The Importance Of Multicultural Society

As the world continues to become more globalized, the emergence of multicultural societies and multiethnic countries has made the need for EIU more urgent as a means to facilitate intercultural understanding (Hanvey, 1976; Tye, 1999; Merryfield, 1998). The rationale behind an EIU as a subject of study grew out of the experience of the two world wars and was incorporated into the UNESCO Foundation Charter. The UNESCO Charter declares, “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed” (www.unesco.org). In the charter, also, it states the only way to establish world peace and human prosperity is to overcome ignorance and distrust through the teaching of mutual understanding and respect,

Reflecting the world trend, an EIU was transformed from a normative to a more instrumentalist concept to promote globalization and multicultural society. More specifically, it is grounded by the four pillars of learning: learning to be, learning to know, learning to do and learning to live together. As outlined in the Jacques 's Learning the Treasure (1996), Jacques ' view on EIU emphasizes and promotes the dimension of ‘learning to live together’ by incorporating the five themes of EIU: globalization and social justice; cultural diversity, respect and solidarity; substantiality; human rights; and peace and equity

The significance of ME has been highlighted in Korean society as the number of foreign workers increase and the rate of intermarriages rise. In other words, South Korea has experienced a shift from a traditional monolithic society to a new multiethnic society in recent years. As for a field of education, the development of multicultural societies has become a principal concern particularly within the education area (Sleeter, 1996). Related educators and professionals researched how to build schools where faculty, administrators, and students thrive in a co-creative learning environment by promoting an appreciation of human differences and pluralism, which is the appropriate ways of opposing intolerance and bridging the diversity of cultures. Sleeter and Grant (1998) described ME as an approach that “links race, language, culture, gender, handicap, and, to a lesser extent, social class working toward making the entire school celebrate human diversity and equal opportunity"