The case for Intercultural Education

By Antonio Perotti "For the harmonious development of a personal identity, the individual needs to be both structured by his or her social, territorial, ethnic, linguistic and cultural origins and capable of transcending what is known as ethnocentrism (withdrawal into ethno-cultural identity). "The relationship (with others) is the crux of intercultural activity; this is why intercultural education is centred on the systems of relations of children and young people. The purpose of this education is not to learn about different cultures. "It is by starting out from children's own experiences and the mixed composition of classes (national, ethnic and social differences, differences of language, age and sex etc) that teachers can best prepare the young person for life in a society where differences are often expressed in terms of inequality and discrimination." Art and music: a school for identity and universality "Art (the Arts), the ideal medium for communication and participation, is a reliable means of access to the discovery, recognition and appreciation of different cultures. Music appears as to be an ideal means of promoting a reception attitude to other cultures, and intellectual exchanges." "Musical culture at European and world level facilitates the identification process. For over a thousand years, music, an integral part of the culture of mankind, has made a considerable contribution to the cultural unity and the diversity of peoples in Europe. ... Moreover, on account of its universal language (it is not subject to linguistic boundaries) music is an efficient tool for interculturalism. Council for Europe Press 1994