다문화사회의 시민교육 연구

A Study of Civic Educationn for Multi-cultural Society :Case of America and Russia

Korean traditional society orienting toward homogeneous population has been changing into a multi-cultural society because of an increase in people from other countries in this era of globalism. Therefore, diverse races and cultures have come to coexist in Korean society as interactions between them are increasing. Cultural conflicts are inevitable due to the inflow of foreign people who have different languages and life styles. So, promoting mutual understanding, based on deep considerations of their languages and culture, is a urgent task for our society to deal with. It presents a necessity for Korean society to make a firm base for its cultural identity and for education to accept plural cultures and values away from specific cultures or values. However, as our multi-cultural education is still in the early stages of development, this study aims to examine the history, developmental process and current conditions of multi-cultural education in the USA and Russia, and present further directions for multi-cultural education in our country based on the results of the case study. This study suggests that our education should introduce the purposes and ideals of educational institutes in education programs developed by World Cultural School (School No. 604) of Gelenograd, Russia, which was presented as one of case studies ). In the future, it is suggested that Korean multi-cultural public education should change in quality and principles of education. We should develop proper curriculum, and use a social behavior approach for change of principles, focusing on real considerations of our society. Therefore, as basic directions of multi-cultural education that can enhance mutual exchanges of various cultural groups and relations between them, we should develop educational goals that lead students to understand diversity and features of cultures and have respects for other cultures, and correct prejudice or distorted recognition on them.