Verified Document

Value Of Multicultural Education Programs Term Paper

Continuing challenges

The fact that multicultural education has proved successful, however, does not erase the need for continued assessment and improvement. After all, as the student population changes, there will be concomitant new demands placed on the educational system as a whole.

One of the markers used to measure the success of multicultural education has been the increase in percentage of minority first-generation college students. Proponents of multicultural education recognize that a successful school program goes beyond traditional academic content. Rather, the most successful programs are the ones that strive towards a "learning community," one that makes students and community members into active participants in their own education. At college and university level, where students are often away from family networks and can be thrown into environments that are far less diverse than their high schools, these multicultural learning communities are a vital link towards academic success (Tinto 2002).

Many colleges thus endorse student and university groups that actively help students in higher education to connect to their "home world." These groups provide a sense of normalcy and belonging for a minority student, a place where students can build their academic skills in a supportive environment. Later, the same students can be called upon to use their skills and individual knowledge in contributing to their communities. For example, they could go back to their high schools and serve as role models for children from their same cultural or socio-economic backgrounds.

Multicultural education can take on a different level in the college setting, wherein the learning communities provide a safe space for interaction between different students. These interactions can give students chances to disagree and voice their diverse opinions, and give students chances to learn from one another in creative and meaningful ways. For example, a writing teacher reported great success in an exercise where students were asked to write and share regarding the origins of their names and the resulting perceptions that such names engendered. In an Art Lab class, students wrote and shared about their personal experiences with various art forms like music and dance. Such interactions helped the students connect with one another on both aesthetic and emotional levels (Yamane 2001).

Even small classroom-based strategies helped to engage students in dialogue. Arranging seats to face one another, for example, has been shown to generate greater student participation in class discussions. Partner and small...

The use of peer reviews to evaluate both the methods and academic content of their programs allow them to participate in structuring their classroom experiences. Collaborative programs, especially those that include presentations and performances, also encourage students to develop relationships throughout the semester (Yamane 2001).
Such learning communities, however, require much preparation and work in order to be successful. The integration of these multicultural techniques thus relies heavily on the preparation of educations and support from college administrations. Educators must be willing to try different pedagogical techniques, including process-based learning. Resources, both in terms of time and money, should also be invested in order to build an academic program that is sufficiently challenging for students, and at the same time provides a scaffolding to those who are in need (Jehangir 2004).

Conclusion

In summary, multicultural education is a concept that evolved out of a recognition that there is no one way of learning that encompasses the needs of a student population as diverse as that of the United States. Such programs were therefore created to ensure an academic experience that was responsive to the needs of all its students, and not just a select few.

Multicultural education represents a break from traditional programs, both in terms of content and structure. Content-wise, these programs seek to expand the curriculum. Steps such as adding more readings to the literary canon, for example, benefit all students by making reading classes more relevant to the traditionally underserved population and by exposing the others to literature different from their experiences.

Multicultural education programs are also successful because they force educators to look at students' lives as a whole, rather than just the time that a student spends in the classroom. Issues that affect a student's education - such as the lack of parental support or poverty - are brought to light, and schools that employ multicultural programs have taken steps to address these.

A final benefit of the adoption of more multicultural programs is seen its long-term social effects. Students from such educational programs are armed with a greater understanding of different cultural backgrounds, laying the foundation for more interaction and mutual respect. In this way, multicultural education truly serves the need to create an American society that is both cohesive, while mindful and respectful of its diversity.

Works Cited

J.A. Banks & C.A.M. Banks, eds. 1995. "Introduction." Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education.

A pp. 3-24). New York: Macmillan.

Goodwon, L. 2000. "Teachers as (multi)cultural agents in schools." In R. Carter, eds. Addressing Cultural Issues in Organizations. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Hale, J.E. 2001. Learning While Black. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Hodgkinson, H. 2002. "Demographics and teacher education." Journal of Teacher Education. 53(2): 102-105.

Nichols, W. et al. 2000. "Teacher role in providing culturally responsive literacy instruction." Reading Horizons. 41(1): 1-18.

Tinto, V. 2002. "Taking student learning seriously." Keynote address presented at the Southwest Regional Learning Communities Conference, Tempe, AZ. http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/events/lcc02/presents/tinto.html

Yamane, D. 2001. Student movement for multiculturalism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

J.A. Banks & C.A.M. Banks, eds. 1995. "Introduction." Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education.

A pp. 3-24). New York: Macmillan.

Goodwon, L. 2000. "Teachers as (multi)cultural agents in schools." In R. Carter, eds. Addressing Cultural Issues in Organizations. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Hale, J.E. 2001. Learning While Black. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Tinto, V. 2002. "Taking student learning seriously." Keynote address presented at the Southwest Regional Learning Communities Conference, Tempe, AZ. http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/events/lcc02/presents/tinto.html
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Multicultural Education
Words: 2683 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

New York City Multicultural Education Multicultural education Multi-Cultural Education in New York City Aspirations to be an educator, a teacher in the diversity of the New York City Schools must realize that considerations are school-wide focused on setting out and maintaining as well as assessing effective applications in the administering, educating and teaching methods in a multicultural setting. New York City is a place full of diversity and is in fact the home to

Multicultural Education in the US Schools
Words: 2177 Length: 7 Document Type: Essay

Multicultural Education and Communication Issue The concept of multiculturalism refers to the cultural diversity with a given society. In other word, multiculturalism is a policy that promotes diversity as well as institutionalism at an organizational level such as schools, businesses, cities and nations. However, Gary (1994) defines multicultural education as "any set of processes by which schools work with rather than against oppressed groups." (p 1). Multiculturalism education can be defined

Cultural Diversity Multicultural Education Was
Words: 704 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

Thus, the first step is to dispel of few of the common myths about cultural diversity, such as the myth that a minority culture should be characterized as a phenomenon that diverges from the mainstream culture, the myth that bilingualism should be considered as a disability rather than an asset, or the myth that multicultural education is only relevant in those classes where there are members of the minority

Systematic Review of Effectiveness of Group-Based Antenatal Education...
Words: 18363 Length: 67 Document Type: Dissertation

Antenatal Education Systematic Review Antenatal education programms In pregnant women, how does group antenatal education compare to no antenatal education or individual antenatal education for improving outcomes of childbirth and parenting? In pregnant women, how does group antenatal education compare to no antenatal education or individual antenatal education for improving outcomes of childbirth and parenting? Antenatal education programs are key in improving maternal health all over the world. They have been widely embraced in

Education Multiculturalism in Education: Creating
Words: 3181 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

A group that is, by its very nature, mentally defective, will also easily be viewed as incapable of supporting itself without help - a strain on the larger society. In terms of modern day American society, this could be seen as declaring that African-Americans, and other similarly impoverished and marginalized groups, are likely to remain forever within the care of the social welfare system. Believers in such ideas might

Multicultural Studies Indeed, the Interests
Words: 3493 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

One of the best examples of the mentality behind the development of the pedagogy of the oppressed, with regard to education is the evolution of the official restriction of curriculum to that which the African would need to survive in the economy of labor. A the solutions to the "poor Whites" problem, as was indicated in the Carnegie Commission of Inquiry into Poor Whites in South Africa in 1932, were

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now