WHY ACCOMMODATE CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY?
“Don’t you think I have enough to do without becoming a negotiator as well?” “When in Rome, do as the Romans do. They wanted to come here; let them adopt our values!” “These questions only interest some ethnic leaders and parents who can’t accept seeing their children change. All the students want is to be like the others.” “There’s no discrimination in our school. The proof is that we treat everyone the same.” What decision maker, teacher, parent, or anyone familiar with the multi-ethnic school setting has not heard–or even sometimes shared–the opinions expressed above? Like all spontaneous perceptions based on immediate experience, they contain some truth, but they also contain a lot of preconceptions and simplifications that may on closer examination require some qualification. In fact, we have chosen to use them as an introduction precisely because they correspond, paradoxically, to the four types of arguments that justify the need to accommodate cultural and religious difference
