Multicultural Education
Multicultural Education and Its Importance in Schools and Society Multicultural education is a term used to describe a wide variety of programs and practices. It relates to "educational equity, women, ethnic groups, language minorities, low-income groups, and people with disabilities" (Banks, 6). The major goal of multicultural education is to improve academic achievement among all students of various backgrounds and cultures. Multicultural education is an idea or a concept that all students should have an equal opportunity to learn in school regardless of their gender, social class, and racial/cultural characteristics. Multicultural education is also an educational reform movement. It involves total school or educational environment reform, not just curricular changes. Multicultural education is also an ongoing process because its goals can never be completely achieved. Rising from the civil rights movement of the '60s, the early attempts at educational ethnic diversity were first started with lack of careful thought and planning. These courses a
When African Americans, women, people with disabilities, senior citizens, and gay rights advocates fought for more rights and a change in society they were given these rights and change came about. It's like what they are taught in school will supplement what they see outside of school and vice versa. The reason multicultural education came about was because of the civil rights movement. The incorporation of diversity programs into the school curriculum only makes it harder for the teachers to do their job, which is to integrate minority students into the American culture. These "microcultures" must learn to adapt and assimilate to the environment of the national "macroculture" to maintain equilibrium within the structure. Conflict theorists believe that society is characterized by inequality and competition among different groups. Multiculturalism as a reform movement will bring about the required change in schools so that all students will be able to receive an equal opportunity at education. Race and ethnicity, women, handicapped people, and low-income groups will always exist, so a curriculum with all these different peoples should always exist for more than one day or one week. By learning to appreciate and accept this diversity, society will maintain order and harmony because the diversity is part of the children's everyday lives. By teaching students about other ethnic groups that are present in their world, they learn to accept and appreciate the diversity around them. School districts may use the term to describe a curriculum that includes the experiences of ethnic groups, of ethnic groups and women, or a "total school reform effort designed to increase educational equity for a range of cultural, ethnic, and economic groups" (Banks, 6). It's not good enough to just "do" something on multicultural education. From a conflict theorist's perspective, multiculturalism is a perfect tool to bring about social change. To just "do" an activity on multiculturalism is almost like saying that for one day or one week there are many diverse cultures, but after that everyone is of the same background. nd programs were developed quickly and focused mainly on one ethnic group, an approach referred to as a "single group study.
Common topics in this essay:
Society Multicultural,
African Americans,
History English,
multicultural education,
social class,
people disabilities,
multicultural education term,
multicultural education ongoing,
civil rights movement,
education ongoing process,
perspective multiculturalism,
careful planning,
academic achievement,
change schools,
banks 6,
day week,
rights change,
|