Languages
One of the most challenging issues faced by the American school systemtoday is managing diversity. In an increasingly heterogeneous society,schools are able to transform the racial, ethnic, and cultural awareness ofan entire community and even the culture as a whole. Because young studentsare impressionable, eager to learn, and sensitive to the world around them,school officials and staff have a definite responsibility to promotepositive images of minorities. Many school systems and teachers are well-versed enough in political correctness to avoid racist language or thedeliberate mistreatment of students. However, what Wiley calls"institutional racism" is still common practice in many schools.Institutional racism is a subtle process; because it is cloaked in goodintentions, institutional racism often goes unnoticed even by minoritygroups. In fact, Wiley notes that "regardless
This servesto symbolically denigrate minority cultures as well as minority languages. Therefore,the way schools treat children whose first language is not English, or atleast those whose families do not speak English, is a major consideration. According to Wiley, "elevating the status of the students'native languages helps enhance their positive self-identity and promotesadditive bilingualism," (137-38). One of the greatestweaknesses of American culture is its failure to embrace other languages,even as it purports to welcome the tired, huddled masses from all parts ofthe globe. However, even in cities that have aminority communities strong enough to "impose" their languages on others,schools still suffer from a lack of resources to enhance students' positiveself-images regarding their languages of origin. Linguistic diversity is thus treated as ahandicap; something easily treated by refusing to offer a student theeducation he or she deserves. In Europe, where so many different cultures exist side-by-side,multilingualism is a way of life rather than an anomaly. One of the most significant ways thatcultural pluralism manifests itself is through language. Nothing could be farther from the truth. At variouslevels of government, initiates to promote linguistic diversity arethwarted by those who believe that maintaining mono-lingualism somehowenhances the status of America. Many local communities, even those with a substantive minoritypopulation, do not actively support multilingualism in schools. As a result, many students are performing atsignificantly lower levels than they are capable of. Language isfundamental to human relations, communication, and daily life. of whether they were intendedto do so," the practices that lead to discrimination in the classroomseverely impact students' self-esteem (136).
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Terence Wiley,
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linguistic diversity,
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Acceptance Essays
