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Way back in 1995 one of my
clients called and explained that they had fourteen different
nationalities on one of their rigs. People were not getting on. There
were cultural clashes – people abusing each other verbally and some
minor physical assaults such as “mistakenly” spilling coffee over
someone or “bumping” forcefully into people. Knowing about changing
behaviour, I knew that lectures on respecting others and behaving like
adults wouldn’t work. Indeed that had been tried by rig managers and
had not worked.
Multicultural education with a
values approach
So a series of workshops was
arranged with about twenty people in each and care was taken to ensure
a mix of cultures and ranks. Before attending the workshops I send out
a short questionnaire as follows.
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“ Dear Colleagues on ABC Rig, I am looking forward to
working with you to find a solution to overcome what appear to be
cultural clashes. I’m sure you’ll agree that this situation is
uncomfortable and is making working life on the rig unpleasant for
everyone. If we can fix this, ABC will be a better place to work.
To help us prepare
for the workshops please list at least five cultural clashes you
think are affecting people and hindering better working
relationships. All responses will be anonymous.”
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About sixty of the 120 employees
responded and there was a group of about six or seven main cultural
clashes. In summarised form, four of them were as follows.
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The Dutch are bombastic and loud and interrupt
people all the time.
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The Portuguese stink of garlic.
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The Norwegians think they are better than us and
don’t want to talk English.
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The Scots and English can’t complete a sentence
without saying “F&&k that” or “F&&k this” – it gets a bit wearing.
I made a one-page hand out of
responses and gave everyone a copy at the start of each workshop. I
then said something like this:
“Thanks to those who responded.
We now have a good picture of the cultural clashes on the rig and if
we can fix them, life will get better for everyone – won’t it? I’ll
give you a minute to read the list and then please, I want your
suggestions on how we fix the cultural clashes.”
After a minute or two a Norwegian
stood up and said, “Hey guys I didn’t know we were causing offence.
English is my second language and it is so nice at night just to relax
and not think of word order and grammar. But if you want us to talk
more English at night we’ll try”.
Next, a Portuguese guy got up,
“Why didn’t anyone tell us about this – I don’t want to upset anyone
so I’ll eat less garlic from now on”.
Then a Dutch person contributed,
“You guys are a bunch of wimps – that’s just how we are. I didn’t
realise it upset so many people so I’ll try and talk more quietly and
shut up in meetings.”
I then asked, “Do you think
calling your mates ‘wimps’ is going to help the situation?” and of
course he realised the mistake and people agreed that there is always
some joking and friendly mocking but that could also go too far and
be misinterpreted.
Then a Scotsman got up, “F&&k
me”, he bellowed, “I didn’t “f&&king know that I was “f&&king
upsetting people, so from now on just tell me to f&&k off”. (Great
deals of laughter followed).
We did four workshops of about
two hours each and the problem was solved.
What are the lessons for
multicultural education? First, telling people they are irresponsible
and urging them to behave better doesn’t work. Second, most people,
once brought to the point where they feel the pain they are causing
others, change for the better. Third, multicultural education is about
the values of caring, respect and tolerance.
Of course, not all behavioural
change can happen as quickly as I have described in this article. It
can take weeks and even months. It takes a lot for us humans to admit
we have been behaving irresponsibly. I hope other educationists will
undertake more research into how multicultural education can be done
practically. Reading the book,
Values and the curriculum: theory and practice will spark
some ideas.
Multicultural education as values education could benefit from much
more practical research. Dr Bill would be delighted to advise
postgraduate students (with the agreement of their university or
college) interested in this fascinating field. Contact him on
bill@valueseducation.co.uk
Copyright © 2008 Values Education Ltd
Note to editors. Feel free to use this article as long as the
following details are retained. “A values education article from CAVE
www.valueseducation.co.uk
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