United States has always been seen as a melting pot, but the ideal is a place where we strive to invite all to celebrate exactly who they are. As the U.S. population is becoming increasingly diverse and technology makes the world feel increasingly smaller, it’s time to make every classroom a multicultural classroom.
What is multicultural education?
Multicultural education is more than the celebration of Cinco de Mayo with piñatas and tacos or read the latest biography of Martin Luther King Jr. It is an educational movement based on the core values as freedom, justice, opportunity and equality. Is a set of strategies to address the various challenges experienced by the rapidly evolving U.S. demographics. And it is a beginning step to change the balance of power and privilege within the educational system.
The goals of multicultural education are:
- Creating a safe, accepting and successful learning environment for all
- Increase awareness of global issues
- Strengthening cultural awareness
- Strengthen intercultural awareness
- Teaching students that there are multiple historical perspectives
- Develop critical thinking – the prevention of prejudice and discrimination
Advantages of Multicultural Education
According to the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME), multicultural education:
- Helps students develop positive self-image.
- Giving students an equitable educational opportunity.
- Allows multiple perspectives and ways of thinking.
- Fighting stereotypes and prejudicial behavior.
- Teaches students to critique the society in the interests of social justice.
Road blocks to implementation of Multicultural Education
Contrary to popular belief, multicultural education is more than just cultural awareness, but rather an initiative to include all underrepresented groups (people of color, women, disabled persons, etc.) and securing content including curricula and such groups is accurate and complete.
Unfortunately, multicultural education is not as simple as an annual celebration of heritage or additional unit here and there. Rather, it requires schools to reform the traditional curriculum.
Too often, students are ill informed and misguided. Not all textbooks of historical present complete and accurate. For example, Christopher Columbus is celebrated as the hero who discovered America. Take this completely ignores the history of the European history of Native Americans and the devastation that colonization had on them. Some history books are being reviewed, but often it is easier to teach that "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."
Most of the curriculum will also focus more on North America and Europe than any other region. Most students have learned about the genocide through the stories of the Holocaust, but do you know that hundreds of thousands of people are being killed in places like Darfur and Rwanda? Despite our proximity to Latin America, American schools often spend little time reading Latin American literature or to learn about the culture and history?
Therefore, multicultural education is most successful when applied as a school with a focus on the reconstruction not only curriculum but also of political and institutional.
Unfortunately, most educational institutions are not prepared to implement multicultural education in classrooms. Multicultural education requires a staff that is not only diverse, but also culturally competent. Educators should be aware, sensitive and embracing the diversity of beliefs, perspectives and experiences. It also must be willing and prepared to address the issues of controversy. These issues include, but are not limited to, racism, sexism, religious intolerance, classism, age, etc.
What you can do in your classroom
Just because we are facing an uphill battle does not mean that they should take the first steps. To integrate multicultural education into your classroom and your school, you can:
- Integrate a diverse reading list that shows the universal human experience, across cultures
- Encourage community involvement and social activism
- Going beyond textbooks
- By supplementing their curriculum with current events and news out of textbooks, you can draw parallels between the experiences of the distant past and the world today.
- Creating multicultural projects that require students to choose a fund out of their own – Suggest that your school host a professional development in multicultural education in the classroom
Favorite lessons in Multicultural Education
Discuss issues of racism through pop culture.
Example: Study the effects of the Second World War to Americans through the politics of Japanese cartoons, films, photography, etc.
Analyze issues of socioeconomic class through the planning and development.
Example: Designing a project to develop solutions to the needs of people living in communities affected by poverty.
Analyze issues of sexism by the media.
Example: Make a scrapbook of stereotyping men and women. Compare both positive and negative stereotypes and identify the struggles they face as a result of these stereotypes.
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