Cross cultural understanding: a handbook to understand others’ cultures

3.
 
In Education
Educational institutions and teaching materials also 
have the opportunity to affect stereotypes, and hence 
influence inter-group relations. Efforts to teach about 
different cultures, and the history of different racial or 
ethnic groups can help build inter-group understanding if 
it is done in an effective and sympathetic way. 
Educational system (teachers, schools, textbooks) 
needs to also try to paint a fair and accurate picture of the 
conflict and the different people involved, being aware 
that different sides of a conflict will view what is 
happening very differently. Through stories, discussions, 
and exercises, teachers can help students (of all ages and 
levels) understand the complexity of the conflicts that 
surround them, and develop age- and situation-
appropriate responses to the current conflicts in their 
homes, communities, and nations. To the extent that 
classrooms contain students from both sides of the 
conflict, teachers can help students learn to understand 
and appreciate each other better, while protecting the 
safety (physical and emotional) of those on both sides. If 
the classroom only contains one group, reaching such 

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40 | Cross Cultural Understanding 
intergroup understandings is harder, but still worth the 
effort through books and articles, discussions, TV and 
movies, and when available, online exercices. 
In addition, we can deal with stereotype by: 
•
Presenting more balanced pictures of minority life 
in media. 
•
By reporting forms of human right abuses 
•
By portraiting all groups fairly 
•
Keep on talking and communicating fairly with 
each other (otherwise these problems are going to 
get much worse).
Generalization and categories are necessary, but 
when they are too rigid they can be a barrier to the 
effective interpretation of a situation. However, 
eliminating stereotypes is not possible, or, if it were done, 
it would be detrimental to human cognition. Stereotypes, 
as such, are cognitive schemata, typical of the human 
cognitive system, which assigns a set of characteristics to 
all members of a given social group, and serves as a 
reference when assigning significance to observations and 
experiences in social interactions. They are mental 
structures, which simplify the complex stimuli from one's 
environment and facilitate their comprehension. There is 
nothing wrong with stereotypes if they are embedded in 
reality and promote the understanding of social and 

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Cross Cultural Understanding | 41 
historical processes. Western, multi-ethnic, pluralistic 
civilization celebrates diversity and the uniqueness and 
distinctiveness of its components. Stereotypes merely 
acknowledge this variety.