The Effect of Multicultural Education on the Classroom Environment
             Today, teachers are faced with a growing number of diverse students in the classroom, each with their own ethnic and cultural background that influences the way each student learns. By the year 2015, the Anglo population will be in the minority in this country. Research statistics concur this fact therefore; teacher candidate preparation must be aligned with this knowledge.
             By definition, multicultural education is education that values cultural pluralism. It rejects the view that schools should seek to melt away cultural differences or the view that schools should merely tolerate cultural pluralism. It affirms that cultural diversity is a valuable resource that should be preserved and extended. It also should be established that people everywhere have the same needs although they may meet them in different ways. An awareness of a variety of cultures in the classroom can help children appreciate similarities and differences among cultures.
             Cultural experience can be enhanced through many different books. "Black Like Kyra, White Like Me" by Judith Vigna tells the story of a black's family moving into an all white neighborhood and the racism they encounter. The story is about a friendship between two girls of different races. This is a good multicultural book because it shows that racism is an individual problem. "The Story of Ruby Bridges" by Robert Cole is a true story based on experiences of six-year-old Ruby Bridges as she the first African American child to integrate Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960. The racial conflict in the story is obvious to the reader yet is a good educational book for young students, to teach them how racism is hurtful and unnecessary. "White Socks Only" by Evelyn Coleman, is the retelling of a true story about Ms. Coleman's grandmother, as a young girl, growing up in se...