education) saw some educators becoming interested in multicultural education and reforming the whole school system through the use of multiculturalism; and Phase V (multicultural education) saw some educators becoming interested in multicultural education. Stage 4 (Multicultural Education) Some educators became interested in multicultural education and expanded multicultural education by reforming the school environment as a whole; Stage 5 (Institutionalization) is an ongoing process that involves increasing the design of multicultural teaching strategies and multicultural curricula in schools. After entering the 1980s, in some Asian countries, such as China, India, and Japan, the traditional one-nation education has been reformed, and multiracial and multicultural education has been reflected to varying degrees from national guidelines and policies to school curricula and teaching. In this way, multicultural education has developed in a variety of modes of development from immigrant countries in the West, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and so on, to traditional multi-ethnic countries in the East. The globalization of multicultural education has become a challenge that education must meet in the 21st century. Third, foreign multicultural education on China's inspiration and the need to carry out multicultural education in China multiculturalism occurs in a different background in China and the West. China's main ethnic group, the Han Chinese, and 55 ethnic minorities have historically survived and developed within China's borders, and there is no problem of ethnic minorities due to immigration, which is one thing. The second is that minority education in China does not have the background of a national revival movement, and thus there is no ethnic or class hierarchy that contradicts the political idea of equality of all ethnic groups. China is a multi-ethnic country with 56 nationalities, and the total population of the 55 minority nationalities exceeds 100 million. Ethnic autonomous areas cover 64 per cent of the country's entire territory, and China pursues the basic policies of ethnic equality, ethnic unity, regional ethnic autonomy and prosperity for all ethnic groups*** together, so that people of ethnic minorities, like their Han counterparts, enjoy on an equal footing all the civil rights provided for in the Constitution and the law, and at the same time, in accordance with the law, enjoy the rights peculiar to ethnic minorities. Because our Party and State constitutionally and legally guarantee the equal rights of ethnic minorities and uphold ethnic unity in their policies, the mainstream of ethnic relations in China is good. Ethnic discrimination and prejudice, and contradictory conflicts between ethnic cultures have been ameliorated. In school education, bilingual and biliterate teaching has been carried out in many minority areas, promoting the development of minority languages and scripts. Students of all ethnic groups unite and help each other, live in harmony, and **** make progress together. Therefore, what multicultural education in China's ethnic areas is intended to address is not the elimination of ethnic discrimination; its goal is mainly to promote ethnic minority students' understanding of their own excellent cultural traditions and to enhance their confidence and ability to develop the economy and culture of their own ethnic areas. If multicultural education is to be carried out in China's ethnic areas, it would be unscientific and unrealistic to adopt a "cultural ****survival" model, emphasizing only the independent value and status of ethnic minority cultures without taking into account the links between ethnic minority cultures and Han Chinese culture. In China, a minority area is usually inhabited by several minorities, as well as the Han Chinese. In ethnic minority areas, there is no such thing as segregating the education of a particular ethnic group from that of the Han culture. Multicultural education in China's ethnic areas should give a corresponding place to the cultural essence of each ethnic minority, incorporating the region's outstanding ethnic cultures into the unified Han cultural education and strengthening intercultural exchanges and integration. The target of multicultural education should include not only members of ethnic minorities but also members of the Han nationality. Ethnic minorities should not only study their own traditional excellent culture, but also the Han culture, and learn about the economically developed regions of the country and even abroad, as well as about their own region, in order to improve their ability to adapt to society and seek maximum personal development; members of the Han nationality, in addition to learning about their own culture, should also learn and understand appropriately about the traditional excellent culture of their ethnic minorities, so as to enhance the sense of a large national family. Multicultural education and ethnic education have both ****similarities and qualitative differences, and it is not appropriate to treat them in the same way, let alone use them in the same way. First of all, multicultural education and minority education belong to the same category of education, both are species concepts of the genus "education", and both have the general nature, process and methods of educational activities. Multicultural education represents a new trend in the development of human culture and education under the new situation of economic globalization, focusing on the equality of education and educational achievements of disadvantaged groups, maintaining equal opportunities in education, improving the academic achievements of students from disadvantaged ethnic groups, advocating and supporting cultural diversity, and even the setting of curricula and the construction of teaching materials for multicultural education, all of which are closely related to ethnic education, and provide a more reasonable platform for ethnic education and its development, and strongly promote the development of ethnic education. All these are closely related to ethnic education, providing a more reasonable platform for ethnic education and its development, and vigorously promoting the healthy development of ethnic education. At the same time, ethnic education provides an effective means of implementation for multicultural education. Ethnic education, such as teaching materials in ethnic scripts, bilingual teaching, teaching of ethnic history and geography, and folklore courses, etc., are all practical modes and implementation channels of multicultural education. The two have a complementary and mutually reinforcing relationship. Ethnic and cultural education has a long history, and various ethnic minorities have flourished and prospered together on the Chinese soil, and have created the 5,000-year civilization history of the Chinese nation together. Since the founding of New China, the Party and the State have adopted a scientific ethnic policy and established a complete ethnic education system. Children of all nationalities not only enjoy equal educational opportunities, but also minority children enjoy special care in their studies, life, further education and employment. Multicultural education, as an imported product, was only introduced into China around the 1990s, and its ideas and theories are really at the initial stage of introduction, and there is still a long way to go for its real implementation and promotion. The basic concept of ethnic education can be divided into two categories: broad and narrow. Ethnic education in the broad sense covers the education of all historical and contemporary ethnic groups, whether it is the education of primitive ethnic groups, ancient ethnic groups or modern ethnic groups; whether it is the education of a single ethnic group or a composite ethnic group; whether it is the education of the dominant ethnic group or the education of ethnic minorities, all of them are included in it. Ethnic education in the narrower sense, also known as minority education, refers to composite ethnic education for members of ethnic groups whose populations are in the minority in a multi-ethnic state. The purpose of multicultural education is, on the one hand, to help members of ethnic minorities to improve their ability to adapt to the modern mainstream society in order to maximize their personal development, and on the other hand, to inherit and carry forward the outstanding cultural heritage of ethnic minorities, enrich the cultural treasures of mankind, and to make due contribution to mankind. Education for ethnic minorities is an important part of the national education practiced in multi-ethnic countries. If the education we provide to minority students contains only the education content of the main culture (Han culture), but lacks the education content of their own cultural traditions, then the education for minorities is not multicultural education. Analyzing the situation of education for ethnic minorities in China, we find that the current school education in China is insufficient in educating ethnic minority students to inherit and carry forward the social and cultural heritage of their own ethnic groups, and insufficient in combining the students' individual characteristics and improving their ability to adapt to modern mainstream society. Although, with the introduction of compulsory education in China, school education is increasingly playing an important role in the socialization of ethnic minority children and adolescents. However, in ethnic minority areas, under the influence of the cultural traditions and values of different ethnic groups, school education is not sufficiently linked to the real world, and as a result it does not receive the attention and social recognition it deserves, and it fails to give full play to its proper role in the socialization of ethnic minority students. The role of education in the local economy and culture has not been fully realized. For example, the rate of further education for ethnic minorities at all levels is very low, and ethnic minority females in particular show a high rate of non-attendance and dropout. Studies by our scholars have shown that it is difficult for ethnic minority students to learn at school due to language barriers. Students' lack of interest in learning, families' failure to recognize the importance and role of education, and irrational curricula, coupled with a lack of qualified teachers and imperfect teaching methods, have brought the development of education for ethnic minorities to a standstill. As China's economy and society continue to prosper and stabilize, the number of immigrants moving to China will continue to increase, and China in the twenty-first century will also face the problem of immigrant education, and "multicultural education" will certainly be put on the agenda of Chinese education. The implementation of "multicultural education" in China is the need of the times and social development. However, China's "multicultural education" should not repeat the detours taken by Western countries. 4. Concrete suggestions for the development of multicultural education in China. 1. The concept of multicultural education must be established in China's national education. The development of multicultural education requires the guarantee and support of administrative legislation and economic investment from the government. China's Constitution stipulates that the local governments of all ethnic minorities shall give economic support to local ethnic education in accordance with national laws. Local governments at all levels of ethnic minorities and all sectors of society should recognize the significance and value of multicultural education from the conceptual point of view. Multicultural education is not to emphasize the independence of ethnic minorities or to divide them, but to improve their ability to adapt to society, to promote the prosperity of the local economy, to strengthen national unity, and to contribute to the wealth, strength and unity of the motherland; it is also to inherit and carry forward the outstanding cultural heritage of the ethnic minorities, to enrich the cultural treasury of mankind, and to make a due contribution to mankind. It is also a concrete manifestation of the implementation of regional ethnic autonomy. The establishment of this concept is a prerequisite for multicultural education in ethnic minority areas. In order to ensure the quality of multicultural education, relevant research institutions should be set up. On the one hand, research institutions should discuss the planning, management and implementation of multicultural education, and provide strong references for local governments in terms of legislation and funding; on the other hand, they should take up the tasks of curriculum reform and research on education and teaching methods, and give useful guidance to school teachers. Ethnic education in China is very different from western multicultural education in terms of the background of its occurrence, the content and methods of its implementation, and its objectives. It can be said that the main task of ethnic education in China lies in training modern talents of all levels and types for ethnic areas. This is because historically ethnic minorities have suffered from the double oppression of their own ethnic groups and the Han ruling class, and have survived and developed in a dangerous environment, which has made the reality of the ethnic areas demand more talents, quicker talents, and better talents. However, this good ideal aspiration has shown a series of problems over time, for example: institutionally, a set of theories of national education suitable for China's national conditions has not been summarized; although there are national elementary school, secondary schools, national teacher training and vocational and technical schools in the ethnic minority areas of our country and even national institutions of higher learning have been built, a complete and scientific system of national education has never been formed. For a long time, ethnic education has been treated as a part of general education, ignoring its ethnicity; teaching, as the most distinctive feature of ethnic education, ethnic pedagogy is still blank, and the scientific theory of bilingual teaching has not yet been formed, with bilingual teaching around the country in the exploratory stage of "crossing the river by groping for stones"; the curriculum has neglected the construction of traditional ethnic culture, and has been unified with the mainland to require the same subjects and the same curriculum, with the same curriculum and the same curriculum and the same curriculum. The curriculum neglects the building of traditional ethnic culture, and is unified with the mainland in requiring the same subjects and the same subjects, and in carrying out "test-taking" and "advancement" education. While emphasizing scientific education, our national education has belittled or even neglected humanistic education, and more seriously, the development of national education has been hamstrung by the Han Chinese way of thinking and cultural traditions. It boils down to the lack of the concept of multiculturalism in education. Therefore, the development of multicultural education in ethnic areas can raise the level of education for ethnic minorities, link school education with the reality of ethnic areas, and give a strong impetus to regional cultural and economic development. As far as ethnic minorities are concerned, they must not be satisfied with the equal status and special treatment they have legally achieved, but must resolutely adopt an open attitude to overcome economic and cultural inequalities and catch up with the advanced level. It is only by seriously practicing the concept of multiculturalism that the development of education can be both nationally integrated and ethnically diversified, and by providing the same multicultural education to both Han Chinese and ethnic minorities that the multicultural education system at the national level can be unified. 2. China's national education should be in line with international education. The globalization of multicultural education and its role in the education of nation-states show that education for ethnic minorities cannot be independent of the main nationalities, but should be a form of pluralistic and integrated existence in the national education; similarly, national pluralistic and integrated education is no longer a matter within a sovereign state, but a different form of existence of pluralistic and integrated education in the world. For this reason, we have to break the long-established situation of confrontation between Eastern and Western national education, and bring our national education into line with international national education in the exchange and dialog of multicultural education. Expanding the connotation of China's national education in the light of the excellent results of western multicultural education, national education is no longer the abbreviation of minority education, but the main nationalities and ethnic minorities*** with the composition of the country's pluralistic and integrated education. On this basis, through the introduction of the introduction, pilot experiments, the creation of special features and other stages of efforts, so that the Chinese national multifaceted education has become a kind of model of the world's multicultural education. In the comparative study, we have to oppose two wrong concepts: one is the Western liberalization concept, i.e., trying to replace Chinese national education with Western multicultural education without regard to China's national conditions; the other is the self-centered view, i.e., refusing to receive the advanced experience of other countries without regard to the development trend of global multicultural education. The localization of multicultural education should be adhered to at the same time as the convergence with international education. In the process of implementing multicultural education, countries around the world have different practices, which are mainly the result of "localization". The development of national education in China has a long history and has formed its own "characteristics". At the same time, in the face of new problems and challenges, and the impact of foreign cultures, it is necessary to complete the foreign multicultural education through "Chineseization" and "localization". At the same time, in the face of new problems and challenges, and the impact of foreign cultures, it is necessary to "Chineseize" and "localize" foreign multiculturalism to complete the mutual communication and integration of foreign multiculturalism and the traditional culture of our own people. The localization of multicultural education has two meanings: one is the rooting and growth of multicultural education in China; the other is the "settling down" of multicultural education among the ethnic minorities in China and the "countering of the guest as the master". In the 21st century, whoever takes the lead in completing the localization process of multicultural education will take the lead in completing the modernization process of national education. Western multicultural education involves a wide range of complex areas (race, ethnicity, gender, social class, etc.), while China focuses on minority education, localization is to find the entry point of China's national conditions and national characteristics, and reflect the concept of multiculturalism, which is fair, reasonable and scientific, in the curriculum of national education. 3、Opening national culture courses to inculcate multicultural knowledge in students. Today, with globalization, there are more and more situations in which people of various cultural backgrounds intermingle with each other, so the ability to deal with people of various cultural backgrounds is a subject before us and a test of our ability to survive. In order to live harmoniously with people of different cultural backgrounds, we need to have multicultural knowledge and the ability to cope with a multicultural society. The implementation of a multicultural curriculum at the primary and secondary levels is not about creating another subject or incorporating the cultural assets of all ethnic minorities into the existing curriculum, as this would cause congestion in the school curriculum, resulting in an overburdening of students' academic workload, and may not really lead to a full intersection or interaction between cultures. The curriculum for multicultural education focuses on integrating the cultural essence or characteristics of various ethnic minorities into the existing school curriculum to reflect the perspective of cultural pluralism. It also targets all students (both Han Chinese and ethnic minority students) and develops their cognitive, skill and affective abilities and attitudes through integration into the overall school curriculum. Multiculturalism can be reflected, for example, in the literature, language, history, and social sciences curricula through changes in content organization and improved teaching methods. The Tibetan language offered in Tibetan schools should no longer be a simple translation of the unified textbook, but should include more Tibetan classics and excellent works by modern Tibetan writers in Tibetan that reflect Tibetan culture and life. Accordingly, history classes in Han schools should include more content on the history, customs and cultural traditions of ethnic minorities. The curricula of vocational schools, junior colleges, teacher-training schools, and specialized colleges and universities at the middle and higher levels of education may offer specialized courses on ethnic cultures, such as courses on the socio-economic and cultural history of the region and its current situation, and courses on the history and cultural traditions of the various ethnic groups, and so on. At the undergraduate level, courses on ethnic culture are offered, students are organized to participate in useful ethnic cultural activities, and a series of ethnic cultural activities are carried out in conjunction with the teaching of ethnic culture courses. The main body of classroom teaching is the teacher, but the one-word teaching and the limitation of time and space often can't fully mobilize the students' enthusiasm to learn the knowledge of ethnic culture. Only through the practical activities of students, let them directly or indirectly involved in teaching activities, in order to achieve good teaching results, to let students really understand the purpose of the various ethnic cultures, such as carrying out the "ethnic culture week" series of activities, organizing the "folk customs photography competition For example, a series of activities such as "Ethnic Culture Week", "Folk Customs Photography Competition" and "Hometown New Look Writing Competition" are organized. All in all, these activities undoubtedly bring the ethnic knowledge that students learn in the classroom into reality, so that they can proudly show their own ethnic culture to their classmates of other ethnic groups while also learning about the cultures of other ethnic groups. In short, through such activities, not only can make the students love their own culture more, but also have a strong interest in other national cultures; not only enhance the mutual understanding of students of all nationalities, but also help to cultivate the ability of mutual adaptation between heterogeneous cultural groups. 4, the majority of teachers should constantly strengthen the learning of multicultural knowledge. Improve teachers' education and teaching quality. Teachers' values and views on issues permeate the courses they teach and the process of teacher-student interaction, subtly influencing students' perception and acceptance of information and forming attitudes towards various things. Thus, teachers should raise their own awareness of minority education, explore teaching methods suitable for minority students, help students build up a sense of national pride and self-confidence, and urge students of different ethnic groups to succeed not only in their own social culture, but also in the mainstream culture of society. The above is all about how to cultivate students' ability to adapt to a multicultural society, but cultivating this ability is far from being enough with the national culture curriculum alone, and requires the participation of all teachers*** in the school. So, in the globalization perspective, do we face the multicultural communities or individuals (multicultural colleagues or students) with a positive and correct mindset in our daily work and life? The answer is not optimistic. Due to the limitations of the knowledge of the national culture, teachers also have a lack of understanding and objectivity in dealing with cross-cultural communities or individuals, which is not conducive to the construction of a harmonious campus and a harmonious society, nor is it conducive to the development of students' ability to adapt to a multicultural society.