Multiculturalism Literature Review
Education in the United States will need to become significantly moremulticultural if it is to meet the needs of its student base, according toreported statistics and results of studies. Such curriculum changes will berequired for children at all educational levels, from those in generalclasses to those in exceptional or gifted programs. Over the next 50 years, the country's Latino and Asian populations areexpected to triple, reports the U.S. Census Bureau. The white, non-Latinopopulation will drop to just 50.1 percent by 2050-- the lowest in thenation's history. The African-American population is projected to rise from35.8 million to 61.4 million in 2050, or an increase of about 71 percent.At the same time, the world is becoming considerably more global ineconomic, political, social and technological spheres. These factors,alone, will necessitate a change in the now standardized Anglo-American Studies report a number of other reasons in addition to populationchanges that will make diverse education mandatory. A number of reportsshow that a multicultural curriculum can increase academic relevance forstudents of color, attitudes in ethnic group interrelationships and degree
The overall conclusions of reports on multicultural education for thegifted include: that more studies must be conducted on the benefits ofdiversity learning for gifted children of all backgrounds and provideexamples of those programs that are already being run; and that morerecommendations be made about how to develop curriculum for those educatorswho recognize the need for expanding their studies in this area. Exceptionalstudents must shape and enhance their ethnic identities, form realisticperceptions of others and develop social skills with a wide variety ofother individuals. Multicultural curricula also enhance the social nature of learning andimportance of communicating with different populations to expand one'sknowledge base and world views (Bredekamp and Copple, 1997; Vygotsky,1978). Thisunder representation continues to persist, clearly demonstrating that manygifted programs still do not perform well in the area of equity. Banks identified fourlevels integrating multicultural content into the curriculum. The firstlevel of this hierarchical model is based on contributions of minorities;level two on additive or concepts or themes; level three on atransformational approach or better understanding perspectives ofminorities; and level four on social action or helping students makeimportant decisions regarding social issues. Ford also suggests using the model of Bloom (1956) and Banks and Banks(1993), which includes the steps of knowledge, comprehension, application,analysis, synthesis, and evaluation as a means of incorporating diversitycurriculum into the exceptional learning program. They recognize their own uniqueness as well as that inother individuals. Coser argues that unfamiliarity, discrepancy, multiplicity and potentialconflict in the complex social structure require people to pay attention tothe social situation and challenge them to think and respond in new ways. In such cases, an important connection takes place between culturalbackground and classroom instruction that creates bridges between priorknowledge and new information (Au, 1990; Jones et al. By following book readingwith role playing and effective questioning about life-like situations,teachers can help students learn more about others as well as themselves. On the other hand, theopposite could be true if adults foster stereotypes and send messages ofinferiority (Gollnick and Chinn, 1994). It is thus imperative thatinstitutions of learning operate in ways that allow these students'language, values and norms be expressed, understood and appreciated byothers. Studies show that educational curricula forthe gifted have been underrepresented by African American, Hispanic andNative American students (Bruch, 1970; Frasier, 1980; Bernal, 1974), thoughperhaps not by the Asian and Pacific Asian students (Kitano, 2000). They acquire a better understanding of the social world and become moreeffective citizens.
Common topics in this essay:
African- American,
Bowen Bok,
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Census Bureau,
Bredekamp Copple,
Tharp Gallimore,
Education United,
Pacific Asian,
Gollnick Chinn,
Native American,
gifted programs,
multicultural curricula,
children regardless,
reports multicultural,
complex social,
diverse education,
social structure,
minorities level,
exceptional students,
gifted children,
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Acceptance Essays
