I did not realize that multicultural education included gender, socioeconomic status, age, race, ethnic history, sexual orientation and religion; I knew about the implications on race, ethnic history and gender for sure, but the other aspects never seemed to come up in any of my research before. In education we always talk about Brown vs. Board of Education as a milestone in race relations in schools and Title IX as an important prerequisite to gender equality in schools, especially sports teams; we even sometimes talk about separation of church and state (religion), socioeconomic status and its implications on student performance, grade and class structure in schools (age) and the plight of GLBT students in schools (sexual orientation). These should be considered in the classroom and not ignored, because all students deserve the necessary resources for their needs. The issue that strikes a chord with me is gender: one of the differences between boys and girls is that boys get more attention, but I was reading an article a few years back that stated this attention is usually negative. Negative attention can actually be detrimental to student learning; thus in my classroom there will be equal positive energy for both boys and girls so that all students leave my class with new learning.
When one of my colleagues mentioned that they thought too much accommodation was actually detrimental to student learning, I really liked the reply given by Chelsea and Stacy that "education is accommodation". I would argue that no matter what a student wants to wear, or which religion they follow, they have a right to adhere to their own individual beliefs and get the education they want without problems. Chelsea and Stacy described multicultural education as the optimal experience where both students and teachers are prepared, students engage in active learning with diverse perspectives and there exists a positive environment with continuous assessment of student development. I agree with all of these observations and would even go so far as to say that multicultural education involves everyone accepting everyone else and uses individual student characteristics as a chance for growth rather than an obstacle. One great aspect of learning is that it can take place anywhere not just in the classroom, and making sure students accept each other and get a diverse education in the classroom will ensure they are creating and developing a diverse community outside of school.
When one of my colleagues mentioned that they thought too much accommodation was actually detrimental to student learning, I really liked the reply given by Chelsea and Stacy that "education is accommodation". I would argue that no matter what a student wants to wear, or which religion they follow, they have a right to adhere to their own individual beliefs and get the education they want without problems. Chelsea and Stacy described multicultural education as the optimal experience where both students and teachers are prepared, students engage in active learning with diverse perspectives and there exists a positive environment with continuous assessment of student development. I agree with all of these observations and would even go so far as to say that multicultural education involves everyone accepting everyone else and uses individual student characteristics as a chance for growth rather than an obstacle. One great aspect of learning is that it can take place anywhere not just in the classroom, and making sure students accept each other and get a diverse education in the classroom will ensure they are creating and developing a diverse community outside of school.
No comments:
Post a Comment