ABSTRACT
This chapter describes urban-consumer culture with its overriding characteristics of conspicuous consumption and status envy and then urban economic inequalities and pollution, national struggles over the language and culture of classrooms and the growth of global English. It describes how Malaysia has attempted to resolve the problem of English language imperialism and maintaining their indigenous language. The chapter discusses international covenants and proposals to protect languages and cultures. The Western school model prepares students to live in a global urban-consumer culture, sometimes at the expense of their indigenous languages and cultures. Most societies are now characterized by a degree of diversity. Consequently, most national school systems face the problem of educating multicultural and multilingual populations. The global commission on international migration is concerned that unless immigrants are integrated into the social structures of their host societies, nations will face problems of social cohesion resulting in increased cultural conflicts between native-born and foreign-born populations.
