The Importance Of Ethnicity In Schools

Before I can delve into my students’ racial and cultural backgrounds, I must first look at my own. I am a white American, born and raised in Minnesota. My ancestors moved to America from France and Norway; however, in my family, our traditions are more Norwegian than French. For example, every Christmas we make lefse and krumkake, two traditional Norwegian foods, as a family. Growing up in Minnesota I have seen many fellow students and teachers who come from similar backgrounds, meaning of European decent. It was not until college that I met people from various locations around the world who have very different cultural backgrounds. It is my belief, that in order for me to be the best teacher I can be, that I need to be open to difference and willing to expand my horizons.

Education should be blind to race. Race should not be amongst deciding factors in schools. Not

Today, becoming culturally aware at an early age will create more conflict in the future regarding racism. Teaching that we all are all different from one another will only do each other harm in the long run. If Americans do teach multiculturism, the minds of younger children would evolve to think it would be awesome to be a certain race and uncool to be another. It is important for students to understand that it is okay to affiliate with different cultures and learn from them. To learn from another is to grow as a person and be successful in life. According to the past, when racism was prominent in society, Americans are actually doing well in becoming more diverse. More people are learning how to work with others and respect others’ ideals.

Cultural tendencies have a huge impact on the way children tend to participate in educational activities. The ethnicity of a child may change the way that teacher view a child. Suppose you had an Asian child in previous years who was quiet and reserved. You get a new child, you expect this one to be the same way, but he is not. We as teachers have to learn that each child is their own individual self, and they do not act the same way, no matter what race, gender, or social status they are.

I believe that adolescents would benefit from learning about different cultures. Since we live in America, there are a wide variety of cultures and ethnicities that are in each school. I think that teachers should teach their students about different cultures. This will give students a better understanding of where other children come from and their beliefs. This will allow students to become better educated about their peers and hopefully be more understanding of their differences. Even schools that do not have a wide range of diversity, should still learn about other cultures

2. “Including ethnic and cultural diversity content in the curriculum” Seek out and use only factually based information on different cultural traits. “This is needed to make schooling more interesting and stimulating for, representative of, and responsive to ethnically diverse students,” and this is a teacher’s ultimate goal in being culturally

Education can play the strongest role in combating cultural diversity. The United States is a melting pot of cultures from around the world. “The concept of a “melting-pot”

When we teach different cultural backgrounds, students from other backgrounds can be more informed about their classmate’ s culture. “Although about 80% of Latinos in Utah originated from Mexico, many other nationalities are represented here. Many individuals raised in the U.S. speak only English and have assimilated to European American culture.” There are a distinct few of people who have different ethnic backgrounds can not speak their home language. This is why schools should help students embrace different cultures, so they can learn different languages and help their brains develop. Learning about classmates languages and cultures, can help people have a bond with each other. Students learning about how other cultures affected America, other than white European, can give student another point of

Policies that Miamifield should implement are a required class on race, diversity and culture, club that meets once a week about race, diversity, and culture, a room in the school where students can go and talk about their issues with no judgement or consequences, changing the mascot, change the way that teachers are hired, make clear rules on what will cause a student to be suspended, and full day of school every year where the mayor, community, students all talk about what is happening in the school with race and other issues and how it can be solve. By requiring a class on race, diversity, and culture will allow for the students to learn about people that are different than they are and it will open up their eyes to a new perspective. I would make this class mandatory for all students

and to build a world culture of human beings who resolve disputes in ways that

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.

Ethnic patterns are changing every year. It seems that the minority groups are rising and are getting stronger as every new school year starts. There are many minority groups in the school setting now. " Nearly half (46 percent) of school-age youths in the United States will be people of color by 2020 (Pallas, Natriello, and McDill 1989)". A minority group is "a group typically numerically inferior to the rest of the population state... (A.J. Jongman and A.P. Schmid)". There used to be two major groups in the school setting, the blacks and the whites. Now there are whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, etc. And even to go along with that (they are not truly minority groups), there are the "freaks",

In today’s British education system there still are significant problems regarding ethnicity and race. The problems include the idea that specific races are not doing as well as their counterparts even though they may be taught in the same way yet there are suggestions to say that the education system is institutionally racist. Can this explain why some races do better than other races? Ethnicity relates to cultural differences that may exist as different social groups, whereas race relates to biological differences such as skin colour, eye shape and hair texture and is seen as a social construct that has little or no scientific justification. Sociologists prefer to use the term ‘race’ as they see it as being more useful for the analysis of different social groups. Certain types of sociologists believe that race impacts a child from achieving in education however others do not. Functionalists believe that we live in a meritocratic society, in a sense that we will do well in education if we work hard however it is argued that there are barriers in education preventing a child from achieving success. The main issues here are why certain races do better in education, what are the macro and micro reasons for differences between races, the statistics on race performance and factors that improve a child’s chances of getting high grades at school.

Since I started this class, I have a learned a great deal about cultural diversity in the classroom and abroad. My perspective has changed slightly but my knowledge of this subject has improved. In my family, my father taught me about the civil rights movement and the evils of segregation in the U.S. My parents taught me to be tolerant of all humans, no matter what they look like, how they dress, or their sexual orientation. My family has always been liberal thinkers who taught me the dark history of racism and bigotry in this country. As an educator I would be accepting to all race, creeds, and religious peoples.

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.