The June school holidays were here again. The school's principal, Brother
Patrick Leong, declared the last day of school as
'Cultural Day' at school. The students were bemused
as to what exactly `Cultural Day' was going to be all about. In order to promote
greater racial harmony and tolerance, the children were told to dress in any racial
costume Of their own choice for the day. They were also given the task of finding
out customs and traditions of a race with which they were unfamiliar.
The children became excited at the idea.
On that day, everyone came in the brightest cultural costumes they could find.
Even the teachers were dressed in colourful costumes. Instead of the usual
monotonous morning assembly, the children
filed into the spacious and airy school hall for a presentation of some national
costumes by the teachers. At first, the students found it amusing to see their
Chinese teachers appear in sarees. They thought that the clothes did
not quite match the individual. However, as the day
wore on, some students began to
think that the teachers looked beautiful in their various outfits.
The students spent their lessons getting to know the traditions and
culture of their own classmates who came from different backgrounds.
This lesson extended to the area of religion and beliefs as well.
Each student tried to gather as much information as he could from his classmates.
The collected information was then shared with the rest of the class at the end of the day.
The students found 'Cultural Day' to be extremely interesting and
useful in getting to know the customs and traditions of their fellow classmates.
By the end of the day, they found that they knew their classmates
better when they got to know their backgrounds better. |