Cultural Diversity In Schools
...history, schools, like society, have addressed
cultural diversity in different ways. In the colonial days, some attempts to
adjust to cultural differences were made in the New York colony, but the
dominant American culture was the norm in the general public, as well as most of
the schools. As America approached the nineteenth century, the need for a
common culture was the basis for the educational forum. Formal public school
instruction in cultural diversity was rare, and appreciation or celebration of
minority or ethnic culture essentially was nonexistent in most schools. In the
1930's, the educators were in the progressive education movement, called for
programs of cultural diversity that encouraged ethnic and minority students to
study their heritage's. This movement became popular in many schools until
around 1950. Now, these days in education, the term multicultural education
never escapes a teacher's thoughts (Ryan, 26).
What does the term "multicultural education" mean to you? I means
different things to different people. For instance, to some minority
communities, it means to foster pride and self-esteem among minority students,
like the progressive movement in the 1930's. Another example would be in the
white communitites, that multicultural programs are designed to cultivate an
appreciation of various cultural, racial, and ethnic traditions. Cortes defines
multicultural education by the process by which schools help prepare young
people to live with greater understanding, cooperation, effectiveness, and
dedication to equality in a multicultural nation and inerdependent world (Cortes,
16).
When I observed at Madison Elementary in December, I expected the school
would be multicultural in the sense of ethnic or racial backgrounds. Instead,
I was very surprised to discover that the school was predominately white
students, with only a handful...
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