Copyright © 2007, Editura ASE - BONUM

Intercultural education can be approached from the perspective of conflicts as a
solution to intolerance, racism, xenophobia and it can be a particularly useful tool in
controlling them. By educating the population in a cross cultural spirit, trends of despise,
unacceptance of different view points, values, behaviours, traditions etc. are avoided. Seen
from this perspective, interculturalism is a tool to promote equal opportunity, the observance
of human rights, to develop democracy.
Racism – ideology that promotes the superiority of a race towards another, struggling to
preserve and keep uncontaminated the race considered to be privileged. This is a form of
wrong justification of segregations and differentiations.
2. Another approach of interculturalism is from the perspective of the relation
between the dominant culture and the subcultures of the different groups that living
together in the same area and observes and transmits the basic values of the dominant culture.
Cultural relativism considers all cultures to be equally valid and introduces no criticism
whatsoever, respecting in the same way all cultural behaviors; all situations are accepted as
cultural values, even if they attempt on fundamental rights. It promotes a respectful racism
which prevents evolution in the name of tradition. It brings a static vision of cultures and their
history and denies any possibility of change.
In this approach we must start from the assessment according to which culture is a
dynamic phenomenon that is constantly rebuilt based on the different experiences of the
generations. A given culture has numerous subcultures, the culture being the result of the
dynamic integration between the dominant culture and the range of subcultures. Subculture
can represent groups such as:
• Ethnic minorities;
• Groups with religious creeds other than those of the majority;
• People with special needs (such as the disabled)
• People having a certain job;
• People working within the same institution;
• Members of a generation, etc.
The ethnic group of reference is considered to be the one that supplies the individual
the support for socialisation, the psychological support for personal development within a
social context with a strong society controlled by a dominant ethnic group. Thus, the school
should adapt to reality, should conceive learning experiences, the educational curricula should
be thus structured as to interpret the events from the ethnic perspectives of an ethnic group.
The notion of ethnic group has multiple meanings:
It describes how the people are defined, differentiated, organised and labelled as members
of a group by their common physical or cultural traits;
Landmark for a system of creeds, values, practices shared by the people perceiving
themselves as belonging to a group;
The feeling of attachment that a person or a group feels towards a common cultural
heritage.
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