CONCLUSIONS

We live in a highly technologized society, which allows us to travel long

distances in a few hours, prolong our life span and store the knowledge of centuries on a
single chip. In spite of all these amazing developments, human behaviour is still
affected by prejudices and century old stereotypes. The purpose of the project Building
a New Europe against Stereotypes was to break the prejudgements associated with the
partner countries.
Over a period of two years, students and teachers from Romania, Lithuania,
Portugal and Turkey were involved in numerous activities, in order to understand each
others culture and traditions.
The questionnaires applied at the beginning of the project revealed that the
students had little knowledge about the history, geography and customs of the other
project partners, while the teaching and the non-teaching staff revealed a higher degree
of stereotypical behaviour.
Adults and young people alike had the opportunity to understand that instead of
focusing on the mistakes of each person, they should pay more attention on how unique
each one is. They discovered that stereotypes make people feel lonely and drive nations
away from one another. Most times, the wrong type of thinking hinders communication
and prevents us from becoming friends with really amazing people, who can teach us a
lot. The target group acknowledged the fact that stereotypes are harmful for its
environment and social life.
The transnational meetings allowed the students to discover the project countries
not as tourists, but as citizens of a united Europe. They entered the homes and the lives
of their foreign peers and realised that in spite of certain cultural differences, they
shared common problems and ideals, typical for their age. Music, dance, food and
enthusiasm brought them together and allowed them to see the reality hidden, beneath
prejudgements or lack of information. The language lessons had the purpose to
eliminate the communication barrier and offer a better insight into the culture of the
partner countries.
Some stereotypes are true. For example "Lithuanians are obsessed with
basketball". The partners reinforced this stereotype showing a video in their country.
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The results of the Lithuanians also confirmed that they are good on this sport. The
Lithuanian coordinator showed also other sports in which their students are good and
participate in national and international competitions abroad. We also confirmed the
stereotype that they eat a lot of potatoes.
The pictural method applied to 14 teachers confirmed that most of the teachers
associated black skin and hair with Turkish nationality and blond and light skin with the
Lithuanian nationality. Just by looking at the faces they categorized the teachers and
their nationality.
The findings of the project suggest that direct contact with the participant
countries and its people is the key to change stereotypes and improve knowledge of the
people.
The activities done during the meetings also contributed to get more knowledge
about the partners. We discovered how they live, how they pray, how they work, how
they educate, their festivities, dances, food, sports, architecture, music and so on. There
was a sharing of the cultures. We visited museums, churches, learned how to do
Lithuanian typical bread; how to make typical Lithuanian chocolate; played sports,
typical dances; did drama activities ,learned some words in different languages, heard
folk tales. The students presented videos, films, multimedia presentations and also
through the social media they shared information (Facebook group for, example). The
communication between them contributed to change their ideas about the others.
Our mission was to provide information about the countries and the culture of
the people. A website, conferences, a corner, news, lessons was some of the actions to
increase the knowledge of all. We fight against some stereotypes and confirm others:
- the Portuguese stereotypes: "Portuguese speak Spanish" and There is sun in Portugal
all year" is not true.
- we confirm the Lithuanian stereotypes: "Lithuanians eat a lot of potatoes"; "Lithuania
is a very cold country" but just in winter.
- we fight against the Romanians stereotypes:"Romania is a poor and rural country";
"Romanian people are gypsies".
- we overcome Turkish stereotypes: "Turkish men have several wives"; "all women
wear scarf"; "Turkey is rules by Shariah law"; "Turkey has a religious government"; "
Turkish men wear long dresses". These Turkish stereotypes are not true.
This project was an opportunity to understand better other cultures, to speak
different languages; to socialize; to break some stereotypes; to appreciate our traditions
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better; to learn how everybody lives, prays, educate and works; to exchange different
experiences and ways of looking at life.; to become aware of the advantages of
multiculturalism; to discover new countries; to learned how to deal with everyday
problems/situations. It was also an opportunity for the students' parents in school
initiatives and joint activities. We expanded extracurricular work with students in their
free time; increased the opportunities for teachers to exchange their style and methods
of work and providing education in accordance with the needs of society. We fight also
against early school living and integrate students with special needs in the activities.
At the end, we promote transversal and horizontal competences. Students and
teachers had the opportunity to develop themselves as persons and as professionals and
also as European citizens.
The project was great to show the important of cultural diversity and linguistic
too.
With the lessons proposed we pretend to give instruments to other teachers to
lead with this subject in order to promote quality in education. The ICT lessons is also a
mean to improve the use of new tools and to prepare better the students with Web 2.0.
Throughout the project, the partners joined their forces to process, compare,
contrast and fight national stereotypes. A series of innovative pedagogical approaches
were used, in order to teach the students about different life philosophies, the diversity
of the European culture and about their own national identity. It can be stated that the
target group successfully acquired the deep knowledge needed to overcome its
stereotypes. The entire experience will enable the participants to bring their
contributions to the creation of a more tolerant and open-minded Europe. All the
objectives have been reached and it has become clear to all those involved that
stereotypeshould be kept out of the picture, even though sometimes they can be victims
themselves. The valuable lesson of not judging people before getting to know them was
well-taught and learnt.

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