Social acceptance as a key to successful integration

Abstract

There has been much misunderstanding of Arab educational values. In order to provide a basis for communication and living together in a multicultural society, Secombe (1999) has referred to Kloskowska’s concept of cultural valency. This involves not just knowledge of a language and culture, but positive attitude or intimate feelings of shared connections that individuals could develop to their own and any other culture they encountered in the course of their lives. Such a concept could be useful in developing mainstream education so that people brought up in the majority cultural system could be educated about the different cultures that they would almost invariably interact with in the course of their lives. An inevitable comparison was often made between Arab educational values and the taken for granted meanings and practices associated with education among the mainstream Anglo-Celtic majority in Australia. Previous research study (Maadad, 2007) showed that comments on educational values were much influenced by the public reaction to the event of 11 September, 2001. They incorporated comments on the beliefs, stereotypes, and conflicts represented in the media. The wide range of educational issues reflected the contemporary situation of Arab families living in South Australia. Their assessment of the importance of education revealed the genuine and strong feelings that have surfaced among Arab-Australians concerning the perceived damage done to Islamic and Arab peoples because of their beliefs.