European Primary and Secondary School Education by Yannis Baslis

The fading away of the cold war has brought an era of ideological conflict to an end. But it has not brought an end to history. One set of hatreds gives way to the next. As the era of ideological conflict subsides, humanity enters a possibly more dangerous era of ethnic and racial animosity. It seems that ethnic and racial conflict will now replace the conflict of ideologies as the explosive issue of our times, unless a common purpose binds the people together. The EU can offer this common purpose to all Europeans. The ERASMUS and LINGUA programmes served this purpose. They offered 200,000 young people the opportunity to acquire the experience of Educational systems other than their own. "These ambassadors of New Europe" have not only broadened their personal horizons, but also have contributed, through passing on their experience, to the enrichment of society in which they live. But LINGUA and ERASMUS, that have been implemented so far, referred only to higher education students and teachers, who are very few in relation to the tens of millions of Europeans. They can develop a mutual understanding among this tiny minority, but they cannot erase the prejudices or the negative attitudes towards the language, culture, religion etc. of other nations, especially small ones like the Greek or the Portuguese. We need a multicultural education to help all students develop more positive attitudes towards different linguistic, cultural, racial, ethnic and religious groups.

Children enter Kindergarten with many misconceptions, negative beliefs and stereotypes about people. If the school, from Kindergarten to Secondary, does not help students to develop more positive attitudes about various groups, they will become even more negative as they grow older. The prejudice-reduction strategies should be consistent, ongoing and an integral part of the school curriculum.

The students should recognise that the best way to keep their identities is to understand not only what differentiates the peoples of Europe, but also their common characteristics. Behind the Greek, Italian, French or English culture is the Bible, Plato, Sophocles, Shakespeare and Beethoven. Europe must become "E Pluribus Unum", "a multicultural common culture".

We will reach this paradox through Primary and Secondary Education.

The EU officially recognises the equality of the language and culture of each member state. But the majority of Europeans actually believe that the languages, cultures and social values of the more powerful nations are superior to those of the smaller nations. This belief that the languages and cultures of the stronger nations are a) different, b) superior, puts the people of the smaller nations in an inferior position and makes the people of the strongest nations constantly antagonize as to whose culture and language is the best. The situation is similar to that between social groups in a country where some speak the standard language and others speak regional and social dialects.

The people of the smaller countries feel this 'aggression' and suffer. To change this situation we should educate the European Society towards an understanding, appreciation and tolerance of the different languages and the really minor differences among the "different European cultures". Education towards tolerance could be carried out in schools, but only by teachers free from language and cultural prejudices.

For this

a. We must first educate the teachers,

b. Develop a multicultural curriculum for compulsory education.

Athens 1-6-94

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European Primary and Secondary School Education by Yannis Baslis