On Educational Development Of Small Ethnic Groups

The challenges now facing small ethnic groups are both the breaking-down of its natural evolution of society and sudden cultural cataclysm within the community that happens in the whirls of ever ongoing modernity and external impetus. People in such ethnic groups are stuck in such a dilemma either they go along with the pace of modernity for the sake of survival or they keep their own tradition at the cost of virtual existence. Communities in this dilemma are seen going to extinct without a murmur each year and the diversity of human races are thus in dangers asking for concerns from wider academia and societies.The Mang, as one of those small ethnic groups, are now in a similar dilemma of a proper survival and development on one hand and consistence of cultural heritage on the other. This research taking the Mang as a case study raises this concern:What kind of survival and development do the small ethnic groups really have; what education do they need in order to realize the survival and development while keep their traditional culture intact. To make a thorough analyses and discussion, we look at the issue in the following three aspects.(1) What are the educational situation for the Mang, what problems and difficulties do they have and what are the causes of those problems and difficulties? What are the characteristics and features of education development for the Mang? What are the relationship between the ethnic survival and development, culture tradition and education?(2) What are the situations elsewhere in the world for other small ethnic groups; What are the experiences that can be set as examples to follow in order to promote balanced co-existence of survival and development with culture tradition consistence?(3) What education can help promote the balanced co-existence of survival and development with culture tradition consistence for small ethnic groups; What measures can be taken to realize the expectation?This research uses a multi-disciplinary approach of education, jurisprudence, policy study, anthropology, sociology, philosophy and ethnics to analyze the situation with the Mang as a case study to discuss the education development for small ethnic groups. We shall use theories in human rights, right for development and societal systematic for our arguments with concern of balance between survival, development, cultural tradition and education. First, we make use of the research literatures and narrative histories to give detailed accounts of cultural eco-system of the Mang's education; then we use field work materials, case studies, and narrative studies of villagers, students, teachers, local governmental administrators of the Mang communities and cultural scholars, to analyze the development status quo both in-school education and off-school education, and look into the problems existed in education purpose, subject of education, and contents of education; still then we exam the external environmental components, the educational internal structures and cultural impacts that hinder the education development of the Mang; with these done, we shall apply international comparative education paradigms of USSR and Russian Northern ethnics, American Indians and Australian aboriginals for models and revelations; to finish our research, we shall draw conclusions from both the the Mang case study and models of international comparative education paradigms, put forward our suggestions for survival development of small ethnic groups, to realize the balanced construction of proper survival and cultural tradition consistence. We give the final conclusions with considerations in perspectives of theoretical resources about education policies of small ethnic groups, value orientation of policy making, and policy implementation mechanism. Now these conclusions are as follows:(1) The most obvious crux with education development of the Mang does not lie in the governmental effort in helping the people but in the disconnection of education purpose with the real need of the Mang for their survival. The deterioration of educational function of traditional culture and the problematic current education which is supposed to help the development takes away the self-developing awareness and ability instead. The core concern for the Mang right now is still that of survival and development. Nevertheless, the present education with a perpetrating character of homogenization cannot feed the need to the Mang for their survival and development. Not only that the Mang are put at the edge of survival and development of life entity but they also have to face the increasing danger of extinction of their ethnic tradition and culture which are no equal to the fast pace of societal modernity, the patterned school educations and the residential move over from original habitats which in turn mess up and alter their family education and community education, leaving them with little chance for passing over tradition and culture from older generation to younger generation. Besides, we see the fact that the external impetus from governments accounts very little when there is no enough internal from within the the Mang community. Such in-put cannot help for the survivals. We argue that governments are not to provide financial and material aids to shake off poverty alone but to help foster self-developing awareness and ability of the Mang communities. Therefore we suggest a "people oriented" sustainable education in which different subjects of education have difference education programs to satisfy their different needs and preferences, and the educations are so designed that they learn to increase the awareness of self-developing and the ability to work for the continuity of their own culture and tradition together with their virtual survivals.(2) The real controversial for the Mang now is the conflicting forces between survival and consistence of tradition and culture while education which is meant to help for the mutual growth of the two fails to do so. The external governmental impetus, the sudden cataclysm in lifestyle and living environments brought by residential alternations and the powerful foreign cultural waves are the outer layers, the real core of the crux if we see it with a close scrutinizing eye are the various conflicts and clashes that are at work to cause all the other problems. These include the conflicts within the school itself, the subjects of education, the contents taught in schools, the pedagogical approaches school undertakes, the clash of traditional education with modern education, the conflict of school education with family education and so on and so forth that put the Mang and their communities in perplex for a clear educational philosophy to guide the practice. Or put it another way, this is caused by the clash of acculturation and culture conflict with culture change at one end and cultural tuning in at the other. The implications are the process of externalizing of culture selection and internalizing of cultural awareness of one definite ethnic community. We say the development of the Mang cannot be done at the cost of their tradition and culture, education which is meant to help promote survival and development should not go apart from the tradition and culture of the people; Or it would make them an uprooted community without identity.(3) Based on the case study of the Mang and the international comparison of other cases, three suggestions are given for the development and balanced consistence of cultural tradition and for the education policy makers. First, the foremost importance for education theories concerning education of small ethnic groups is to put in the priority of education justice, the right to choose the education needed and the right for educational development; second, education is to satisfy the needs of survival and development, cultural preference and cultural identity with the concerns of educational policies which are set in accordance with the catering for the cultural roots and needs of survival and development of the ethnic people; third, the educational mechanism which guarantees the ethnic people have the say about their own development, turning compensational education which give superficial and non-self grow help to inspirational education which help to internalize the desire of education for a better living. To do that, legislation for good policies is required to improve education development and traditional culture protection of the small ethnic groups.The values of this research are seen firstly in the theoretical contributions as this is the first educational inquiry concerning small ethnic groups, arguing that good education helps promote and balance the survival and development of small ethnic groups and the consistence of their tradition and culture. The reflections and thinking are useful for consolidation of ethnic rights in survival and development. The values also are for educational practices. The sophisticated field work and the first case study of the kind, analyzing the causes of problems in current the Mang community argues for feasibility and accountability education should have to create a better environment for the Mang and their survival and development which in turn shall let to share the due experience for similar ethnic groups for their rights of survivals and developments, help governments at different levels to make educational policies and laws that are meant for the real good of the small ethnic groups.