 sj |
||
|
||
BS: Multicultural Competence
|
|
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: GUEST,999 Date: 09 Jan 10 - 08:17 PM "Far better to take a bit more time and talk in terms such as the skill of recognizing situations where someone isn't familiar with what what is going on, and developing a strategy for bridging the gap" BRILLIANT. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 09 Jan 10 - 08:09 PM "Multicultural Competence" isn't a buzz word or an obfuscation here, it is a survival skill-- The skill is important, indeed essential - but words like that get in the way. Far better to take a bit more time and talk in terms such as the skill of recognizing situations where someone isn't familiar with what what is going on, and developing a strategy for bridging the gap or being able to see others as they see themselves, as well as understanding how they see us. If people say they disagree about the importance of doing stuff like that, you know there's a real disagreement that needs to be tackled. The kind of arguments that are thrown up by jargon terms can enable those kind of disagreements to camouflage themselves. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 09 Jan 10 - 01:18 PM I avoid people who use such terms like the plague. In general, they are emphasizing their own incompetence. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: wysiwyg Date: 09 Jan 10 - 10:21 AM Here is an example of multicultural competencies of various, relative degrees. It's an example of how one might choose to share historical material referencing a period that had not yet grown, ethically, to understand "class" and "race" issues in the same way they are now "better" understood. (It's all relative, see?) (In the Spirituals permathread, I have often found myself in that same position, as do many other Mudcatters posting songs that reference sexist and other "now known to be wrong" attitudes, such as the MJH song "Nobody's Business But My Own"). So here's the "enlightened" audiobook-reader's summary of an autobiographical account of the Old West frontier life of the US; the woman who wrote the autobiography is enlightened for HER time: Her letters, chatty and detailed, open windows on varied aspects of frontier and army life: army protocol (including the right of senior officers to bump subordinates out of their housing); the Indian tribes--Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Apache, Kiowa (ceremonial visits from chiefs as well as Indian warfare); the black cavalry troops (at Camp Supply in Indian Territory); Chinese cooks (also Polish, Irish, and enlisted men doing kitchen duty). Her letters span years of rapid change in the West. They touch on the disappearance of the buffalo herds, the decline of the Indian tribes and the coming of the railroads. To the concrete-minded folks who've often been so frustrated with me-- sorry, I don't "do" concrete, but I do respect your way of thinking. ~Susan |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Jack Campin Date: 08 Jan 10 - 06:49 AM As 999 points out, multiculturalism is a pretty inadequate reponse to the predicament a lot of the people oppressed by the capitalist system find themselves in - most of the black and Asian activists I've known in the UK regard the whole multiculturalist project with utter contempt. When a group of people have been subjected to generations of violent oppression and exploitation (Palestinians or Aboriginals, say), their main need is not respect and understanding, it's for the oppression to stop and reparations for what's been done to them. Multiculturalism may be helpful some of the time, but for the most serious issues we face it's a cosmetic palliative. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: freda underhill Date: 08 Jan 10 - 05:33 AM "Why then 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." (from Hamlet) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: GUEST,999 Date: 08 Jan 10 - 01:18 AM I detest terms that people think mean something but actually mean something different to everyone who uses the term. Allow me to ask: what does Multicultural Competence mean? To you. Right now? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: GUEST,999 Date: 08 Jan 10 - 01:15 AM My point is that it's another buzzword. And as with the buzzwords I used, it'll likely go nowhere. Howzat? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Desert Dancer Date: 08 Jan 10 - 01:14 AM Or more specifically, which do you see as cause, and which is effect? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Desert Dancer Date: 08 Jan 10 - 01:13 AM Your point? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: GUEST,999 Date: 08 Jan 10 - 01:02 AM "Multicultural Competence: Let's celebrate the differences, develop strategies to encourage cooperative learning, brainstorm ways to wear other people's clothes and not look like we're trying to pass, and encourage diversity in our outcome-based-educational endeavours. Let us go forth into a brave new world where no child is left behind and there is a chicken in every pot, yada, yada, yada, yada." Meanwhile, our prisons are full and minorities are over-represented therein. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Desert Dancer Date: 08 Jan 10 - 12:27 AM Wow. What a lot of reactionary reaction, and righteous bristling at academic language. I think there's a lot of good stuff there. Prof. Byram's definition gets at being able to see others as they see themselves, as well as understanding how they see us. In the second paragraph about the conference theme, "the third place" or "third culture" is about this ability to step outside of one's personal point of view. :: "Globalization, having brought individuals in contact with one another at an unprecedented scale, has also brought forth a general challenge to traditionally recognized boundaries of nation, language, race, gender, and class." ~ I'd add religion to the list :: "The challenge moves in two directions simultaneously: on the one hand, distinctions that were unnoticeable before have been rendered visible..." ~ paraphrasing part of this: it's easy to assume people see things the way we do :: "...and in the opposite direction, similarities across traditional boundaries have been recognized." ~ again paraphrasing: at the same time, we may have more in common than we realize :: "..."third place" or "third culture," a sphere of interculturality that enables language students to take an insider's view..." ~ the ability to see others as they see themselves, as well as we and to integrate that with our own perspectives on them :: "...as well as an outsider's view..." ~and see ourselves as others see us, as well as being able to objectively look at ourselves It's all stuff that is basic to good human interaction, just more difficult -- challenging, and thus requiring more thought and effort -- as we move outward from our own family/community/culture. Is all that so bad?? ~ Becky in Tucson |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: wysiwyg Date: 07 Jan 10 - 10:17 PM Jack, it's nothing like that-- relax. Nuff said. ~Susan |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: M.Ted Date: 07 Jan 10 - 08:36 PM I live in a county that has a large multicultural population--meaning simply that a significant number of our neighbors have come from different places. "Multicultural Competence" isn't a buzz word or an obfuscation here, it is a survival skill-- For teachers and school administrators, it means understanding how to manage the fact that the kids at the local middle school speak any one of 71 different languages at home, for police and public safety officials, it means dealing with rural villagers who don't realize that they can't walk down the middle of a road like they did in Central America, for store managers, it means knowing that the Pakistanis who have signed up to work on Christmas Eve have to be taught to say, "Merry Christmas" to the customers. For realtors, it's figuring out what floor plans will work for an Ethiopian extended family with 11 adults. It isn't just the home-growns who need to develop the competence, either--yesterday, I was in a sandwich shop with three Latina order takers, one of whom began speaking to the Vietnamese-American woman ahead of me in Spanish. It is really is the skill of recognizing situations where someone isn't familiar with what what is going on, and developing a strategy for bridging the gap. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Joe Offer Date: 07 Jan 10 - 08:23 PM A quick Google shows that "Multicultural Competence" is most certainly a legitimate buzzword. Not that I think much of buzzwords, but there you are. -Joe- |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 07 Jan 10 - 08:06 PM The time saved by using jargon expressions, instead of taking slightly longer and explaining what we mean, is probably more than outweighed by the time wasted arguing about the merits and demerits of the terms and trying to justify their use, in face of critics who object to this kind of language. More important - when we use this kind of language this can have the effect of focussing attention on the words rather than on the thinking that lie behind their invention. The effect is likely to be to hand a dangerous weapon to those who find it more convenient to attack the words rather than the ideas. And it can also provide careerists, who have no real understanding of these ideas, with a tool they can use in clawing their way upwards. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Rowan Date: 07 Jan 10 - 07:30 PM For those interested in how language generally, and words specifically, are deliberately misused to confound clear communication I can recommend two books by Don Watson; "Death Sentence" and "Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words". At one stage in his life, Don was a speechwriter for Paul Keating, one of our previous Prime Ministers. And, for those who are interested in installing a free bit of software that acts as a managerial jargon detector, I can recommend Bullfighter which, apparently, started out as a project funded by one of the large business houses. When the lads started using it on the internal documents of the business house they were given their marching orders (so it must be good!) and told they could distribute it so long as they did so for free. Cheers, Rowan |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Jack Campin Date: 07 Jan 10 - 07:09 PM I did get the PM first time. What neither it nor any of the discussion here has revealed: - who are the people using the term? - what have they said that illuminates the intended meaning? have they given any clues AT ALL about what the phrase means? - who are they talking to? - what is at stake? do people lose their jobs, face criminal prosecution, get refused citizenship status or have funding cut off for not being "multiculturally competent"? - who is going to determine whether people are "multiculturally competent"? is there a right of appeal and if so, who to? I could come up with my own random phrases like that. Caramelized syntax. Ingrown wire. Pre-filtered obligations. Humidified agendas. If I was the boss of a big enough organization I could demand that my peons try to guess what all of those meant and watch them squirm. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: wysiwyg Date: 07 Jan 10 - 05:47 PM Jack, sorry, no conspiracies here. My office puder often "burps" in mid-send. I'll just find the PM and resend it. ~Susan |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Lighter Date: 07 Jan 10 - 05:08 PM >>It looks like the point of the term is simply to intimidate people with terminology.<< One has already become two ("multi-" and "inter-"), which may or may not be synonymous at the whim of the user. But you can't go far wrong if you claim both competences. As long as nobody demands details. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Jack Campin Date: 07 Jan 10 - 04:52 PM Still no real answer, either here or in that PM. It looks like the point of the term is simply to intimidate people with terminology. Whoever is using it knows perfectly well that most people reading it won't have a clue what it means. Those readers are most probably junior workers in a large organization being forced to comply with bizarrely written guidelines and fill out reports on how well they're doing. The point of the whole exercise being to put them in a position where they can never win. They don't know what the expectations are and can be denounced at any time for failing to meet them. It's a scenario like Kafka's "The Trial". |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Greg F. Date: 07 Jan 10 - 04:21 PM Back in my day, we called such talents and knowledge "a high-school education." Or possibly common courtesy and open-mindedness. Gotta love the wankers that crank out these exotic and mostly meaningless terms. S'pose they have nothing better to do. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Lighter Date: 07 Jan 10 - 03:53 PM >> Intercultural competence is [the ability] "to see relationships between different cultures - both internal and external to a society - and to mediate, that is interpret each in terms of the other, either for themselves or for other people." It also encompasses the ability to critically or analytically understand that one's "own and other cultures'" perspective is culturally determined rather than natural. -Michael Byram, Professor, University of Durham << But Professor of what? Surely not of lucidity. My top three guesses: 1. Education. 2. Cultural Theory. 3. Communications. According to the professor, anyone is "interculturally competent" who can fairly translate a sentence from one language into another. (Of course, the more sentences and languages the better, but I'm sticking to his definition.) One should also realize that, thanks to history and society, persons of different cultures are likely to have different points of view on some things. Back in my day, we called such talents and knowledge "a high-school education." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Desert Dancer Date: 07 Jan 10 - 03:24 PM Susan, Not a personal answer to your original post, but possibly of interest (I just happened to have had an alert in my office e-mail): The Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy at the University of Arizona is hosting Second International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence. In the introductory information for the conference, there is this statement: Description: Intercultural competence is [the ability] "to see relationships between different cultures - both internal and external to a society - and to mediate, that is interpret each in terms of the other, either for themselves or for other people." It also encompasses the ability to critically or analytically understand that one's "own and other cultures'" perspective is culturally determined rather than natural. -Michael Byram, Professor, University of Durham also: Globalization, having brought individuals in contact with one another at an unprecedented scale, has also brought forth a general challenge to traditionally recognized boundaries of nation, language, race, gender, and class. The challenge moves in two directions simultaneously: on the one hand, distinctions that were unnoticeable before have been rendered visible, and in the opposite direction, similarities across traditional boundaries have been recognized. The end result in both cases is that boundaries of social practice are being re-negotiated, re-assessed, and re-considered. For those living within this rapidly changing social landscape, intercultural competence--as defined by Michael Byram above--is a necessary skill, and the cultivation of such intercultural individuals falls on the shoulders of today's educators. They should provide students with opportunities to help them define and design for themselves their "third place" or "third culture," a sphere of interculturality that enables language students to take an insider's view as well as an outsider's view on both their first and second cultures. It is this ability to find/establish/adopt this third place that is at the very core of intercultural competence. ~ Becky in Tucson |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: wysiwyg Date: 07 Jan 10 - 01:50 PM Answered via PM. ~S~ |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Jack Campin Date: 07 Jan 10 - 01:39 PM How about you explain why you're asking people all round the world about the meaning of an exotic term none of us have ever heard before, as used by people you haven't named, for purposes you haven't given us a clue about? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: wysiwyg Date: 07 Jan 10 - 12:48 PM As the OP (original poster) of this thread, may I respectfully request that we now return to the topic as posted, so that the folks "new to this site" that I'll be inviting to view this topic will be able to follow the original topic without having to wade through all the digressions? It's now too bulky to print as-is for them, or mail it; the relevant meeting I referenced in the OP (opening post) has now been rescheduled-- so I'll be emailing them this link instead. Thanks, ~Susan |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: GUEST,Jack Campin Date: 07 Jan 10 - 11:58 AM And Jack Campin, if you need help from a moderator, send an e-mail or personal message to me or Big Mick. I'd forgotten about Big Mick, and I believe there are about 5 others? I wasn't talking about me. The fact that there's no publicly visible way to either contact or identify the moderators is a problem for anyone relatively new to the site. The way you do it shouldn't be something you only learn about if you happen to have come across a thread that mentions it. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: akenaton Date: 07 Jan 10 - 11:42 AM No problem Joe.....You da man! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Bonzo3legs Date: 07 Jan 10 - 04:53 AM People who burble on about racism obviously have nothing else to do. In a world where most folks come from somewhere else, most folks get on with one another - it's just the few ...... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Joe Offer Date: 07 Jan 10 - 12:45 AM I've received complaints about Akenaton's criticism of Azizi, and the complaints are valid. However, in this case, I will leave the remarks because there have been responses. But I would ask Akenaton to depersonalize his remarks in the future. On the other hand, I would like to take Azizi to task for this statement:
Subject: RE: Origins: What a Jimmy-john is? From: GUEST,,gargoyle - PM Date: 30 Dec 09 - 09:30 PM Az ol gal....it hab ben a grevin me tar bul bout ur lonliness. Yo b in d only "parson o color" on d mudcat.... If Azizi or any other Mudcatter had contacted me about the offending post, it would have been deleted as soon as I received her complaint - but tonight was the first time I heard of it. If she neglected to complain to me or Mick, then she has no reason to post a public complaint about our "tolerating" racism. I have asked Azizi previously not to copy and re-post deleted posts, and I have also asked her to complain to me directly if she finds a post offensive. She has once again failed to do so. It does tend to lend credence to Akenaton's criticism. And Jack Campin, if you need help from a moderator, send an e-mail or personal message to me or Big Mick. We are the contact persons, and we usually respond within a matter of hours. There are few emergency matters here that require a quicker response - but if there is an emergency need, ask around and I'm sure somebody can tell you which moderator is active. -Joe Offer- |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: GUEST, heric Date: 06 Jan 10 - 08:23 PM I hate to tell you ake, but if you have white friends who felt the need to tell you about their fight for black civil rights, they are probably a bit too much into their own stories to be worth listening to. Azizi may write long posts but it's her style, not intended as a lecture or for gotcha purposes (at least in my perception.) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 06 Jan 10 - 07:27 PM Pity. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: akenaton Date: 06 Jan 10 - 06:40 PM Well, As I have the greatest of respect for you Mr McGrath, I must tell you that I have thought that for years. I know several people here, who have demonstrated for black civil rights and are fed up being lectured on the finer points of racism. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 06 Jan 10 - 06:27 PM But is there no one here who thinks that Azizi's scouring of these threads, for the wrong inflection, an errant nuance, a deeper sense of victimship, brings posts like Gargoyle's down on her own head? I would very much like to think that there are no Mudcat members, who thinks that, including you, akenaten. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: katlaughing Date: 06 Jan 10 - 06:27 PM There's always "ethically correct" first written by JonW in THIS THREAD. At some point in that thread, I think it was Rick Fielding, who coined "ethically conscious" which has been my preferred term since. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Stower Date: 06 Jan 10 - 04:43 PM I have no idea exactly what "multicultural competence" means, since WYSIWYG was "purposely NOT defining this term here", but I would guess it means something like Lighter said. I'd only add that "multicultural competence" seems a strange juxtaposition of two words. But there's the problem, isn't it? In any institution, or in society in general, if a new term is used that is ill-defined, it is just going to be misunderstood, derided and used as a weapon to attack others who are pro or anti whatever it is. It is a question of communication, surely, by those who wish the term to be understood. It seems to me there is a clash of two big issues here, and I wonder if this is what Susan had in mind in her original post (and I'd be grateful if you'd indicate this, Susan, if you come back and read this). On the one hand, it is surely a good thing to be culturally sensitive. It would be an odd person, it seems to me, who would argue that trying to understand another's cultural perspective and ways of doing things is a bad thing? (I do know such people do exist, though.) Understanding does not necessarily indicate agreeing with, of course. On the other hand, there is an obvious clash between being culturally sensitive and holding some hard-won political standards and values, such as equality. Should I be culturally sensitive to someone who, brought up in their own culture, believes that women are of less worth than men, or should I give those widely-held beliefs no respect, due to my politics? Personally, I would always go for universal ethical standards over respecting particular cultures that perpetuate inequality. Just as the "politically correct" jibe has been used as a blind battering ram against anyone who aspires to be culturally sensitive (for example), "respect for culture" has also been waved as a banner to justify turning a blind eye to social injustice (usually by those with a vested financial interest in staying on the right side of brutal rulers or misogynist cultures, it has to be said!). I do not respect any aspect of a culture that wishes to divide people into the more and less worthy of life, social benefits, etc. So what's my point? To use the language (which I would *never* use outside of this discussion!), I would wish to be "culturally competent", i.e. sensitive to others' cultural mores and values, as long as that did not clash with being "politically correct" (Ugh! It hurts saying that!), i.e. maintaining the standards of equality for black and white, men and women, etc., that have been so hard won, which all cultures have yet to entirely achieve, and which some cultures are still perpetuating the opposite of. Hope all that makes sense! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Lighter Date: 06 Jan 10 - 03:48 PM Thanks, Stower. I concur that "political correctness" and "politically correct" are rarely used as positive terms to describe something the speaker deems desirable. As I recall, "political correctness" came to public attention about twenty years ago through American campus conservatives who were quoting radicals at a single New England university. Thus the phrase was instantly made useless for serious discussion about anything other than itself. Is the phrase "multicultural competence" intended to mean simply "the ability to understand, empathize with, or otherwise get along with or assist people of different cultures"? If it is, I'd say its sole value would be to personnel managers who want to express themselves to each other in a hurry. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: akenaton Date: 06 Jan 10 - 03:40 PM Dont know what to make of Gargoyle, he has never responded to me personally.Sometimes I think he's a deranged genious, sometimes a joker and sometimes I think he's just nuts! But is there no one here who thinks that Azizi's scouring of these threads, for the wrong inflection, an errant nuance, a deeper sense of victimship, brings posts like Gargoyle's down on her own head? The US has elected a "blackish" president, and this forum is much more "liberal" than any cross section of US society, so why waste ones time here.....looking for creepie crawlies? Is perhaps because she knows she is among like minds who regard her as some sort of witch finder heroine.? Perhaps her new cyber life will be a more fulfilling one, preaching to the rednecks of America's right!.....Ake I Wish!! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: mg Date: 06 Jan 10 - 02:38 PM It was a disgusting post and I don't believe in ignoring posts like that...there are some marginal things that we have to let slide but that was overly intimate besides its other faults. That is one thing I would not tolerate...and what offends me more than a generic swipe at a culture, race etc..and that is an assumption that someone can be overly intimate in a public forum with someone..that usually means referring to their biological parts in an overly personal way but could be like the G. post above. mg |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: M.Ted Date: 06 Jan 10 - 02:33 PM You give as good as you get, Akenaton, and you know it--please spare us the "abused regularly for my views" business--you're lucky that you've been allowed to express them as fully and floridly as you have. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: akenaton Date: 06 Jan 10 - 01:14 PM Get into the real world, I am abused regularly here for my views, although I try to give facts and figures to back them up...I NEVER complain to admin, as abuse is always easy to spot for what it is, and is counter productive in any discussion. If you cant stand the heat etc etc. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Stower Date: 06 Jan 10 - 12:03 PM Absolutely right, Lighter. Also right, M.Ted: "... nor anyone else has either a right or guarantee of free speech in this community" ... or any other, and rightly so. I should *not* have the freedom to post on here (or anywhere) that "xxxx is a f---ing w-----" or anything else which is personally abusive. Neither should you. And while we all should be able to freely and vigorously dismantle another person's views with intelligence, logic and our own experience, that should never be allowed to become an attack on the person. Not only is that potentially damaging to the person concerned and to the confidence of other Mudcatters to post, it is abusive, slanderous and, in terms of advancing an argument and bringing understanding, it is sloppy, retrograde and completely useless. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Lighter Date: 06 Jan 10 - 09:46 AM Can't imagine how "multicultural competence" can reasonably be synonymous with "political correctness," which, depending on the user and the context, can now mean anything from a simple consideration of another's feelings to totalitarian cultural control. Unless someone is trying to create a new opaque euphemism for something else through the intro of a new phrase, "m. c." can only mean competence (vague already) in many disparate cultures, an extraordinarily unlikely attainment. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: Jack Campin Date: 06 Jan 10 - 05:56 AM Re contacting moderators: how? There's no list of them and no "contact a moderator" button in the user interface. The only one I know of is Joe, so he's the only one I've ever contacted. I'd be SOL if I needed to contact one at a time when he's asleep - there being no list of mods and no central link, there also no way to know which ones are likely to be around at which times. I presume there must be an Australian-timezone one, but how would I know who it is? YouTube's "Spam" button in the discussion threads is a good facility to have - no comment, just raise an alert that any mod could pick up. (So is restricting the facility to registered users, as they do and as Mudcat probably would if it had such a thing). |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: akenaton Date: 06 Jan 10 - 05:46 AM "Protected class"???............no thanks. Count me out. That road leads to more madness. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: akenaton Date: 06 Jan 10 - 05:40 AM i was not referring to Gargoyle's remarks.....as you all know very well! Azizi has a long history of turning over stones to find something which dosen't exist on Mudcat! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: freda underhill Date: 06 Jan 10 - 05:19 AM Sorry about that lousy spelling, I was typing away and a visitor dropped in. I meant to say: In Australia, just this week, access to free phone interpeting services has been extended to all chemists around the country. This sort of service saves lives. :-) freda |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: freda underhill Date: 06 Jan 10 - 02:18 AM That's a great post, Rowan, perfect. Azizi, I agree that there should also be institutional cultural competency. It's distressing in a place like Mudcat for people to be subjected to vitriol. as Kat says, the moderators try hard to get rid of it when it's pointed out to them. Anyone who is PART of some minority group knows what it's like to be left out or not to be able to access services. In Australia, just this week, acces free phone interpeting services have been extended to all chemists around the country. This sort of service saves lives. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Multicultural Competence From: katlaughing Date: 05 Jan 10 - 11:13 PM So would've any other moderator who saw it or was PMd about it, by anyone. We don't catch them all, but when we do they are taken care of; it is very helpful if folks let us know asap when they do see something like that. It is also very helpful to remember to paste the thread addy so we can get right to it without hunting through the thread titles. kat |
