My thoughts on cultural diversity...

It is imperative that teachers are knowledgeable, or at the very least familiar, with the varying cultures that their students bring to the classroom.  Students’ cultural and life experiences influence how they understand new material and how they respond to and benefit from instruction. 

Multicultural education aims to take the emphasis off of Western culture and instead give equal weight to all the different cultural groups and their values.  James A. Banks is well known for his backing of multicultural education.  Banks believed that multiculturalism would encourage students to “participate in social change so that victimized and excluded ethnic and racial groups can become full participants in society” (2004, Orlich, Harder, Callahan, Trevisan, & Brown).  Personally, I prefer the concept of cultural pluralism to multiculturalism.  Cultural pluralism is the belief that there is a common bond amongst all the various nationalities, races, classes, religions, ethnic groups, and value systems.  Cultural pluralism seeks to find the common purpose that bonds all people together, so they are not driven apart.  Cultural pluralism does not deny that people are different, and we still learn about each others differences, it merely examines the similarities as well.

Teachers are leaders.  I believe there are five elements of an effective teacher.  Those five elements are:  moral courage, judgment, a sense of priority, the disposal and concentration of effort, and a sense of humor (Forbes, 2005).  I believe moral courage matters the most.  Multicultural education falls into this category.  While this is not really the case now, there was a time when there was overwhelming criticism and great adversity when it came to diversity in education.  Overcoming the criticisms and adversity took a lot of courage.  Judgment is the second element of an effective teacher.  Ultimately, courage without judgment is pointless. People who make good judgments function well with other people.  Third, teachers must have a sense of priority.  A teacher will inevitably have many, many different obstacles thrown in their way daily.  Some are huge while others are trivial. Nonetheless, it takes an effective leader to be able to sort through all of these obstacles.  Fourth, there is the disposal and concentration of effort.  There are only so many hours in a day.  Teachers must be able to distribute their time and energy in a manner that will produce the best results.  Lastly, one must always have a sense of humor.  As teachers, we inevitably fall into situations where there is obvious tension whether it is with students, colleagues, or parents.  Most people instantly warm up to someone who can make them laugh and this is a valuable tool to aid in reconciling a situation.

Multicultural education is here to stay.  It has been around for many years; albeit it has taken many forms.  We live in a diverse society so it is reasonable to say that we will also teach in diverse classrooms.  Teachers are role models, and children are keenly aware of everything they see adults say and do.  If we model to our students that we are accepting and open to new cultures and ideas, just as long as they do not hurt other people, then perhaps we can pass those traits on to our students as well.