This paper summarizes the connotation and basic characteristics of multicultural education, the background, rise and development of western multicultural education, the enlightenment of foreign multicultural education to China, the necessity and concrete suggestions of developing multicultural education in ethnic areas of China. Key words: multicultural education, minority education in minority areas 1. Connotation and basic characteristics of multicultural education: Multicultural education refers to allowing and ensuring the common and equal development of national cultures in a country where many nationalities and cultures coexist, thus enriching the education of the whole country. Its goal is "to make groups belonging to different cultures, races, religions and social classes learn to maintain peace and coordinate relations in order to achieve symbiosis". Multicultural education is based on the theory of cultural relativity, which advocates that all cultures have their value of existence and development, and different cultures have different contributions to the progress of human civilization. In education, we should respect and support different cultures, especially the cultural traditions and non-mainstream cultures of vulnerable groups, and children of vulnerable groups should enjoy equal education rights and development opportunities. It originated in American society in 1960s, and achieved remarkable results in the United States, Canada, Australia and other multi-ethnic countries. Its connotation and basic characteristics can be summarized as: 1. Multicultural education is a concept of "education" and an educational activity. 2. Multicultural education is a complete process, which includes not only the consciousness level such as concept and thought, but also the action level such as process and result. 3. An important theoretical basis of multicultural education is cultural relativity, that is, all kinds of human cultures are relative and have their corresponding values and meanings; All human cultures should be respected, free and equal; Various human cultures continue and develop in inheritance (heredity) and evolution (variation); No culture is completely excellent or inferior, and no culture is static. 4. The purpose of multicultural education is the equality and freedom of cultural education, emphasizing cultural identity, learning, respect and development, and the goal is to improve the academic performance of the disadvantaged groups. 5. Multicultural education is the reform and innovation of monocultural education, the symbol of the development of postmodern cultural education, and the trend of harmonious development of human cultural education. Second, the rise and development of multicultural education. James A. Banks (USA) and James Lynch (UK), world-renowned experts in multicultural education, believe that the background of multicultural education mainly includes two factors: one is the demographic factor of multicultural education; The second is the social movement factor in multicultural education. This conclusion is a summary of the facts of multicultural education in the west. First of all, look at the first aspect, because of the existence of multi-ethnic population, it has caused the problem of multicultural education under the background of multicultural coexistence. This multi-ethnic existence is mainly caused by western immigrants. From the social background of multicultural education, western society regards safeguarding human rights and promoting equality as the main purpose of sharing the country, so it tries to create an egalitarian ideological system including all races, nationalities, cultures and groups in social organizations. Multicultural education originated from the civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s. One of the main goals of this campaign is to eliminate public prejudice in public places, housing, employment and education. The result has a great influence on the education of ethnic minorities-first, blacks, then other ethnic groups-and requires schools and other educational institutions to redesign the curriculum to reflect the culture, history and experience of ethnic minorities. Ethnic minorities require schools to hire more ethnic minority teachers and principals to ensure the real success of ethnic minority students. Through the influence of their community-managed schools and their courses and textbooks, ethnic minorities gradually promoted this movement and deepened it to race, social class, gender, disability and other marginalized groups. In his masterpiece Multicultural Education: Theory and Practice, James Banks describes five stages of the historical development of multicultural education: the first stage (single race research) is mainly the beginning of the black civil rights movement and the demand of African Americans for increasing the number of teachers, revising textbooks, responding to cultural content, and self-control of schools. The second stage (multi-ethnic study) mainly examines the experiences of various ethnic groups from a comparative perspective, and embodies the cultures of several major ethnic groups into the curriculum; In the third stage (multi-ethnic education), more and more educators realize that the lack of curriculum reform makes the real multicultural education reform useless; In the fourth stage (multicultural education), some educators began to be interested in multicultural education and expanded multicultural education by reforming the overall school environment; The fifth stage (institutionalization) is a continuous process, including two aspects: increasing multicultural teaching strategy design and multicultural curriculum in schools. Since 1980s, some Asian countries, such as China, Indian and Japanese, have reformed the traditional ethnic integration education, and the multi-ethnic and multicultural education has been reflected in different degrees from national policies to school curriculum and teaching. In this way, multicultural education has formed a variety of development models from western immigrant countries, such as the United States, Canada, Australia and other traditional multi-ethnic countries in the East. The globalization of multicultural education has become a challenge that education must face in the 26th century. Thirdly, the enlightenment of foreign multicultural education to China and the necessity of developing multicultural education in China. The background of multiculturalism is different in China and the West. China's main ethnic group, the Han nationality, and 55 ethnic minorities have been living and developing in China historically, and there are no ethnic minority problems caused by immigration, which is one of them. Secondly, the education of ethnic minorities in China has no background of national rejuvenation movement, so there is no phenomenon of ethnic and class hierarchy that runs counter to the political proposition of equality of all ethnic groups. China is a multi-ethnic country with 56 ethnic groups, and the total population of 55 ethnic minorities exceeds 654.38+0 billion. The area of ethnic autonomous areas accounts for 64% of the total territory. China implements the basic policies of ethnic equality, ethnic unity, regional ethnic autonomy and common prosperity of all ethnic groups, so that ethnic minorities and the Han people can enjoy all the civil rights stipulated in the Constitution and laws equally, and at the same time enjoy the unique rights of ethnic minorities according to law. Because our party and country guarantee the equal rights of ethnic minorities from the constitution and laws and adhere to national unity from the policy, the mainstream of ethnic relations in China is good. Racial discrimination and prejudice and conflicts between ethnic cultures have improved. In school education, bilingual teaching has been carried out in many minority areas, which has promoted the development of minority languages. Students from all ethnic groups unite and help each other, live in harmony and make common progress. Therefore, multicultural education in ethnic minority areas in China is not to solve the problem of eliminating ethnic discrimination, but its main goal is to promote ethnic minority students to understand their excellent cultural traditions and enhance their confidence and ability in developing economy and culture in ethnic minority areas. It is unscientific and unrealistic to carry out multicultural education in ethnic areas of China and adopt the mode of "cultural coexistence", which only emphasizes the independent value and status of minority cultures, without considering the relationship between minority cultures and Chinese cultures. In China, there are usually several ethnic minorities living in a minority area, as well as the Han nationality. In ethnic minority areas, there is no separation between the education of a certain ethnic group and the education of Chinese culture. Multicultural education in minority areas of China should give the cultural essence of each minority a corresponding position, integrate excellent national culture into the unified cultural education in China, and strengthen cross-cultural exchange and integration. The object of multicultural education includes not only members of ethnic minorities, but also members of Han nationality. Ethnic minorities should not only learn from their excellent traditional culture, but also learn from Chinese culture, understand the situation in the economically developed areas of the country and abroad, as well as the situation in the region, improve their ability to adapt to society, and seek maximum personal development; In addition to learning their own culture, members of the Han nationality should also properly understand and learn the traditional excellent cultures of ethnic minorities and enhance their sense of extended family. Multicultural education and ethnic education have both similarities and qualitative differences, so they should not be treated or used together. First of all, multicultural education and minority education belong to the category of education, both are concepts of "education", and both have the general nature, process and methods of educational activities. Multicultural education represents the new trend of human cultural education development under the new situation of economic globalization. Paying attention to the educational equality and educational achievements of the disadvantaged groups, maintaining equal educational opportunities, improving the academic performance of the students of the disadvantaged groups, advocating and supporting cultural diversity, and even the setting of multicultural education courses and the construction of teaching materials are closely related to ethnic education, which provides a more reasonable platform for ethnic education and its development and effectively promotes the healthy development of ethnic education. At the same time, ethnic education provides an effective way to implement multicultural education. Through ethnic education, such as ethnic language textbooks, bilingual teaching, ethnic history and geography teaching, folklore courses, etc. , is the practice mode and realization way of multicultural education. The two are complementary and mutually reinforcing. Ethnic culture and education has a long history, and all ethnic minorities have thrived together on the land of China, creating a 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization. After the founding of New China, the Party and the state adopted a scientific ethnic policy and established a complete ethnic education system. Children of all ethnic groups not only enjoy equal educational opportunities, but also children of ethnic minorities enjoy special care in study, life, further studies and employment. Multicultural education, as an exotic product, only entered China in the 1990s, and its concepts and theories are in the initial stage of introduction, so there is still a long way to go before it can be implemented and popularized. The basic concepts of ethnic education can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense. Ethnic education in a broad sense covers the education of all ethnic groups in history and contemporary times, whether it is the education of primitive ethnic groups, the education of ancient ethnic groups or the education of modern ethnic groups; Whether it is a single ethnic education or a compound ethnic education; Whether it is the main ethnic education or minority education, it is all in it. Ethnic education in a narrow sense, also known as ethnic education, refers to the compound ethnic education for ethnic members with minority populations in multi-ethnic countries. The purpose of multicultural education, on the one hand, is to help ethnic minority members improve their ability to adapt to the modern mainstream society, so as to achieve maximum personal development; On the other hand, inherit and carry forward the excellent cultural heritage of ethnic minorities, enrich the treasure house of human culture and make due contributions to mankind. Minority education is an important part of ethnic education implemented in multi-ethnic countries. If our education for minority students only includes the education content of the main culture (China culture) and lacks the education content of our own national cultural tradition, then the education for minority students is not multicultural education. Analyzing the present situation of minority education in China, we find that there are some shortcomings in inheriting and carrying forward the social and cultural heritage of minority students in our school education. It is not enough to improve students' ability to adapt to the modern mainstream society by combining their personality characteristics. Although with the development of compulsory education in China, school education plays an increasingly important role in the socialization of minority children and adolescents. However, in ethnic areas, influenced by the cultural traditions and values of different ethnic groups, school education has the disadvantage of not combining with reality, so school education has not received due attention and social recognition, and school education has not fully played its due role in the socialization of ethnic minority students. The role of education in local economy and culture cannot be brought into full play. For example, the enrollment rate of minority education at all levels is very low, especially for minority women, which shows a high dropout rate and dropout rate. China scholars' research shows that it is very difficult for minority students to study in school because of language barriers. Students lack interest in learning, families don't realize the importance and function of education, the curriculum is unreasonable, and the lack of qualified teachers and imperfect teaching methods make the development of minority education stagnate. With the continuous prosperity and stability of China's economy and society, more and more immigrants will move to China, and China in the 2nd/kloc-0th century will also face the problem of immigrant education, so "multicultural education" will be put on the agenda of China's education. The implementation of "multicultural education" in China is the need of the times and social development. However, China's "multicultural education" should not repeat the detours taken by western countries. Fourthly, specific suggestions on developing multicultural education in China. 1, ethnic education in China must establish the concept of multicultural education. The development of multicultural education needs the protection and support of government administrative legislation and economic input. According to the Constitution of China, local governments of ethnic minorities should give economic support to local ethnic education according to national laws. Local governments of ethnic minorities at all levels and all walks of life should make clear the significance and value of multicultural education from the concept. Multicultural education does not emphasize the independence of ethnic minorities or engage in separatism, but aims to improve the adaptability of ethnic minorities to society, promote local economic prosperity, strengthen national unity and contribute to the prosperity and reunification of the motherland; It is to inherit and carry forward the excellent cultural heritage of ethnic minorities, enrich the treasure house of human culture and make due contributions to mankind. At the same time, it is also a concrete embodiment of implementing regional ethnic autonomy. The establishment of this concept is the premise of developing multicultural education in minority areas. In order to ensure the quality of multicultural education, relevant research institutions should be established. On the one hand, research institutions should explore the planning, management and implementation of multicultural education, and provide a strong reference for local government legislation and funding; On the one hand, we should undertake the task of curriculum reform and research on education and teaching methods, and give useful guidance to school teachers. Ethnic education in China is quite different from western multicultural education in background, content, methods and objectives. It can be said that the main task of ethnic education in China is to train all kinds of modern talents for ethnic areas. This is because in history, ethnic minorities have suffered from the double oppression of their own nation and the ruling class of the Han nationality, and most of them have survived and developed in a dangerous environment, which makes the reality in ethnic areas need more talents, faster talents and better talents. However, with the passage of time, this good ideal has shown a series of problems, such as: in the system, a set of national education theories suitable for China's national conditions has not been summarized. Although there are ethnic primary schools, middle schools, ethnic normal schools, vocational and technical schools and even ethnic colleges in ethnic minority areas, a complete and scientific ethnic education system has not been formed. For a long time, ethnic education, as a part of general education, has neglected its nationality; In teaching, the ethnic teaching theory with the most ethnic education characteristics is still blank, and the scientific bilingual teaching theory has not yet formed. Bilingual teaching in various places is in the exploration stage of "crossing the river by feeling the stones"; Curriculum design ignores the construction of national traditional culture, requires the same subjects and purposes as mainland China, and implements "examination-oriented" and "further education". While emphasizing science education, our ethnic education despises or even ignores humanities education. More seriously, the development of ethnic education is restricted by the thinking mode and cultural tradition of the Han nationality. In the final analysis, it is the lack of multicultural ideas in education. Therefore, developing multicultural education in ethnic minority areas can improve the educational level of ethnic minorities, link school education with the reality of ethnic minority areas, and effectively promote the development of regional culture and economy. As far as ethnic minorities are concerned, they can never be satisfied with their equal status and special treatment in law. They must resolutely adopt an open attitude, overcome economic and cultural inequalities and catch up with the advanced level. Only by seriously practicing the concept of multiculturalism can the development of education have both ethnic integration and ethnic diversity. Through the same multicultural education for Han nationality and ethnic minorities, the multicultural education system at the national level can be integrated. 2. Ethnic education in China should be in line with international education. The globalization of multicultural education and its role in ethnic education show that ethnic education cannot be independent of the main ethnic group of the country, but should be a form of pluralistic integration in ethnic education. Similarly, national pluralistic and integrated education is no longer a matter of a sovereign country, but a different form of pluralistic and integrated education in the world. To this end, we should break the long-standing opposition between the eastern and western ethnic education and make our ethnic education in line with international ethnic education in the exchange and dialogue of multicultural education. Drawing lessons from the outstanding achievements of western multicultural education and expanding the connotation of ethnic education in China, ethnic education is no longer the abbreviation of minority education, but the multi-ethnic integration education composed of the main ethnic groups and ethnic minorities. On this basis, after several stages of efforts, such as introduction, pilot and creation of characteristics, the pluralistic education of the Chinese nation has become a model of multicultural education in the world. In the comparative study, we should oppose two wrong ideas: one is the western concept of liberalization, that is, ignoring China's national conditions, trying to replace China's ethnic education with western multicultural education; The other is a self-centered view, that is, ignoring the development trend of global multicultural education and refusing to accept the advanced experience of other countries. While connecting with international education, we should adhere to the localization of multicultural education. In the process of implementing multicultural education, countries all over the world have different practices, which is mainly the result of "localization". The development of ethnic education in China has a long history and has formed its own "characteristics". At the same time, in the face of new problems and challenges and the impact of foreign cultures, it is necessary to complete the mutual exchange and integration of foreign multiculturalism and national traditional culture through "China" and "localization". The localization of multicultural education has two meanings: one is the root and growth of multicultural education in China; Secondly, multicultural education has been "settled down" among the ethnic minorities in China, and "anti-customer oriented". 2 1 century, whoever takes the lead in completing the localization process of multicultural education will take the lead in completing the modernization process of ethnic education. Western multicultural education involves a wide range and complexity (race, nationality, gender, social class, etc.). ), while China focuses on minority education. Localization is to find the starting point of China's national conditions and ethnic characteristics, and to embody the fair, reasonable and scientific multicultural concept in the curriculum of ethnic education. 3. Offering national culture courses to cultivate students with multicultural knowledge. In today's globalization, there are more and more cases of people from various cultural backgrounds merging with each other. Therefore, the ability to deal with people from various cultural backgrounds is a subject before us, and it is also a test of our viability. If you want to live in harmony with people from different cultural backgrounds, you need to reserve multicultural knowledge and have the ability to cope with a pluralistic society. The implementation of multicultural curriculum in primary and secondary schools is not to set up another subject, nor to incorporate all the cultural assets of ethnic minorities into the existing curriculum, because this will lead to the crowding of school curriculum, the excessive academic burden of students, and may not necessarily make the cultures fully cross or interact. Multicultural education curriculum is mainly to integrate the cultural essence or characteristics of ethnic minorities into the existing curriculum of the school to reflect the viewpoint of cultural diversity. And take all students (including Han and minority students) as the object, and develop students' abilities and attitudes in cognition, skills and emotion through integration into the whole school curriculum. For example, in literature courses, language courses, history and social science courses, we can reflect multiculturalism by reforming content arrangement and improving teaching methods. Tibetan language offered by Tibetan schools should not simply translate and compile textbooks, but should add Tibetan classics reflecting Tibetan culture and life and excellent works created by modern Tibetan writers in Tibetan. Accordingly, the history course in Han schools can increase the content of historical customs and cultural traditions of ethnic minorities. Vocational schools, secondary specialized schools, normal schools, colleges and other secondary and higher education courses can offer specialized courses on national culture, such as courses on social, economic, cultural history and current situation in the region, courses on historical and cultural traditions of various ethnic groups, and so on. In the undergraduate stage, we will offer ethnic culture courses, organize students to participate in beneficial ethnic culture activities, and cooperate with the teaching of ethnic culture courses to carry out a series of ethnic culture activities. The main body of classroom teaching is teachers, but the limitation of time and space often can't fully arouse students' enthusiasm for learning national cultural knowledge. Only through students' practical activities, let them directly or indirectly participate in teaching activities, can we achieve good teaching results and achieve the purpose of letting students truly understand the cultures of various ethnic groups, such as launching a series of activities such as "National Culture Week" and holding a "folk photography contest" and a "new look of hometown" writing contest. In short, the holding of these activities will undoubtedly bring the national knowledge that students have learned in class into reality, so that they can proudly show their national culture to other ethnic students and understand other ethnic cultures at the same time. In short, through such activities, students can not only love their own national culture more, but also have a strong interest in other national cultures; It not only enhances the mutual understanding of students from all ethnic groups, but also helps to cultivate mutual adaptability among different cultural groups. 4. Teachers should constantly strengthen the study of multicultural knowledge. Improve the quality of teacher education and teaching. Teachers' values and views on problems permeate the courses he teaches and the communication between teachers and students, which exerts a subtle influence on students' perception and acceptance of information and forms attitudes towards various things. Therefore, teachers should improve their understanding of minority education, explore teaching methods suitable for minority students, help students establish national pride and self-confidence, and urge students of different ethnic groups to succeed not only in their own social culture, but also in the mainstream culture of society. All of the above are aimed at how to cultivate students' ability to adapt to a multicultural society. However, to cultivate students' ability, it is far from enough to rely solely on the course of Chinese studies, which requires the participation of all teachers. Then, from the perspective of globalization, do we face ethnic groups or individuals (colleagues or students from different cultures) with a positive and correct attitude in our daily work and life? The answer is not optimistic. Due to the limitation of national cultural knowledge, teachers are not understanding and objective when dealing with nationalities or individuals with different cultures, which is not conducive to the construction of a harmonious campus and society, and is also not conducive to cultivating students' ability to adapt to a multicultural society.