The improvement of language skills and intercultural understanding among Australians for the purpose of increasing their country's ability to develop a strong export economy is explored. It is argued that a formidable language teaching system in education is vital to the strengthening of Australia's international reputation in world markets.…

Research in the areas of friendship selection, interracial acceptance, interracial contact, and interracial dating was reviewed to determine the nature of intergroup relations for White, Hispanic, and Black adolescents. The findings indicate that Black, White and Hispanic adolescents prefer same-race friends. When cross-race friendships occur in…

American educational institutions have used the literature of a few Anglo men to represent American literature. The problem of this one-sided presentation was alleviated somewhat during the 1960s when publishers began to offer some works of ethnic writers, especially for elementary school children. This was the result of influence by the civil…

The rhetoric teacher's aim is to make the native English speaker cognizant of the thought processes he or she has been taught to use by the culture. This approach does not work with foreign students because perception, imputation of meaning, and construction of reality appear to be bound by the logic and grammar of the language we speak. The…

American expatriates, particularly those in business who are assigned abroad, often learn very little of the language and culture of the countries to which they are assigned. Some explanations of this phenomenon are offered based on observation of two U.S. communities in Tripoli, Libya, and Medan (Sumatra) from 1965 to 1973. First, the needs for…

This paper examines the comparable educational histories of the "Hispanos" of a mountainous area of New Mexico and the peoples of southern Appalachia. Presbyterian missionaries entered both regions following the Civil War and soon placed mountain people in the category of "exceptional populations," along with freed slaves,…

The extensive television coverage of the Opening Ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games was a vital lead-in for a television network as it sought to generate audience interest over the course of the games. This coverage models an unfolding international news event in its presentation style and is analyzed from that perspective in a content…

The findings of a survey on freshmen attitudes in four areas: interest in cultural diversity, racism, ethnocentrism, and cross-cultural beliefs and values, are presented. The 81-item survey was given to 234 students at Virginia Commonwealth University. Results indicated: most freshmen express an interest in learning more about other cultures, and…

The new pluralism in a democratic society requires that cultural differences be regarded as differences rather than deficits; however, this view of cultural pluralism does not mean that the notion of cultural differences should be carried to such an extreme as to become separatist in orientation. Cultural differences represent various societies'…

Americans doing business with West Africans are limited in their ability to communicate successfully in that part of the world because of language, stereotyping, and ethnocentrism. Americans must become accustomed to British patterns of speech and writing. Stereotypes of Africa, its people, and its cultures perpetuated by the media keep Americans…

This paper suggests how an anthropological perspective can help educators rethink important educational issues, including multicultural education, leadership training, and educational processes. Opening sections of the paper define anthropology (the study of human beings and their ways of life), and identify anthropological concepts and principles…

Researchers working in foreign settings are often influenced by a number of factors which are quite different from factors which influence research activities in one's own culture. The hypothesis is that these cultural differences can influence research in a positive or negative way depending, at least partially, on the degree of sensitivity shown…

This paper rejects the view that the need to modify the status and role of minorities in educational research and development is of high priority. The need to modify this status is viewed as symptomatic of the problem of differential treatment of persons of color by American educational institutions. The problem which the American Educational…

Despite many heroic victories, the Civil Rights Movement has failed to significantly transform the underlying structure of White domination [according to this didactic essay on multiculturalism and racism]. It can also be said that the multicultural movement, which was an extension of the Civil Rights Movement, has failed to transform the deep…

In the mid-1980s, a community college in a parochial Appalachian town became a state university. The new university was created at the behest of a powerful state politician despite the opposition of the faculty, administration, and board of the community college. A college of education was created and an interdisciplinary general education program…