Racism in Contemporary Educational Reality Parents’ Aspects

Abstract

Greek society and all societies in the countries of Europe alike are multiculturalist. The adoption and implementation of an intercultural approach towards “differentiated cultural groupsâ€, will give an opportunity to their members to actively participate in “social living†preserving at the same time their own cultural identity within a wider context of socially acceptable values and practices. The prevalent aspect of the dominant cultural group considering “foreign†anything different, ignoring at times the obvious (i.e. that Muslims of Thrace and Gypsies are also Greek citizens). Even the acceptance of certain different social groups should follow their “assimilation†in the way of life of the dominant social group. Thus, prejudice, stereotypes and xenophobia have become an integral part of daily life. In the 21^st century Europe shows contradictory and ideological signs as to the serious impact national identity have on daily life and on the future of a nation-country, in general. The awakening of nationalism in the Middle East throws discredit upon the subsidence of the same phenomenon in the West. As the political and economic developments do not seem to be very optimistic in many countries of the European Union, the phenomenon of reemergence of extreme right national political parties and nationalist organizations appears to take place in every country in question, including Greece. The first “victims†of such an ideological turn are the residents (immigrants and refugees) and citizens of the European Union whose presence and activity throw discredit upon the image of a culturally, nationally and racially compact and unified, as far as ideological orientation is concerned, national state. Within such a xenophobic and foreign oriented environment, it is likely for obsolete ideological constructions as well as new created ones to be used as cognitive, sentimental and behaviorist “tools†in order to behave, realize and experience “othersâ€. Therefore, a pedagogical intervention is deemed essential and intentional in an effort to provide elementary analytical information concerning the social, psychological and educational mechanisms which produce, preserve and contribute to the perpetuation of racism. The present paper is focused on the phenomenon of racism in contemporary educational reality while an effort is made to point out the levels of racism as far as national identity, racial origin, sex and language differentiation are concerned.