I think that multicultural education refers both to the curriculum and education of students about other cultures, especially those located within their own education system. All students should be taught about local, national, and global history or about events presently occurring. Through multicultural education students will become better educated and more compassionate; which in turn will help schools, and later society.
I think it is difficult to define multicultural education, because every person has his/her own ideas of what it means. I think it is the same way when a group of people try to create a curriculum together. Every person values different things and making a "balanced" curriculum that everyone likes is next to impossible. Personally, I think that a lot can be changed in America, and that even though we have diverse education systems we are afraid to openly talk about diversity. While I lived in Japan it seemed like other cultures were discussed frequently. If a foreigner visited then you could most definitely find them in one classroom or another talking about themselves and their culture. This may have been because they are such a homogeneous culture, and had to use the opportunities they had to meet diverse people. I did live in a very small town, though, and am only speaking from my experiences there.
I find it sad that we do not recognize and celebrate the diversity that exists in America. Of course, coexisting is not always easy because there are misunderstandings that could possibly be helped or even avoided if we understood each other better. (This is the same for any friendship or relationship.) It is up to classroom teachers to decide how they want to approach multicultural education and enforce it in their classroom. I love to work with younger students and I have always found that they openly accept others, and ideas without having pre-conceived ideas of right and wrong. Teachers usually run into more resistance when working with parents. Parents are afraid of what they do not understand and they are more protective of their children. I think to help this situation we will need to be as informative as possible so parents understand what activities will take place in the classroom. Parents may even learn a little from their children or their children's class.
Great graphic!!
ReplyDeleteI love that you mentioned that we need to celebrate the diversity in American classrooms. I think too often we focus on tolerance rather than celebration.
You mentioned that when you lived in Japan, other cultures were discussed frequently. Another student, Chiaki, mentioned that that was her experience as well.
Well done.