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This sample focuses on the drawbacks and advantages of multicultural education. Here, you’ll find characteristics, impact and benefits of multicultural education.
Definition of multicultural education
There are various researchers who have sought to explain and define the cultural diversity found in the classroom setting. Stakeholders continue to develop strategies that will enable the students from minority cultures such as those of color to coexist and gain maximally from the educational curriculum. Multicultural education can be defined as a platform where learners who have a variety of value systems, customs, and communication styles are taught ways in which they can effectively and efficiently share ideas, skills, and resources. Nieto (2000) defined multicultural education as an idea that states that all students, disregarding their backgrounds related to gender, race, ethnicity or any other exceptionality. According to Shapson & D’Oyley (1984), multicultural education is an education in which a child can gain respect as opposed to mere acceptance or tolerance regardless of his or her origin. It is an education where cultural diversity is an educational tool meant to enhance the development of a child.
Multicultural education enhances the idea that all learners or students should pursue their dreams equally regardless of their ethnic background, social or financial class, gender, or even racial background. Scholars have found out that there are some students who tend to benefit from the traditional school structure because of the cultural characteristics they possess. In this case, educators often indulged in inequity based on the cultural characteristics described above (Banks & Banks, 2010).
Historical development
For individuals understand the best idea of multicultural education, it is important to understand its historical background. Multicultural education in the United States can be traced back to the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement. Prior to this, schools used to be disintegrated on the basis of color. The Civil Rights Movement together with others who were interested petitioned the US Supreme Court to ban exclusion in schools on the basis of color. African Americans and other people of color started a campaign to challenge discrimination in public areas. One of the areas that were notorious in this discrimination was in institutions of learning. Later on in the late sixties, the women’s rights movement begun their own campaign challenging gender discrimination in learning institutions. The discrimination in both campaigns was aimed at challenging the discriminative tendencies in the hiring of staff. As the pressure mounted, universities and other learning institutions had no choice but to comply. This heralded a new dawn for multicultural education. According to Banks (1993), the multicultural environment involved a paradigm shift in many aspects of the school curriculum. The hiring of teachers, the attitude of the teaching staff, and assessment techniques are some of the areas that had to be reviewed to reflect the multicultural environment.
Since the 1980s, the US has continued to have increased cultural variety. As such, the original models have had to be reviewed and reconstructed to reflect this new trend. Scholars have since then been interested in developing new models and strategies that are based on the principles of social justice. In this regard, each of these scholars believes that multicultural education is a big step in enhancing social equity in the new global village. The argument by scholars is that knowledge is not a neutral process, but one that is dependent on human interest. Therefore, education is essentially intended to help the learner improve and enhance the society’s welfare.
Advantages of Multicultural Education
The idea of multicultural education can thus be said to be an area where social activists continue to show interest. Multicultural education is founded on the principles of social justice. For this reason, many theorists and educators who are interested in such areas as racism, discrimination, and equity have continued to give ideas that are aimed at addressing the question of social justice. However, the scholars argue that the battle has not been won yet. Notably, there is a persistent trend for students of color to perform dismally. According to Gay (2000), this is as a result of not challenging social injustice. He added that, to ensure full multicultural education, this requires the involvement of actively challenging all forms of discrimination.
According to Rosenau (1992), curricula that mirrors the modern goals should also challenge some of the assumptions held about mainstream academic knowledge. Students should be allowed to understand ideas and concepts from diverse perspectives and points of view. Knowledge is only efficient if it is challenged and questioned. As such, educators who are critical are able to cultivate pedagogy of social action and activism that embraces diversity. The struggle for the formulation multicultural education has been long as has been indicated in the discussion. However, the modern world appears to be inclined to formalize multicultural education. An important area in multicultural education remains the process of learning. In this case, teaching in a multicultural standpoint entails compiling, interpreting, and making decisions that take into consideration the socio-cultural factors. Students can be assisted in such an environment. They can also be evaluated on different aspects of knowledge. Further, the curriculum is equally important in multicultural education. Notably, the curriculum should be valid and updated.
Scholars have now developed stronger and stable theoretical frameworks that enhance advocacy against social injustices. These theoretical frameworks are derived from other social theories that challenge the notions on the knowledge-base. The modern teaching methods are essentially transformational styles of teaching and inculcating knowledge. According to Banks (1993), the ideological orientations include economic efficiency, democracy, interdependence, partnership, and equality in educational opportunity. Therefore, it can be seen that multicultural education has a number of phases. The different stakeholder value multicultural education for different reasons. These groups include the Western traditionalists, the multiculturalists, and the afro-centrists.
The purpose of multicultural education is to instill skills and knowledge that will help students to impact positively to the American social and cultural environment. This is especially important considering that there has been an outcry by some stakeholders in the business world. They have complained regarding the lack of practical skills among students who have undergone the American curriculum. The purpose is to ensure that future workers are fully prepared for the global economy. It should be noted that students have virtually no knowledge before going to school. What the teachers instill in them is what remains as their knowledge. If the curriculum and through well trained teachers can instill diversity in these students, then multicultural education will have occurred (Delpit, 1995).
There are various challenges that face the implementation of multicultural education. However, it remains a great tool that will benefit the American students if well carried out. Essentially, multicultural education espouses the same values that an efficient curriculum has to consider-social improvement. The main beneficiaries are those students who come from cultures that have been disenfranchised and underprivileged in terms of race, language or ethnicity. There is a common agreement that schools should be reformed in a manner that they can uphold equity and justice. The area of divergence is on how such reforms would be carried. Schools that have ensured fair assessment and non-biased hiring of their staff have shown a better performance by students from minority cultures (Cowen, Kazamias & Unterhalter, 2009).
Disadvantages of Multicultural Education
Multicultural education has brought many positive impacts. However, it has also had its shortcomings. The continued increase in cultural diversity has led to the realization by educators that there is a need to expand their understanding. They also need to comprehend the workings of multicultural education fully especially in public institutions of learning. The world is increasingly becoming smaller, and people of different cultures are living together. There are many political and social aspects that influence the success of multicultural education. According to Smith (2009), the greatest factor that influence multicultural education is the preparation made by teachers and educators. If and when teachers are able to know and comprehend the needs that students from the divergent cultures as compared to the dominant culture, effective and efficient learning takes place.
For teachers to get to a point where they understand their students, teachers should have comprehensive preparation programs that are geared towards ensuring that the teacher has a thorough comprehension of all the cultures that interact in his or her classroom. In the event there is the promotion of diversity in culture and global tolerance is observed in multicultural education, the challenges that come from conventional elitism are overcome (Schugurensky, 2002). However, other researchers and scholars argue that multicultural education is an obstacle to unity among cultures. Those who belong to this school of thought argue that multicultural education dilutes the US values and beliefs that are mainly borrowed from the western civilization. In this school of thought, the argument is that teaching the origins of the dominant culture has not necessarily forced the culture of the dominant culture to the rest.
Some go to the point of arguing that multicultural education is the acceptance of disenfranchising of white culture using a polite language. According to Gay (2000), this is done by attempting to Americanize minority cultures. Even multiculturalists admit that the implementation of multicultural education remains a tricky affair. In this case, most of the framework that guide multicultural education is theoretical. However, the practical implementation has many interest groups who may not necessarily understand the concept. Some of the main challenges are the conditions that are provided by civil societies, the lack of demarcations on areas that are subject to critique, and over reliance on theoretical frameworks and models.
Given the weaknesses outlined above, multicultural education may be manipulated to give a narrow nationalism, and promote xenophobia. This is against the idea of promoting social cohesion upon which it is founded. It poses the risk of being a platform where learners are reminded of their narrow ethnic and racial backgrounds. This will then return their thinking to the idealized past. Multicultural education may sometimes appear to be geared towards reforming mono-cultural educational institutions into democratic institutions that embrace multiculturalism. The argument then is whether this is helpful in changing the manner of thinking among the students (Nieto, 2000).
While multicultural education may help in reducing tensions among learners from diverse cultures, it does not necessarily help them in being objective in their understanding of the world. Those upholding this school of thought notes that it will be best for teachers and educators to be “color blind”. As such, they should not acknowledge the colors of their students. The counter argument is that ignoring the cultural difference is not in any way helpful. In this case, the dominant culture slowly becomes the accepted culture and minority culture become extinct. According to Nieto (2000), this limits the performance of the learner for the student best identifies him, or herself when in the company of those who resemble him. Thus, a student who identifies self is better placed to learn.
Education researchers in the United States have sought to find out why most of the black students perform poorly. This has been the case especially for those concentrating on multicultural education. Some scholars argue that African American students are largely deficient, and tests are only carried out to confirm this. The other argument is that since the curriculum is made by whites, the multicultural education in the US is skewed to favor white students (Seagraves, 2007). To implement multicultural education effectively, stakeholders should acknowledge the limit of their own points of view. Multicultural education cannot be simply about eliminating the multicultural ingredients in the learning environment, curriculum, or in the hiring of personnel. Rather, it should involve the rejection of differences that arise from cultural diversity. The form of multicultural education that involves teaching students about the cultures of their colleagues has largely been found to be redundant (Au, 2009).
Personal Reflection
My understanding is that the main reason for divergence is because educators do not fully understand the concept behind multicultural education- the broad state of being conscious and appreciation of other cultures (Jay, 2003). It would be chauvinistic to equate being American to being a member of the white race. In this regard, the United States has had a dynamic shift in terms of demographics. Hispanics and Blacks now constitute nearly half of the American population. The danger with this is that, when learners feel a sense of belonging that is too strong, they tend to imagine that they are being prejudiced or stigmatized by other groups.
Further, I think that teachers have the responsibility to ensure that each student, regardless of social class or cultural background, feels a sense of belonging within the learning environment. How the teacher achieves that should be left to the teachers. However, I am convinced that there is a need to educate and train teachers on how to appreciate and to be conscious of other cultures. If the tutors are taught on the sensitivities that minority cultures have, then they can best establish practical policies in the examination of such students, as well as ensuring their cooperation with other students who are from the dominant communities. The formulation of a practical and efficient policy should not be taken as an easy exercise. Further, very few teachers have any training in dealing with multicultural education. Schools that find themselves in an environment that has a multicultural population has to consider hiring extra staff that has this training (Nieto, 2000).
From the discussion, it is clear that there are many aspects in multicultural education. I think it is clear that efficient integration of multicultural education in schools will help in enhancing the performance of students. However, my opinion is that multicultural education appears good only in the theoretical frameworks while the implementation has largely been unsuccessful. This is a sad situation considering that the US is now a multicultural society. Therefore, my suggestion would be that there is a need to ensure that teachers and other stakeholders in the education sector are fully aware of the concept behind multicultural education.
References
Au, W. (2009). Rethinking multicultural education: Teaching for racial and cultural justice. Milwaukee, Wis: Rethinking Schools.
Ayers, W. (1988). Young children and the problem of the color line. Democracy and Education, 3 (1): 20—26.
Banks, J. A. (1993). The canon debate, knowledge construction and multicultural education. Educational Researcher, 22 (5): 4—14.
Banks, J. A., & Banks, C. A. M. G. (2010). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
Cowen, R., Kazamias, A. M., & Unterhalter, E. (2009). International handbook of comparative education. Dordecht: Springer.
Delpit, L. (1995). Other people’s children. New York: The New Press.
Gay, G. (2000). The importance of multicultural education. Educational Leadership, 61 (4): 30–35.
Jay, M. (2003). Critical race theory, multicultural education, and the hidden curriculum of hegemony. Multicultural Perspectives: Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education, 5 (4): 3-9.
Nieto, S. (2000). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education. New York: Longman.
Rosenau, P.M. (1992). Post-modernism and the social sciences: Insights, inroads, and intrusions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Schugurensky, D. (2002). The eight curricula of multicultural citizenship education”. Multicultural Education, 10 (1): 2-6.
Seagraves, J. (2007). I Don’t Think about Being a Black Student and Going Through School: An Exploration Into the Development of Academic Identity in African American Students. Web.
Shapson, S., & D’Oyley, V. (1984). Bilingual and multicultural education: Canadian perspectives. Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters.
Smith, E. B. (2009). Approaches to multicultural education in pre-service teacher education: philosophical frameworks and models for Teaching. Multicultural Education, 16 (3): 45-50.
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