MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY
On being on the advisory board for a new, alternative school program in my school district, there are a few issues that I would seek to implement, considering that what we need is a multicultural education system that succeeds in a pluralistic society. I have derived at this decision considering that presently there are many students who are from different cultural and social backgrounds and this number will increase comprehensively in the coming years. The number of immigrants to the United States has been growing and since many of the children of these immigrants can’t speak English, because of which, they are definitely going to find it hard to complete, let alone compete, with other American students. According to Gollnick and Chinn (2006), “By 2040, the U.S. Census Bureau predicts that children of color will comprise 50 % of the school-aged population, and as the ethnic composition of the United States changes, so will the religious landscape as new immigrants bring their religions from abroad. They will also bring diverse languages, values, and ideas that will help reshape the United States society.” However, to support the education of these students who are at-risk, I have devised a program to alleviate such a contingency in the district and community. However, even though I do not have the resources to serve an entire at-risk population, I will focus the available resources to create the greatest impact in that community through an innovative program.
A lot of immigrants who admit their children in public schools across the country find their wards unable to cope with the standard of teaching in classrooms there, and because they themselves are helpless for want of knowledge in English, they have no option but to remove their children from school. In order to stop this practice and encourage students from diverse backgrounds to continue with their studies in schools, teachers need to understand and change their way of teaching. As the U.S enters the twenty-first century, the United States has become more diverse than before. There is no bout that America today is a multicultural nation comprised of indigenous peoples, such as the Hawaiians, Eskimos and others who moved to the U.S decades ago. In addition to these people, there is a huge influx of immigrants from Africa, Asia and Europe, many of whom don’t speak English. As Gollnick and Chinn (2006), said, “Factors such as gender, age, race, ethnicity, native language, religion, class, or disability should not hinder a student’s educational and vocational options, instead, educators should take the responsibility to help each student of the class to ensure that they all contribute and benefit from our democratic society.” By ensuring that all students do well academically, the district, community and students can gain much, as it will remove unemployment and increase job opportunities that will save the government a lot of money. There is every possibility that children from these diverse backgrounds might feel alienated by cultural and social differences and to counter any form of reclusiveness, effective instructional strategies for all students in the classroom should be drawn from the cultures of these students and their communities. This, I believe will help overcome the resource crunch that we face.
According to Chen et al (2008:8-11), “the Sheltered Instruction and Family Involvement (SIFI) project helps teachers to research the effects of family involvement on students’ academic achievement.” While the program requires teachers to develop plans to involve families more in the education of their wards, it will also have a positive effect on teachers, who become more open to working with these families to devise new methods to make learning more pleasurable and understandable by connecting to the students’ background. When there is more teacher-parent interactions, parents will surely become more and more involved in PTA activities thereby, reducing the huge burden that teachers have to teach these students. As parents continue their interaction with teachers and their children; these parents are sure to show more interest in other activities, which include finding simpler methods to teach these students. Since parents would be able to handle their children better, they can act as the second line of instructors and be very successful in it as they can teach these students through their own language. If parents are involved more frequently in school activities, students will not feel alienated and will spend more time in school. Another initiative would be to encourage parents to volunteer for family events, and engage them in picnics and ‘meet & greet’ orientation programs.
Parents can play an important role in educating their children who have difficulty in learning in class. When parents are involved in class and school activities, their children will play a bigger role in academic and social activities in schools. This will alleviate the responsibilities on the teacher, who can then work in partnership with parents for their children’s education. Also, I believe that parents will be able to monitor and guide their children better than their teachers initially and this would be a big help to teachers. Another point that I would like to stress here is that parents will be able to understand and grasp subjects that their children find difficult to understand and so, teachers can discuss the topics and lessons taught in class whenever there are parent-teacher interactions possible. Such an initiative will not cost much and while it will fit in the budget allotted to schools, what’s more important is that these students will not have much trouble in trying to stay in touch with classroom sessions.
Parents have a bigger and more constructive role to play with their children’s language development than teachers do at school. Generally, in classroom sessions, there will be little interaction between teachers and students who don’t understand English, and it’s a fact that while teachers do most of the talking, there is little or no response from student unless they’re asked. This is of little help, as the whole exercise of making students learn in class is lost. Whereas at home, there is no disparity, and distribution of language is more equal. Teachers have found difficulty in finding ways to teach at-risk students English so that they can progress more quickly toward a standard proficiency in state tests, both in English language skills and other subjects. Because of their inability to adjust or learn like other students in class, the at-risk students move out of school programs after one or two years, resulting in embarrassment and frustration. As Varela (2010) reflected, “Incoming English language learners bypass English Language Learners (ELL) programs altogether, and enter classes alongside native English speakers with some type of ELL teacher assistance,” but this could prove to be disastrous in the long run as they find that they are unable to cope with the classroom pressure. Teachers have to become proactive and involve all students in class in discussions and activities. Teachers need to emphasize on engaging students in activities by encouraging them to think differently through real classroom sessions. Activities is something which students will enjoy and even though there may be a language or social barrier initially, this feeling of disparity can be eroded by making all students in the class get involved in group activities. What this does is that it removes the social stigma or barrier that is evident with the at-risk students and in its place a healthy, vibrant classroom of fun and understanding is crated. Once all students of the class become familiar with each other, there will be a lot of support and care among students which will remove the feeling of alienation altogether.
Having something like a block centre can help students of a classroom work in groups. This can be the place where students get the opportunity to practice their social skills. Students are sure to be curious about their surroundings and would love to explore different environments, and so, the block centre could be the ideal place for all students of a classroom to come together and work in unison. As activity-based learning can be taught with less verbal instructions, teachers can guide the class through practical visual methods which will help all students in the class overcome their curiosity and develop fine motor skills. Motor skills are reactions which students learn from experience, and which they develop when pitted against a situation they are unaccustomed to. The reaction or method they use to confront the unexpected is what defines motor skills. Through group activities, all the students of the class will react with one another and after some time, they are all sure to accept the others in their class and support them in any way possible. This would be an ideal way to get to know one another and also give the at-risk students a platform to practice and master their oratory skills. Thus, I would recommend that such centers are made compulsory in the districts so that learning becomes effective and supportive.
Conclusion
While it may seem difficult to involve all parents completely in activities at school, there is comfort in knowing that a majority of parents would be willing to spend some time at school to see that their child is able to cope with the pressure of learning in an alien environment. It is here that the role of the teacher becomes important. In addition to teaching in the most effective way possible, teachers will also have to encourage parent-teacher meetings and involve them in class activities from time-to-time. Teachers need to show more openness in accepting at-risk students and encourage these students to enjoy their study in class by introducing groups and activity-based learning modules. The idea of having block centers will also be encouraged so that students will come together and help one another through their group activities. This way, gender, religious, social and cultural differences can be overcome.
References
Cheng-Ting C, Kyle, D. W and McIntyre, E, (2008), Helping Teachers Work Effectively with English Language Learners and Their Families, The School Community Journal, 18(1), p.8-11
Gollnick, D. M, and Chinn, P.C, (2006), Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society, Seventh Edition, Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-119719-3, Accessed December 1, 2013, from http://www.ablongman.com/preface/0131555189.pdf
Varela, E, (2010), Mainstreaming ELLs into Grade-Level Classes, The Education Digest, Ann Arbor, 76(2), p.39
