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[TD="class: msgtxt"] What do you do when friends tease a foreign worker?
by Ng Jing Yng
04:45 AM Nov 08, 2011
SINGAPORE - When you and your classmates pass a foreign worker on the street and they start teasing the worker disrespectfully, should you say something about it?
This is one example of a real-life case study that teachers can use to provoke conversations among students to teach them to be more culturally aware, said Dr Michael Goh from the University of Minnesota, who will speak at the Character and Citizenship Education Conference beginning today.
Organised by the Education Ministry and the National Institute of Education (NIE), the conference will centre on cultivating students to become active and concerned citizens.
In an interview with Today yesterday, the associate professor in organisational leadership, policy and development said that, instead of simply telling students not to speak in such a manner, getting them to think about what is wrong in such situations will make them active learners.
"It is not just to give students a sense of what is right and wrong but how they can manage the situations," added Dr Goh, who will be speaking on the topic of cultural intelligence at the conference.
Getting students to be more globally engaged and multi-cultural is important, given that "the world is connected and Singapore is a global player", said Dr Goh. This echoed a point made by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech in August, at which he spoke about how foreign students in the local university cohort would prepare Singaporean students for the global workplace.
In schools, Dr Goh said a great deal is already being done in providing knowledge on cultural differences through civics and moral and national education components, but there could be more depth by imparting skills to students on how to react in actual scenarios, using real-life incidents raised by students themselves.
Dr Goh, who is Singaporean and previously lectured at the NIE, said that by teaching these skills in schools, students would be holistically developed where they are able to form relationships and interact with peers of different backgrounds.
Noting current tension in Singapore society due to the entry of foreigners, Dr Goh added that stereotypes and frustrations would perpetuate if students do not understand how to manage differences across cultures.
He acknowledged that it was a challenge to kickstart difficult conversations on differences when they are not being openly discussed in the society, and said that the tone has to be first set by the Government taking the lead in these discussions, so that institutions like schools can follow suit.
What takes place at home is also crucial to a student's cultural awareness. "If parents themselves are making fun of foreign workers or complaining or being judgemental, then the children easily pick these up. Things have to happen at many levels," said Dr Goh.[/TD]
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