Multicultural Education

As technology advances, each day we move closer to interdependency and collaboration between the nations and cultures of the world. Students in our age are able to connect with their peers around the globe in ways unthinkable just a few decades ago. The amount of access available to students seeking information about the way others think and live is unprecedented and the need to understand other cultures has never been greater. Teachers, administrators and other stakeholders are challenged to prepare students for future success in our global economy. In addition, the students in today’s classrooms are more diverse than ever in our history. Students may come from different home and language backgrounds with diverse values and perspectives. These two factors influence, to varying degrees, an educator’s definition of multicultural education.

I think that many educators easily misinterpret multicultural education as simply presenting the products and perspectives of an ethnic or cultural group, as illustrated in Paul Gorki’s account of his experiences in elementary school at Taco Night. Education from this standpoint teaches students little about the viewpoints, values or diversity of another culture and, instead, focuses on the salient products and practices of the culture reinforcing stereotypes and ethnocentrism. Failure to recognize the range of thoughts, beliefs and behaviors that exists within a culture and the diversity that exists within our own classrooms only serves to reinforce the supremacy of our dominant culture. As a teacher of foreign language I find it particularly important to displace stereotypes and prejudices in the minds of my predominately white English-speaking students. I am always amazed at how fiercely students will fight to maintain their viewpoints and how uncomfortable they are with facts or opinions that contradict them. Giving students an opportunity to thoughtfully examine their opinions and even adjust them is a vital part of the process of developing a global citizen. This opportunity for “cognitive dissonance,” described by Gorski as a technique in multicultural teaching, provides an avenue for students to shift their paradigms and rethink their opinions. I personally believe that key to multicultural education are the explicit teaching of critical thinking skills and the presentation of curriculum that represents varied cultural perspectives.

A second factor in defining multicultural education is the diversity of our students. It is the responsibility of every teacher to help students learn in the way they do best. Many factors, such as language, values, beliefs or family dynamics can influence a student’s ability to learn in a given class. In addition, learning preferences may be based in cultural perspectives about education, learning and teacher-student relationships. Not acknowledging these differences is undoubtedly detrimental to students from such backgrounds. Every student has a right to equal opportunity for academic success. All students should be prepared through their education to productively participate in a pluralistic society. As a teacher my greatest challenge in regards to multicultural education has been to protect students from oppression and discrimination by those that are part of the dominant culture. In high school their already exist so much pressure to conform. So many of my students are afraid to express dissenting opinion or share their rich heritage for fear of being misunderstood.

Unfortunately, one drawback to multicultural education is that, although well intentioned, it can often serve to only highlight differences and support stereotyping instead of creating the unity it intended. I think it is important to emphasize both similarities and differences when implementing multicultural curriculum. Allowing students equal opportunity to learn using varied resources from multiple cultural perspectives is so important for today’s students. It is a difficult but vital task. I truly hope to improve year after year as I grow and learn to teach from this perspective.