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The importance of multicultural education in todays society
Importance of a multicultural classroom
The importance of multicultural education in todays society
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The class activity was simple: draw a self-portrait. As Ms. Caldera began to look through her students' work, one stood out to her. The drawing was of a young fair-skinned, blond-hair, and blue-eyed girl. Normally this would not be a problem, but in this case it was. The girl who had drawn herself was actually quite the opposite: rich dark skin, brown hair, and brown eyes (Caldera). Considering that the United States is such a large melting pot of cultures, it is normal for children to have difficulty balancing between two cultures. Culture, is really important for a child's development because it ultimately influences their morals and values. Although it is difficult for children to balance the traditions and such of two cultures, they are recompensed with a greater knowledge about the world, and understanding of people.
Culture is very important when it comes to shaping a person's beliefs and what they stand for, it will basically determine many of their decisions. In specific, children form their behaviors based on their culture, which leads to different customs and beliefs because of the variety of cultures. Different cultures express different character traits in a person; this can lead to the development and prevalence of a child (Culture). Although the United States consists of a shared core culture, it also consists of many other minor cultures; because of this there are many different characteristics, values, and norms that might be interpreted differently by other cultures. Consequently, this can cause cultural misunderstandings, conflict, and discrimination which also leads to an imbalance for children because they do not know what is acceptable in certain cultures. Banks acknowledges that “Multicultural educ...
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Banks, James and Cherry Banks. Multicultural Education. John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2004. Print
Caldera, Araceli. Personal Interview. English Language Program Facilitator. 14 June 2015.
“Constructing Race.” Signs of Life in the USA. 2009 ed. Print.
“Culture.” Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development. 2012 ed. Web. 10 June 2015.
Davidman, Leonard and Patricia T. Davidman. Teaching with a Multicultural Perspective. New York: Longman, 1997. Print.
Grosjean, Francois. “Advantages of Being Bicultural.” Psychology Today. 19 Apr. 2013. Print.
McCarthy, Steve. “Understanding Bilingualism: What it Means to Be Bicultural.” Childreaserch.net. 2 Jan. 2010. Web. 8 June 2015.
Parrish, Patrick, and Jennifer A. Linder-VanBerschot. “Addressing the Challenges of MulticulturalInstruction.” Cultural Dimensions of Learning 11.2 (2010): 10 pgs. Web. 8 June 2015.
In the article, “Multiculturalism: Battleground or Meeting Ground,” Takaki starts out addressing the difference in philosophy between him and Woodward when it comes to cultural diversity. Woodward strongly disagrees with Takaki when it comes to the topic of cultural diversity. They both are seeing issue threw two difference lens. Woodward attacked Takaki on the issue when Woodward reviewed Takaki’s “Iron Cages: Rave and Culture in Nineteeth-Century America” book in the “New York Review of Books,” saying it was too narrow in focus (Takaki, n.d). Woodward rebuttal was that the book did not contain any balance, and should have touched on “national issues” to have that balance and not just the American south. Woodward even said that Takaki was
Robles de Melendez, W. (2010). Teaching Young Children in Multicultural Classrooms: Issues, Concepts, and Strategies (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
In this article, Byars-Winston and Fouad, seeks to assess the importance of cultural factors and their impact on multicultural value of career counseling from the perspective of a counselor. The authors further examine the Culturally Appropriate Career Counseling Model and offer an expansion of the model through incorporating metacognitive processes. Culture is believed to play a significant role in one’s career decision making but the extent to which it does remains unknown. It is therefore imperative that career counselors try to understand
Family’s beliefs and values may be different for some and in other cultures they may not be accepted. As teachers, we have to learn about different cultures and expand our knowledge so families could feel more accepted. In the book, Anti- Bias Education for young children and ourselves by Louise Derman-Sparks & Julie Olsen Edwards, talks about how culture and fairness involves two dimensions, children’s development of a positive culture, identity, and their respectful interactions with other cultures. With these two dimensions, it will help the child to continue to express their home culture at school while learning the different cultures at school with their classmates. They learn about what’s right from wrong, how to dress, and talk
In class, we were shown how culture is something you learn from a group to provide different beliefs and behaviors. In the article, we are shown how culture affects people when they are at a young age because it is something they have learned growing up. Another discussion we had in class is stereotypes versus generalization, where stereotyping was assuming a group is all one way and generalization is where you can correlate a trend to someone. From the article, it discusses how we put together people into certain groups to categorize them. When this happens, we are either stereotyping or using generalizations. Another topic we discussed in class is how to be aware of diversity, which is understanding we need to learn about how to take of others of all cultural backgrounds. We can compare this to our article for when it is our duty to take control of how we treat others based on their cultural differences. We need to learn about others backgrounds and respect them, so that we can overcome our biases. We can also connect this same concept of how we learned in class to be culturally sensitive, as it too describes to be respectful and learn about other cultures that are different from our
Ugbu, J., U. (1992). Understanding cultural diversity and learning. EDUC 160 Urban Education (Spring 2014, pp. 213-228)
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.
Banks defines multicultural education and offers different approaches to reform it so education is more culturally sensitive. Banks is the leading expert in the field of multicultural education. Though this book was published in 1993, newer versions are available that include other perspectives that are more relevant in today’s times. This text will allow educators to learn how to teach from a different cultural perspective. Teaching students from a multicultural perspective creates well-rounded individuals that are able to view world issues through perspectives that are not their
After I graduated from Brooklyn College, I intended to pursue my master’s degree. My excitement to continue my education was high, but it was not possible because of a family concern. At the time, my niece was diagnosed with leukemia and so I was unable to continue my education after my final semester of undergraduate study. My niece was the little sister that I never had. We battled for two years against this disease, my niece, my family, and I. My niece won her cancer battle but, then she had a transplant which complicated everything. She passed away last year and with my memories of her I hold her high as the beautiful strong warrior princess and brave little girl that I knew. This terrible experience that I lived through with my
Manning, L.M. & Barruth, L.G. (2009). Multicultural education of children and adolescents (5th edition). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
On the contrary, educators need to plan for and bring attention to multicultural learning opportunities, in order to challenge stereotypical assumptions and provide a meaningful education that benefits all students (Blaise, 2011, p. 90 - 92; Siraj-Blatchford, 2004, p 26
The cultural diversity in society, which is reflected in schools, is forcing schools not to solely rely on content-centered curriculum, but to also incorporate student-centered lesson plans based on critique and inquiry. This requires multicultural education to a dominant part of the school system, not just an extra course or unit. Further, it demands that learning itself no longer be seen as obtaining knowledge but rather, education be seen as creating knowledge. Multicultural education should be seen as affirming the diversity of students and communities, promoting the multicultural ideas of the United States, and building the knowledge and behaviors needed for students to be a positive and contributing member of society and the global community as a whole.
Culture has a big impact on how we all fit in as individuals in today’s society, and since this assignment is about that I decided to include some of my own experiences to illustrate my point of view and compare it with those of my classmates and some of the readings.
Manning, L. & Baruth. L. (2009). Multicultural education of children and adolescents (5th Ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
In conducting her research, the author understood that she needed to describe key issues of culturally diverse students, recommend a curriculum approach to address the issues, and discuss the challenges and benefits expected. In reading Cultural and Linguistic Diversity: Issues in Education (2010), s...