{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"79548422","dateCreated":"1474789203","smartDate":"Sep 25, 2016","userCreated":{"username":"manzam","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/manzam","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/multiculturalaspectsinourschools.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/79548422"},"dateDigested":1532484231,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Multiculturalism","description":"Definition:     Multiculturalism is the philosophy that every culture is morally valid and no other culture has the right to impose its values on another.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAs regards to multiculturalism Malta can easily be considered as one of the most multicultural country in Europe. This is because its geographical position, right between Europe to the north and Africa to the south. It served as a link between the two continents. It is also multicultural because it has been a colony of so many powers starting from the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, Arabs, the Normans, Romans, the Knights of Saint John (which were truly multicultural because they were formed from several different European countries), the French and lastly by the British up to 1964, when Malta got its independence. Every one of these powers left its imprint on the island and its inhabitants as regards to language, life style, religion and most of all culture. Although we are predominantly Europeans by nature as regards to religion and even culturally, there are some aspects that tend to be more Semitic (Arabic) for example the language. In Malta we have two official languages and these are Maltese and English. Up to about some 40 years ago the Italian language was the official language.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nDuring the last few years, Malta has seen a huge influx of immigrants coming from the war thorn countries, especially from Libya, Syria, Tunisia and other North African countries. Some of these have settled here and even married Maltese partners introducing their culture to Malta. Immigrants like these arrive practically every day and the more they arrive the more the Maltese culture increase its dose of African culture, like all those European countries that accept these immigrants, like Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Turkey and the rest. Surely these immigrant leave their mark in each and every country they go and settle down. In fact in Malta we have a pretty large Muslim community ever since they started coming.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nSchools are not an exception and are not exempted and a lot of these juvenile immigrants attend Maltese schools. There are two types of immigrant students in our schools, those who have been in Malta for quite some time and have one of their parents Maltese, and those who have both their parents immigrants. The former have integrated pretty well with the rest of the community and so even with the students they go quite well. On the other hand the latter type are still new and do not integrate well with the rest of the school and tend to stay all by themselves. <br \/>\n<br \/>\nIt is of utmost importance that all students irrespective of their nationality are treated well and the same and there isn\u2019t any preference and worse any type of racism or gender discrimination (since our school is a mixed school) Apart from the normal subjects (both academic and even vocational) the students attend also the PSD (Personal and Social Development) lessons. They normally have 2, one hour lessons every week. During these lessons such topics as multiculturalism, racism, tolerance to one another, Religion, life styles are discussed. Since Malta is predominantly Catholic, religious events are organised, we give those Muslim students the option not to attend (because of freedom of religion) and instead do something else. The school also organises social activities where the parents are invited, the scope being so that everyone have the chance to integrate with each other. The parents are also invited to take active part in school activities.<br \/>\nIt is also important that while we make these immigrants feel at home we preserve our identity through cultural traditions that makes us what we truly are - Maltese","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]}],"more":false},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}