The Influence Of Minority Culture On The Education System

The importance of multicultural education is so significant that it is believed to impact a student’s life more than any other way of learning. In order for one to understand the importance of multicultural education they must first know the definition of what multicultural education is. James Banks a multicultural advocate, educator, and researcher, defined multicultural education as “an idea, an educational reform movement, and process whose major goal is to change the structure of educational institutions so that male, and female students, exceptional students, and students who are member of diverse racial, ethnic, language, and cultural groups will have an equal chance to achieve academically in school” (Ozturgut, 2011). “Throughout its history, multicultural education has been interpreted in many different ways and has been the site of many controversies both within the field and outside it.” (Ramsey, 2015).

Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society, Seventh Edition, by Donna M. Gollnick and Philip C. Chinn. Published by Prentice-Hall/Merrill. Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Being a culturally responsive teacher is more than implementing multicultural activities and programs within the classroom. It involves confronting issues of power and privilege that arise in the face of diversity, and recognizing the influence this has on a child’s ability to learn. This is particularly difficult in the field of education. Teachers are required to respect the values that are associated with every child’s culture, and the many differences amongst them including, physical and mental ability, gender, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, language, religion, sexual orientation, geography, and age. As a result, today’s teachers have to be able to separate their professional and private lives and ignore any bias in the latter.

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.

As a teacher, I profoundly understand the challenges and uncertainties that many minority students face today. I have worked in public education for more than a decade. During those years, I

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

As educators it is important to be aware of the diversity in the classroom and to have the teaching methods and response methods that can address the diversity in the class. As teachers, we are expected to educate other parents' children without crossing personal boundaries and a child's culture is very personal. It is important for teachers to be knowledgeable about their students background to help teach the student in a better manner that might be more suited for that child and out of respect for the families of all the students in the

As demographic changes in the United States have significantly increased the cultural diversity of student populations in public schools multicultural policies and practices have become important and also have debates against it . Multicultural Education was reformed shortly after the civil rights movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s .Many traces back to the discrimination of African American and other people of color. At that time most oppressive was the educational institutions.

Cultural diversity in our public schools is both exciting and challenging for most classroom teachers. Teachers have the opportunity to involve learners from diverse cultural backgrounds in the learning process thereby making their classrooms into arenas for culturally competent teaching and learning for all of their students. Culturally competent teachers are those who are educated to recognize the impact of culture on their student’s educational needs while implementing the necessary boundaries and rules utilized for teaching culturally diverse learners.

In the United States diversity will become progressively more reflected in our schools. In our school, students are becoming increasingly diverse, by assisting pupils to attaining knowledge, attitudes they need in order to become active citizens within our society. Teaching a group of diverse students from different backgrounds, ethnic, and other cultural groups in a school environment that supports diversity within a classroom setting incorporate teaching. More importantly, it is important that within schools teachers as well as students need to understand one another’s background; such as their culture, race, and ethnicity. For students it prepares them for life in an culturally diverse society. Throughout this paper it is focused on multicultural education in our society.

2040 the projected ethic status of student population within the public education sector suggests that children of a minority status will make up more than half of the student count. Most recently the United States has implemented several strategies in regard to holding the public education systems accountable through testing, yet negates the detailed evaluations of issues concerning diversity and the need for cultural competence in a classroom setting. As the lack of consideration is becoming more and more evident a necessity is driven to effectively address issues of diversity and to establish objectives to meet set goals. (Ford, 2010)

According to Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society, the United States is comprised of almost 300 different ethnic groups (46). These groups, which make up the population of the United States, are all educated in some way shape or form in American school systems across the country. Educators have to create their instruction in such a way to be inclusive toward all these groups, especially in very diverse areas. By teaching about different cultures to the class they can have a better understanding of where their classmates originate from and be more accepting. Teachers set an example in the classroom for students. If teachers are discriminatory or unaccepting towards those who look different, students will pick up on these

No one can deny the fact that United States is rapidly becomes a more culturally and ethnically diverse nation. If the information from The Census Bureau which projects that by the year 2100, the U.S. minority population will become the majority with non-Hispanic whites making up only 40% of the U.S. population is anything to go by, it is clear beyond any reasonable doubt that we need to prepare the coming generations to comfortably embrace this change (Great Schools Staff, 2015). The subject of social diversity can therefore no longer be ignored since as a matter of fact, its impacts are already here with us. Public schools are becoming more diverse, and both the teachers and the students are feeling the impact. Teachers should therefore be actively involved in preparing their students to be tolerant to this change and teaching them how to interact in a diverse environment.

Cultural diversity must be embraced in all spheres of society. When society discriminates those who are different, either by race, ethnicity, religion, etc., then we start to see tension that can lead to major negative outcomes. Recognizing how to embrace cultural diversity in education is the start to a healthy society. According to Terry and Irving, “The term culturally diverse students will be used to refer to ‘students who may be distinguished [from the mainstream culture] by ethnicity, social class, and/or language’ (pg.110). Some examples of these refer to those students who are from racial/ethnic minority groups, students whose primary language is not English, and students who are from low-income or poor households (pg.110).

The teachers of today do not reflect the student population of many communities nor understand the particular sociocultural practices of the school's surrounding community (Monash University, 2017). As our population continues to grow culturally and become more diverse, it is increasingly important to continually update our education system and school curriculum. In doing so, it allows teachers and schools to keep up with diversity changes and allow for future generations from all backgrounds to equally succeed in life, therefore creating culturally responsive teachers and classrooms is just the beginning to close the cultural divide within schools. In order to create culturally responsive pedagogy, teachers need to be sensitive to the cultures of their students and to use their understandings about how culture influences their learning in their day-to-day planning for teaching students (Stoicovy, 2002).