Issues in Multicultural Britain - Essay Example

Multicultural Britain Introduction What is multiculturalism? Multiculturalism is a community or which is culturally diverse using policies that promote diversity. Descriptively, multiculturalism is the fact of cultural diversity made up demographically at a place such as businesses, schools, cities, or societies. Prescriptively, the term is used as an ideology and policy in which cultural diversity is promoted. It is the phenomenon of several cultural groups living within a society. This is mostly in accordance to the immigrant communities. Multiculturalism can tend to enrich a society with different cultures and traditions; however critiques believe that multiculturalism promotes negative aspects such as riots, terrorism, ethnic division, clash of ideologies, etc (Pathak, 2008, p. 72). Britain has been a multicultural society for years but now it tends to have been failing. What are the impeding changes of curriculum? The national curriculum was introduced in 1988 in the United Kingdom. It was the nationwide curriculum for all the primary and secondary state schools of Britain. The curriculum has been recently revised in order to catch up with the world’s best education systems. The government has designed curriculum changes which would help the children to compete and catch up with the best. This is also referred to as the revolution in education by the Prime Minister and he believes this is vital for the economic prosperity of the country. Moreover, the new national curriculum is written by purely experts in the field, and thus it does not depend on the personal prejudices of the ministers. As the globalization is rapidly spreading all across the world, including Britain, it has become even difficult to conserve our identities. The international borders have been nullified due to the globalization and in order to ensure that the people of every religion, race, ethnic group, and culture are living in peace, the governments have introduced some reforms and legislations (Aydin, 2013, p. 58). The national curriculum is also a part of the educational reforms which covers the long history of multiculturalism and diversity in England. The curriculum includes the historic development of multiculturalism and ethnic diversity, and the progress of multiculturalism education (Pitcher, 2009, p. 24). What it means to be British? Since Britain is shaped by a wide variety of cultures and religions, the blood alone is not the factor anymore which makes someone British. However, what it means to be British is related to the fundamental values of Britain which are present in every person living there. These values include the people’s right to say what they feel, fair play and fairness, politeness, tolerance of other people, attitudes towards political institutions, and to stand out with the education and ideas (King, 2005, p. 1). Freedom Freedom in the British is not just a right but it is a fundamental value. The British understand the value of freedom; personal, property, speech, etc. They believe that their value for freedom is what makes them British and no matter how culturally diverse the Britain society is, every citizen understands the aspect of freedom which makes them one of the most prosperous and happy nations of the world. British believe that no matter where in the world they are, there is a certain boundary of freedom that they follow and take with them (Meien, 2007, p. 28). The sense of freedom is a strong factor which makes them unique and more appropriately, British. Equal in your environment Equality in the British society came with the multiculturalism. The British society is a diverse society because of which equality is supported and valued. The laws and customs promote the equal status of every citizen regardless of the culture, religion, or race. British value the importance of equality as every citizen is equal with visible or non-visible differences (King, 2005, p. 1). The law and customs promote the value of equality in the overall environment and at workplace. Equality means that citizens will be paid and treated equally on account of their capabilities and qualifications; not discriminated on racial or cultural basis. This value of equality is also a major factor which promotes multiculturalism and makes the citizens of Britain truly British. Multicultural society The British society has a long history of being multicultural. There is diversity in the society which means difference. People from different cultures and races are part of the society and they are treated as merely individuals. This places a positive value of diversity in the society and workforce. Throughout history there have been examples of how individuals at work and in communities ignore the differences of personality, background, and work style. Multiculturalism is highly recognized in the British society and is taken as a core value (King, 2005, p. 1). The individuals value one another which make the society overall strong as they celebrate the differences and value everyone. Respect Respect is one of those values that British society is founded on. The society is not only about respecting one another or the elderly; it is about the respect of one another’s religions, cultures, languages, races, traditions, and styles (Nye, 2012, p. 98). It is also about the respect for the law, respect of one another’s freedom, respect for the historical values and customs, and also the respect for knowledge. Respect is an attribute that must be individually present in every person, and this respect is the value that makes a society prosper; such as the British society. Education The British government and citizens understand the importance and value of education. This is why their educational system is one of the world’s best in teaching values, ethics, knowledge, and various subjects. The British education system has largely been modernized giving importance to the diverse cultural history in respect of the largely multicultural society. The British value education and know the importance of education which is why all the British children are sent to the schools and encouraged to gain education. Education is one of the factors due to which the society has greatly prospered. Choice What makes British citizens British is their freedom of choice and respect for other’s choices. Every British knows the importance of making their own choices and so they promote it in their children as well. Children have the right to acquire education and then make their own choices to realize their potentials and interested careers. Parents have the responsibility to encourage them to make free choices and allow them to stand on them. Value The fundamental values of the British society are codified in their law and morality. Every British knows the importance of these values and thus they stand united on one ideology. Their values have established their identity and that is what makes them British. Their values and their realization of the importance of those values is what make them different and prosperous (Bennett, 1998, p. 55). Michael Gove-new curriculum Since education is a core value of the British society, Michael Gove designed the new curriculum in order to teach the British kids the history of England in a different way. However, there are some problems with the government proposals of this curriculum and the failure of multiculturalism due to the implementation of this. Government-bashing multiculturalism First they said we need to integrate more The government of Britain recommended the education authorities as their legal duty to promote the cohesion of the community in the children through schools. The main purpose was to promote equality and develop good relations between multicultural people. It was thought to be the duty of the government to promote equality and cohesion of the community. The government is responsible to contribute to the educational reforms and celebrate the diversity of all the students (Maylor, 2007, p. 14). The authorities also ensured that this was done under the experts without any influence from the political ministers. Thus the government supported and promoted multiculturalism by teaching diversity in schools as a necessary part of the national curriculum. Through education, the authorities would be able to find a way to break the barriers and tensions between the Asians and the whites, if any. All the children would be able to learn about tolerance and intolerance as they grow older. They learn about the historical development of cultural diversity which also allows them to learn about the backgrounds of different cultures and thus helping them to know their Black or Asian neighbors and friends better (Alexander, 2012, p. 7). The new national curriculum would give new opportunities for a change in the topics that are taught already. Community cohesion would allow the students to celebrate diversity, encourage tolerance, and understand the communities around them and their operations. Thus, the new curriculum was designed by Michael Gove focusing on all these factors. Now they are saying multicultural is failing However, when the curriculum was finally designed by Gove and implemented in schools, the government authorities bashed the multicultural approach in the new national curriculum and rather suggested that Gove’s history curriculum needed to do more to teach equality. The Black and Asian Studies Association protested against the history curriculum which was a planned draft. The national curriculum aimed at reflecting and valuing diversity and preventing discrimination in order to promote a multicultural society (Alexander, 2012, p. 7). However, the teachers and students have protested that this curriculum does not support the cause. It is very difficult to promote equality through history especially in Britain it has become an arguable topic. The new curriculum tends to misrepresent and marginalize the roles of non-white ethnic groups in the British history. Through this, the children with Asian and African-American origins can be disengaged and alienated, and they might start encouraging a superiority sense of British pupils. Blacks and Asians are largely excluded from the primary level curriculum. This exclusion makes a sense of a new kind of ethnic diversity which may mislead the children. The Egyptians are also removed from the curriculum which would make the current diverse students of Britain unaware of the African or Asian civilizations. This would restrict the children from developing cross cultural understanding. The curriculum was also bashed because it failed to promote gender equality as there were no women mentioned except some queens. Thus there are many aspects which are eliminated from the new national curriculum which leads to missing out on much important information (Maylor, 2007, p. 14). Thus, multiculturalism through the new curriculum tends to be failing as it doesn’t promote equality. Niall Ferguson – Empire: How Britain made the modern world ‘Empire’ is Niall Ferguson’s bestseller which is a deep story about the rise and fall of the great British Empire. Ferguson goes around the world to explore the rule of the British Empire over the prairies of America, deserts of Arabia, plains of Asia, and the jungles of Africa (Ferguson, 2004, p. 25). Immigration Immigrants in the British society from several different cultures of the world have been the biggest factor leading to multiculturalism. The immigrants must be integrated in the society so that they can fully participate by sharing and respecting the values. Immigration to the Great Britain mostly took place in 1922 when there was a huge inward movement of people from all types of ethnic groups and cultures. Eventually, there was a series of immigrations that took place and the immigrated people brought in their cultures. Many of these immigrants have been from ethnic minorities as they are easily attracted towards the British values and they seem they are easier to adopt (Baldock, 2010, p. 187). History of British curriculum The British national curriculum didn’t include the history of the diverse British society until 1988 when the new curriculum was introduced. It included the history of the British colonies and culture which included the Blacks and the colonies that were associated with Britain. However, the government recognized the importance of citizenship and national identity which tends to be a broader concern than the curriculum itself. Thus, under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, history took an important role in schools and also became a part of the political scrutiny and state intervention (Maylor, 2007, p. 14). Before 1988, the Britain history didn’t focus on equality and diversity, and was made for the students of white groups only. After 1988, the history curriculum promoted multiculturalism as well as equality and diversity. History of multiculturalism Multiculturalism in Britain is most prominently tied up to immigration which took place mainly post-war in large numbers from the former British Empire. The period when immigration was largely taking place, the UK welcomed the immigrants with warmth and positivity as they believed in multicultural integration in the society. The basic values which supported the multiculturalism were integration and equality (Hasmath, 2011, p. 164). The post-colonial Britain also made efforts to settle the immigrants and integrate their communities through non-discrimination in voting rights, social security, and healthcare facilities. These rights were eventually given to the racial minorities through law resulting in the Race Relations Act of 1976, which is known as the longstanding legislation to explain the reputation Britain earned as a multicultural society (Hasmath, 2011, p. 164). David Cameron Munich conference According to the Prime Minister, David Cameron, multiculturalism has greatly failed in the UK. He marks out the causes of terrorism and takes a stand against the Islamic extremists. He gave his first speech arguing that UK needs a stronger national identity in order to prevent people from turning to extremisms. However, his speech greatly angered the Muslims as he focused on the Muslim groups who get the money from the public but don’t do anything to tackle extremism (Gardiner, 2011, p. 1). Thus according to him multiculturalism has been a failing concept in the UK and has been one of the reasons of the increasing terrorism. Trevor Phillips (2005) ‘Sleepwalking to segregation’ Trevor Phillips is the head of the Commission for Racial Equality in the UK who wrote about the increased segregation in the society. He gives a negative aspect of multiculturalism focusing on the riots that took place in 2001. He reports that people in the UK share towns and cities but yet they don’t know about each other. He went on to attack the ideology of multiculturalism which has long been taken to be a positive concept that is mutually agreed upon in the society. Phillips argues that the nation is divided by the race and religion. Thus he mentions that Britain is ‘sleep-walking’ towards segregation which is something already seen in America (Casciani, 2005, p. 1). Kevin Brice – respond to ‘Sleepwalking to segregation’ Brice spoke in response to Phillips as he wrote that the nation is sleepwalking to segregation but Brice pointed out that decisions which are being made are rather ‘wide-awake’ and are made by different groups of the society. These groups reject the provision of infrastructure which allows Muslims to become distributed widely, while Muslims tend to reject all that is taken as the norm in majority culture. The decision of being separate is conscious from both sides. The issue of residential segregation based fully on the ethnic classification will not provide answers that are needed to address the issue. Brice also mentions the distribution of the White English Muslims which clearly shows that the distribution of groups is influenced by other factors other than ethnicity too. White English Muslims also exhibit patterns of distribution which are closely related to the ethnic Muslims. Segregation is rather the fact of modernity and a diverse life. Riots in Britain The increasing riots in Britain specifically in multicultural areas have led to the increasing questions about the racial tensions. Even though this is arguable, there are many incidents with the Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims which reflect the negativity of multiculturalism causing violence and riots in the community. Race and culture has a major role in these riots and the situations are worst in areas where the relationships are already bad. However it is still difficult to say so there must be no need to jump to conclusions. No matter how strong the multiculturalism is in the British society, there will always be questions raised when it will be about riots taking place within the communities of ethnic minorities (Smith, 2010, p. 153). Threats Everything looks good when it is practiced within the limit. Since the multiculturalism has increased greatly in Britain, there is also an increase in the threat to security as people of different cultural and racial groups tend to be fighting or creating disturbance amongst one another. The riots are an example of certain groups that are creating violence against minority groups and igniting racial tension in the sophisticated cultural society (Martin, 2000, p. 87). Diversity has turned out to be a threat for the modern British society and multiculturalism is said to be dangerous. Terrorism & Extremism - Islam phobia Islamophobia is the hatred towards the Muslims due to the various extremist activities that are going on around the world. Terrorism and extremism is becoming an increasing threat in the society especially after the 9/11 attacks. Islamophobia is spreading across the multicultural societies rapidly creating a tension between the racial and cultural groups (Abbas, 2007, p. 288). Moreover, the extremist activities of certain Muslims are taking this issue to another level where Islamophobia is developing more and more. For example, bashing up a young girl because of something offensive she is wearing. This kind of extremism by the Muslims is taking away the core values of the Britain multicultural society as it infringes the freedom of speech, movement, life, and thought. Race and ethnicity Multiculturalism in Britain tended to give all citizens an equal opportunity in the society and an equal identity as British. With the increasing division and tensions between the ethnic groups that’s has come from the global influence, race and identity have a new meaning now. Citizens are judged by their backgrounds, races, or religions. Multiculturalism is said to be failing because of this as the analysts evaluate the current condition of the society which is far different than how the society used to be. Loss of identity Thus, the differences in the ethnic groups have lead to the loss of national identity. Identity as British was the most important and common value which was present in every citizen regardless of his colour, race, or religion (Childs, 2013, p. 122). However, in modern Britain, this identity is said to have been lost in the tensions and differences between racial groups that are increasing and giving rise to threats and violent acts. Cantle report The Cantle Report was written by the head of the government’s community cohesion review team, Ted Cantle. This report was in response to the race riots that took place in Oldham, Bradford, and Burnley. The main points were that these towns showed a depth of polarization around the segregated communities living a series of parallel lives. There can be further violence in these towns if the government authorities and community leaders do not break the polarization. The report also mentioned that the immigrants must be taken under oath of national allegiance in order to help the race relations in the future. A meaningful concept of citizenship must also be promoted by the media and politicians. Schools must give 25% of places to the children of different backgrounds. The report aimed mainly to help the racial tensions in the society. Stuart Hall Stuart Hall was a British intellectual, sociologist, and cultural theorist, who was also known as the godfather of multiculturalism. This is because he greatly influenced the political, academic, and cultural debates for more than six decades (Butler, 2014, p. 1). He opened the Britain’s first centre for cultural studies and later became the key figure in developing the cultural studies as an academic discipline. He believed in and stood for the openness and accessibility for social justice and the power of education in changing people’s lives. Paul Thomas Paul Thomas has written the book Youth, Multiculturalism and Community Cohesion in which he has referred to the race riots that occurred in 2001 in northern England. After that incident, multiculturalism has been rejected in Britain. The policy of community cohesion focuses on the common needs of the British and their shared identity; this policy is focused as it provides a focus on common identity instead of religious and ethnic differences (Thomas, 2011, p. 75). Thomas’s work is about research done with the young people in order to analyze the practice and meaning of the British community cohesion policies. It focuses on the youth and concludes that community cohesion is a newer multiculturalism phase, not its death. Enoch Powell Enoch Powell was a British politician who was known for his controversial speech Rovers of Blood because of which he was removed from his position as the Shadow Defense Secretary. About thirty years later of his speech, many people started agreeing with his idea of economic burden of immigration. Due to this speech, he gained public recognition and a poll suggested that a majority of the UK population followed his speech and agreed to it. Roy Jenkins Roy Jenkins was a British write and politician. He was elected in the parliament in 1948 as a Labor member and he also served in major posts in Harold Wilson’s First Government. He was responsible for many of the social reforms that took place and developed the civilized society. Some of the reforms were the abolition of capital punishment in Britain and theatre censorship, relaxing of the divorce law, decriminalization of homosexuality, and legalization of abortion (Campbell, 2014, p. 143). Conclusion What the threat to multicultural To ethic group However, the British multicultural society is in threat as it seems to be failing. The ethnic groups that are living there for decades are suffering because of some extremists that create fear and hatred amongst the other classes. Even though many of these people of different ethnic groups belong to different backgrounds but they have similar ideologies and values which make them British. Having no identity anymore The biggest threat is to their identity which they have created in years. The British identity is a value and a belief which makes every citizen a British regardless of their colour and religion. The extremists and the increasing violence have leaded these ethnic minorities to lose their British identity and be recognized in societies as different people, unlike before (Bassnett, 2014, p. 29). Thus, the multiculturalism that lasted for long in the British society has finally faded away. References Abbas, T. 2007. Muslim Minorities in Britain: Integration, Multiculturalism and Radicalism in the Post-7/7 Period. NY: Taylor & Francis Alexander, C. 2012. Making British Histories: Diversity and the National Curriculum. London: Runnymede Aydin, M. 2013. British Multiculturalism: Diversity Issues and Development of Multicultural Education in Britain. London: LAMBERT Academic Publishing Baldock, P. 2010. Understanding Cultural Diversity in the Early Years. London: SAGE Bassnett, S. 2014. Studying British Cultures. London: Routledge Bennett, D. 1998. Multicultural States: Rethinking Difference and Identity. 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