Assess The Importance Of Multicultural Education

I would like to discuss multiculturalism in education; I am particularly focused on the higher education aspect, and the effect of diversity on education. In reference to the four assigned articles that discussed reasons for and against a diverse learning environment in higher education and the effect on education and american culture.

Proposition 203 changed the law by removing bilingual education and putting Structured English Immersion models into place instead, (Jost, K. (2009, December 16). Bilingual education vs. English immersion. The CQ Researcher Blog.). According to Proposition 203, the proposed changes were due to the claims that the majority of Arizonans speak English, immigrant parents want their children to learn English quickly, literacy in English is important to becoming a productive member of society, young children will become fluent in English with a high volume of exposure, and the previous programs (bilingual education) in place were not effective,

Prior to the passing of California proposition 227, immigrant children, mainly Latinos, were taught in their native language until they could transition into English-only classes. Students with limited-English-proficiency (LEP) would participate in bilingual education over a number of years before making this transition. After proposition 227, the percentage of children in bilingual programs dropped from 29 percent to 11, only those who were able to obtain waivers from school authorities were permitted to stay in bilingual programs (Bali, 2001). Proposition 227 was controversial because its opponents claimed that it was rooted in anti-immigrant sentiments and it was a return to ‘sink or swim’ programs which would

In the United States, November is a month leading up to a feast where we all give thanks to the people we love and care for; as well as giving thanks to the people who helped the first settlers survive during the harsh winter in a new world-- the Native Americans. While citizens of this country feast on Thanksgiving Day, they may not take into consideration the systematic murders of America’s native peoples in order to get to where we are today. This is because the history of how the United States became a sovereign nation has been twisted into a biased account, which is taught in the American school system. This problem has lead to a society with racism deeply ingrained in our culture, and ignorance about the actual events which took place in efforts to demolish the Native American culture and their history. It is time to end this mentality in our school system, and to end the racism that has been in our society through decades and decades of misinformation found in our textbooks and public institutions. If this nation is ever to heal from the millions of lives taken in order for us to live on this land, we must implement plans for our school system to better include what exactly happened to our native peoples, rather than twist truths and distort the reality of America’s history to cover-up the white man’s crimes and guilt.

Watching the proposition 227 aftermath debate lead and hosted by Peter Skeery (the PBS channel) was an eye-opening concerning the bilingual education back then and now. It gives the impression that the issue still fresh from the yesterdays. The debaters, on one side, were: Dr. Krashen professor at California University and Mark Lopez representing the public institutions in California both arguing for bilingual education. On the other side, was Ron Unz the drafter of the proposition 227 arguing for the elimination of bilingual classes.

In The Lessons from Turtle Island, the article presents information about how today’s classrooms are not representing Native American peoples, and also how the Native American culture is being omitted from our schools. The Lessons from Turtle Island points out several issues in schools.“Issues such as the blatant stereotyping of Native peoples within schools, and their almost total exclusion from curriculum materials, do not even make it to the table to be discussed(7).” The article states that in early childhood classrooms Native American peoples are not being portrayed well, or in some cases not at all. The Lessons from Turtle Island has a concern with the Omission of Native American materials from the curriculum in early childhood education.“American Indian peoples are typically ignored in early child hood programs(8).”The issue with not incorporating Native American peoples in classrooms is that children will not know if Native Americans even exist and that can open children up to stereotypical images of

Multiculturalism is known as the presence of, or support for the presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society. In the 2001 census 7.5% of the population were people born abroad. This figure has been increasing and the 2011 census reported a figure of 13%. Certain issues however tend to arise with these ‘multicultural societies’ due to various different factors, one of them being the economy. In the UK there has been legislation on anti-racism, employment rights and equal opportunities to combat discrimination, prejudice and racism. Despite this, the cost of state benefits can cause resentment and racial intolerance. In 2002 it was calculated that the net tax contribution of migrants to the UK economy was £2.5 billion

However, there are questions as to whether or not teachers possess biases that would influence their teaching methods and curriculum. Taking a class in educational diversity is only a start in addressing those biases that may have been unconsciously created. It is the writer’s sincere hope that researching and writing a paper on multicultural education will be a stepping stone toward the critical examination of biases and practices in regards to diversity in the classroom that will continue to influence the readers throughout their educational

In Ron Unz article “Bilingual Education Programs Fail Our Students”, he states that proposition 227 had required all California public schools to teach their children English by placing those non-English speakers in an intensive sheltered English immersion program in order to teach them English as quickly as possible so that they could then be placed in a regular English class. The issue with this was that children were unable to grow as fast as they needed to. Teaching them in English creates more of a struggle for the child. The purpose of the class is to learn English so using only English to teach would not be the best solution. In “Prop. 58 would undo limitations on bilingual education” written by Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, he explains how Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, dean of the University of California Los Angeles Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, states that proposition 227 was a political response due to the failings of the bilingual education who rather than finding a solution, eliminated bilingual education as a whole. So, rather than working to fix the issue, supporters of 227 sought out to eliminate it as a whole, causing many

The United States serves as a culturally rich country who opens its arms to individuals from many different ethnicities, backgrounds, and life experiences. It seeks to be the melting pot of a blended group of people, providing opportunity and equity for all. Consequently, our educational system is the cornerstone for providing equal opportunity for all persons. Therefore, as the United States continues to be immersed with individuals from various cultures, the educational system must consistently seek to assure that educational opportunities are equally distributed to our students. In order for this task to be accomplished, developing a well-defined illustration of what multicultural education is necessary.

According to James A. Banks in “Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform”, school curriculums are largely biased towards the views of Americans with European heritage, which is distorting the worldviews of American students and severely under representing minorities. A multi-cultural approach to instruction is needed to help decrease, and eliminate the justification of, the feeling of superiority felt among many white Americans. First, Banks supports his opinion by discussing the negative impact a mainstream-centric curriculum has on multicultural students, as well as white students. (p. 242). He points out that the lack of multicultural acknowledgement is not isolated to just classrooms, also being present in historical markers and museums. (p. 244) Along with public misconceptions, some teachers present watered down versions of tough material such as the story of Christopher Columbus. (p. 245) Many students of color feel misrepresented, or undervalued due to the content of the curriculum found in many schools. (p. 243) Then, Banks says that although change has been promoted it has been slow to manifest itself in most classrooms. (p. 244) Attempts have been made since the civil rights movement to create a more multicultural viewpoint in the classroom (p. 244), but some feel those changes challenge conventional thinking and may be looked at by some as a threat to American thoughts and values. (p. 245) Three views are identified when it comes to how

For past field experiences, I chose to volunteer at Oasis Católico. However, although I have had a very formative experience with that program and chose to continue volunteering for them this semester, I decided to add an additional volunteer placement to my schedule. Due to the fact that, on a lucky day at Oasis, tutors may have to work with only two students rather than four, I wanted to have a volunteer experience where I could focus all of my attention on one student for the whole entire semester. I specifically wanted to remain with the same student for the entirety of the program so that I could develop a personal relation with him or her. With those desired conditions in mind, I chose to volunteer with the Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education (CLASE). Within this placement, I expected to observe various critical issues in education in play. I predicted that I would learn about the importance of a multicultural education and how a student’s race and ethnicity influences the manner in which they are perceived by other teachers and students who may not share the same race and/or ethnicity; I hoped to witness firsthand how the immigration status of a student may affect his or her motivation in school; Finally, I anticipated witnessing culturally relevant teaching through the assignments that the students received and how the tutors interacted with their tutees.

Linguistically diverse students often face special difficulties in their daily lives. This can easily lead to frustration. Teachers need to find ways to keep students hopeful. Traditional textbooks can make students (and teachers) feel pretty small compared to the heroes that "made history." As teachers and as linguistically diverse students, we are pushed to the margins of the textbooks. Multicultural education seeks to present a larger and more social history of this country. Multicultural texts bring out the stories of women, working people, and people of color who have traditionally been ignored. Share stories of how events in

Two ways that a school can clearly show that it supports multicultural education is by having multicultural collaboration with the community and a school that supports a system that allows equal opportunities among different students with diverse cultural background. According to Kaye & Wolff (1995), "multicultural collaboration involves two or more groups of organization that focuses on multicultural importance." This collaboration will definitely encourage community participation and schools will have multicultural day. This exploits the different cultures we have around the world. "In 1970, she had memories of a broken system in a private school, which did not support the diversities among different students", (Opoulos, 2014). This was Chris' friend's parents discussed that the private school did not support the needs of their child. The term "multiculturalism" does not seem to be supported at that time by the school. It's important that a school have opportunities that support different cultural backgrounds and engage in diversities of learning.

Culture is not considered homogeneous in all societies but it is considered as a mechanism that enables people to adjust and adapt to their physical environment it follows similarly to a group of people but differs in various ways such as their survival techniques and principles of human existence. This results in the presence of social groups who attribute into larger and smaller groups to maintain their values that lead to their identification as distinct social groups. Andersen and Taylor (2003) argue that sub-cultures are groups whose values and norms of behavior are different from those of the dominant culture. The differences that tend to cause problems to threatening the whole process of nation building and sustainable development. It