Teaching about Respect and Tolerance with Presentations on Cultural Values

Abstract

Teaching students from diverse backgrounds requires more than sufficient. Very often battles occur among students due to not understanding each other’s values. This study presents experience of a teacher who teaches students from diverse religious, ethnic, and cultural groups. As disrespect, misunderstanding and intolerance were common in the class, it was difficult for the teacher to advance respect among the students for diversity. In order to encourage the students to embrace diversity, the teacher made them introduce their cultures through presentations in the classroom. Although at the beginning the students continued to tease each other by making fun of each other’s cultural values, after some time it was discovered that they were entering the classroom with a real respect and tolerance for diversity.