The Importance Of Cultural Diversity In Education

As more immigrants come, and new legislations evolve to incorporate newcomers, teachers are charged with the responsibility of preparing for the multicultural community of a more diverse classroom. As the landscape of the classroom changes, so must the practices we employ. In other words, the traditional way of teaching no longer exist. This paper analyzes the preparation of two cohorts (elementary and urban schools) of social studies teachers in dealing with the complexity of teaching in multicultural classrooms. With the integration of cultural diversity, teachers have the responsibility to incorporate real life cultural situations into the curriculum to address the many challenges that affects society. The authors posits that progress

They were divided into two cohorts (traditional elementary and urban), enrolled at the same university, and completed the same coursework. The elementary cohort consisted of nine Anglo Americans (whites) and one Latina, while the urban cohort comprised of five Whites, three African Americans, and two Asian Americans. Fifteen participants described their school as culturally diverse with various ethnicities and socioeconomic groups. The investigation suggested that there were no variances based on race. However, the differences varied on how participants viewed citizenship in teaching social studies, and incorporated into classroom instructions. According to Castro, Field, Bauml, and Morowski (2012), citizenship was described in the following three perspectives: 1) Personally responsible citizen, which resembles becoming a productive member of society that respects the laws and responsibilities of society, 2) Participatory citizenship, which involves civic engagement, community involvement through volunteering and political process, and 3) social justice is concern about equality of all. These are three primary factors that influenced how each cohort infused multicultural content in the instructional process. While each cohort completed the same field experiences, coursework, and interview process; they utilized a different approach based on the student population

As a result, citizenship serves multiple purposes for permeating into social studies directives; thus, including responsible, competent, activist, and cultural citizenship. Responsible citizenship rivet preparing students with practical skills for functional living. Competent citizenship entail decision-making and having the ability to improve society. Activist citizenship involves having strong moral beliefs, and fighting for what is right and good for mankind. Cultural citizenship encompasses an understanding and appreciation for diversity of global and cultural