Michelle Smith
Harmony Day is celebrated every March in Australian Schools. You would have read about how BPS celebrated it last week in a recent blog and seen the photos of the children celebrating diversity and multiculturalism. I wanted to share a success story with you that justifies why schools and societies need to continue to highlight the need for harmony.
Sadly, not all children feel proud of their heritage and culture. One teacher told me about a child in their class who had reluctantly come to school in their traditional dress. The teachers in this class had programmed a variety of learning tasks and activities that promoted diversity including researching children’s heritage and customs. They even performed the song “We Are Australians” in Auslan. The children discussed the differences, and noticed more similarities than differences. They noticed that many of us have roots that span the whole globe, and that maybe, this is an asset, not a deficit.
At the end of the day, the children reflected on their understanding of harmony and wrote down their thoughts. The child gave me permission to share this piece of writing in this blog. In fact, the child was beaming as they read their writing to me. I have to agree with her, that it is not “weird” to have another culture; you can be part of another culture and still be an “Aussie”. In fact, it is pretty cool.
Michelle