Building a multicultural society – small prosaic forms and proverbs as a source of common wisdom

Poland, ID LLCE2015-170

Latest European incidents show that intercultural and inter-ethnic tension is very high. Misunderstandings of different backgrounds multiply mutual demands and expectations. Such situation do not promote a multicultural and sustainable European society. There is a need for a wise ESD (education for sustainable development) in conjunction with multicultural abundance. Students should learn that people are able to understand each other and build sustainable societies because human wisdom (referring to fundamental values, universal dreams or needs) is generally the same, only expressed in different words and in various cultural contexts. It can be done by interpretation of small prosaic forms and proverbs from other cultures. Polish students have undertaken such challenge. Effects will be presented in the paper.

Key words: multicultural society, education for sustainable development, textual analysis, human values, interpretation of cultural texts, culture as a platform of understanding