Culture Learning Institute Report - University of Hawaiʻi

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CULTURE LEARNINGINSTITUTE

East-West Culture Learning Institute. East-West Center October 1978

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Cross-cultural, cross-national education:

ByVerner Bickley

Introduction

the greatest resource

A man's feet should be planted inhis country, but his eyes shouldsurvey the world.

GeorgeSantayana

Two concepts of developmentare examined here. One conceptrelates to the development of theindividual human being. The oth-er concept is concerned with thedevelopment of societies and isbased onthepremise that techno-logically "developing" societiesmay be assisted by 'developed"societies to reach a stage of self-sustaining growth. The secondconcept is now under attack be-cause it has been said to have ledto the establishment of depen-dency relationships between do-nor and recipient countries and ithas widened the gap betweenelites and the masses within the"less-developed" countries.A number of problems have

arisen when attempts have beenmade to transfer educationalmodels from "developed" to "de-veloping" nations. But whateverview of development is accepted,the importance of treating educa-tion as a "resource" which mustbe used by each society for itsown purposes cannot be over-stressed.

Verner Bickley has been the director ofThe East-West Culture Learning Institutesince 1971.

An attempt is made in this studyto describe a concept of culturethat emphasizes its dynamiccharacter in a mutually interact-ting world system of diversecultures. In an intercultural con-text of this kind it is argued thatcultural pluralism need not bedamaging to the developmentand maintenance of mutual un-

derstanding between peoples andsocieties. A distinction is madebetween "international educa-tion", meaning international edu-cational exchanges and pro-grams for Americans who wish tolearn more about other peoplesand cultures, "multicultural" (orintercultural) education, charac-terized as education for Ameri-cans about the cultural mosaic ofthe United States and educationfor international understanding",an expression used by UNESCO,which has applied itto coverall itswork in education, ranging fromeducational planning, to literacyprograms, to the AssociatedSchools Project. The latter proj-ect was at first concerned onlywith the role of the United Nationsand other international agenciesin dealing with world problems,foreign peoples and cultures andthe principles of human rightsand their application. Efforts arenow being made to expand thescope of the project so that it canaddress itself to the concept oflifelong education for individualsin societies in the world system.Many of the programs grouped

under the heads "internationaleducation," or "multicultural edu-cation" or 'education for interna-tional understanding" are con-ducted on a unilateral basis. Thereare few examples of cross-cultur-al, cross-national education proj-ects designed by multidiscipli-nary, multinational teams, usingmaterials and methods agreed bythese teams. Projects organizedalong these lines could providethe greatest benefit to individualsand their societies in the worldcommunity.

Concepts of developmentFrom 1774 to 178.0, Johann

Heinrich Pestalozzi managed afarm in Neu hot, Switzerland wherehe started a school for destitutechildren whose agricultural labormight be combined with elemen-tary education. It was at Neuhofthat Pestalozzi worked on a firstdraft of Leonard and Gertrude inwhich book and others he averredthat it was the educator's duty toassist "nature's march of develop-ment" so as to ensure natural,harmonious progress towards thedevelopment of the whole person-"the head, the hand and theheart."

The publication of Leonard andGertrude in 1781 coincided withthe Battle of Yorktown whichended the campaigns oftheAmer-ican Revolution, a struggle in

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Cross-cultural, cross-national.(From Page 1)

support of principles proclaimedby French and British philoso-phers asserting that human beingshave the right to happiness, liber-ty, equality and fraternity. ForPestalozzi, such rights meant thedevelopment and cultivation ofthe possibilities native to thehuman being-the growth of theindividual.With the emergence of newly

independent states after the Sec-ond World War, a concept ofdevelopment evolved which wasalso concerned with growth, butgrowth focussing on the processof modernizing societies ratherthan on the education of theperson. Several social scientificstudies attempted to identify thedifferences between "traditional"and "modern" societies by usingsociodemographic indices suchas occupational structure andurbanization. Differences wereperceived to exist between so-called "closed" societies (under-developed) and "open" societies(developed) and it was assumedthat all societies would benefit bybecoming more "open" Progresstowards becoming "open" waspossible because it was consid-ered that the processes of mod-ernization tended tofollowsimilarpatterns and that once a modernsystem had been established,sustained growth would takeplace.This concept of development is

now considered by a number ofinternational civil servants, politi-cians and scholars to have beeninadequate because the culturalorientations of the newly inde-pendent states were either mis-understood or ignored in theinitial development studies andbecause it led to the inequitabledistribution of material and socialgains within the new states and tothe establishment of economic,political and military dependencyrelationships between donor andrecipient countries. Recent studieshave placed emphasis on theneed to substitute balanced, dif-ferentiated growth for undifferen-tiated growth and on the autonomyof individuals and cultural groups.

Eisenstadt (1974), for example, iscritical of the "initial paradigm" of"modernization" which he con-siders to have been based on adichotomous conception of tradi-tional versus modern societies inwhich traditional societies couldbe expected to make step-by-stepprogress towards modernity' al-though, in contrast to modernsocieties, they were perceived tobe limited in their ability to masterthe problems of the environment.Proposing a new paradigm,

Eisenstadt stresses the historicaldimension of modernization, aprocess which does not worktoward a fixed end-result in eachsociety, but to which each societyresponds differently.Commenting on Eisenstadt's

description, lnayatullah (1975)notes that acceptance of the factthat modernization is a historical-ly and culturally specific processthrows serious doubt on the rele-vance of any foreign model ofdevelopment evolved in differentcultural and historical circum-stances. He believes that theburden of creating an appropriatemodel of development should beshouldered by each society whichshould examine what it mightlearn from its own history andculture.The difficulties created when

an attempt is made to transfer intoto a model developed in onenation to another nation werehighlighted at one of the educa-tion and human resource devel-opment panels sponsored by theSoutheast Asia Development Ad-visory Group of the Asia Society.At the panel meeting organized inJune, 1973, and held in Aspen,Colorado, Professor Rudolf Moosdiscussed the impact that under-standing and manipulating edu-cational environments could haveupon learning outcomes. Moosproposed a framework for assess-ing social environments that in-cluded ecological dimensions,behavioral settings, organization-al structure dimensions, personaland behavioral characteristics ofmilieu inhabitants, functional orreinforcement analysis of envi-ronments and social climate.The SEADAG report on the

discussions notes that several

challenges to the model wereadvanced by Asian panel mem-bers. Professor Koentjaraningratfrom Indonesia, for example,maintained that the frameworkwould have a limited usefulness inSoutheast Asia because it hadbeen developed within the con-text of American education andAmerican values such as individ-ualism, achievement, competitive-ness and motivation for upwardmobility were implicit in theframework.A concern with the culture-

laden aspects of classroom cli-mate research became a recur-rent theme throughout the panelmeeting. Factors which were seenas constants in Professor Moos'model were asserted to be vari-ables by several of the partici-pants and pertinent questionssuch as the following were raised:Do learning environments varyfrom culture to culture? Are dif-ferent aspects of an environmentmore salient in one culture than inanother?When the panel turned its atten-

tion to problems of method andmeasurement, two delegates fromThailand pointed out that differ-ences in cultural values couldaffect the validity of measurementscales. For example, in Thai cul-ture it is improper for a student toquestion something a teacher hassaid. Thus a sub-scale developedin the United States to measurestudent inquisitiveness might nothave any meaning in such acontext.

Cultural differences andsimilaritiesNotwithstanding Zbigniew

Brzezinski's assertion that the'technotronic' society is a societythat is shaped culturally, psycho-logically, socially and economi-cally by the impact of technologyand electronics, it is certain thathuman and social behavior isrooted deeply in cultures. Therealization that different societieshave different ways of life goesback many thousands of years.Aristotle, for example, disap-proved of the Spartans (Lacedae-monians) because, in his opinion,they brutalized their children by"laborious exercises which they

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think will make them coura-geous." According to the "Anal-ects," K'ung Fu Tse (Confucius)expressed a desire to go and live"among the nine wild tribes of theeast." To "some one" who askedhim how he could do such a thingsince they were "rude", he replied,with a certain lack of modesty,

If a superior man dwelt amongthem, what rudeness would therebe?"There is less concentration

today on the so-called strangecustoms of persons outside one'sown culture and an attempt toavoid over-generalizing aboutcultural differences. Neverthe-less, it would be idle to deny thatthese differences exist, that un-familiarity with them can createmisunderstanding and that mis-understanding can lead to suspi-cion and hatred among personsfrom different cultures and differ-ent nations and raise culturalbarriers between them.

Language barriers and culturalbarriersLanguage, both verbal and non-

verbal, can strengthen or weakenthese cultural barriers. It can beused intracultural Iy for mediatingpurposes between members of acultural group in a particular soci-ety and between members of dif-ferent cultural groups in the samesociety. It can also be used inter-culturally to mediate betweenmembers of one or more culturalgroups from one society and oneor more cultural groups fromanother society. But languagecan also be culturally divisivesince each language codes cer-tain domains of experience rele-vant to its particular culture butpuzzling to those unfamiliar withthat culture.

In some cultures, names areregarded as part of the personali-ty-a new-born infant is not re-garded as a complete child untilhe has received a name. Thename given to him is that of someancestor and the name is regardedas the soul of that ancestor. Inother cultures the name of a deadman is taboo and it must not beapplied to any person or propertythat bears it out of fear of death.Even merely alluding to the name

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The Culture Learning Institute presented a dance performance/demonstration entitled,"Introduction to the Performance Technique of Bharata Natyam" by Lakshmi Shanmuk-ham, daughter of the immortal Indian performer, Balasaraswati, on August 3, 1978. This

presentation was part of the Institute's Cultural Manifestations series, and was held in

conjunction with the international conference on dance held at the University of Hawaii,

August 1-7.

can be the same thing as assault-ing the person who bears it. It isthe firm belief of certain groups ofAmerican Indians that the deadawaken from their slumber whentheir names are mentioned by theliving. Hence the consternationfelt by Sealth, the Chief of theDuwamish and Suquamish, whenhe was granted (while still alive),the ultimate civic honor by havinga town (Seattle) named after him.The use of languageto describe

the concept of time differs fromculture to culture. Time subjectspersons from many cultures to aroutine; to pressures that urgethem to keep time, to save time, tobe on time and not to lose time.These pressures are not felt at allin some societies. In others, timehas a different value, as can bejudged from linguistic behavior.Japanese verbs, for example,indicate the formality of socialrelationships and they are onlypartially interested in matters oftime. In the Vietnamese verb sys-tem only context can indicate thetime and mode. Sioux Indianshave no words equivalent to "late"or "waiting." Indonesians have anexpression, jam karat,"-rubbertime", a phrase often heard whenan appointment is not kept, or a

meeting starts late, or ends early.In one form of Zen Buddhism,"time is an infinite pool in whichan act causes waves or ripplesthat eventually subside: a placewhere there is no past, no present,no future."

Many languages have evolved avariety of linguistic forms to de-termine the relative status of theparticipants in a conversation.Confusing, therefore, to personsattempting to learn the Javaneselanguage of Indonesia are thevariables determining the choiceof form which include qualitativecharacteristics of the speakers(e.g. age, sex, occupation, educa-tion), the social setting, the con-tent of the conversation, thehistory of social interaction be-tween the speakers and the pres-ence of a third person, as well asindividual idiosyncratic attitudes.

Translation problems provideevidence that it is difficult toexpress for one speech communi-ty experiences that are rooted inanother and it is important, there-fore, that a translation shouldnever be just a substitution ofword for word, but should involvethe translation of whole contexts.


Culture Learning Institute Report 3

Cross-cultural, cross-national.(From Page 3)

In Japanese poetry, particularlyhaiku, certain words are conven-tionally used to conjure up acertain mood in the mind of thereader. The association of thatword will differ to some extentfrom individual to individual butwithin certain limits it will say verymuch the same to any Japanesewho is accustomed to readingpoetry. The same word, however,may have entirely different con-notations for a Western reader. Agood example is the word autumnwhich for the Japanese repre-sents a rather melancholy season.Westerners" do appreciate the

fact that autumn can becomemelancholy but a first associationmight be fullness and ripeness-Season of mists and mellow

fruitfulness."

Changes in the Chinese char-acters used in Japanese can, asFrank Gibney (1975) has re-marked, shift meanings radically.For example, the word shinnyu,meaning "invasion," used by Asa-hi Shimbun editorialists for the

United States military interven-tion in Cambodia, had a muchharsher meaning than a similarword (also pronounced shinnyu,but meaning "advance into") whenused to describe the Soviet inva-sion of Czechoslovakia.

The Japanese language, ac-cording to the scholar and inter-preter Kunihiro Masao (1974), isprimarily interested in feeling outthe other person's mood, in orderthat a course of action might beworked out based on one's im-pressions. The Japanese rely lesson overt linguistic expressionthan on intuitive, non-verbal com-munication. Because of the pres-sure imposed by the 'vertical so-ciety' structure, opinions areexpressed as impersonally aspossible and usually to conformto the general consensus of thegroup. While Kunihiro probablyplaces too much emphasis on theuniqueness of the Japanese lan-guage, the Japanese "world view",as communicated in both verbaland non-verbal language, can bemisunderstood by persons fromother national cultures.

In an article on "The CulturalPremises of Japanese Diploma-

Mr. A. Maryanto, a participant in the Institute's 'English as an International Auxiliary

Language Educators Workshop," March 1-June 30, 1978, presents a plaque to CL!Director, Dr. Verner Bickley, on behalf of the town of Semarang, Indonesia.

cy" Mushakoji Kinhide (1967)suggests that there have beenfrequent misunderstandings be-tween Japan and the United Statesbecause of the differences be-tween erabi culture and awaseculture. The erabi view, typical ofthe United States and a number ofother countries, is that man canfreely manipulate his environmentfor his own purposes. The Japa-nese pattern awase, in contrast,rejects this idea and assumesinstead that man adjusts himselfto his environment. As an exam-ple of the mismatch whih occurswhen erabi and awase culturesconfront each other, Kinhide re-calls the last-minute negotiationswhich took place between theState Department and the Japa-nese envoys Nomura and Kuraseprior to the outbreak of the PacificWar."In an attempt to explain the respec-tive positions of the two negotiators,he (Ambassador Kurusu) resorted toan analogy in which he depicted theJapanese inviting the Americans upto the second-floor sitting-room.When the guests proved reluctant,they were told to come on up anyway,becau&e at least the view was betterup there. The Americans, however,

New publication from

Regional LanguageCentre

A new monograph has beenpublished by the$EAMEO Re-

gional Language Centre entitled,"Cultural Components of Read-ing," by G.C. Elias and D.E. In-

gram. The authors postulate amodel of reading that would high-light those issues particularlyrelevant to reading in a secondlanguage. The process of readingis examined in relation to the in-dividual's "model of the world"-a notion which is used to expli-cate the nature of bilingualismand its relevance to educationalattainment.The book is available for Singa-

pore $5.00 within SE Asia (US$3.50 outside SE Asia) from ThePublications Officer, SEAMEORegional Language Centre, 30Orange Grove Road, Singapore10.

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demanded to know what kindof viewthey could expect before they would

agree to ascend the staircase. As aresult, the negotiations collapsed,..American psychologists specializingin research on the negotiation pro-cess generally assume that the firststage of negotiation must be the

defining of the issue. In other words,

negotiation begins only when bothsides know what sort of 'view' toexpect. This is not necessarily so inawase culture.. . Japanese generallywant the other party 'to ascend thestaircase' before discussing the is-sues. They demand a willingness onboth sides to adjust (awaseru) pre-conceptions."

A view expressed by a "Western"commentator of these negotia-tions is that they failed becauseAmbassador Nomura misinter-preted the diplomatic politenessof Cordell Hull as a genuine offerto negotiate further.Awase culture obliges people

to adapt to their environment. Inreturn others are expected toadapt to them so that it is possiblein a two-sided conversation foreach person to amaeru to theother. Amaeru is translated by DoiTakeo (1962) as "...to dependand presume upon another's be-nevolence." The application ofamae in the wrong context andacross cultural boundaries cancause gross misunderstandingand consequently affect cross-national relationships. Amae usedin the wrong situation led tomisjudgment when Prime Minis-ter Suzuki Kantaro assumed thatthe Soviet Union would renew theNeutrality Pact in May, 1946. Inthis case the "world views" (andthe self-interests) of Japan andthe U.S.S.R. differed substantially.These examples of misunder-

standings between Japan andother nations are typical of othersthat have occurred throughouthistory between all nations andbetween different cultural groupswithin nations.

Cultural differences are notnecessarily incompatible withunderstanding for better relationsbetween individuals, societiesand nations. Nevertheless, in theworld "beyond interdependence"global life problems affect thedeterminants of both individualand national life. Thus, citizens of

all societies need to be givenopportunities to achieve betterunderstanding of other nationsand other cultures.

International educationEarly attempts made by various

individuals and nations to providesuch opportunities include Jo-hann Komenski's ("Comenius")proposal for an International Pan-

sophic College, the establish-ment of the Carnegie Endowmentfor International Peace and theAmerican School Peace Leagueand the indirect efforts of theLeague of Nations through theRecommendation of its Sub-Com-mittee for the Instruction of Chil-dren and Youth in the Existenceand Aims of the League of Na-tions. For various political andsocial reasons, however, prog-ress in the development of trulycross-cultural, cross-nationaleducation programs has beenslow.One factor hindering progress

has been the fact that the phrase'international education' has beenunderstood differently in differentcountries. In the United States, itcame to mean (1) educationalexchanges and (2) the provisionof opportunities for Americans tolearn more about other nationsand other cultures. In a markedlyethnocentric article W.B. Edger-ton (1976) associated internation-al education exclusively witheducational exchange and as-serted that such exchange pro-vided less-developed nations withthe chance to "expose their stu-dents to highly developed Wes-tern means of organizing thoughtand knowledge so that theseprocesses could be applied to thetasks of national development."For American social scientists, onthe other hand, "the merit of anexchange experience might bechiefly that the increased under-standing of another culture thatthe experience makes possibleprovides comparisons in aspectsof the American social structure."Several recent studies have

urged that international educa-tion should prepare people tocope with interdependence andhelp them to see the world asothers see it and not only through

their own eyes. This is generallythe conclusion of the "Becker-Anderson" report (An Examina-tion of Objectives, Needs, andPriorities in International Educa-tion in the United States Second-ary and Elementary Schools)published in the mid-sixties. Thereport was critical of overtly inclu-sive or vague definitions of inter-national education and of schoolcurricula which adopted a "strangelands and friendly peoples ap-proach" or which characterizedinternational education as infor-mation that is taught in specificcourses such as world history,international relations or foreignarea studies.

In formulating their own defini-tions of international education,the authors of the report listedthree "objects of internationalunderstanding"-(l) earth as aplanet, (2) mankind as one spe-cies of life (including the existenceof commonalities and the sourcesof human differences) and (3) theinternational system as one levelof human social organization,including the processes by whichnational societies interact andmajor international social prob-lems are dealt with. They thenconsidered the capacities whichshould be developed in individu-als-being knowledgeable aboutphenomena, being able to makeanalytic judgments in the form ofattitudes, possessing the ability tocritically observe current history,being able to analyze policy and,finally, the motivation to act.

Multicultural educationIn an address before the Na-

tional Education Association in1916, John Dewey introduced theconcept of cultural pluralism tothe United States.' The rise of theconcept since is well-documentedand no description of the prog-ress made is attempted here.Multicultural education, like in-ternational education, is largely adomestic matter and is concernedwith 'the cultural enrichment of allchildren and youth through pro-grams rooted to the preservationand extension of cultural diversityas a fact of life in American socie-ty, and it affirms that this cultural



Cross-cultural, cross-national...(From Page 5)

diversity is a valuable resourcethat should be preserved andextended.' This quotation is fromthe Multicultural Statement, NoOne Model American (1973), is-sued by the American Associa-tion of Colleges for Teacher Edu-cation. It is a useful nutshellstatement of the aims and goals ofmulticultural education.

Education for internationalunderstanding

In 1968, UNESCO carried out astudy of educational programsestablished in 82 countries toimprove international understand-ing. The study summarized thereplies received to a questionnairewhich examined curricula andsyllabuses, activities of an inter-national nature, the part playedby the UNESCO AssociatedSchools Project in Education forInternational Understanding andthe place assigned to this topic inteacher training. The study wasfollowed by a 'RecommendationConcerning Education for Inter-national Understanding as anIntegral Part of the Curriculumand Life of the School,' which wasadopted in 1968 by the Interna-tional Conference on Public Edu-cation and addressed to theministries of education ofUNESCO Members States.

In 1969 the UNESCO Institutefor Education in Hamburg pub-lished a survey of twelve seminarsheld between 1955 and 1966 whichwere concerned with educationfor international understanding.The seminars focussed on such

specific topics as the role of theteacher in developing a mutual

appreciation of "Eastern" and"Western" cultural values, inter-

group tensions, the relationshipbetween the school and the com-

munity, the use of audio-visualmedia and the Associated SchoolsProject.UNESCO has used the term

"Education for International Un-derstanding" to cover its work in

literacy, educational planning,methodology and evaluation, itseducational publishing programs

from which have emerged suchdocuments as the World Survey ofEducation and the Scientific andCultural History of Mankind andthe Associated Schools Projectreferred to above. This last proj-ect centered originally on twomain subject themes, the role ofthe United Nations and interna-tional agencies in dealing withworld problems and the princi-ples of human rights and theirapplication. A 1975 report notedthat 1,000 institutions in 63 Mem-ber States are now participating.The four current themes are theaims and work of the United Na-tions and its related agencies;human rights; other countries andcultures; man and the environ-ment.

International education andhuman rightsThe Becker-Anderson Report

contained some of the phraseol-ogy which was later included inthe 1974 UNESCO Recommenda-tion Concerning Education forInternational Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Educa-tion relating to Human Rights andFundamental Freedoms. How-ever, the Recommendation alsostressed the importance of edu-cation for the realization of hu-man rights and was a soundingboard for the insights and per-spectives of individuals in coun-tries other than the United States.The need to accommodate to

different sets of values in interna-tional relations is well illustratedby the negotiations that tookplace and the compromises thatwere made as the Recommenda-tion was drafted. The GeneralConference of UNESCO autho-rized the preparation ofaUNESCOrecommendation on educationfor international understanding,cooperation and peace in Novem-ber, 1972 provided thatthe recom-mendation covered 'education

relating to human rights and fun-damental freedoms'. In 1974, adraft recommendation was pre-sented to the UNESCO GeneralConference and it was antici-

pated that this draft would be

adopted without any objections.However, as the result of anamendment introduced by Peru,

the following provisions wereadded: 'Education should empha-size the true interests of peoplesand their incompatibility with theinterests of monopolistic groupsholding economic and politicalpower, which practice exploita-tion and foment war.' The draftwas put to the vote and adoptedby 76 to 5 (the United States,Australia, France, Canada, theFederal Republic of Germany).One of the principles of educa-

tional policy listed in the Recom-mendation was 'awareness of theglobal interdependence of na-tions.' This principle was amendedto read 'awareness of the increas-ing global and interdependencebetween peoples and nations'because of a protest by a LatinAmerican delegate who claimedthat the first version reflected onlythe desire of the developed coun-tries to continue the dependenceof the less developed countries onthem. In a paragraph on adulteducation, the phrase 'interactivelearning' ('all the parties concernedshould combine efforts to adaptand use the mass media of com-munication, self-education andinteractive learning') was the bestacceptable translation for theconcept of 'co-learn ing' proposedby a Latin American delegate.Cultural and national differ-

ences were emphasized as theInternational Covenants on Hu-man Rights were drafted. Thedrafting itself was delayed for anumber of years because of theinability of different governmentsto assume unambiguous interna-tional obligations to safeguardhuman rights. Thus the right toown property was not included inthe Covenant on Civil and Politi-cal Rights because a consensuscould not be reached on the scopeand definition of this right. TheSoviet Union would not agree toan international codification ofhuman rights that did not includeeconomic, social and cultural

rights, an idea that was opposedin the United States in the 1940'sand 1950's. The United States hasnot yet ratified a major interna-tional human rights treaty becauseof constitutional objections but itis promoting, through laws

adopted by the Congress, a foreign

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policy that places high priority onhuman rights and that reveals an

human rightsneeds of the international com-munity.

The need for cross-culturaleducationUnderstanding the factors which

shape the perspectives and atti-tudes of students is essential tothe development of cross-culturaleducation programs designed toprepare persons from one cultureto interact effectively in othercultures. Social scientists havepointed out that one of the factsabout a culture is that it cansocialize its members into believ-ing that their culture has the onecorrect set of behaviors for allsituations which a person is likelyto encounter. When people reactnegatively to others with an ab-sence of direct contact or factualmaterial about the others, thenthese people are said to behaveaccording to prejudice.Prejudices may be formed at

school during the period of mid-dle childhood. Hicks and Beyer(1970) found that in Americanschools stereotypic conceptsassociated with Africa (natives,tribes, cannibals) and of the Sovi-et Union (enemy, dictatorship)increased from the seventh to thetwelfth grade. Language differ-ences also lead to the formationof prejudiced feelings. Torney(1969) reported these responsesgiven by an eight-year-old boy:

0. How are people in othercountries different fromyou?

A. Most talk Mexican.Q. Anything else?A. Most talk different from

us.0. Do you think it would be

better if everyone in theworld were American?

A. Yes, because I want themto talk normal, the waywe do.

Biased information, or simply,lack of information in curriculum

S materials nourish prejudices.Goldstein (1972), in a review ofAmerican elementary socialstudies texts and curriculumguides, observed that many of

these publications stressed thatall people on the earth had thesame basic needs, were interde-pendent and needed to cooper-ate, yet when individual countrieswere discussed it was clear thatan implicit, and sometimes expli-cit, standard of industrializationand democracy was used. Indis-criminate westernizati.on was thestandard Goldstein used to mea-sure the underdeveloped coun-tries. Hanvey (1975). in a mono-graph published bytheCenter forWar/Peace Studies, refers to amajor assumption shared byAmerican schools and televisionprogramming-a belief in thenaturalness and goodness of botheconomic growth and technolog-ical innovation. Goldstein pointedout that when personal freedom isdiscussed certain texts suggestthat there are no personal liber-ties in the Soviet Union whilethere are virtually no limitationsor conflict over civil liberties in theUnited States. Maynes (1974)noted that the assumption ap-pears to be that Americans, mere-ly by being Americans, haveearned their affluence and theindividual human rights they en-joy whereas other countries mighthave accomplished similar ends ifthey had worked harder and beenmore inventive.

Urgent need for reformThe foregoing references to the

information of prejudices aboutpersons from other nations andcultures have been drawn fromrecent research conducted in theUnited States and focussed onAmerican students. If such preju-dices are formed at the elementary and high school levels inother countries (and researchseems to indicate that this is thecase), then there is an urgentneed to reform educational pro-grams so that they will be able tomeet the challenge of the globalsociety. Cross-cultural, cross-national education requires co-operation across national andcultural boundaries. This educa-tion is likely to be more effective ifits programs are shaped by edu-cationists from more than onenational culture since education-ists from one culture, no matter

ANTHROPOLOGISTJOINS STAFF

Dr. Geoffrey White, a culturalanthropologist, has joined thepermanent staff of the Institute asa research associate in the projectteam working in the area of "Cul-ture and the Interactive Process."

Dr. White, a specialist in cultureand personality, has conductedresearch in Papua New Guinea,the Solomon Islands, and theCaribbean.He was the 1977 recipient of the

StirlirYg Award for his essay on theuniversal implications of his find-ings on personality attributes inthe Solomons.

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how experienced, will inevitablybe bound by the values and per-spectives of that culture.Several cooperative cross-cul-

tural, cross-national educationprojects have been launched re-cently. One project, based inGeneva, in cooperation with anumber of universities indifferentparts of the world, is establishinga transnational studies center topromote education free from na-tional biases.3 Another, "The In-ternational Mankind Project" ofthe Council for the Study of Man-kind undertaken bytheUniversityof California at Los Angeles incooperation with educationistsfrom Israel, Thailand, Sweden,India and Ghana is preparingelementary school teaching ma-terials focussing on mankindperspectives.4



Cross-cultural, cross-national...(From Page 7)

A phenomenon of today's worldis the increased mobility of itscitizens. The march of mankindincludes diplomats, students,international civil servants, em-ployees of multinational corpora-tions, donor-country 'partners,'educationists and the children ofall these. The situation of the'Third Culture Child' has beenwell described by Professor RuthUseem.5

The International Baccalaure-ate, a common secondary schoolsyllabus leading to an interna-tional recognized university en-trance qualification, has beenlaunched to cater for multination-al schools and Third CultureChildren mobile student popula-tions. Established in 1963 inGeneva through the InternationalSchools Syndicate, the projectbrought together representativesfrom several countries to work outexamination syllabuses and pre-pare trial examinations. In 1967an International BaccalaureateOffice was established and giventhe task of administering theproject with a structure and rulesagreed on at a large-scale confer-ence held in February, 1967, withdelegates from Belgium, Bulgaria,Cameroon, France, Federal Re-public of Germany, India, Poland,Sweden, Switzerland, the UnitedKingdom and the United States.The first full International Bacca-laureate examinations were takenin May, 1970, and these examina-tions are now being set for stu-dents from multinational schoolsin Denmark, France, Germany,Iran, Lebanon, Nigeria, Switzer-land, United Kingdom, Uruguay,USA, Canada and Singapore.

The curriculum of the "lB.",aims to provide a balanced edu-cation leading to "international-mindedness" evolving from pro-grams created by teachers fromdifferent national systems.

The Culture Learning Instituteof the East-West Center has de-signed a number of multinational,multicultural projects relatingspecifically to cross-cultural,cross-national education curricu-

lum development. Three of thesewill be described briefly here.

In each of the years 1975, 1976and 1977, a three-week programfor 'culture teachers' was orga-nized by the Institute. The partici-pants in the program were host-national 'culture teachers' attachedto U.S. Department of DefenseSchools and also InternationalSchools in the Philippines, Singa-pore, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesiaand the United States. The pro-grams had four main objectives,all of them part of the generalobjective of improving culturelearning/teaching in the schools:(a) further understanding of whatculture is and how itfunctions, (b)an opportunity to reflect on theparticipant's own culture and toshare these ideas with cultureteachers from a number of differ-ent cultures, (c) participation inanalyzing the elements that gointo a successful culture learninglesson, and (d) the preparation ofspecific materials that cultureteachers might find helpful intheir future teaching.Starting in November, 1975,

social and behavioral scientistsfrom the United States and fromcountries in Asia and the Pacificarea have been brought togetherto share ideas about cross-cultur-al research relevant to (a) thedesign of research projects in-volving empirical data that aregathered in two or more cultures,(b) the teaching of topics in thebehavioral sciences based oncross-cultural findings, (c) theintegration and dissemination offindings in cross-cultural find-ings, (d) the integration and dis-semination of findings in cross-cultural research, and (e) ethicalconcerns in cross-cultural re-search.6

In 1975 and 1976 a joint Japa-nese-American team met in aworkshop format at CLI and atDurham, North Carolina, respec-tively, to determine ways andmeans by which studies at theelementary and secondary schoollevels about the United States inJapan and about Japan in theUnited States might be improvedand design curricula from whichclassroom materials could beprepared which would help to

enhance cross-cultural under-standing. The program for thefirst workshop focussed on fivemajor topics-The Context forInternational Education, Thoughtand Behavior, Individual andGroup Identity and Values, Hu-manistic Concerns in IndustrialSocieties and United States/Ja-pan Relations. By the end of thisfirst workshop, the United States'team had produced a first draft ofmaterials based on a thematicframework. Dealing with aspectsof universals in human experi-ence and reflecting the realities inmodern Japanese culture, thethemes were Modern (Contempo-rary) Life, Decision-making, Per-ception and Expression, Identity,and Values. Guidelines were de-signed round each theme, andmaterials were prepared for useby elementary and high schoolteachers in designing syllabi andlesson plans. The Japanese teamat the workshop wrote workingpapers on the original five topicsand produced a series of back-ground documents expandingthese themes. These they sharedwith the United States' team. Theyalso developed a research matrixto serve as the basis for field workon the United States' mainland.

At the second workshop held in1976 in North Carolina, the UnitedStates' team selected a thematicorganization for its resourcesmanual. The manual draws onaspects of everyday life commonto students in the United States.While the specific material relatesto Japan, the theme and themethod can be applied to theUnited States or to the study ofanother country or culture. As aresult of their discussions at thefirst workshop, the Japanese teamselected the following themes:Characteristics of the American

People, Sociocultural Aspects of

Society, Problems ConfrontingSociety, and United States-JapanRelations. They also organized ascheme to focus on five actiondimensions in a culture: the indi-vidual, the group, the community,the nation, and international so-ciety.Following extensive testing of

the materials, the Japanese Re-source Manual was published by

.

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the Ministry of Education in Ja-pan and the American Resource

S Manual is being distributed bytheAsia Society, New York.'

World councilReferring to the urgent need to

reform educational programs sothat they will be able to meet thechallenge of the global society,George W. Bonham (1975) ques-tioned:

'Somewhere in this country theremust surely be a group sufficientlyfar-sighted to see how learning andreadjustment to newworld circum-stances mesh in profound andsignifi-cant ways."

Establishment of such a groupcould take the form of a Councilwhose membership could bedrawn from different nations or,perhaps, regions. Its tasks mightinclude the launching of coopera-tive programs of research relatedto cross-cultural, cross-nationaleducation. Such programs couldbe carried out by multinational,

.

multicultural, multidisciplinaryteams. Following the model of theJapan-U.S. Joint Project on Edu-cation and Mutual Understand-ing, the Council could developcurriculum guidelines, teachingmanuals and audio-visual materi-als for use in both formal and non-formal educational programs. Itcould function as a clearing housefor the dissemination of informa-tion about cross-cultural, cross-national educational projectsunderway in different countriesand as the nerve-center of a net-work of cooperating institutionsconcerned with cross-culturaleducation. It could also, perhaps,provide an advisory service forinternational organizations suchas UNESCO and the World Bankwhich need to provide cross-cultural, cross-national educa-tion for their own personnel andfor multinational corporationsand government and private brief-ing and training centers."

It is the thesis of this paper that

S cross-cultural, cross-nationaleducation, potentially the great-est resource, has a vital role toplay in assisting individuals tolearn more about their own and

other cultures and about theshared values of societies in theworld system. Cross-cultural,cross-national education canhelp, in the words of Pestalozzi, todevelop the whole person-thehead, the hand and the heart."

If the world is engaged in astruggle for survival, then ignor-ance is not bliss.

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FOOTNOTES

1 Daniel Lerner in The Passing of TraditionalSo-

ciety: Modernizing the Middle East (Glencoe,Illinois, 1968) listed urbanization, literacy, ex-

tension of mass media, higher per capita in-

come and political participation (voting) as a

sequence of institutional developments leadingto 'take-off'.

2See Dewey, John, Nationalizing Education,Addresses and Proceedings of the National

Education Association 54 (1916): 84-5.3The project is called Universities and the Questfor Peace.4See Goodlad, J., et. al. Toward a MankindSchool:An Adventure in Humanistic Education,McGraw Hill, New York, 1974.

e.g. in "Third Culture Factors in Educational

Change," Cultural Challenges to Education,Lexington Books, D.C. Heath and Co., Lexing-ton, 1973.

6p, detailed account of this program is given in an

article "Towards Cross-Cultural Research:A

Variety of Perspectives," published in Topics in

Culture Learning, Vol. 4, East-West Center Cul-

ture Learning Institute, Honolulu, 1976.Further information about this project is givenin Bickley, Verner C., Bullard, Betty M.andLeestma, Robert, "Education for International

Understanding," International andCultural

Exchange, Vol. XII, No. 4, Spring, 1977.8 Examples of such training and briefing centersare the Deutsche Stiftung Fur Internationale

Entwicklung (The German Foundation for In-ternational Development) in Bad Honnef, Ger-

many, the Center for International Briefing inFarnham, England, and the Briefing Center ofthe Canadian International DevelopmentAgency.

REFERENCES

Bonham, G.W., "An American Agenda: II" in

Change: the Magazine of Higher Education,Vol. 7, No. 2, March, 1975, pp. 13-15.

Doi, Takeo, "Amae: A Key Concept for Under-standing Japanese Personality Structure." inSmith, R.T. and Beardsley, R.K,, eds., Japa-nese Culture, (Chicago, 1962).

Edgerton, W.B., "Who Participates in Education-al Exchange?" Annals of theAmerican Acad-emyof Political andSocial Science, Vol. 424,Philadelphia. 1976.

Eisenstadt, S.N., The Changing Vision of Mod-ernization and Development, Paper presentedat a conference on "Communication andChange in Developing Areas: Ten YearsAfter," East-West Center Communication In-stitute, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1974, pp. 33-34.

Gibney, Frank, "The Japanese and Their Lan-

guage," in Encounter, Vol. XLIV, No. 3, March,1975.

Goldstein, R.J "Elementary School Curriculumand Political Socialization." in Massialas, Pol-itical Youth, Traditional Schools (Prentice-Hall, 1972).

Harvey, R., "An Attainable Global Perspective,"Center for War/Peace Studies, New York,1975.

Hicks, E., and Beyer, BK., "Images of Africa,"Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 39, 1970.

lnayatullah, Transfer of a Western Develop-ment Model to Asia andItsImpact, Asian Cen-ter for Development Administration, Kuala

Lumpur, Malaysia. August, 1975, p 46.Kinhide, Mushakoji, "The Cultural Premises of

Japanese Diplomacy," originally published in

Japanese in 1967. Reprinted in The SilentPower, TheSimul Press, Tokyo, Japan, 1976.

Kunihiro, Masao, "The Japanese Language and

Intercultural Communication," originally pub-lished in Japanese in 1967. Reprinted in The

Silent Power, TheSimul Press, Tokyo, Japan,1976.

Maynes, C.W. "The Hungry NewWorld and the

American Ethic," Washington Post, Decem-ber, 1974.

SEADAG Report, Education and Human Re-source Development Panel, June 28-30,1973,New York, 1973, pp. 2-3, 6.

Torney, J.V., "Research on the Development ofInternational Orientations During Childhoodand Adolescence," Paper presented at theAmerican Political Science Association, Sep-tember, 1969.

THE EAST-WEST CENTER isa national educational institu-tion established in Hawaii bythe U.S. Congress in 1960 topromote better relations andunderstanding between theUnited States and the nationsof Asia and the Pacific throughcooperative study, 'training,and research. Each year morethan 1,500 men and womenfrom many nations and cultureswork together in problem-ori-ented institutes or on "open"grants as they seek solutions toproblems of mutual conse-quence to East and West. Foreach Center participant fromthe United States, two partici-pants are sought from the Asianand Pacific area. The U.S. Con-gress provides basic fundingfor programs and a variety ofawards, and the Center is ad-ministered by a public, nonprofitcorporation with an interna-tional Board of Governors.

1777 East-West Road,Honolulu, Hawaii, 96848


CLI joins Pacific region education groupIn March, 1977, eight educa-

tional research and developmentagencies from five Pacific perim-eter nations formed a cooperativeworking group known as the Pa-cific Circle Consortium. Repre-sentatives from these agenciesare interested in testing the as-sumptions that countries circlingand in the Pacific would benefitfrom some regionally-based edu-cational research and develop-ment activities. The following in-stitutions are currently involved indiscussions about what kinds ofactivities will be pursued bilater-ally and multi-laterally: NationalInstitute for Educational Research(Japan); National Institute forEducation (USA); Department ofEducation (New Zealand); Cur-riculum Research and Develop-ment Group at the University ofHawaii (USA); Northwest Region-al Educational Laboratory (USA);Curriculum Development Centre(Australia); East-West CultureLearning Institute (USA).The concept of the Pacific Cir-

cle Consortium has emerged fromdiscussions among members con-cerning the need to foster con-

structive relationships and under-standings between and amongthe peoples and nations of thePacific and Pacific perimeter. Theinterests of this group are to pro-vide, for lower secondary schooluse, teaching-learning resourceswhich explore Pacific region cul-tural interactions. Two specifickinds of cultural interactions havebeen identified to be of mutual in-terest to members. They are thestudy of cultural interactions be-tween and among peoples andnations of the Pacific and Pacificperimeter that occur (1) throughtrade, and (2) through the use ofthe ocean.

Currently, members are dis-cussing the kinds of working rela-tionships and projects which willbest insure mutual developmentof learning resources and, at thesame time, meet the conditionsand constraints found within theiragency and national involve-ments.Even though the Pacific Circle

concept is still in a "trial" stage,several interesting activities areunderway. Members are exchang-ing existing educational resources

related to Pacific cultural interac-tion. They are discussing currentagency-based projects in whichother members might become in-volved. They are establishing via-ble ways to communicate witheach other, including the use ofPEACESAT, the Pacific regioncommunications satellite, and thecreation of a Pacific Circle News-letter.The members appointed Dr.

Malcolm Skilbeck, Director of theCurriculum Development Center,Canberra, Australia, as the Co-ordinator of the Pacific CircleConsortium's affairs. Dr. Skil-beck, in close association with theOrganization of Economic Co-operation and Development/Cen-ter for Educational Research andInnovation Secretariat, has hadan overall coordinating role sincethe Pacific Circle Consortium'sofficial formation in Honolulu inMarch, 1977.

In future issues of the CultureLearning Institute Report, CLIwill keep you informed about thePacific Circle Consortium's ac-tivities. 0

Fellows and VisitingResearch Associates

Spring 1978

Fellows

Dr. Carl DaeufferDirector, Pacific Islands ProgramUniversity of HawaiiUSA

(Transcultural/Transnational Education)

Dr. Marvin DurhamDirector, Office of International Education

Oregon State UniversityUSA


Dr. Brian FosterProfessor, AnthropologyState University of New YorkUSA(Culture and the Interactive Process)

Dr. Michael Hamnettformer EWCLIGraduate Degree StudentUSA(Methods for Analyzing Cultural

Misunderstanding)

Dr. William McCormackDirector, International Education

DepartmentUniversity of California, BerkeleyUSA

(Methods for Analyzing Cultural

Misunderstanding)

Dr. Paul PedersenInternational Student Advisor's Office

University of MinnesotaUSA(Transcultural/Transnational Education)

Dr. Amarjit SinghAssociate Professor, Education Foundations

DepartmentMemorial University of NewfoundlandCanada(Transcultural/Trananational Education)

Dr. Bob SuzukiProfessor, School of Education

University of MassachusettsUSA

(Transcultural/TransnatiOflal Education)

Visiting Research Associates

Dr. Eric Casino

Deputy DirectorMindanao Executive Development Academy

Philippines(Methods for Analyzing Cultural

Misunderstanding(

Mr. Reuel Denneyformer Professor, American Studies

University of HawaiiUSA


Dr. Philip JacobProfessor, Political Science

University of HawaiiUSA

(Transnational Organizations and Networks)

Mr. James Mackformer Exhibitions OfficerWaikato Art MuseumHamilton, NewZealand

(Crisis in Cultural Values)

Dr P. J Philipformer Director

Institute of ReligionHonolulu, HawaiiUSA


Dr. Sripada RajuConsultant

Michigan State UniversityUSA

(Transnational Organizations and Networks)

Prof. E. Sarachchandraformer Ambassador to FranceSri Lanka


Mrs. Mayuri SukwiwatDirectorCentral Institute for the English LanguageBangkok, Thailand

(Culture and the Interactive Process)

Mr. Richard Viaformer Research Advisor

English Language Education Council

Tokyo, Japan(Crisis in Cultural Values)

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Institute publishE

S Twonewbooksinthegrowing list ofEWCLI Monographs/Books havebeen published by the Institute andare available from the UniversityPress of Hawaii.

"Adaptation and Symbolism: Es-

says on Social Organization' edited

by former research associate KarenWatson-Gegeo and S. Lee Seaton,addresses issues of adaptation andsymbolism under conditions of

rapid social change. The price isUS$10.00.

's new books on social org

guage." The author, Albert Marck-wardt, was an eminent figure in thefield of English language teachingand a senior fellow at the Institute in1974-75. The price is US$3.50.

Both books are available from theUniversity Press of Hawaii, 2840 Ko-lowalu Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822,USA. Do not send orders to the Cul-ture Learning Institute.

EWCLI Monographs published ear-lier are still available from UPH. Theyare:

The other volume is entitled, "The -"Studies in Kabuki: its Acting,place of literature in the teaching of Music, and Historical Context" byEnglish as a second or foreign Ian- Brandon, Maim, and Shively, $6.50.

inization, language

-"Culture Learning: Concepts,Applications, and Research" editedby Richard Brislin, $10.

-"Children of the Dispossessed"by Barry Nurcombe, $7.75.

-"English in Three Acts" by Rich-ard A. Via, $5.95

-"Counseling Across Cultures"edited by Pedersen, Lonner, and

Draguns, $7.50.

Maim, Nurcombe, Via, and Pe-dersen have been senior fellows orvisiting research associates in theinstitute. Dr. Brislin is a EWCLI re-search associate.

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A Workshop on the topic, "Research in Interpersonal Interaction in Pluralistic Societies" was heldat the Institute August 2-30, 1978. Thisconference examined 1) the nature and effect of social interaction, social structure, and boundary formation in contemporary societiescomposed of diverse cultural, linguistic, ethnic, socio-economic andnationalgroups; 2) the problems which arise in interpersonal inter-action that affect the communication, acculturarion, cooperation, or integration in individuals from different groups; and 3) the possiblemeans for the facilitation of smooth cross-cultural, cross-national interaction. The conference was coordinated by Research AssociateDavid Wu. Resource persons included Dr. Jerry Boucher, Dr. Brian Foster, and Dr. George De Vos. STANDING Left to right: Ms. DeborahMcGlauflin (U.S.A.), Dr. Emerenciana V. Arcellana (Philippines), Ms. Kathleen Fisher (U.S.A.), Dr. Wall MohammadRahimi (Afghanistan),Ms. Marie C. Lawson (Australia), Ms. Pismai Wibulswasdi (Thailand), Dr. Sachiko Hatanaka (Japan), Mr. Jonathan Okamura (U.S.A.),Dr. David Wu, Dr. Leland Vee(U.S.A.), Dr. MohammadA. Rauf (Pakistan), Dr. Kwang-Kyu Lee (Korea), Dr. Ma. Lourdes Bautista (Philip-pines), Dr. Brian Foster. KNEELING: Dr. Geoffry White, Dr. Sung-Hsing Wang (Hong Kong), Mr. Chee-Beng Tan (Malaysia), Mr. MutsuxHsu (Republic of China), Dr. Shibani Kinkar Chaube (India).


I

BJORN JERNUDD,NOTED LINGUIST,JOINS INSTITUTEThe Institute has appointed Dr.

Björn Jernudd to the researchstaff of the Transnational/Trans-cultural Education project. Dr.Jernudd is an expert in the field of"language planning." He wasformerly Senior Lecturer in Lin-guistics at Monash University,Project Specialist in the CairoField Office of the Ford Founda-tion and Visiting Lecturer at theInstitute of African and AsianStudies, Khartoum. He has pub-lished extensively in the area oflinguistics and language plan-ning. His work on pidginizationand creolization of AustralianEnglish is highly respected, notonly for its innovative approachbut also for the rigor of the meth-odology. Dr. Jernudd will serve as

of

I

wINPIjF

During July and August, 1978, a group of seven educators from Micronesia participated inthe "Language and Culture Teachers Workshop," an activity in the Transcultural/Trans-national Education Project. The educators, working with Institute staff and participants,explored ways of instilling students with an understanding of and a sense of pride in theircultural heritage, as well as preparing them for self-sufficiency. Thegroup worked closelywith CLI staff Kenzi Mad and Gregory Trifonovitch, and with Professor Bernard Ostrowski.The participants, left to right: Ms. Veronica Kloulechad, Mr. Sanders Renguul, Ms. Ferista

Ngirailild, Mr. Browny Salvador, Ms. Echerii Mengeolt; missing: Mr. Obichang Orak,Mr. Masa-aki Emesiochl.

adviser on language issues to theCulture Learning Institute PacificCircle unified project team, andwill work with research associateLarry Smith and others in the"English as an International and

Intranational Language" activity.Jernudd was a Senior Special-

ist with the EWC's Institute for Ad-vanced Projects in 1968-69, and aConsultant to the EWCLI in 1976-77.

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Documents

Culture Learning Institute Report - University of Hawaiʻi