MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AS AN EFFORT TO BUILD UNITY AND NATIONALITY THROUGH EDUCATION

Abstract

In the context of Indonesian, our nation and state life has the slogan “Unity in  Diversity” which reflect the existence of pluralism and multiculturalism that can knit unity and national unity. But in reality there are still many encoutered conflict due to relegious and cuktural sentiments that hamper these noble ideals. Religious differences and cultural diversity have not fully benefited.

Multicultural education is one alternative to combine the diversity that exist in the Indonesian nation. Multicultural education has become a non-negotiable demand in building Indonesia. Multicultural education applies strategies and concepts that are based on the diversity that exists in the community, especially those that exist in the learner, whether in the form of ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, social status, age, gender, and ability. The dimensions of multicultural education are: Content integration, integrating various cultures and groups to illustrate the fundamental concepts, generalizations and theories in the subject / discipline, The knowledge construction process, that is, to bring students to understand the cultural implications into a subject (discipline), An Equity Pedagogy, ie Adjust teaching methods by means of student learning in order to facilitate students’ diverse academic achievements in terms of race