Why is it Important to Celebrate Cultural Differences?

As our country becomes more and more culturally diverse, so do our schools. This gives educators the unique opportunity to help students learn how to celebrate the diversity in which they live. So, it is critically important that we take advantage of that opportunity for many reasons, such as:

Awareness

By learning about another culture, language, religion, etc., students learn that people can be very different, and that diversity is a good thing. Sometimes children, especially younger children, believe that if you don’t agree with a friend on some opinion, then you can’t be friends. For example, I like football and you like basketball, so we can’t be friends. (I teach first grade. I hear it all the time.) This opens the door to discuss with students that differences should never be a determiner of whether or not we are friends with someone. You can start at a very young age helping students learn to embrace and enjoy differences among their friends and classmates.

Appreciation

In celebrating these differences, students can learn to appreciate the unique and amazing kinds of traditions, arts, foods, etc. from other places that they may not otherwise have been exposed to. It can open a door of interests that the student might not have encountered if continually sheltered inside their own culture.

Overcome Stereotypes

Celebrating differences in cultures can also bring new understanding, which can help enlighten other students in a way that will overthrow existing stereotypes. As our children grow up in an environment that celebrates other cultures and ways of life, they learn that every person is a unique individual, regardless of where they are from. This helps us as a society overcome stereotypes.

Acceptance

Celebrating the different cultures within your school can also make those students and families feel more accepted and valued within the school community. It can make them feel special, while at the same time making them feel like a part of the larger group.

Preparing Kids for Life

It is important for us, as educators, to remember that we are preparing our students for life, not just for the next grade or year. The truth is, students will most likely experience a great deal of diversity in the workplace as adults. Do we prepare them by ignoring cultural differences and sweeping them under the rug? No. We prepare them by teaching them to accept and appreciate those differences.

Why are the Arts a Good Vehicle for Celebrating Differences?

The arts, in general, are great for students because the arts engage many different areas of the brain. Teaching the arts in schools can also increase student concentration and motivation. When you introduce multiculturalism to the arts instruction in your school, those efforts are enhanced by the rich traditions in visual and performing arts that can be found in other cultures. Whether we are talking about visual art, music, dance, or theater, students enjoy these kinds of activities. It gives them a break from the norm, while at the same time providing valuable enrichment.

Ways to Celebrate Cultural Differences through the Arts

Celebrate the English Language Learners

Begin by letting them share their experiences. Highlight what they know. For example, students that speak Spanish can help the class learn some of the Spanish language. Let them share what they know about their cultures and how they celebrate holidays. This is a great way to help the other students see those English language learners as leaders in their classroom and helps to highlight their strengths.

Create a Calendar

For each month, create a calendar with special events and holidays. Include in these calendars celebrations from other cultures, particularly those that are represented in your class and school. This serves as a reminder to you to discuss these events. This also lets your students from other cultures know that their celebrations and traditions are just as important as everyone else’s.

Incorporate Performance

Enjoying performances is a great way to celebrate another culture. You might have a dance group come to perform a cultural dance. You can also perform readers theaters of traditional stories from other cultures. Music and singing can also be used to display someone’s bilingual ability and highlight the differences in these areas.

Folktales

Many of our folktales are versions of stories that originated in other cultures. I like to select a folktale and read the different versions of the same story and discuss the differences. For example, there are many different versions of the Cinderella story from many different cultures. It is a great way to demonstrate the differences and also the similarities of the cultures.

Art Activities

Students seem to really enjoy art activities, regardless of age. By integrating art with unique technique and style from another culture, you are able to open your students’ eyes to a different kind of beauty found in another art form that they hadn’t been exposed to before.

Cultural Fair

Hosting a cultural fair at your school is a fantastic way to bring all of these activities together in a meaningful way. Use this evening to enjoy culinary treats from another country, while you highlight all the work the students have done in learning and studying about multiculturalism. Depending on your demographics, you may want to have different areas where different cultures are featured, celebrating multiple cultures in one evening.

Another way to do it, particularly if you have a large population from one culture, is to have a night that features just that culture. Include artwork, music, dance, food, etc. This is a great way to bring students and their families together in a way that celebrates their differences, while also giving them time to realize just how much they have in common.

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Developing Empathy

Empathy is an important skill that allows a person to understand the feelings of others. The arts are a form of emotional expression, and they develop the skill of empathy in students by two means: viewing art and creating art.

Viewing Art

The arts create emotional responses in its viewers. Viewing a work of art, listening to a song, or watching a performance can all produce an emotional response. When students watch a performance, the emotion that has been produced on the stage can be felt. After listening to a song, the emotion felt by the performer(s) radiates through the room. Through this, students gain an understanding of what others are feeling or going through.

Creating Art

It also important to note that when students create art (regardless of the medium) they are developing empathy. From painting a picture to singing a song, students use their emotions to enhance the performance. To do this successfully and to make the biggest impact on viewers, students must be “in touch” with what they are feeling.

Why is empathy so important?

Skills like patience, listening, and cooperation develop through empathy. Once students have developed empathy, they are better equipped to collaborate with others using those skills. Because they are now sensitive to the emotions of others, students are more likely to exude patience and listen to those around them more effectively. Empathy allows students to have more successful cooperation with others as they can put themselves in the other person’s shoes, so to speak. Empathy teaches students to be open and fosters their ability to work well with others as they now identify with what their classmates may be feeling.

New Perspectives

The arts open up such a huge world of possibilities! The arts allow students to view different perspectives on topics new and old. One of the greatest benefits of the arts is that its interpretation is left up to the viewer. The way that one student interprets the art will be different from how another student interprets the art.

When students share their different perspectives with one another, their minds are now open to all those possibilities! Students can take this newly found perspective and expand upon it. Not only does this enhance student thinking, it increases student motivation. Because students are not limited in the arts (as they are encouraged to think outside the box and be creative), students will be motivated to share their own perspectives in new and exciting ways.

Communicating through Different Means

Through different mediums of art, students learn to communicate in different ways. Students of all shapes, sizes, nationalities, learning abilities and styles, and more can benefit from communicating through the arts. Students can develop their communication skills through art by selecting a medium to express their viewpoints. Students could paint a picture to communicate, write a song or poem, or create a monologue to act out. All of these help students communicate though different means.

Even those students who are shy, timid, or suffer from a learning disability can successfully communicate with others using the arts. The arts also give students an opportunity to share their voices, be it through visual art or performance art. It is quite exciting to watch students, who would otherwise not participate, flourish when communicating through different art mediums.

Adaptability

Change is inevitable, and students must be knowledgeable in how to handle those changes and self-regulate. Adaptability is defined as one’s ability to adapt to new or unknown situations. It is extremely important that students develop adaptability as they are constantly being faced with changing environments. These skills are equally as beneficial to students as they enter adulthood and begin their careers.

The actual creation of art promotes adaptability. Sometimes, you will need to adapt when creating a song, painting a picture, taking photographs, etc. You may even need to improvise, meaning make use of something unexpected or unplanned, to adapt your art. From this, students develop the ability to adapt to different situations or problems that they may encounter throughout school and life by using the arts. These adaptability skills better prepare students to make adjustments quickly and as necessary in their everyday lives.

Because the arts are a means of emotional expression, students can use the creation of art as a coping mechanism for whatever they are facing. The arts are an outlet for stress relief for so many, and students can use this skill to their advantage to better handle any situation or problem that they may be facing. If students are going through a difficult situation, they may choose to convert those emotions into some type of art. Students could paint a picture, write a song, perform, etc. By using the arts in this manner, students can cope with the situation, manage their emotions, and effectively problem-solve.

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