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Multicultural Education
The inclusion of multiculturalism into schools has become an increasingly hot topic as of late. Being a future teacher I have taken a natural interest in the topic as well. It seems that most of the push to incorporate the multicultural issue into the school system has been a reaction to the thought that the American “melting-pot” metaphor is on the decline. Knowing that the demographics of the United States is changing continuously, the main issue about the inclusion of multiculturalism is not whether to place it into the schools, but rather how to position this controversial topic into the curriculum. Many people think that the incorporation of multiculturalism must begin with the teacher education students while they are still in college. Advocates claim that college curricula must institute multicultural studies because as of now there are no requirements of students to seriously study the culturally diverse societies in which they will be teaching. Throughout the paper I will mainly discuss the responsibility of the school systems to include the multicultural aspect into their various curricula. I will also show how teachers must change and continue to change as the student demographics vary. Finally, I will give evidence of how racism is a large problem in schools when discussing everything from the racial percentages of educators to the segregation of students in various ways.
“ The inclusion of multiculturalism in the dominant curriculum in higher education was originally a response to minority student demands of the ‘Sixties and Seventies’”(Kailin, 1998, p.1). This is direct evidence that the topic has been continually pushed aside as time has gone on. Originally b...
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...k that this racism would disappear just through teacher communication. In all, school reform for a society full of multiculturalism has to mean sharing power and collectively making decisions. If this is not done, the issue of how to incorporate multiculturalism into schools will never be solved.
Works Cited
Farris, Pamela J. (1999). Teaching, Bearing the Torch. Boston: McGraw- Hill.
Kailin, Julie. (1998). Preparing Teachers For Schools and Communities: An Anti- Racist Perspective. High School Journal, 82, 1-9.
Munroe, Maurice E. R. (2000). Unamerican Tail: of segregation and multicultural education. Albany Law Review, 64, 7-63.
Sleeter, Christine E. (2000). Multicultural Education And the Standards Movement- A Report from the Field. Phi Delta Kappan, 82, 156-162.
Tucker, Michelle. (1998). Multiculturalism’s Five Dimensions. NEA Today, 17, 17-19.
“One of the most disheartening experiences for those who grew up in the years when Martin Luther King and Thurgood Marshall were alive is to visit public schools today that bear their names, or names of other honored leaders of the integration struggles that produced the temporary progress that took place in three decades after Brown, and to find how many of these schools are bastions of contemporary segregation (Kozol 22).” As the book begins, Kozol examines the current state of segregation in urban school...
Introduction One of the objectives for 21st century teacher preparation programs is to prepare teachers to teach democratic education. To successfully teach democratically, teachers need a positive multicultural perspective. When this became a known phenomenon, it prompted teacher education programs to include theories and practices of multicultural education. According to previous research, many pre-service teachers have limited understanding of multicultural education, or have prejudices and discriminatory attitudes. Many people who have stereotypical and prejudiced opinions developed it through media outlets, such as the news, movies or advertisements.
The United States has a history of being viewed as a superior culture in which weaker cultures must adapt. However, this attitude has been cause of repression and conflict among the different cultures. As a result, activists have worked for years pushing to empower cultures; thus, encouraging unity rather than cultural divide for the strength of our nation as a whole. According to John Ogbu (1978), every "minority" group has a unique history in the United States that needs to be studied, understood, and validated to more authentically understand, support, and educate them. Education experts have responded to the overall push for this unification by developing an interdisciplinary approach in the development of multicultural education.
Diversity among students including differences in culture, language and socioeconomic stance is not a new trend. The difference, however, is that today, the school system realizes that all students, including those who differ in some way from the "average" student, or those “at-risk” must be provided with an equal, opportune education (Morris, 1991).
Lawrence, Brooker and Goodnow (2012, p. 75) cite that 44% of Australians were born in other countries or are children of parents from other countries. This signifies the diversity and scope of different cultures within Australian classrooms. For all children to have a sense of belonging and feel that they are an inclusive part of their school community, all cultures must be acknowledged, accepted, understood and supported by educators. The educator who enacts the incorporation of these four aspects of cultural inclusion within the curriculum will provide an active voice for cultural acceptance and equality. Further, the educator who understands diversity and difference within cultures is observed by her students to be role modelling a positive stance on and embracing all cultures and setting an example of cultural acceptance and equality. This practice puts her students in good stead to hold an unbiased and just view of cultural diversity within society. On the contrary, the educator who places less of an importance on cultural diversity perhaps may place this issue in the null curriculum (Blaise and Nuttall, 2011, p. 92), which in turn is a disservice to our multicultural
It is time to take action. Not only in our own lives, but in the lives of the children. There has been attempts, there has been success, and there has been failure. Many people have ways in which they believe will help reduce racism. But which is the right way, the best way? According to Barbara Hacker, author of "Advice for Teachers on Racism and Oneness," it is up to the educators. She believes teachers can make a difference in the lives of his or her students.
Published in American Educational Research Journal, this paper gives insight into how racial diversity stretches beyond educational engagement and social composition. The significant difference made by diversity-related efforts, such as hybridized racial interactions and policies is fully explored. The findings of the study presented can be generalized to the argument of institutional racism as this piece presents rationale against it. The limitations of paper is the insufficient detail regarding educational context needed to illustrate the steps institutions can take to apply diversity.
Manning, L.M. & Barruth, L.G. (2009). Multicultural education of children and adolescents (5th edition). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Adapting a multicultural perspective includes maintaining a unique understanding of one’s own cultural background and biases, and continuously striving to work through them. In the article, “White Professors teaching About Racism: Challenges and Rewards,” Smith and colleagues sought to address the challenges that white educators face when instructing multicultural courses, and to provide them with useful techniques to incorporate into their educational pedagogies. These challenges stem from their racial class orientation and can be summarized as fitting into one of three categories: (a) multiculturalism perfectionism, (b) multicultural impostor syndrome, and (c) multicultural projections (Smith, Kashubeck-West, Payton1, & Adams, 2017). Together
The thing about multicultural education that surprised me the most was how much opposition there is to multicultural education. I would think, by now, people would be able to see how unbalanced the current educational curriculum is and welcome the inclusion of aspects from other cultures. I have read arguments ranging from, multicultural education is inherently racist to multicultural education promotes Islam and is indoctrinating our youth with terrorist ideas. Like most hot button issues in this country, people in positions of power will use everything possible, including fear-mongering, to further their agenda.
It is very important for teacher educators to develop self-awareness of cultural biases and discriminatory practices as well as to exam the effects of their beliefs, their attitudes, and expectations for teacher
Banks, J., and McGee, C. A. (Eds.). (1989). Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Literature has had a major impact on society, and, also our history. Literature has reformed and shaped civilizations, changed political systems, and has exposed injustices (3). Our literature has changed and developed as we have, keeping up with our society. “...literature is crucial for the advancement of society (3).” With literary works, we can convince others to view things a certain way, share our opinions, and more. Literature is greatly intertwined with our society and everyday lives, and they would not be the same without it. Literature plays an irreplaceable role in our
Garcia, E. (2002). Student cultural diversity: Understanding and meeting the challenge (3rd Ed.). New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.
According to David O. McKay (2013), multicultural education is constructed to prepare pupils for citizenship in a democratic society by facilitating them to take into account the needs of all individuals; it shed light on how issues of language, ethnicity, culture, religion race, abilities/disabilities, and gender are entwined with educational content and processes. A multicultural curriculum is needed to accommodate for diverse learning and teaching styles of facilitators and pupils and to expose biases, stereotypes, and policies that can restrict achievement. What is more, a multicultural curriculum is also needed to help pupils, faculty, and staff become advocates for multicultural awareness, to ensure that content is fair, accurate, and inclusive, and to prepare pupils for diverse workplaces and multicultural environments. In writing this paper, the author will describe key issues of culturally diverse students, recommend a curriculum approach to address the issues, and discuss the challenges and benefits expected. In addition, she will describe three key issues of male and female students recommend a curriculum approach to address the issues, and discuss the challenges and benefits expected. In closing, she will describe three key issues of students with disabilities, who are mainstreamed, recommend a curriculum approach to address the issues, and discuss the challenges and benefits expected.