The Multicultural Classroom Paper

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.

Schools systematically subjugate minority and black students when a school’s enrollment contains a huge racial majority. If students have no exposure to persons of different ethnicities, cultures, races, and religions, then these students will experience culture shock when they confront “other” people. Even in our class, we talk about black and minority students as another group, one that differs from “us.” We think about the inequalities in school systems as problems we need to fix, not as problems that have influenced our thinking and affect us as prospective teachers. For example, a white graduate student with

African American students account for the larger majority of minorities in public schools in the United States. Most areas in the northern part of the United states and coastal areas are ethnically diverse. However, down south this is not the case. Students of color will experience a harder time in the education system. African American students meet the obstacle of educators who will not want them to succeed based on a preconceived thought. In fact, Caucasian teachers make up for 85% of all

Currently, general education classrooms have increasingly become diverse with both disable students and students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. In order for educators to ensure that they effectively teach these classrooms, meet the needs of each student both successfully and individually, effective research that is based on strategies need to be implemented. The U.S. Department of Education suggest that, the current school-age population is becoming more diverse as time passes, yet, majority of the teachers in these schools are white non-Hispanic women. According to another report by The Condition of Education in 2006, American schools are portraying increased diversity and growth. The report suggested that, forty two percent of students in public schools were ethnic or racial minorities in the year 2003; this increased from twenty two percent since 1972. Owing to these reasons, teachers in these schools are expected to educate a diversified class of students including those that come from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Teachers are therefore, required to implement a number of key strategies that will ensure that every student in specific classroom feels that he or she belongs there (Worrell, 2010).

Students from various racial and ethnic backgrounds bring different learning experiences, interactions skills, values, languages, culture etc into the classroom learning situation. For example, I am African and my learning experiences are very different from those that are here. Students from different ethnic backgrounds share their language or vernacular in the classroom

These solutions center on teacher training. Teachers typically refer children for remedial education testing. For this reason, they are also the first line of defense against the misplacement of African American children. In order to meet the needs of black males, educators ought to develop understanding of their culture. Teachers must be trained to adjust their teaching strategies for culturally different students in class. For instance, rather than emphasizing the deviant characteristics of the black male culture, teachers should focus on the needs which all ethnic groups have in common, such as the need for artistic expression. Educators ought to inform their students about black lifestyles and challenges. They should do this on a regular basis, and not only in special

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.

Research has been conducted and the study showed that, "Latino students perceived that teachers' actions escalated disciplinary problems and believed that administrators used unfair and discriminatory practices"(90). Educators will never be able to teach students if the students perceive them as being racist. The degree to which education for cultural diversity is realized depends on the teacher's attitudes, knowledge, and behavior. They make the mistake of mismatching their own life experiences and professional training. Le Roux realizes that an increasing diverse school population encounters a mostly middle-class teaching force that is inadequately prepared to manage the reality of diversity in schools, and that is due to lack of knowledge of diversity (46). He also states that some teachers make the mistake of generalizing about particular ethnic groups and cultural groups, as a result of being exposed during training to information about culture; that is very dangerous in itself. Educators also focus mostly on general characteristics of a group instead in a single individual, and this is wrong because each individual is unique and should not be generalized by culture (Le Roux 46).

As discussed by Jabari Mahiri, African American culture and discussions about African American youth cannot be eliminated when trying to help educate black students. In detail, two African-American teachers who taught in the same high school had two different outcomes with their students. The reason there were two different results between the teachers was because one teacher decided to introduced and exposed the students to familiar faces that they can relate to and African American issues. In addition, Quassan Castro Writer, Activist, Columnist, Poet, Educator and Culture Critic suggested some tips and strategies to teach African American students because he noticed that there is staggering amount of African American students dropping out of high school and not attending college. Specifically, Castro mentioned that main three tips all Educators Must Know About Educating African American and Latino Students is 1) Connect with Parents. “Establish a positive connection with parents from the first day of class. A phone call to report good news is as equally vital to the success of your student as informing parents when children are struggling” (Castro). 2) Cultural Images. “Due to the overexposure to white identities in media, African American and Latino students need to see images of themselves where they are not portrayed as inferior or subordinate to white culture.” (Castro). 3) Value of Education and Real Life. “Express the value of education. Explain the varying levels of educational possibilities one can attain. Do not assume your students know how many high school credits they need to graduate. Do not assume your students knows what a bachelors, masters or doctorate program consists of” (Castro). These particular sources link the issue of African American students not having a high rate of academic achievement because

Student life is an important aspect of a child’s education and when it is threatened by the effects of racism, the student has to deal with unfair treatment inside and outside the classroom as well as emotional struggles. Racism is prevalent in schools in almost every community, so when people experience it, it is not unusual. Racism is prominent within schools that mainly consist of white students. In this particular situation, minorities “feel culturally alienated, physically isolated, and forced to be

Teaching in racially diverse classrooms often leaves educators feeling uncertain about how to proceed and how to respond to historically marginalized students. There is pressure to acknowledge and accept students of color with different perspectives, to diversify the syllabi, be more aware of classroom dynamics, and pay attention to how students of color experience the learning process.

The aims and objectives of this unit are to show an understanding of the role of Equality and Diversity in education I have chosen to research and write about those areas that are relevant and appropriate to the work that I am doing, in order to improve my teaching practice. This hopefully means that the skills I have learned pertaining to research around the subjects will help to fill in any gaps in my knowledge as I continue to develop professionally.

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.

Multicultural counseling are counselors who understand that the client with different cultural background from themselves will have different views and that could effect their treatment. Multicultural are aware of the different cultures and the differences in groups meaning not everyone in the same group thinks the same. MCTs advocates to enhance the traditional counseling role by teaching and consulting plans that relates to culture and roles in the healing process. They also are aware of the balance between individualism and collectivism when it comes to assessing, diagnosing and creating a treatment plan for the client (Sue & Sue, 2016).

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