The modern education system in America is building up a nation of racist within our children. Educations promotion of cultural diversity and awareness is actually creating a segregated, inconsiderate, racist culture that prides itself on being racially and ethnically diverse. This emphasis on cultural awareness is built on the idea that the only way for America to reach true diversity is if Americans understand what makes other nations and cultures different. By definition however, cultural awareness is the understanding of the differences between oneself and the people from other countries/backgrounds focusing on the difference in attitude and values. What modern education and culture promotes in cultural awareness stays from this definition …show more content…
Modern American culture praises the concept and thought of diversity through cultural awareness, but fails to actually follow through with the act of diversifying within the society. This is due to the fact that people want to be around other people who think, act, look, and behave in ways that are very similar to their own. Americans are not only drawn towards people who look like them, but they are also drawn towards those who hold similar values and positions. This desire to be near others who share similar traits and values goes against the desire to be diverse. Today's society is constantly calling for more diversity, yet no one desires to act upon this call and put it into practice correctly. Instead of truly being a diverse society, Americans prefer to surround themselves with others who share similar traits and values. It can be hard to truly grasp just how badly Americans do not want to live in a diverse community. Michael Jonas provided s an essay that includes a study conducted that can be used to explain this American desire. Jonas does this by introducing Robert Putnam, a Harvard political scientist, who conducted a study based on data collected from interviews of around 30,000 people from all over America. Putnam's study raises question concerning why the diverse communities have less people willing to help in their community. Putnam concluded that the communities with "higher diversity" also experienced "lower social capital" (Jonas,18). Putnam explains that the more diverse a community is the less trusting and involved are its members. This distrust in people is rooted in the concentration on the idea that has been repeated since childhood that focused on what makes people different. Jonas makes the point that in Putnam’s study the seemed to be no connection between distrust
The ability for people to look at a situation from a different perspective is vital in today’s globalized society. Diversity is the most important core attribute we share that gives us a new perspective to assess situations differently through our diverse backgrounds and upbringings. Unlike Patrick J. Buchanan’s argument in his essay titled “Deconstructing America,” diversity is not a burden, but rather a necessity in America’s culture. Conversely, Fredrickson 's essay titled, “Models of American Ethnic Relations: A Historical Perspective,” illustrated a more precise version of American history that disproves Buchanan’s ethnocentric ideologies. Buchanan speaks of diversity as a narrow, one-way street. The imprecise interpretations of history
Every individual in society and in a community is unique in their own ways, and their diversity shows up in many ways. Some of these ways include: religion, race, socioeconomic status, lifestyle, and so on. Everyone’s backgrounds are different, and this is what creates diversity in people. Even though everyone might not be the same, only by uniting everyone can we create the big picture. It’s like a puzzle—even though people are different, we can come together to create a big picture that couldn’t be created by puzzle pieces of the same shape. To me, diversity symbolizes the unique backgrounds that we come from. Every individual in their communities and in their society are influenced by their background—and this can come from various reasons. If someone comes from a different socioeconomic background, or lifestyle, their thought processes and their view of life might be much more different than mine. Their reaction to a certain situation can be much more different than mine, and it is important for me to see all these viewpoints in order to be a more informed member of my community. Everyone is diverse in their expression, style, and
Schwartz, Stuart, and Craig Conley. Human Diversity: A Guide for Understanding. 14th ed. New York: McGraw-Hills Primis Custom Publishing, 2000. 3-7. Print.
This essay will discuss the intrinsic relationship between diversity conceptualization and social integration presenting a response against David Brooks’ essay entitled “People Like Us.” In order to do this I will discuss four crucial elements: the influences of different definitions of diversity in cultural unification, Brook’s ideas about social groups working together and social groups coexisting together, the importance of diversity, and the influence of diversity in social changes. I will examine why some people have the perception that our American society ignore or see as unworthy diversity. Thus, I will dispute Brook’s view stating that our society disregards diversity, and Americans just pretend that it is important to them.
In Add Diversity and Lose Trust, Vinson thinks that diversity is deteriorating the society by saying "[I]n the presence of diversity we hunker down. We act like turtles. The effect of diversity is worse than had been imagined. And it 's not just that we don 't trust people who are not like us. In diverse communities, we don 't trust people who do not look like us." Yet, Putnam’s original statement is “The short run effect of being around people who are different from us is to make all of us uncertain - to hunker down, to pull in, to trust everybody less. Like a turtle in the presence of some feared threat, we pull in” (Lanzarotta). Vinson misrepresents Putnam’s meaning by symbolizing Americans as turtles. Vinson conveys that Americans are the inferiors ones and afraid of immigrants since turtles are small and they hide inside the shell. Vinson misleads the audience into believing that Americans do not trust people who do not look the same at all. In Putnam’s perspective, he thinks it is normal for Americans to feel insecure to trust foreigners in a short period of time. Occasionally, Americans slowly accept other people as members of the community because other people start to adopt America’s
For instance, Brooks himself confesses that he has himself in the past gravitated towards places where he believed he could be most comfortable in and where he also felt he could be his true self. He further states, that the majority of his friends are middle-income level Caucasians and conservative Christians. Brooks’ main argument in the essay is that many individuals in the United States often do not even bother to show that they would like to build diverse communities. The essay, Brook says, is about the public discourse on race and is meant to make us ponder about the stereotypes and assumptions we have when we think about diversity or people from other ethnicities. It is also meant to make us look where we fit in the diversity debate? Are we truly for the integration of
The world is made up of many different types of people, each one having his or her cultural background. Over the years, the United States has become increasingly populated with cultural diversity. This influx has prompted school administrators to recognize the need to incorporate multicultural programs into their school environment including classroom settings, school wide activities, and curriculum as it becomes more evident that the benefits of teaching cultural diversity within the school setting will positively influence our communities, and ultimately the entire nation’s future. The purpose of this paper is to share the pros and cons of multicultural education in the classroom. Additionally, I will express my views compared to those in the reading requirements for this assignment, as well as, new knowledge obtained through the research. Finally, I will share situations where I was challenged introducing a multicultural issue during a class.
The goal of an education is to gain knowledge to help improve one’s understanding of the world. If we shy away from topics like racism and cultural diversity, then we risk not being able to understand a huge part of the way our world works. Consider this: are all the people we converse with in a day the same ethnicity? Are they all from the same cultural background? If they all are the same ethnicity or from the same cultural background, then one might not need to understand why cultural diversity affects how someone would respond to a problem or situation. Let’s face it: the world is not homogenous there are multiple different races and cultures. We need to teach not judge others without getting to know them first.
When the majority of teachers in America are White, middle class women who only speak English in a country were students are starting to come from a multitude of backgrounds it is no wonder problems are arising. As more people from different cultures and religions immigrate to the United States the average classroom is losing the cultural uniformity it had in the past. Though the faces in classrooms are steadily changing many teachers have not been able to adjust as quickly to the ever growing diversity taking place. One would expect for teachers to still be able to teach students effectively whether they share a similar background or not, but in actuality cultural conflicts between teachers and students are only getting worse. Especially when
The roles of diversity and uniqueness are a crucial part of society today. Without these qualities being enforced into the American character, people won't produce thoughtful ideas that could help shape America. Both authors illustrate the evil effect of conformity in society and support how one should be self reliant, not phony, and confident in their own beliefs and ideas.
The thing about multicultural education that surprised me the most was how much opposition there is to multicultural education. I would think, by now, people would be able to see how unbalanced the current educational curriculum is and welcome the inclusion of aspects from other cultures. I have read arguments ranging from, multicultural education is inherently racist to multicultural education promotes Islam and is indoctrinating our youth with terrorist ideas. Like most hot button issues in this country, people in positions of power will use everything possible, including fear-mongering, to further their agenda.
The world is currently undergoing a cultural change, and we live in an increasingly diverse society. This change is not only affect the people in the community but also affect the way education is viewed. Teaching diversity in the classroom and focusing multicultural activities in the programs can help improve positive social behavior in children. There is no question that the education must be prepared to embrace the diversity and to teach an increasingly diverse population of young children.
When most people think “Diversity” they think of the most communal characteristics: such as: Age, race, gender, sexual orientation, body type, ethnicity, and a person’s
We need to be aware of the diversity in the classroom. Cultural diversity includes: bi-racial, adoptive, immigrant, gay, and step-families. It is a large majority of the students today even in my generation. Focusing on making a balanced curriculum that exposes the students to all of these different backgrounds is very important. I know that it is likely that a teacher will not be able to cater to every student, but it is important to involve each of them. There is a large percentage of students that have dropped out due to the lack of having a connection with the curriculum. It is frustrating that we are lacking progress in our schools to help these children connect when studies show that each cultural group will soon be equal in numbers. We need to form a better
The world as a whole is becoming more diverse. There is diversity in schools and in the workplace. People should understand that diversity is what makes the world go around. If all people had the same characteristics then the world would be a very boring place. Even though all human beings are the same in some ways, we are still culturally different. Cultural diversity lets us appreciate our differences. Different cultural groups have varying beliefs, customs, values, and a wide variety of characteristics that make them special. Cultural influences make people see the world differently and cultural diversity should be appreciated.