With 2000 Syrian refugees headed to Manitoba a local education professor says it’s important teachers and students see newcomers as “individuals” rather than as a “group of people.”
Marc Kuly, an assistant professor of education at the University of Winnipeg, said there’s “potential” students and teachers may see refugees “through stereotypical lenses.”
Winnipeg School Division trustee Dean Koshelanyk said he’s already noticed examples of discrimination against refugees in the form of “various petitions” to “keep them out.”
Koshelanyk said he’s concerned about misinformation spreading among students, staff and parents.
“Many great students, staff, parents know this is a good thing for us to do,” Koshelanyk told CTV News. “It’s great to see but I have some concerns that we have some people who just don’t understand.”
Kuly said schools are typically places which reflect a community’s values but he said they are also places where community values can be shaped.
“Schools are a place where teachers and students can actually confront ideas that might discriminate against certain groups,” said Kuly. “In schools, you actually get to meet these people that sound like a group, that are talked about as a group, that are talked about as ‘them’,” said Kuly.
He said the opportunity to meet newcomers and get to know them as individuals provides an opportunity for teachers and students to show people, like the Syrian refugees, what it means to be Canadian.
“That’s what schools are really good at doing,” said Kuly. “Finding ways for people to meet each other on a human level and then that dispels a lot of ‘the group-think’ that scares people.”
