(Name-mce) ListServ MCE in Korea

[Bill Howe]

 SNU to create multicultural education center





 Seoul National University plans to build a research center for
multicultural education by the end of this year.



The center will study the educational problems faced by mixed-race children
and develop special curriculum for them, said Cho Young-dal, dean of the
College of Education at the university.



All College of Education students are expected to join the effort and four
different divisions will be created by a board of directors and an advisory
board, Cho said.



The plans were first initiated last year and the university has already
conducted joint research with the Education Ministry and investigated the
current challenges facing families with multicultural backgrounds.



According to Pearl S. Buck International, there are about 35,000 mixed-race
individuals living in Korea. About 15 percent of all newborns in Korea are
from mixed marriages and the figure is likely to double by 2020, officials
at the foundation said.



The new research center will also evaluate the current education programs
designed for those children and translate Korean textbooks and learning
materials into a variety of different languages, such as English, Chinese,
Russian, Vietnamese and Thai.



An online counseling center to assist mixed-blood family members will be
created and volunteer programs to help the families will also be considered,
university officials said.



"It is quite evident that our society is becoming a multicultural society
today and education of children with multicultural backgrounds is rising as
an important issue more than ever before because different cultures are
being combined," Cho said. "This center will conduct the needed research
using an organized system."



Many college students welcomed SNU`s decision.



Kang Seok-joo, a freshman at SNU, said her cousin who married a foreigner
last year plans to move to Canada to have her baby because there are not
many policies designed for mixed-blood children in Korea.



"I think it`s late in the coming," she said. "I hope that the center
develops into a facility that will have a lot of influence on child
educational policies."



Some raised questions as to whether the center will be operated
successfully.



"Korea has a long history of "one race, one nation," and I`m not sure if a
university facility will be able to create such a difference," said Kwon
Jin-ju, a sophomore at Ehwa Woman`s University.



With 800,000 foreigners part of Korea`s population of 48 million, Korea`s
long history is becoming a burden because national pride in the homogeneity
of the country is creating discrimination and prejudice against those who
are not pure Korean. According to government data, the number of foreigners
is expected to reach 1.5 million in the next four years, which is partly why
the government made several reforms to give more rights to mixed-blood
Koreans.



The term "mixed-blood people" was changed to "people of international
marriages" for future government documents and the government decided to
grant legal status to those who have mixed-race backgrounds and their
families and to change school textbooks that describe Korea as a "nation
unified by one bloodline" to "a nation of a multiethnic and multicultural
society."



(sharon at heraldm.com)





By Cho Ji-hyun and Kae Yun-ah









2007.01.25


















-- 
Bill Howe
http://www.billhowe.org

Multicultural Educators to China Summer 2007 Trip -
http://www.billhowe.org/china2007.htm

Past-President
National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME)
http://www.nameorg.org