Multiculturalism Has Become an Important

¶ … Multiculturalism has become an important word across the United States as well as in schools, because of the changing population in the country as well as increasing globalization. As with any term, however, especially a new one, it can have many different meanings. Many people are also concerned that too much of an emphasis on multiculturalism may take away from American Western history. All the articles that are noted below, as well as other scholars who address this topic, stress that one culture or group of cultures should not be overshadowed by another. or, on the other hand, that multiculturalism should be given lip service because it is the trend or word of the week.

The important element is that all students and their cultures need to be respected and integrated into the educational system in a meaningful way.

Wlodkowski and Ginsberg (1995), for example, offer four ways to motivate and promote multiculturalism as an essential part of the educational curricula: 1) Establishing inclusion - creating a learning atmosphere in which students and teachers feel respected by and connected to one another; 2) Developing attitude - creating a favorable disposition toward the learning experience through personal relevance and choice; 3) Enhancing meaning - creating challenging, thoughtful learning experiences that include student perspectives and values; and 4) Engendering competence - creating an understanding that students are effective in learning something they value.

Similarly, Banks (1994) defines a similar approach as motivations by what he calls "dimensions." The first dimension of multi-cultural education, or content integration, deals with the extent to which teachers illuminate key points of instruction with content reflecting diversity. The second dimension is knowledge construction, or the extent to which teachers help students understand how perspectives of people within a discipline influence the conclusions reached. Third, the prejudice reduction dimension deals with efforts to help students develop positive attitudes about different groups, such as instructional materials with positive images of diverse groups and the use of such materials in consistent and sustained ways. Fourth, the equitable pedagogy dimension concerns ways to change teaching methods to facilitate academic achievement among students from diverse groups due to different learning styles. Research indicates, for example, that the academic achievement of African-American and Mexican-American students occurs in a different learning style than that of other students. Last, but not least, the empowering school culture and social structure dimension concerns the extent to which a school's culture and organization ensure educational equality and cultural empowerment for students from diverse groups. These cultures should be promoted in a similar way as the motivations mentioned by Wlodkowski and Ginsberg.

It is important then, that cultures are kept separate and recognized and respected for their differences as well as similarities. It is not helpful, for example, to have one week or day to celebrate diversity and then go back to the standard traditional format. The teacher should show respect and encourage his or her students to likewise show respect for each culture. As Villegas (2007) points out, too many teachers see other cultural groups in a subordinate position. Such perspectives are picked up by the students and followed.

Ogbu (1995) also notes that how much the students, themselves, react to having their culture integrated into the curriculum along with other cultures depends on their background and experiences. Thus, involuntary cultures, those that are here in the U.S. without a choice, such as African-Americans, will not be as positive about multiculturalism as voluntary cultures as Asian-Americans.

The most important thing for teachers to always remember, of course, is that all children need to be treated as important contributors to the class. As Villegas (2007) notes, Many methods incorporated in the fabric of everyday schooling put students from non-mainstream groups at a disadvantage, such as a school culture of low expectations for students from low-status groups, inadequate general and multicultural learning materials, large class sizes, assignment of the least-experienced teachers to classes where students need the most help, insensitivity toward cultural differences, questionable testing practices, and a curriculum that does not reflect diversity.