Multicultural education is a system of education or teaching that incorporates the beliefs and values of people from different cultural settings. In the classroom, for instance, teachers may adapt lessons to cater for the cultural diversity of the students in any one particular class. Often, “culture” is defined broadly as, ethnicity, language, nationality, encompassing race, gender, class religion, sexual orientation, and “exceptionality”, a politically correct term for students with specialized needs or disabilities (Abbott,2013).
In general, a multicultural education has the hopes of an educational equality for all learners, regardless of one’s culture, and it desires to extract any barriers of educational prospects and accomplishment for
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For example, a lesson on colonialism might address multiple cultural perspectives, not only those of the ones doing the colonization. The students, teachers and the curriculum planners may learn about the cultural diversities of the students in a school, and then purposely integrate learning methods and materials that are relevant to their personal cultural views and tradition (Davidman,2001). Learners may perhaps be encouraged to diverge into the cultural and beliefs of other students in the school. Students from different cultures may also be given the chance to discuss and share their cultural experiences. A critical analysis of the learning materials to recognize potentially harmful or biased materials should be undertaken by the educators. Students and teachers both might consider their own cultural assumptions, and then converse how learning materials, teaching methods, or schools policies reflect cultural bias, and how they could be adapted to eradicate bias. The allocation of resources should take into account that multicultural education is typically predicated on the attitude of fairness. Therefore, the distribution and of educational materials, programs, and teaching styles should be based on need and equality for all. For instance, students who are not adept in the English language may study in bilingual settings and read texts in their mother tongue, and they may be given moderately more instructional support than their English-speaking classmates so that they do not fall behind on their studies or drop out of school due to language restrictions (Bronstein, 2003). Below is a “Conceptual Framework of the Global View of Multicultural Education. The conceptual framework of global perspective of multicultural education is derived from four major interactive dimensions, namely,
The multicultural movement in education is deeply rooted, and the movement as we know it today dates back to the 1960s, when the civil rights movement was in full swing. Stemming from the Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) decision and out of the demand by ethnic groups to be included in public schools, colleges, and universities, the main thrust of the mo...
Banks and Banks define multicultural education as an idea stating that all students, regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, language, culture, social class, religion, exceptionality, or sexual orientation, should experience the same educational equality in school. I completely agree with the statement in this chapter that several schools’ characteristics provide one or two main groups a better chance to succeed in school than students from other groups or minorities.
When a child opens his (or her) first puzzle and the pieces fall to the
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.
Convertino, C., Levinson, B. A., & González, N. (2013). Culture, teaching, and learning. In J. A. Banks & C. M. McGee Banks (Eds.). Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives (pp. 25-41). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
As an educator one must understand that the children you will be teaching will all come from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different homes with different values. No one student will be the same, and no one student will learn the same. The role of a modern educator is to harness this idea of diversity and channel it into a positive learning atmosphere for children of all backgrounds. “I define culturally responsive teaching as using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (Gay, 2013, p.50.). The hope for all teachers is to capture the minds of their children, as educators we must learn how our students learn, adapt to their skill set and channel our curriculum to their strength.
Multicultural education is trying to get humanity to work together as a cohesive unit, despite all the differences. These differences don’t impede us but push us further, they shouldn’t be bleached from the world, they should be lauded. Another insight I gained when learning about multicultural education was that I was a bit intolerant to those around me. I never really thought that it really mattered. But as I thought about it I realized that if I wanted to be a positive force in the world I had to change my perspective and look critically upon others without my preconceived notions and judgments because, they were almost certainly wrong.
Multicultural education is a process of comprehensive school reform and basic education for all students. It challenges and rejects racism and other forms of discrimination in schools and society and accepts and affirms pluralism (ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, economic, and gender, among others) that students, their communities, and teachers reflect (Nieto, 2000).
Diversity in classrooms can open student’s minds to all the world has to offer. At times diversity and understanding of culture, deviant experiences and perspectives can be difficult to fulfill, but with appropriate strategies and resources, it can lead students to gain a high level of respect for those unlike them, preferably from a judgmental and prejudiced view. Diversity has a broad range of spectrums. Students from all across the continent; students from political refugees, indigenous Americans, and immigrants bring their cultural and linguistic skills to American classrooms. Students not only bring their cultural and linguistic skills, but they bring their ethnicity, talents, and skills.
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.
Students in the United States experience varying degrees of Multicultural Education. To my benefit, I was brought up in a learning environment that was culturally accepting and engaging. I was enrolled in the Franklin Pierce School District for my entire public education career and at Pierce College during my last two years of high school. Since the beginning of my academic career, I’ve been exposed to a learning environment filled with a rich amount of diversity among students which in turn produced well-roundedness in myself. In my experience as a FPSD student, I’ve shared experiences with fellow peers of different races, cultures, and socioeconomic standings. Pierce College boasts an even more specific type of diversity within the student
The definition of multiculturalism in Webster's Dictionary is "the existence, recognition or preservation of different cultures or cultural identities within a unified society." Therefore with this definition in mind a multicultural classroom is one that is the sum of all these things. A multicultural classroom is a learning environment that strives to reach all of its students, especially those of non-dominant ethnicities. In this environment students learn about the curriculum as well as their own cultural history. The aim of multicultural education is to ensure equity in education for all students and to help empower young people to make the world a better place both individually and collectively (Bigelow, 1993). Multicultural education is designed to help all students reach their full potential. Just about all teachers should have a desire to teach in a multicultural class because most classes in the United States of America contain at least one or two students of a different race or cultural background. This should not be considered a problem, but an asset because h...
9). Hence, the advocacy for multicultural education focus is not the content but rather on value each ethnic group places on human rights and environmental issues. Therefore, in a multicultural education classroom the teacher must have a working knowledge of each student’s ethnic beliefs and values about the world around them. Armed without these tools, the teacher may tread into unknown and uncomfortable waters without comprehending they have drowned before they have
The concepts included in providing a more diverse, multicultural education are requiring teachers to review their own issues and prejudices while expanding their knowledge of the many cultures that make up the classroom. These efforts help the educator recognize the various individual and cultural differences of each student, as well as gain an understanding on how these differences impact the learning process. The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon individual and cultural difference research and why diverse students struggle to succeed in school. Furthermore, I will share some instructional approaches I could implement in the classroom to accommodate diverse students. Finally, I will discuss the responsibility of educators in addressing the issue of how our o...
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...