Check out student responses to this question!
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"We study about Africa in French class because if we only learned about France, our minds would be programmed into thinking French-speaking people and cultures only existed in France. Instead, I have learned that France is not the only place..." "Keep an open mind. What you learn just might surprise you." "I liked learning how people our age live
and that they don't live in mud huts." |
"Senegal is a cool place. It's not a boring
country. There are many things to do and places to visit. They also have an
interesting history of slavery on Goree Island." Senegal, Africa
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"Africa was greatly influenced by the
French. The French used to control many countries in Africa." "Learning about Africa is a lot of fun--teaching others about the US is fun too."
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Some more ideas...
To change our world, or our community, we first have to understand it. To understand it usually requires a change in our thinking. And for that to happen, we have to experience more of the world than we can know inside the comfortable confines of our lives. We have to cross the barriers that divide people and, indeed, that separate whole worlds form one another. Most of us are deeply programmed not to venture past those invisible but powerful signs that silently scream at us: No Trespassing! You shouldn’t be here! You don’t belong here! It’s not safe! You won’t be accepted! Stay where you are!
But I’ve found that those very powerful cultural messages are usually false, designed in part to keep us from seeing and experiencing people and parts of life that may change our perspective. Oh, it’s not a big conspiracy; rather it’s an ingrained cultural conditioning that keeps people in their own world and prevents them from experiencing another one. p. 23
Exerpts
from Jim Wallis, Faith Works,
2000
