Essays

Multicultural Education History, Past Challenges: One of themajor goals of the American school system is to provide allchildren with equal educational opportunity. However, withregard to minority students, meeting?, particular objective has presented a real challenge to educators as they have beenconfronted with the task of reshaping education in themultilingual, multicultural society that characterizes the UnitedStates. Many significant events contributed to the need ofschool reform.

The Civil Rights movement launched by African Americans in (he 1960's, which resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, triggered major social changes in the' direction ofquality and jusstice for all. Consequently, the US Department of Education was charged "...to conduct a survey onavailability of equal educational opportunity and to provide technical and financial assistance to school boards in carrying  out  plans for the desegregation of public schools". Changing immigration patterns .also occurring since the 19n0's brought educational issues to the forefront of discussion. In 1968, thefirst Bilingual Education act was passed in an attempt "...toprovide short-term help to school districts with highconcentrations of students from low income homes who hadlimited English-speaking ability".

Moreover, in 1974, the Supreme Court ruled in Lau vs. Nichols (a class action suit brought on behalf of Chinese-speaking children in San Francisco) that English-limited chldren who were being taught in English "...were certain to find their classroom experiences totally incomprehensible andin no way meaningful". In consequence, schools wereinstructed to give special help to non-English-speaking studentsin order to guarantee their equality under the law withstudent who spoke English as their first language.

In short, the social movement of the 1960's gave rise to major educational changes; and it was in that context that the concept of multicultural education' originated. 1 he 1980's saw the emergence  of a body of scholarship on multiculturaleducation  by pregressive education activists and researchers who refused to allow schools to address their concerns by simply adding  token programs and special units on famous women or famous people of color. James Banks, one of the multicultural educations, was among the first multicultural education scholars to examine schools as social system from a multicultural context.

Accordind to bank "In order to maintain a 'multiculturalschool environment aspects of the school had to be examined and transformed including policies, teachers'attiudes , and transformed  materials, assessment methods,counseling, and teaching styles. By the middle and late 1980's, other K-12 teacher-turned-scholars provided more scholarship in multiculturaleducation, developing new, deeperframeworks thatwere grounded in the ideal of equaleducational opportunity and a connection between schooltransformation and social change. Meanwhile, the culturallandscape of the United States continued to become less visiblywhite Christian and more visibly rich with cultural, racial, ethnic, and religious diversity, underscoring the necessity foreveryone to develop a set of skills and knowledge that thepresent system was failing to provide all students. Theseincluded creative and critical thinking skills, interciiltural competence, and social and global awareness. The educationsystem was not only plagued by unequal treatment oftraditionally oppressed groups, but was also ill-equipped toprepare even the most highly privileged students tocompetently participate in an increasingly diverse society.

In the 21st century, at a time when it is reported thatminority students already "outnumber white students intwenty-five of the nation’s twenty-six largest urban schoolsystems", and when it is estimated that "minority groups,taken together, will outnumber the current white majority inthe overall population by 2056", never has the discussion aboutmulticultural education been more intense. At the same lime, never has the necessity to address the needs of non-Englishspeaking immigrant children been more imperative.

In fact, according Mitchell and Salsbury (1996) "the number of language-minority students in the United Stateswas estimated at 9.9 million in 1994". Current Issues: Studentsfrom racial and ethnic minority backgrounds are more likelyto be disproportionately placed in special cducaiiori programsand classes. Some groups of students are under-representedin special education and over-represented in programs forgifted and talented students. Such disproportionaterepresentation of minority groups is an ongoing nationalproblem. Disproportional- representation is a complex problem, and fixing it calls i-'or pervasive strategies.

Reducing over-representation of minority students inspecial education calls for creating a successful schoolenvironment for all students and accurately distinguishingdisabilities from cultural differences. It is important tounderstand that the risk of low academic performance andchallenging behaviors does not reside solely within the child or family. Instructional, classroom and school variables can and do contribute to academic problems. Educators need to be' aware of the cultural influences on behavior. They may need training to develop their knowledge of cultural beliefs values, behaviors and expectations, as well as their ownattitudes, values and perspectives toward diversity.

They should know how to use cross-culturalcommunication skills with students, families and communitymembers and be able to develop, evaluate, and usemulticultural curricula and interventions. Also, when astudent's English proficiency is limited, is may be difficult fora teacher to tell, if academic probiems are due to a disabilityor a language difference. In such cases, the teacher mustinformally assess the ‘student’s English language proficiency. Enhancing traditional tests with other assessments such asclassroom obscrvc-ilions and performance measures canprovide Ihe information needed to develop appropriate lessonsor identify alternative teaching strategies.

For most children refened for evaluation, academic failureis related to problems in learning to read. It is crucial toemphasize reading and to have a strong array of alternateinstructional strategies to address reading difficulties. Curricula should incorporate student.' cultural backgrounds, be relevant to their lives, and build on their experiences. Multicultural Education and the Educator: Multiculturaleducation helps students attain the sidlls and perceptionsneeded to function eflectively within their own ethnic cultures, other ethnic cultures, and the common culture. It demandsThai cultural pluralism becomes an integral part of theeducational process at every level.

Educators must be trained to recognize, accept, and valuethe cultural differences of students. They must be taught tocontinue to search out the historical truths. They must teachall subjects from several ethnic or cultural perspectives withthe Anglo-American perspective being only one of those groupsrather than the dominant, superior group. Emphasis onintercultural acceptance among a!! Groups is badly needed ifwe expect to enable new generations to reduce ethnocentrismand understand the world through the eyes of other people.

Cognitive learning about the contributions of each other’s culture is only the first .step. Acceptance, as a value, must passbeyond mere toleration of others and provide forinternaUzation of such an effective value. In this way we canarrive at the stage of working and living together without theobstacles of scapegoating, stereotyping, discrimination, andprejudice that prevent effective human interrelationships.Multicultural teacher education not only should provideteachers with the competence to recognize, accept, and valuethe cultural and ethnic". Diligence'-. Of students, but also providean antidote to subtle racist communications and monoculturaldistortions of subject matter and curriculum materials. Approaches to Multicultural Education: Since the Civil Rightsyears, major controversies have ensued regarding themulticultural content of textbooks and curriculum materials.

Many school districts have devised screening proceduresin order to ensure that such materials are free of racist, sexistcontent: "Twenty-four states have a statewide process forscreening textbooks, while twenty-six have a procedure forsubjecting curriculum materials to screening for racist, sexistcontent". Several states have taken strong stands, whichrequire teachers to acquire high levels of understandingregarding American pluralism as a prerequisite for helpingtheir own students develop better multicultural attitudes.

A number of special programs have been in evidence,including special tutoring and counseling, strong parent-involvement activities, and bilingual education programs forstudents who have a mother tongue other than English. Otherfeatures include "Writing to Read" programs, improved librarysendees, cooperative learning efforts, multicultural educationcurriculum components, and committed teachers who trulycare about improving the educational fortunes of poor children.Some American schools have attempted to provide basicinstruction in the native language of the child in order toincrease the probability that each child will experience earlysuccess in the American education enterprise.

According to Mitchell (1996) "Typically, such programsattempt to provide instruction in the child's native languagewhen needed. At the same time, the student receivesinstruction in English (ESL Programs) in order to hasten theday when the person is truly bilingual, and the need for specialbilingual programs disappears. The rationale is that if childrenare able to work in their native language first, they have agreater hkelihood of achieving success. To be compatible will and able to teach students who come from backgrounddifferent from your own, you need to believe that all student can learn- regardless of gender, social class, and ethnic orcultural characteristics.

A list of guidelines have been established by Kellough &Roberts for teaching students of diverse backgrounds: 1. Buildthe learning around the students' individual learning styles.2. Communicate positively with every student and with thestudent's parent, guardians, learning as much as you can aboutthe student and the student's culture, and encouraging familymembers to participate in the student's learning 3 Establisha classroom climate in which each student feels he or she canlearn and wants to learn. 4. Hold and maintain highexpectations for each student 5. Personalize learning for eachstudent; much like is done in the use of the IEP with specialneeds learners, d. Plan tor and use all learning odalities (visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic). 7. Use cooperativelearning.

In summary, multicultural education strives for equityregardless of race, gender, culture, or national origin. Bothschool and society shape students' lives. So, in order to besuccessful, multicultural education encompasses both the effortto create more equitable schools and the involvement ofteachers and students in the creation of a more equitablesociety.