Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism in schools is often reflected upon by students as ‘Harmony Day’, or a personalised school event that is often a culmination of a variety of foods from different ethnic regions. I find it hard to explain why these days were so important to school practise, especially in my own experience, as I see their only real use was to celebrate ethnic diversity for one whole day. You know, as opposed to the other 364 days that we have each year. I think as a young child it seems like a very plausible and valid thing to do, but now looking back on it, those days did nothing exceptional or extraordinary in assuring Australia’s sense of being multicultural and proud country.

However, an online newspaper article - Fears over 'white flight' from selective schools (Milburn, 2011) – draws attention to the high density of ethnic groups within school communities, and that many Anglo-Australians are fleeing to schools that accommodate their child’s primary culture (such as private schools), whilst many children from LBOTE backgrounds are being sent to selective schools in return. In effect, again we see how schools are becoming sites of social interaction that promotes the neglecting the notion of our country being multicultural and diverse. The article comments: 

If current trends continue, we risk creating highly unbalanced school communities that, rather than reflecting the full diversity of Australian society, instead constitute unhealthy and unnatural bubbles of segregation and isolation.

This recent trend of parents being selective of which schools to send their child to based on ethnic groups, or cultural differences, I find astounding and a little upsetting. How are we supposed to support and promote the multicultural identity of Australia if we’re choosing to polarise and divide communities?

Ho’s (2011) examination of the school sector also draws attention to the uneven spread of everyday multiculturalism. Her article also draws close attention to how even though families with the LBOTE characteristic may not largely populate a community or suburb, schools within the geographical area are experiencing cultural and ethnic segmentation. I found this particularly interesting considering that I am a ten-minute walk from Birrong Girls High (92% LBOTE students) and yet my suburb is primarily ‘Anglo-Australian’ (55% LBOTE) (Ho, 2011:611). This shift in school culture and attitude is indicative of not only current socio-cultural trends within education, but also the decision making of parents to either reinforce their own ideologies and beliefs regardless of whether embraces multiculturalism or white hegemonic values.

But perhaps my previous criticism is nothing more than an extension of my own personal understandings and experiences with multiculturalism. I personally don’t think it is necessary to have special days to publicise and highlight our national attempt and stance in regards to multiculturalism. But rather, our everyday lived experiences should be enough to stabilise the ideology itself. I went to school where, in retrospect, I was the minority white student. This did not faze me at all; I doubt it was something I seriously pondered actually. I had friends from all different backgrounds; I grew up with supportive parents, in a local community that guided me to seeing that ethnic diversity was something to be proud of regardless of those two special days at school. I steered clear of people that sought to put down ethnic diversity and subject it to White Australian dominance. Of course my lived experience is different to another’s and not everyone will see the world I do.

Ho, C. (2011), "Respecting the Presence of Others: school Micropublics and Everyday Multiculturalism" in Journal of Intercultural Studies, 32(6), pp.603-619

Milburn, C. (2011), "Fears over 'white flight' from selective schools" in SMH online, accessed 30 September 2013, at <http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/fears-over-white-flight-from-selective-schools-20111016-1lro2.html>

Multiculturalism and Schooling

Australia is recognized as a multicultural society, with the 2011 census revealing that one in four Australians was born overseas.¹  The intense diversity brought about by the many migrants to Australia from not only white European backgrounds but many more diverse cultural areas presents a challenge to education – a challenge that is hard to meet, but if handled well, can be extremely rewarding.

In any situation where schools are required to cater to different levels of education in the one class, it is difficult to maintain a good standard and have challenging but attainable levels of achievement for the class. However, when this difference in education is as large as that involved in not only teaching students who either have English as a second language or are not up to speaking it at all, but come from completely different cultural backgrounds and have different ways of learning and behaving, this can present a huge challenge for educators.

In contemporary Australia this challenge has mostly been embraced by schools, with the introduction of extra English classes for migrant students, special programs to bring students who have not yet reached the required curriculum level up to speed, and encouraging students to share their knowledge and customs to educate all involved.

A recent article in The Guardian shows a similar situation in England² (http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/feb/28/school-20-languages-gladstone-primary).  Again, a multicultural society with a clear original cultural way of educating has had to make changes to cater to its multicultural population, and in the process has provided a richer education for all students.  Gladstone Primary School is said to be the only primary school in the country where none of its students hold English as their first language (‘About 80% of its pupils are from a Pakistani background: most speak Punjabi but the school's 20 other languages include Dari, Pashto, Gujarati, Kurdish, Arabic, Lithuanian, Latvian, Russian, Polish, Slovakian, Czech, German and French’).  Despite this, through work over the past 16 months, it has raised its level to reach the teaching inspectorates standards, and continues to provide a multicultural and culturally sensitive education to its students.

This form of effective education to many different backgrounds is also brought about by the continued education of the schools teachers. The teachers give a short presentation about one of their pupils countries at staff meetings and teachers are encouraged to actively ask students about their lives and cultures.  In this instance the learning process goes both ways, as the teachers education about their students backgrounds allow them to best teach them the curriculum they are required to learn.

Similarly, in an article in the International Review for Learning 2011, Quality multilingual and multicultural education for lifelong learning, it  is recognised that ‘In environments where multilingualism and cultural diversity are viewed as resources, these dichotomies are re-interpreted positively within a context ofadditive bi/multilingualism and multiculturalism, where differences are viewed asborders rather than boundaries and as an integral part of individuals’ andcommunities’ linguistic and cultural repertoires.’ ³  This shows an extremely positive view of multicultural education and the benefits in learning found through making connections with others and each using their own cultural backgrounds as well as individual talents to form a well-educated whole.

The example of Gladstone Primary may be an extreme one, and it may seem more difficult to celebrate multiculturalism and minimize racism in a school that does contain students who speak English as their first language, however the basis of the school’s success can be used as an example to learn from in terms of teaching a multicultural world to multicultural students.  Schools should celebrate the different cultures rather than feel they have to deal with them.  In our roles as teachers in Australian schools, we can learn from the example of interaction with student’s cultures and the two-way learning process, to best open up channels of communication, to fully embrace multiculturalism in schools and in Australia.

References:

1. 2011 Census reveals one in four Australians is born overseas, CO/59, accessed through http://abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/CO-59, published 2012

2. Barkham, P. The School where they speak 20 languages: A Day at Gladstone Primary, The Guardian, 2013, accessed online at http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/feb/28/school-20-languages-gladstone-primary

3. Alidou, H., Glanz, C., & Nikièma, N. (2011). Quality multilingual and multicultural education for lifelong learning. International Review of Education,57(5-6), 529-539.

The topic of Racism in Education

Although very few individuals themselves would admit to being racist, it is an acknowledged fact that we live within a racist society.  This may be in part because although the outright hate of different races (usually non-whites) has become less a part of our culture due to education and progression in rights, forms of ‘casual racism’ such as stereotyping, generalizing and racist jokes still continue. This can be described as the trend of covert, as opposed to overt racism in contemporary Australian society.

This form of racism allows people to make racist remarks and stereotype people in damaging ways, without taking responsibility for the divisive nature of their actions or the potential damage it can do. 

Most individuals, when honestly reflecting on their own personal thought lives, if not comments they have made out loud, can track instances where they have demonstrated a racist attitude.  Although I do not consider myself racist, there are times when I will pre-judge others based on their appearance or cultural identity, demonstrating impatience when not all others conform to the same customs or what I would consider to be manners or decorum in general society. 

Even though I try particularly hard not to demonstrate a racist attitude, I am aware that in my circle of friends, racist jokes are consistently made to and about one particular friend who is Egyptian.  Although he is privy to these jokes and does not mind them as they are usually made with an affectionate tone, does that make this form of casual racism okay? There is a line between acknowledging our differences, and negatively stereotyping and judging others based on their race, and it is too often crossed.

The issue of casual racism is discussed in a recent article by Danielle Cronin in the Brisbane Times, following a speech made by Australian Race Discrimination Commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane, at the annual Peace and Understanding Lecture at the University of Queensland (article found athttp://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/casual-racism-rife-in-australia-commissioner-20130918-2tzt5.html).  He encourages Australians not to ‘dismiss racism as a marginal social concern’, acknowledging the extent of prejudice and discrimination as ‘barriers to fair treatment and equal opportunity, hampered an individual's freedom to participate in the community, could impair social cohesion, and affect the target's physical health and life expectancy.’

The article is different from many in that it targets covert racism just as much as the obvious acts of racism we often see on the news. Examples given are ‘Jokes, off-handed comments, excluding co-workers from chats around the water cooler’. These casual, offhand ways of excluding and stereotyping others are so often experienced within our contemporary culture, it seems almost strange to address them with such seriousness. Certainly with my group of friends, if someone were to accuse them of racism, they would claim that it is all a joke, and since the person who the jokes are aimed at does not find the jokes offensive, it is okay.    However the speech quoted in the article calls us all to extend our vigilance on racism into our everyday lives, saying ‘racism doesn't need to be violent or malicious to count as racism’ and encouraging us to consider the consequences of such demonstrations of racism.

In Jill Dolan’s article ‘Casual Racism and Stuttering Failures: An ethics for classroom engagement’, she describes her acts of not discussing these forms of casual racism in the classroom as ‘pedagogical failures’, and noted that she found it difficult to address these situations, however discussion and building toward understanding was extremely important in building a class and individuals who were progressive, understanding and well-educated.  It is clear that the main way to work towards this ideal is to have discussions and confront the issues head-on, rather than letting them slip by and continue to foster the culture of this norm.

Similarly, The Brisbane Times article ends with a challenge quoted from Soutphommasane, where we are encouraged to talk about this issue.  To turn covert racism into something that is noticed and discussed is the next step to eliminating it, rather than letting it run rampant in our society, and as future educators, this should be a large part of our role in educating the generations to come.  Racism will not disappear overnight, particularly since it has found such underhand ways to appear, however through bringing these to light and encouraging discussion and correction of such demonstrations of covert racism, it is hoped that we may be able to change these stereotypes and the racist way of thinking we see today, for the future.

Culture and Education

Culture plays a critical part in education systems, especially as they are the gateway in which all children learn the world around them. However, the education system teaches students a particular type of culture: in our case Down Under, the so-called typical Australian culture and identity.

Crikey.

Apple (1996:14) calls hegemonic culture. It is the cultural identity that is dominant within a society and pervades and overrides all other cultural identities. It isn’t coercive. But it’s on top of the school popularity ladder.

Students in Australia are taught an Anglo-American, highly Western, form of education that inclines them to behave and understand the world through certain Western ideologies and agendas. This is particularly evident in the ways in which Indigenous history and circumstances are sidelined, if not marginalised, insofar that it is not taught parallel to the rest of the curriculum.

In fact, I remember at school Indigenous history was not really priority, even when having to endure the cumbersome White Anglo centric approach to British colonisation.

Colonisation.

Not invasion.

I was educated in a curriculum that romanticised the British arrival.

Don’t blame me.

Students are taught to realign themselves with typical white Australian beliefs and ideology. Other cultures don’t necessary become secondary. They become homogenised and a general understanding of their cultural identity prevails.

This is evident in “What type of Asian Are You?” – a YouTube video that highlights how cultural identities can be homogenised through basic superficial understandings such as stereotypes.

For those that didn't watch.... The video simply outlines how Asian culture and identity has been homogenised by the American, but what I think it does also, is effectively highlight how White Anglo culture (in this case American) reflects upon itself as being the normative standard; the American looks upon his identity as one that is not crafted, but the principle identity in which others are differentiated from.

The Australian curriculum does the same through its Eurocentric values and beliefs. It has little regard to Indigenous culture and identity (Andersen and Walter, 2010:71). I argue that the Indigenous identity is always under scrutiny as the lens in which we identify them through is clouded with White Eurocentric prejudice.

Marginalisation of Indigenous history not only reinforces White dominance as their voice is further suppressed under Australian hegemonic culture; but also reinforces their secondary cultural status within popular national Australian identity.

Lastly, continual ineffective policy changes do not support the necessary role and importance that is required of Indigenous history in our educational context, and only continues to limit Indigenous identity and culture.

Andersen C. and Walter, M. (2010), “Indigenous Perspectives and Cultural Identity” in Hyde, M., Carpenter, L. and Conway, R. (eds.), Diversity and Inclusion in Australian Schools, Oxford: Australia and New Zealand

Apple, M.W. (1996), Cultural Politics and Education, Teachers College Press: New York

helpmefindparents, (May 23, 2013), What Kind of Asian are you? Accessed Monday 23/09/2013 at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWynJkN5HbQ>

Educational issue in Sydney relating to culture and identity

Sydney can be seen as Australia’s multicultural epicentre and most notably, western Sydney (2011 Census – Where are the most multicultural communities?, 2012). Western Sydney suburbs such as Auburn, Fairfield, Strathfield and Parramatta have some of the highest proportion of the population who come from non-English speaking backgrounds (2011 Census – Where are the most multicultural communities?, 2012). With figures such as these, we can assume the great diversity of cultures within a small segment of society. However, with a diverse range of cultures within a suburb of Sydney, it can create tensions and give rise to racism which can be illuminated and reflected through institutions such as high schools. Other than school institutions, racism is often identifiable within our society as media highlights racial slurs as a controversial issue.

Earlier this year, a 13 year old girl called Sydney Swans player, Adam Goodes, an “ape” during an AFL football game in Melbourne (Murno, 2013). The incident generated issues of concern towards racism and in particular, whether anti-racism policies within schools were effectively carried out (Murno, 2013). The need for NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell to order the NSW Education Department to reinforce anti-racism policies with support materials within schools to prevent similar events from occurring (Murno, 2013) suggests that the movement towards anti-racism is not highly enforced or recognised.

How some schools may inhibit similar racist incidents include raising awareness of multiculturalism through school events. For example, Lila Mularczky who is NSW Secondary Principals’ Council and is a principal of Merrylands High School stated that cultural diversity is taught through school events such as ‘Harmony Day’ (Murno, 2013). Although schools may acknowledge and teach multiculturalism through school events such as Harmony Day, it does not combat racism. Anti-racism policies that have been put forward by the Education Department for public schools include lessons against online abuse and derogatory language based on an individual’s race or ethnicity (Murno, 2013).

Such anti-racist policy strategies may work but, the wider issue stems from what racism actions students may encounter at home. Recently, in a Sydney private school, a 12 year old boy was abused with anti-Semitic taunts by a fellow pupil within the classroom (Murno, 2013). In agreement with the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief, Vic Alhadeff, he stated that there is a connection between what messages and actions are occurring within the home that is reflected back within schools (Murno, 2013). Furthermore, Mularckzy suggests that actions towards anti-racism is not merely a school issue but, involves the community.

Violence of physical abuse concerning race have been seen within schools. For example, in 2007, intruders walked into Cumberland High School in western Sydney, creating a mass violent brawl that has been caught on camera, with some of the students (Tadros and Patty, 2007). Some recordings of the fight were uploaded onto YouTube with tags such as “Cumberland High Fight – Wogz and Azns” (Tadros et al., 2007). From the title you can assume that the fight occurred between two separate ethnic or racial groups. Students stated that “there was a history of violence between the groups and there were now plans for another fight” (Tadros et al., 2007). The violent brawls were sparked by factors such as race whilst other witnesses believe that the two groups involved had students from different ethnic backgrounds (Tadros et al., 2007).


REFERENCES:

Glen 2012, 2011 Census – Where are the most multicultural communities?, Idblog, accessed 20 September, 2013, <http://blog.id.com.au/2012/australian-census-2011/2011-census-multicultural- communities/>.`

Murno, P 2013, 'Schools to recirculate anti-racism material', Sydney Morning Herald, 27 May, accessed 20 September 2013, <http://www.smh.com.au/national/schools-to-recirculate-antiracism- material-20130526-2n5dv.html#ixzz2fUZNvUvy>.

Tadros, E., and Patty, A 2007, 'Police fear outsiders started YouTube fights', Sydney Morning Herald, 7 March, accessed 20 September 2013, <http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/06/1173166697753.html?page=2>.

My experiences of culture and identity in education

The quote "...our immersion in particular cultures...shape how we and feel about the world, how we behave within it, and the range of choices we have to operate with"  (Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd, 2007, p.3) made me realise that much of my decisions I have made since the beginning of my high school years were shaped by the culture within my Catholic school. My personal experiences of culture and identity in relation to education mostly come from my high school days.I went to an all-girls Catholic high school in western Sydney where the ‘values’ that were established since 1889 are still being recognised with great importance. Some of the values included were excellence, justice, dignity, mercy and compassion, which were entrenched into our everyday schooling life. For example, my school always participated in any fundraisers that were available or created their own fundraisers to help the disadvantaged and marginalised people in our society. Everyone in our school community did their best to contribute to these fundraisers and we were praised of our efforts always whether it was a small or significant contribution. However, it also demonstrates the ‘competitive culture’ within my school as we would mostly interpret any event as a competition.

The competitiveness of my school was seen within the sports, co-curricular and academic domains. First place in whatever our school was involved in is what we aimed to achieve. In particular, our academic position and sports were fields that displayed our competitive side. When we did place first in a sport where we had versed other schools or first for debating, it was always high acknowledge at our school assemblies. Although not everyone in our school participated in the sport, debating or in either, we felt as a school community a sense of pride and achievement. Competition within my school always had its advantages, but also disadvantages. One of the main disadvantages that I noticed was the competition each student felt between each other. This was especially heightened during our Higher School Certificate (HSC) year. Throughout my preliminary HSC and HSC years many girls started to become more competitive in their studies and found themselves comparing with their friends other girls. I especially found myself doing this too. It was always a race to be ranked first in an assessment, class or subject. But, as HSC progressed the competitiveness between us girls lowered as we accepted those who were always ranked first did deserve it due to their hard work. I recognised that some recess or lunch breaks most of the grade found ourselves admiring the people who had the ‘brains’ but, time for themselves too. It was a shift from being competitive with each other to now admiring and trying to be similar to some of the girls who were considered ‘naturally smart’ and had great time to socialise.

Our school uniform and blazers which had the school symbol and motto changed us into a different person what we call a ‘Mercy Girl’. Our unofficial school motto that circulated around the school for many years is: “Once a Mercy Girl is always a Mercy Girl”. Although it sounds cheesy it did have significant meaning to us. Besides our school emblem, the school uniform was an everyday symbol representing us a Mercy Girl. It created a sense of unity that our school was very proud and encouraged us to achieve. It gave us a sense of belonging where we would attend school knowing that the girls from year 7 to year 12 and the teachers shared common beliefs and values. Supporting one another, whether we did or didn’t have a close relationship with the girl, was one of the many things my school community had in common. We were very communal and with that became very comfortable with one another.

Although the Mercy Girl sounds like a kind, warm-hearted, ‘good girl’ persona, it does have characteristics that you would not imagine being associated with it. From what I have heard in my high school years from other students from other high schools, they viewed my school as a very ‘posh’ school where every girl was considered as a ‘snob’. One time I had to catch the bus home which is the second type of public transport I would use to get home from school, I bumped into some of my primary friends and asked me “Wow, why does the princess have to use the bus?”. My school I attended definitely changed the way I was perceived. I did not mind catching the bus or any type of public transport but, friends who knew me and attended different schools recognised me as a different person. Although this does not bother me at all, I can definitely see how the high school I went to also affected my identity and I believe in a positive way.

To end with a quote concerning culture and identity by Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd (2007): "In short, culture shapes much of our lives and decision-making.".

REFERENCE:
Wadham, B, Pudsey, J and Boyd, R 2007, Culture and Education, Pearson Education Australia, Frenches Forest.

Racism and Essentialism

 Please follow this link to a very recent online media article.

As many people invested in various social networking and blogging circles should be aware,  the “Miss America” pageant has recently crowned its first winner of Indian descent. 24 year old Nina Davuluri represented New York in the competition, and states that she is proud to see that the companion has “embraced diversity”[1]. But As much excitement as this achievement in American multiculturalism has brought, there has, however, been some outcry by various Americans on social media cites due to racist comments about Nina, her ethnicity and whether she is truly “American”. Although Miss Davuluri has largely dismissed such comments personally, commenting that for every negative comment about her ethnicity there has been an influx of positive ones and stating that “I have to rise above that”[2], I believe that it is important to discuss the racist nature of these posts; and here I will argue how they are related to the concept of “essentialism”, as outlined by Anne Phillips[3].

To discuss the nature of these comments about Miss Davuluri’s ethnicity I shall separate the nature of the comments into two groups, those that stereotypically categorize her based upon the colour of her skin and those that state she is “not American enough”. Here are some examples of the prior category.

[4]

Not only can we see that these comments are forcing Nina into a hurtful stereotype based upon the colour of her skin, but they were also misrepresenting what ethnic group Nina belongs to; stating that she is of Arab origin, not Indian. Such statements can directly tie into what Phillips regards as the “first category”[5] of essentialism, wherein specific traits are assigned to large groups of people in general categories, otherwise known as stereotyping. As evidenced in the comments, such essentialized views of culture and race can often lead to discriminatory views and Phillips elaborates on this, stating that “The problem here is one of overgeneralisation, stereotyping, and a resulting inability even to ‘see’ characteristics that do not fit your preconceptions. In practice, this leads to discrimination: ‘I would never employ, marry, believe an X, because they are all unreliable.’”[6]. And when we look back to these comments we can see that two such over generalizations are occurring, the first being the nation that “all brown people are Arab”, explaining the misrepresentation of Miss Davuluri’s race, and the second being that “all Arabs are terrorists”, accounting for the various accusations of terrorism and “disrespect” towards 9/11.

An essentialized worldview can also be seen to account for comments such as these.

[7]

A perceivable reason for these comments can be seen as a stereotypical view of American “Whiteness”, wherein Anglo-Saxons are assumed to the dominant, traditional or most important ethnic group within the country. Such views are incredibly limited, not accounting for America’s history as a migrant country, its traditional ethnic heritage or its continued practice of multiculturalism, and it is easy to see how such views can develop into racist attitudes.

It is thus evident how we, as teachers, must strive to dismantle essentialist views which could potentially lead to racist attitudes amongst our students and our wider society. Australia, much like America, is a multicultural migrant nation, and who are we to dictate who is Australian, and who is not, based solely upon stereotypes and the colour of ones skin.

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[1] Nina Davuluri, quoted in “Americans let their racist side shine post Miss America announcement”, Daily Life, September 17, 2013, accessed September 22, 2013, http://www.dailylife.com.au/dl-people/dl-entertainment/americans-let-their-racist-side-shine-post-miss-america-announcement-20130917-2tvtj.html

[2] Nina Davuluri, quoted in “Americans let their racist side shine post Miss America announcement”, Daily Life, September 17, 2013, accessed September 22, 2013, http://www.dailylife.com.au/dl-people/dl-entertainment/americans-let-their-racist-side-shine-post-miss-america-announcement-20130917-2tvtj.html

[3] Phillips, A. Distinktion: Scandinavian journal of social theory, pg. 1

4 Rowe, R. “See The Top Thirty-Five Most Vile Racist Tweets From Right-Wingers About Newly Crowned Miss America!”, AATP, September 17, 2013, accessed September 22, 2013, http://aattp.org/see-top-thirty-five-vile-racist-tweets-right-wingers-newly-crowned-miss-america/

5 Phillips, A. Distinktion: Scandinavian journal of social theory, pg. 1

6 Phillips, A. Distinktion: Scandinavian journal of social theory, pg. 7

7 Rowe, R. “See The Top Thirty-Five Most Vile Racist Tweets From Right-Wingers About Newly Crowned Miss America!”, AATP, September 17, 2013, accessed September 22, 2013, http://aattp.org/see-top-thirty-five-vile-racist-tweets-right-wingers-newly-crowned-miss-america/

Racism and Immigration in Contemporary Australia

This video, taken from a segment of “Sky News Australia” that aired in May of this year, can be seen as clear evidence of a problem that exists in contemporary Australia. Racism. Pure racism directed at new, and old, immigrants; or at least those who do not identify as, or do not pass for, white. I could spend an elongated period of time describing why the beliefs held by Drew Fraser are racist, however I believe that a better understanding of them can be gained by simply watching the video itself, as he makes such beliefs painfully obvious (Such views are, in fact, so predominant within this video that you could most likely use them to construct a very successful game of “Racism Bingo”).  I shall, instead, focus the majority of my efforts in this post to describe how such problematic views can exist and why they are more common than the majority of us are led to believe.

Australia’s policies on immigration appear to be a very politically fuelled topic as of late and much debate exists for either side of the argument, however few people wish to solve such debates by reinstating what has been known as the White Australia Policy; which is what Mr. Fraser seems to promote, stating that we should “retain” our “ethnic homogeneity”[1] and whiteness. There are many obvious problems with such statements, like the fact that Australia is an immigrant country whose traditional ethnic origins are Aboriginal, however when one examines Fraser’s background the reasons for such beliefs become clear. Firstly it is important to note that Fraser himself is, in fact, not Australian born but an immigrant from America. It is thus easy to assume that his views of the nature of Australia are essentialised and spring from the stereotype of a “white Australia”. I have experienced this stereotype myself as, when I last visited Oregon in 2011, I asked my American-born cousins why they thought America was more ethnically diverse; to which they replied “Because you guys just have the Aboriginals and the white people don’t you?”.

Such negative views of immigration can also can also be seem to have been formed, in accordance with the notion that Australia’s ”ethnic origins”[2] are white, through the belief that ethnic diversity will “weaken” white culture. This is a view which can be seen in a variety of other sources and particularly in Christopher Caldwel’s discussion of Islamic immigration into Europe, who states that "When an insecure, malleable, relativistic culture meets a culture that is anchored, confident, and strengthened by common doctrines it is generally the former that changes to suit the latter."[3]. It is obvious that scholars, such as Caldwel and Fraser, feel threatened by such “strong” ethnic cultures, and it is easy to perceive how such attitudes could be the cause for racist statements about immigration.

Finally British journalist Helen Lewis once said, in regards to feminism, that "…the comments on any article about feminism justify feminism. That is Lewis’ Law”[4], and I believe that the same law can be applied to issues of racism in contemporary Australia. I have scrolled through all of the comments on this video and was shocked to find that the vast majority of them contain blatantly racist, and extremely conservative, slander that wholeheartedly agrees with what Fraser suggests. I have screenshotted some of the more appalling ones, obvious trigger warning for racism and foul language apply.

From this we can see why racism is such a big problem in our society today. Whilst I would argue that for every blatant racist in our society there are at least 100 people who support multiculturalism, the sheer amount of racial hatred and bigotry evidenced by these comments is far too much for us to permit.

 As future teachers it should be our job to educate students about this, to look that juggling elephant square in the eyes and tell it that we are not going to put up with its hate anymore. And I believe that the first step to doing this is to acknowledge how much our country desperately needs to end the ubiquity of such attitudes

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[1] “Australian Race Realist Debates Minorities in Parramatta "New White Australia Policy", 2013, video clip, accessed September 22, 2013, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQRyrW1fa2E

[2] “Australian Race Realist Debates Minorities in Parramatta "New White Australia Policy", 2013, video clip, accessed September 22, 2013, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQRyrW1fa2E

[3] Caldwel. cited in Dwight Garner, “A Turning Tide in Europe as Islams Take Ground”, The New York Times, July 29, 2009, accessed September 22, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/books/30garner.html?_r=2&hpw=&pagewanted=all&

[4] Helen Lewis, August 9, 2012 (12:05pm), “Lewis’ Law”, www.twitter.com, https://twitter.com/helenlewis/status/233594800908169217

Feminist

There is a public speech by Steve Wisbey, and the transcript is published by Strictly Speaking. You can access this speech transcript through the link: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/strictlyspeaking/contestants/STEVEWISBEY.htm. Moreover, there are a series of photograph by Memac Ogilvy and Mather Dubai revealing the widespread sexism. You can access the photograph though: http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2013/10/women-should-ads.

The aim of Steve’s speech is to appeal men to stand for women rights, whilst the photograph uses special idea of Google searches to demonstrate the stereotype view of women.

I think the most distinctive part of this speech is from a man’s point of view to stand for women’s rights. He expresses his feeling about women at the beginning of the speech. He treasures women’s production and the important role of women within a family by stating “ they make a house a home”.

After that, he provides an example about salaries between men and women to explain there is no equality between these two groups of people. In fact, there are a substantial number of inequality problems in our life. In addition, the impact of cultural globalization makes these problems even more outstanding. For instance, in ancient times, women couldn’t receive good education in China. People regard that women’s ability is far beyond men’s ability. And the elders’ traditionally believe that the innocence is the virtue for women. It consist with one of the photograph that indicating by the words “ women should stay at home”. Moreover, with the passing of time, there are still a few people in some poor countryside of China considering fostering girls is useless. They don’t care the fact that they already have many children and they may not be able to afford the future expenses, they still want boys. Some families even ignore the law, through scientific and technologic methods to know the gender of the baby. If the baby were a female, they’d rather do the elective surgery or other advanced methods to execute abortion than bring her to the world.  The result shows that in November 2007, the born ratio between men and women was 119.58: 100 which is the highest ratio all over the world at that time. It means there would be more and more bachelors in China and that may cause several serious social problems such as rapes. As is in Anne Phillips work, these are disturbing uses of culture.

Furthermore, he demonstrates the aim of this speech is not to highlight the disparity, but the change and the reclamation are what he wants. At the end, he appeals to everyone to think of how they would like the whole society to view their mum, wife, daughters and sisters, in addition to stating that the gender equality will not work without men.

Arnot and Dillabough (1999) concluded that the opportunity construction of schools must provide the demands of women who desire to gain experience within an economic sphere (p.169).  In the western developed countries, gender balance in education is much better than that in developing countries. For example, in commonwealth countries, such as Australia and England, there are lots of girls’ schools offered to female learners to attend. These schools teach girls similar knowledge as boys. Moreover, these schools also offer special skills to the students, helping them get fully prepared for their future. In the same way, schools should educate boys to recognize the equality between genders and tell them the importance for girls to live within the society. Their workplaces will become much more active and interesting because of the peculiar existence of women.

Reference:

Arnot, M., & Dillabough, J. (1999). Feminist politics and democratic values in education. Curriculum Inquiry, 29(2), 159-189. doi: 10.2307/3185890

Xinhua News. Retrieved October 28, 2013, from http://news.xinhuanet.com/newmedia/2007-11/14/content_7070554.htm

UN Women as series reveals widespread sexism. Retrieved October 28, 2013, from http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2013/10/women-should-ads