Cultural Diversity Challenges in American Classrooms

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

Critical social justice, unlike the more mainstream social justice, looks at the inequalities present in society more critically and actively tries to change them. Though the word “critical” has many negative connotations critical social justice purpose is not to judge but to help people think about the different perspectives of an issue. Nothing happens in a vacuum and when looking at an issue critical social justice understands that a person has to comprehend the history and cultural perspectives surrounding the issue. The more critical social justice realizes that inequality is not just a hateful word here or there, but is actually is something ingrained into the structures that make up

In the United States White people are considered to be at the top of the social ladder. White, middle class women are socialized in a culture that allows them certain privileges and often discriminates against those who are not White. If a White teacher has a Muslim child in her class then her socialization will determine how she would view or act towards the child. Would she treat the Muslim child fairly or will the stereotypes of Muslims being terrorist that exist in her culture cause her to unconsciously mistreat the Muslim child. Whenever the Muslim child misbehaves would she give them a harsher punishment than she would a White child? However, this outcome would not happen if the teacher is able to apply critical social justice because if this situation ever occurs she would question why she would feel like giving the Muslim child a harsher punishment. She would try and understand that in history in every religion group there are a few extremist. Yes it would be tough to undo the effects of socialization even if they are negative effects, but it an unlearning process that is needed to stop the cultural conflicts happening between teachers and