Focus on different cultures key to future success

It’s a big world out there, which we so often forget. We go about living our lives in our own little fishbowls, so to speak, and forget about other people, other communities and other cultures. As Americans, especially, we pride ourselves on being fairly self-sufficient. Along with that comes the reality that we also tend to be pretty ethnocentric.It’s important, though, to look outside of ourselves, to recognize other people and their cultures. It’s important to understand those different from ourselves have value, that their customs are worthy of our interest and respect. We must own such a philosophy if we want to build meaningful relationships with the rest of the world — relationships that are important for social, economic and political reasons. Beyond that we need to appreciate people’s differences for humanity’s sake. And we must foster that kind of knowledge and understanding in our youth, so that future generations will have open minds and open hearts.That’s why it’s so crucial for our schools to offer programs that focus on multiculturalism. Just in the last couple of weeks alone, both the Pine Plains Central School District and the North East (Webutuck) Central School District did exactly that. In Pine Plains there was a wonderful presentation by Melody Africa, a dance troupe from New Paltz that performs traditional African dances, including the Kuku, Sinté and Kankourang. The performers were brilliant — colorful, vibrant, musical and majestic. They had students at Seymour Smith Intermediate Learning Center on their feet, dancing and clapping and learning what a very large part of the African experience is all about. Undoubtedly those students will remember that assembly and possibly take the initiative to learn more about Africa and its culture — all thanks to the school and its initiative to teach beyond its borders.A week later, the Webutuck district held its annual International Potluck Dinner. For more than a decade the school district has invited students and their families to bring a dish representative of their native culture. The goal, of course, is to share aspects of their heritage with those who might be unfamiliar with that history and to learn the same about others. It’s a wonderful event, filled with good food, festive music, crafts, conversation and laughter.Any event that focuses on diversity is useful, but it’s especially valuable for students to see their friends, parents and teachers socializing — across any perceived cultural divide. It sets an excellent example of how we all should act — as global citizens — not clannish individuals who judge people for being different.Such exposure is crucial in the development of healthy, open-minded and compassionate individuals. The more opportunities our children have to interact with a wide cross-section of people, the deeper and richer their growth and development will be. We should encourage such experiences and such contact now — from as many different cultures as possible. Bets are we’ll all be better off in the future because of it.