Ethnocentric Education

In Tucson, Arizona ethnic studies classes caused controversy over what kinds of classes should be allowed in Tucson’s public schools. The Latino population of students was greatly being effected by only a 50% graduation rate. The ethnic studies curriculum was created to engage students with a history from a different cultural viewpoint than what was usually taught in public high school. From the outside of the classroom the opposing forces against ethnic studies believed that the hidden curriculum within the classes was detrimental to students. This was because it was teaching anti-American beliefs along with creating students who would act with rebellious beliefs and racism. From inside the classroom the teachers and students look to their curriculum and insist that their curriculum was more about having courage to examine history, create understanding and respect for one another and one’s self. They believed in looking at problems that the world was facing and not just accepting them but also trying to make a change for the better. The problematic readings were grounded in the courses use of the "Pedagogy of the Oppressed” with ideals that are based in teachings like Marxism.

Individuals should learn to accept themselves for who they are, not what society wants them to accept. As we continue to evolve, we build up our own characters, and they are typically a mix of the ethnicity and culture we inherit from our family, various encounters in our life, distinctive identity and personality we have. Our character and identity is not something that we get easily, it's an intricate process. The story “The Other Family” by Himani Bannerji is based on a mother and a daughter who immigrates to Canada. They belong to a black family, but after the immigration they are living in the dominance of the white society.The school is considered as the hegemony of Canada and teacher is considered as the mainstream, it is a sort of social institution that a hegemony shape but they does not know the awareness of marginalized groups. The mother feels anxious when she sees a drawing of a white family by her daughter. It was the misperceptions of the kid that lead to forget her identity or she was too small to identify it. So to examine about the identity of the marginalized individual the beginning is to focus on the quality of the education. It is necessary for every school system to teach equality and inclusions of every group status so that the marginalized group are not left isolated from the society. Secondly, the fear of the marginalized parents from losing their kids in the mainstream society shows their lack of confidence in their own cultural pride. Since

Despite the challenges and changes that still need to be made to insure no Aboriginal Child is left behind, there are changes currently being made that show the benefits of a culturally responsive program and bring hope to the future of Aboriginal early childhood education. The Aboriginal Head Start early childhood education program is slowly expanding. As well other programs have developed, like Awasisk Cultural Development Program in Prince George, British Columbia that uses Metis curriculum and Mannawasis AHS programs that teaches both Cree and English (Nguyen, 2011). I believe that these programs are the foundation for a future where all Aboriginal children have an opportunity to be educated through their cultural traditions and language.

They are hiding the history of assimilation of Indigenous people in residential schools. By continuing to teach with the western perspective, it is continuing to assimilate Indigenous people. In B.C.’s school system, there are over 60,000 students who self-identify as being of Aboriginal (First Nations, Métis or Inuit) ancestry. (Province of British Columbia, 2017). Those 60,000 self-identifying Aboriginal students are sitting in a school where they may be misrecognized with stereotypes and are forced to learn the western perspective while possibly learning an indigenous perspective at home. The B.C government states that Aboriginal Education seeks to: improve the success of Aboriginal students, support all students learning about Aboriginal peoples and help teachers in their efforts to bring Aboriginal knowledge into their teaching practice. When thinking about this two-eyed seeing, it reminded me of the story “Edwina Left Behind” by Sören Wuerth. Edwina, a Native senior who was trying to pass the state’s High School Graduation Qualifying Exam to receive a diploma had failed because of the cultural ignorance of standardized test. This is the reality of seeing through one eye. She did everything she could to learn the western, standardized test yet she still failed. If the standardized test was tweaked a little and included another perspective aside from the western perspective;

The Indian Residential Schools were boarding schools that forced students to leave their families and homes in order to go and continue their education elsewhere. They were formulated with the partnership of the United Churches along with the Government. (Laing,2013:53). The Government and the Churches put these schools in place in order to separate the children from their family and cultural customs and values. The goal was to isolate the children from what they are used to in order to “kill the Indian in the child” and have them pick up the new Euro- Canadian culture and values along with the English Language. In addition to being taken away from their families, the

Culturally Responsive Teaching is an emerging field that focuses on student cultural backgrounds and experiences in the development of pedagogy. According to Kea (2013) cultural difference is the single largest difference in U.S. schools and also the most neglected. The goal of Culturally Responsive Teaching is to provide an equal opportunity for all students to learn in school, regardless of their gender, social class, ethnic, racial or cultural characteristics (Banks 2005). Ladson-Billings (1994) suggest that the historic failings of educators in educating non-white students is that educators attempt to insert culture into education rather than insert education into the culture. In other words, educators are not providing an equal multi-culturally relevant education by bringing tokens of culture such as food, national flags, or maps from around the world into the classroom alone. Although these actions promote a sense of multiculturalism, an education that is relative to a diversity of cultures is not necessarily being provided. Culturally Responsive Teaching attempts to bring the various experiences of the student’s cultural home life into the classroom. Schmidt (2005) identifies seven characteristics that must be incorporated into curriculum in order to provide culturally responsive instruction. These characteristics are high expectations,

This article focuses on how there is still segregation today in Canada. This article explains how there are specific actions that take place at workplaces, schools, churches etc to enforce the delegation of races. Today the lives of black teenagers are corrupted by the separation between races. Their education is at stake as the whites continue to overpower the coloured which can benefit them educationally.

In the reading, Culture and Power in the Classroom: A Critical Foundation for Bicultural Education, Antonia Darder argues that education is a critical tool and necessity for the advancement of people of color. She highlights that education is tied to status, which in turn, then gives you power in society. She helps us see many of the flaws in the school system that prevents students of color from excelling in the academic world. She points to us, that although there are many things within the school institution itself that fail students of color over and over again, the blame is always placed on the individual. She also highlights that there are many myths about students of color that say that their failure is tied to coming from cultures and backgrounds that do not value education. Finally, Darder argues that conservative educators hurt bicultural student’s education, and liberal educators, although may seem the better option, still fail to attack the institutions that help foster failure in the education setting. They also end up alluding to student failure to individual failure.

America now is a very culturally diverse nation; most of the minority and immigrant population lives in cities, which indicates that the public school classrooms in urban areas are full of versatile cultural identities. According to the 2000 Census record, minority and immigrant populations has grown in increasing numbers, and most of those people live in urban areas and attend public high schools; also, the level of residential segregation still remains as high as in 1990, which proposes new problems for immigrants and minorities. Monocultural schools are very rare and the global society is very multicultural; it is very logical to prepare students in schools to enter this diverse society (Le Roux 48). Teachers are largely responsible

While advances have been made since residential schools, Aboriginal communities still face challenges in the delivery and content of educational programs and services to their children and face barriers with attempting to have their opinions taken into consideration (Greenwood et al., 2007). One example of this is that there is still a deficiency in education systems in teaching Aboriginal children about the culture and language specific to their traditions and values (Greenwood et al., 2007). Specifically, many high school curriculums still lack teaching about the history of Indigenous peoples or their culture and practices. They also do not account for the fact that Indigenous students may have different learning styles than non-Indigenous students (Postlethwaite, 2007). Additionally, the barriers that many Aboriginal youth and children face from social determinants are rarely taken into consideration by mainstream education (Greenwood, de Leeuw, & Fraser, 2007).

Although pedagogy varies across European countries, there are similar roots that have developed into differing strands of contemporary thinking in pedagogy. Hämäläinen explains that “historically, social pedagogy is based on the belief that you can decisively influence social circumstances through education” – and importantly, education is seen as a life-long learning process that does not only refer to children but includes educating adults, for instance in order to change their idea of children.

The United States of America is known for being a country filled with people of many different ethnic backgrounds. Likewise, the student population in schools is just as diverse as it continues to grow. Lynch (2015) notes that schools are expected to teach their students “how to synthesize cultural differences into their knowledge base” as this will help “facilitate students’ personal and professional success in a diverse world” (para. 8). Educators must be able to provide for the diverse needs of students and are expected to equip students with skills that can lead to healthy development as it can affect higher levels of student achievement and students have more opportunities of success in their future. Providing students with tools and skills requires an awareness and acceptance of their ethnic identity. Once students have developed self-acceptance about their ethnic identity, they can begin to feel empowered and motivated to do well. Through cultural empowerment, students of color can develop intrinsic motivation and achieve academic success.

Also the provincial government is taking steps to standardize the level of education received by students in Ontario. Programs like standardized testing for teachers and students as well as the standardization of the curriculum were implemented. These programs are intended to provide all students regardless of race or economic standing in any area of the province and equal opportunity to succeed. These initiatives are part and parcel of increased demand by the Federal government to have Canadian students rise to "levels equivalent to those achieved by students in Asia and Europe." (Lightbody, pg. 265) These steps however pay little heed to other cultures in the education system. All courses on history or culture at the high school level are aimed to familiarize students with the traditions, philosophy, literature and history of the western world. Proponents argue that this action is appropriate since our country is based on a democracy founded in European ideals of government. It is also claimed that there would not be enough time in the current school year to educate students on every culture that has contributed to the construction of our society. Proponents for centralization seem to prefer the "middle of the road approach" when making decisions on curriculum. It is argued that trying to push the subject of multiculturalism too far would actually be a hindrance. Over emphasis of multiculturalism may interfere with a student’s

Ontario has been building and supporting networks of educators throughout their province, and are developing a highly regarded educational system that is becoming known for equity and excellence. In this research of the Canadian school districts, it was determined that they need a faster form for students to practices. Their thought process is that to get a higher enrollment to be able to engage quick learners in advanced content and permit those involved to accelerant their older students by implement content and grade based levels. According to Avis Glaze (2013), “How Ontario spread successful practices across 5,000 schools” states“, when schools assume their role of educating hearts as well as minds; a character development focus can be very helpful in achieving that goal. A good education is holistic in nature, emphasizing knowledge, attitudes, values, behavior, and sensibilities” (Glaze, pg. 47). According to Crapo (2013), “Cultural Anthropology” writes that when it comes to Canada languages they, “maintains two nationally recognized languages, French and English; political speeches and advertising must be carried out in both” (sec.4.7).

During the late 1960’s, America had entered into a period of cultural definition especially with the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement. Although the term “multicultural education” had not come into play yet, the idea that the U.S needed to reexamine their efforts of educating diverse groups was emerging. During this time inequality especially among minority groups in comparison to the white dominant culture became a social issue (Banks 1999). Before the arrival of this reform multicultural education was displayed in the classroom as having minorities adapt to the predominant culture. Teachers during this time felt it would be more beneficial for minorities to adapt. However, many parents of these minorities begin to argue that the