Multicultural education expands learning into the cultural boundaries where students know other people and manage to interact with them effectively. The exposure of students to cultures other than their own fosters tolerance and understanding of diverse individualities. These exposures prepare learners towards a diverse society apparent in the future workplace, colleges, and classes (Koppelman, 2013, p. 324). The education enables schools to cultivate its multicultural diversity and appreciate each society with its values. Furthermore, learners also manage to identify and acknowledge their own ethnicity, stereotypes, and intolerances born from their cultures. The mutual awareness and understanding of the diverse cultures connect students and enable them to associate with different values. Teachers can use multicultural education to foster learning and develop the core cultural values adored by the student’s society of origin.
However, the implementation of multicultural education is subject to various challenges and barriers. First, the traditional curriculum setup may prove hard to reform. In essence, the teachers must be willing to embrace diverse opinions, beliefs, and ideas as student’s cultural orientations may direct (Koppelman, 2013, p. 326). Some critics argue that the education reduces the effectiveness of student’s perception on other curriculum skills and knowhow. They urge that the curriculum may waste time while dealing with extra knowledge when the true purpose of education rags behind. Finally, the education fosters clear understanding of community differences that lead to split in gender, race, and class.
Multicultural education is not a regular section of the prevailing learning institutions. Although its introduction may be ineffective in reaching the educational goals of a course, its introduction fosters positive self-image, boosts students’ equitability, allows diverse thoughts and perspectives, fights stereotypes, and trains learners to criticize societies while basing on social justice.
I would recommend schools to implement the education programs through encouraging community participation, social activism, and integrated studies. Schools should train workforce to explore beyond the book boundaries as in a curriculum and foster multicultural projects like hosting cultural events within an institution. This approach would enable students to appreciate their cultures and plan to show their uniqueness to the audience through stage performances. Finally, schools must pay attention to the minor cultural communities within learning institutions in order to ensure that neither the minor not the major cultures are left out in representations.
There are no teaching approaches that involve all learners by their individual cultures. Culturally responsive teaching aims at assisting learners to associate the content with personal backgrounds. In this respect, teacher link the content to the apparent cultures apparent within the class in order to prevent resistances from students as currently apparent. This model of teaching would ensure cultural integrity in classes while paying attention to ethnic, regional, gender, religion, and family differences within a school’s teaching practices.
Schools should study the cultures of students by requesting formal backgrounds during admission. The data collected can be used to guide the teachers on how to handle cultural differences in classes while developing cultural integrity and responsive teaching. In this respect, the education will avoid to make discussions that affect one community without recognizing the diverse orientations as per the cultural set ups.
I think a culturally responsive teaching would have changed my experienced by instilling insight on other communities than my own. I would have much information and skills on how to handle other people from distant cultures whom we studied in the same classes.
Some of the aspects that I would find easy to implement includes developing student-centered instructions, teaching in a culturally wise context, and encouraging positivity of parents and families. However, such other aspects as reforming the curriculum and enhancing instructions mediated by culture may be hard to implement.
Reference
Koppelman, K. (2013). Understanding Human Differences: Multicultural Education for a Diverse America 4th Ed.Boson, MA: Pearson Education
