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.
A crucial aspect to understanding
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If the teacher were to say “we live in a world where equality is tested daily; that a black man will face significant challenges throughout his [or her] life” (Hamilton), the students’ reaction may to automatically start placing blame on the white students. While the challenges African Americans face today are still significant, it does not help matters to phrase it in a way that encourages the students to feel that they need to continue the hatred or create a need to pity them. According to Gary Hamilton, he had a teacher who said “we live in a world where equality is tested daily; that a black man will face significant challenges throughout his [or her] life” without further explaining why the teacher thought the way he did. Hamilton’s resulting confusion caused by the statement was what lead to fight between him and his friend, Michael: “a minor disagreement brought out a rage I had never known in my 6th grade body. I pulled Michael’s hair because it was blond. I hit whatever part of his body wasn 't covered. I aimed for his face as much as I could.” This section describes a white male 's features emphasizing the reason the attack occurred. Prior to the altercation, Hamilton talks about how he had only thought of Michael as a friend, a buddy to hang out with. There was no difference in color between the two they were and had always been just friends. …show more content…
By starting this young, teachers will be able help students to be more open to ideas and opinions others have. A way in teachers might do this is by getting the students involved in a kinesthetic activity where they are required to move around based on the answers they give. The way this activity works is the teachers asks the students a series of different questions pertaining to various subjects. Based on the answer to the question the student would then move to the corresponding corner that answers that question. The following is a list of example questions the teacher would ask: ‘what is your favorite activity?, what is your favorite subject?, and do you like sports?’. These questions would then be integrated with questions that deal with cultural diversity. Some cultural diverse questions would be ‘do you speak more than one language?, what is your favorite holiday?, and what ethnicity are you? The goal of asking these questions is to get the students to realize they share similar interests no matter what culture they are from.
In addition the teacher could cultivate student’s interest in different cultures by spending a few weeks teaching different languages. For example the students would learn greetings and common phrases in Spanish one week then the next week it would French and so on. To help the students remember the teacher could give the student post-it notes with
Education should be a journey towards someone’s life. It should not be based upon race. Don’t look around and let race put you in your place. Although, race and criticizing still remains today. Depending on someone’s race, culture, and education are more likely to be pushed into a social class or be categorized as a social class. Which has a strongly impact even today. Above all people, it is one of the most divided issue that keeps us separated within the human race. And it shouldn’t matter, especially when it comes to education.
Authors Glenn E. Singleton and Curtis Linton in Chapter Five of Courageous Conversations About Race broach the topic of race, by asking the reader to evaluate his or her own consciousness of race. According to the authors, in order to address the achievement gaps between African American students and White students, educators should shift their energy towards focusing on the factors that they have direct control of inside the classroom rather than on the factors that influence this achievement disparity between races outside the classroom.
"My Children are black. They don't look like your children. They know that they are black, and we want it recognized. It's a positive difference, an interesting difference, and a comfortable natural difference. At least it could be so, if you teachers learned to value difference more. What you value, you talk about.'" p.12
The article talks about how teachers need to have cultural compatibility. While it might be difficult for some teacher to grasp and understand the different cultures behaviors and beliefs. For those teacher that can are more likely to provide a learning environment that is enriching and responsive to the children’s different cultures. Teacher should have “meaningful interactions with members of other cultures and promote cultural disequilibrium (Colombo, 2005, p. 2).” Activities that have this are more likely to increase cultural competence.
...Teaching acceptance and diversity of different ethnicity is one of the key components that can be taught in our school systems today. Here in America we have many different ethnic groups and races, we are one big melting pot. During school these differences should be embraced in a positive manner and a proper learning experience. Diversity is often mistaken for the word division, and sometimes people teach that diversity is division. Diversity should be taught in a way that brings people together, not divide people into groups. Like Konig said, “I hadn’t really given much thought to the ethnic and national backgrounds of Sarah’s classmates. I can guarantee that Sarah, being two and a half gave the subject absolutely no thought.” (51) We can take a few lessons from Konigs daughter and learn to not give the subject any thought, and just accept people for who they are.
In Henry Lewis Gates’ article, The Debate Has Been Miscast from the Start, he reveals the advantages to having multiculturalism in the curriculum of America’s schools. He would argue that in order to create true diversity and understanding of cultural differences, the nation must provide its students with a wide array of opportunities to understand other cultures besides their own. Peggy McIntosh takes on a similar situation when she takes into consideration how she was taught diversity in schools as a child. She claims that dominance of the white race is unconsciously supported. She also describes how she did not receive the right kind of education that would teach her how to be aware of racism and how to be aware of her privileges as a white person. McIntosh desires change in the way that students are taught racism and the best way to accomplish this is for schools to incorporate multiculturalism into curriculum. If this is accomplished, future generations have the ability to be aware of cultural differences and they would be less likely to be perpetrators of color blind racism.
Students’ background will determine as well the abilities of students, parents’ level of education and origin will enhance students’ language skills or will limit them; once the students arrive at school if the teacher promotes the interaction within children through lesson activities that target the competence of language, students learn from other students. If the cultural diversity is promoted in the classroom by the educator, all the students’ cultures will be linked to the curriculum, and the language development plus a cultural enrichment will diminish the opportunity for students to fall
An area of need is the knowledge students have of ethnicity before even starting school. Preferences of students such as male or female teachers, ethnicity or background have been little to never explored. Due to this, schools have little to no information on students biases created before entering a classroom. (Ouzad, Page) This in turn creates a series of dilemmas. For one a student with tendencies towards racist thoughts against Asians will probably not change his or her belief until someone convinces them to think otherwise. This could happen very early on in school or worst-case scenario...
...types about people like themselves, and the message that they are inferior and cannot achieve, and their coming to believe or internalize those stereotypes and messages" (201). This turns into a loss of self-esteem and extreme hatred towards oneself and members of their group. In the school systems, teachers tend to pay less attention to students of color, or else don't encourage them as much as they do the white children. Also, the students themselves can make cruel comments to their peers and all of this can lead to internalized racism. Teachers need to watch their own actions as well as those of their students to make sure this isn't happening. The teachers should accept, learn, and believe the fact that we are all one. There is not two, three, or ten human species, there is one. If this is stressed enough in schools, children can grow up free of racism.
In Haiti, the family is the most important aspect of their culture. When making important decisions, especially involving the health of a family member, the family is consulted. Family is so important to the culture that everything a person does is reflected onto the family. Everyone represents the family they are in. Because of this, every Haitian family has a reputation which can affect its status and respect in society. Families are so close to one another that it is mandatory to visit a sick member, even if they live far away. In a healthcare context, this can lead to a large number of visitors.20
Diversity in the classrooms will give students access to experience other cultures and learn about one another. The different races effect how varied their backgrounds might be, and it will help the teacher engage a variety of ways to manage course material (Packard, 2017). According to Packard, it is up to the teacher to help spread the learning of diversity and use it to their advantage in their classroom. Throughout the years, diversity have grown in the classrooms, but the struggle of segregation continues.
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
Diversity includes not only the student’s abilities, but also their learning styles and cultural backgrounds. In addition, the teacher’s educational philosophy, which is comprised of their own values, beliefs, cultural and socioeconomic background, are factors in how the diversity of the classroom is perceived and addressed. Research by Khan, Lindstrom, & Murray, stated that, “teachers’ beliefs about diversity and their varying levels of cultural competence can positively or negatively influence their ability to effectively work with culturally diverse students” (2014, p.55). When educators are aware of these differences, they are able to appropriately plan, modify and conduct meaningful
...ces in attempts that they will appreciate and gain knowledge of different cultures. The child’s personal needs or ways of learning will also be taken into consideration when planning activities. Knowing about this theory will give me an idea of what to expect when teaching and how I can facilitate the teaching and learning experience for both myself and the child.
I believe this is a very relevant topic today since prejudice and discrimination has become the leading issue of violence. The goal of this type of education is to teach the students that they have worth and can learn. It is a very positive subject matter when considering the benefits of implementing this type of education into a school system. This type of education encourages students of a diverse background to have a positive self-identity, pride in their heritage, accept others with diverse backgrounds, and promote social justice against prejudice and discrimination. Teachers can change the conversation in their classrooms by adding spontaneous and relevant content to their curriculum that both promotes multiculturalism and connects with the students. I believe a big part of making a change in our society today is by ‘changing the conversation’ whether that is about discrimination or another important issue. Teachers can step in at a very early age and promote feelings of self-worth and encourage the students to accept each other aside from cultural