1st and 2nd Generations Cultures

¶ … Generation 2nd Generation A large percentage of school population comprises multicultural origins. Educational equity Perhaps educational equity is a less problem in the early generation due to a large percentage of students with same cultural and racial background. The increasing diversity and changing demographics presses more issue on inequality among students. Demonstrated attitudes As seen on African-Americans, children in the early age still shows positive attitudes such liveliness and eagerness Later generations show negative attitudes towards others such as cynism and apathy.

School dropout rate Minimal school dropout rate Shows an increase in the rate of school dropouts. Social living and way of life Due to lesser rate of cultural diversity, peoples' ways of life are not yet influenced by the culture of other races. The present generation shows mixed culture that was influenced by other races' culture. Early and Present Generation The trend of the changing demographics and increasing ethnic origins in the United States is altering the way the nation's people live their lives.

Although cultural diversity has been in the history of the United States since the early years, the increasing immigrants in the nation these days is something that one cannot simply overlooked. This is due to the changes in the different aspects of the American way of life that are influenced by the diverse cultures that enter the nation. Since migration started in the United States long before the World War II, ethnic consciousness and culture conflict is not new in the nation.

However, there are still some changes that transpired between the early times and in our present time, thus causing differences in the way the early generation and the current generation views cultural diversity. One of the areas where the effects of cultural diversity are apparent is in the educational system of the United States.

According to Section 1: Foundations of Multicultural Education, While student composition varies widely across the country, and even within the same city or school, observation of almost any school shows that the sociocultural texture of American society is changing rapidly. In the early generation, ethnic/racial diversity can only be found in public schools. It was in public schools where students from groups of European-Americans, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans can be found. These days, on the other hand, this is still a fact in almost all public schools.

However, it is also normal for private schools to accept students from diverse ethnic background. Although cultural diversity in the early generations is not as fast growing as it is today, culture conflict was already a problem in multicultural schools and communities. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that people from different ethnic/racial groups are not very welcome in the group of pure-blooded Americans. These days, however, people are more open-minded when it comes to cultural diversity.

Equality in treatment within educational institutions and other organizations is another area where differences between the early generation and the present generations can be seen. In the past, because cultural diversity is not yet widely accepted, a lot of discriminations exist. One example is the inequality between the teachers' treatment for the white Americans and for the students who belong to other racial minority groups. In work environments, similar case.