Racial and Ethnic Diversity - Essay Example

CONTENTS PAGE 2 Introduction.3 2. Pluralistic Advantages5 3. The Willingness to Adapt6 4. Cambridge example7 5. Diversity and democratic education.11 6. Teaching Implications13 7. Objectives..18 8. Implications for Action19 9. Impediments to Action21 10. Different Points of View....21 11. References...23 CONTENTS PAGE Abstract2 1. Introduction.3 2. Pluralistic Advantages5 3. The Willingness to Adapt6 4. Cambridge example7 5. Diversity and democratic education.11 6. Teaching Implications13 7. Objectives..18 8. Implications for Action19 9. Impediments to Action21 10. Different Points of View....21 11. References...23 Abstract America is a country of diverse ethnicities where it is possible to find people of all cultures, race and religion. Integrating all of them into the society is easier said and done. The increasing diversity is being seen as a problem particularly in American schools, which encompass a host of variables like racial bias and lack of opportunities to marginal people as regards education. The counterpoint put forward by as many as two in three Americans is that it is important for the American society to grow in a multicultural society rather than in isolation. It is also being debated on how societies respond to change, especially of a type that involves diverse communities. This thesis looks into the problems that diversity of culture spawns for the society as a whole, and the role of education in ridding the society of that evil. 1. Introduction Typically, the swelling in racial and cultural diversity that is happening in schools all over the United States is seen as a problem, or, for that matter, even a threat.1 Still, two in three Americans say it is vital that colleges and universities train people to function in a multicultural society.2 California is the home to new immigrants more than any other state in the country. Communities across California are trembling from the demographic and political transformation that comes with the change in population. More than any social institution, public schools are at the heart of this change, and educators are under increasing pressure to figure out how to respond. This, however, begs the question. Why is rise in diversity so much of a problem This is an imperative question, for by viewing growth in racial and cultural diversity as a problem, policy makers, educators, and journalists, have set the stage for how societies will respond to this change. This does not mean that a change in the ethnic and racial structure of a school or community does not throw up new challenges or necessitate a change in approach as regards the part of educators. New immigrants palpably speak languages other than English, and in several California school districts, it is not unusual for over 40 foreign languages to be there among the student population. The arrival of racial minorities time and again leads to racial clashes and the venting of several kinds of bias and intolerance. Those receiving the new arrivals feel endangered and apprehensive and counter with antagonism and resentment. Finally, and most significantly, diversity is deemed as problematic because American schools have traditionally seen cultural incorporation of immigrants and non-whites as essential to their mission. One of the biggest concerns of politicians and educators during the nineteenth century was how new immigrants would be integrated into the American mainstream. Public schools were often considered the most rational place where task of converting foreigners into Americans could be executed. Still, "Americanization" was not restricted to foreigners. In the southwest it was routine for Native American children to be separated form their families and sent to boarding schools. The point was to convert them into Christians. As far as African American and many Mexican American children were concerned, segregated schooling actually saved them from being subjected to acculturation. However, today de-segregation has changed that too. As a consequence, the spoken language of children - be it Ebonics or Spanish - has frequently been subject to eradication. In addition, the cultural variations of these children are associated with cultural inferiority far too often, and not unpredictably, children from these groups are likely to fare poorly in school, get into serious trouble, or for that matter even drop out. Given America's history, and given the authentic challenges that escort an increase in diversity, several educators and communities would treat this as a problem. However, small towns and rural areas are showing that diversity is the country's future and there is a concerted effort being shown in fostering diversity in the years to come. Conservative activists in the state of California have reacted to this trend with futile efforts aimed at maintaining the status quo. The endorsement of ballot measures like 187 - which refutes undocumented aliens admission to public services like education, 209 - which does away with affirmative action, and 227 - which forbids bilingual education in public schools, can make life difficult for immigrants and many citizens of color, but is not likely to stem the wave of diversity. Evidence clearly shows that that wedge issue politics has eth potential of augmenting racial tensions and conflict between groups, a vision which the LA uprising of 1991 clearly proved can have unfortunate consequences if left free. 2. Pluralistic Advantages However, there is another option. Instead of reacting to rising diversity with apprehension and insecurity, it is feasible to treat diversity as an asset and work out ways of responding to it which facilitate the society to reap benefits from this pluralism. For this to come true there must be a noteworthy shift in the standpoint taken on the rise in diversity. Educators must play foremost roles in bringing about this change. Schools will indisputably continue to serve as the first meeting place for dissimilar cultures, and it will be significant that educators work out ways to make those encounters constructive experiences for children, parents as well as teachers. Shifting the standpoint involves getting the public to appreciate the gains the society derives from an increase in diversity. For example, there is considerable evidence that rather than wearing economic resources, new immigrants actually help to revitalize local economies. It is paradoxical that in some of the societies where resistance to immigration has been maximum, there is a total dependence on immigrant employment in most service jobs (e.g. nannies, gardeners, etc.). Besides, with greater numbers of people predicted to live longer lives, retirees have an interest in seeing that our diverse student population is well educated so that they can be profitably employed and make sound contributions to community security funds. 3. The Willingness to Adapt Also, schools can forger their obsession with taking on board those who are culturally different and uphold a version of American history that has left many groups - racial minorities, women, etc. - mostly invisible. In its place curricula can be developed that teaches students to revere differences and help them to understand others as well as themselves. Students can also be taught to think critically about America's past and assisted to recognize that they can play a major role in fashioning a fairer and more impartial society in the future. How the educators respond to the rise in diversity in America will be a big challenge for several schools and communities; however, it does not need to be a problem. People should recognize that similar to the permanence of the changes brought about by technological advancements, diversity, too, is the future and not a temporary phase. If educators can manage that then adjustment s can be made to make the change possible and feasible. Educators should be at the frontline of this transformation, and they have a responsibility to show that change can take place without acrimony and bitterness, if there is an honesty to acclimatize and to continue to learn. 4. Cambridge example Cambridge public schools in are exceedingly diverse and have been appreciably integrated for several years. This city has a populace of more than 100,000 has only one high school, so the complete diversity of the city is can be seen in this one school. The country's public school districts are being compelled by court decisions to mull over the future of incorporation in their communities, it is fitting to ask students who have experienced integrated schooling about its impacts, positive and negative. Neighboring Boston has discarded its desegregation efforts under demands from traditional federal courts, the Cambridge School Committee decided at the start of the millennium to deploy a new strategy that puts emphasis on socio-economic desegregation in an endeavor to preserve ethnic and racial diversity in a time when policies founded solely on race may be forbidden or strictly limited. The following is a research on Cambridge high school's twelfth grade students' experiences with ethnic and racial diversity. It is a part of the studies conducted by The Civil Rights Project across America on what students in varied and more segregated schools learn both in detailed content areas and in grounding for adult life. The findings were based on the Diversity Assessment Questionnaire (DAQ), a survey tool developed with the aid of top experts on school desegregation research all over the country. Students took the survey anonymously and were guaranteed that their teachers and school officials would not view to, so they answered questions without much fear or apprehension. The Civil Rights Project made the survey obtainable the report was completely independent of district control and direction. The DAQ results indicated numerous positive attitudes about educational experiences in segregated schools; concomitant to that, these results also showed possible ways of future improvement. The survey was given out to every high school senior in Cambridge. It was given out during school and all seniors were obligated to complete it, so the data reflected the complete population of students who were finishing secondary education. The survey included 70 distinct items, which were fashioned to test a number of distinct dimensions of attitudes and experiences. Since the results on these items were fairly consistent, there was strong evidence to suggest that the data in this report embodied the actual experiences of the answering seniors. The responses reflected a broad and regular pattern of responses. School level integration, of course, does not assure the existence of a syllabus that identifies diversity, fair treatment of every group of students, or profound and positive interactions between diverse racial or ethnic groups - all significant factors that add to positive educational outcomes connected with diversity. It does, nevertheless, generate a situation within which such interactions can occur. Of course, that is dependant on several factors within the school and among groups of students. Although the research did not study every factor that can exploit fully the benefits of diversity, it did examine several very important educational outcomes. 3 Four distinct areas were explored in the study (1) Student learning and peer interaction; (2) Citizenship and democratic principles; (3) Future educational aspirations and goals; and (4) Perceptions of support by the school. These areas are established as key goals of education, and construct essential skills that students require in order to accomplish academic and professional success, and to become good, responsible citizens. However, since Cambridge has only one big high school for the whole city it was not possible for the research to compare desegregated and segregated high schools available within this district. Results from the survey implied positive educational impact of diversity for young people in the district. In general, considerable majorities of students state a strong level of comfort with members of diverse racial and ethnic groups. Most notably, students pointed out that their school experiences have augmented their level of comprehension of diverse points of view, and improved their desire to cooperate with people of different backgrounds in years to come. Students reported that they have been highly affected by their experiences. Given that Cambridge is an area of enormous ethnic and racial diversity and that the populace growth of metro Boston is today being driven by non-white immigration, these are significant issues both for the future life of students and for the community as a whole. Survey results also indicated dimensions on which an otherwise positive record might be improved. The students answering to the survey identified themselves as 31 percent White, 18 percent as African American, 10 percent as Latino, 14 percent reported as "other", 10 percent reported that they were interracial and 4 percent identified themselves as Asian. 5. Diversity and democratic education How do diversity experiences have an effect on the process of learning to become citizens We argue that students who cooperate with diverse students in classrooms and in campus environment in general will have greater motivation and would be better able to partake in a varied and complex society. The amiability of diversity and democracy, however, is not obvious. Neither figurative nor participatory conceptions of democracy agree with the issues put forward by multicultural educators, specifically the cultural aspects of citizenship and the fundamental tension of modern social life - the tension between diversity and unity. 4 Critics of multicultural education fret that a focus on identities based on ethnicity, gender, race, class or other social categorizations are unfavorable to the unity desirable for democracy. Critics of democratic citizenship worry that young people will not be prepared enough to be citizens and leaders of a nation which is growing more and more ethnically and racially diverse. This tension between unity and diversity, however politically charged it is in present-day United States, is hardly new. Saxonhouse describes in Fear of Diversity how Greek philosophers and playwrights Aristotle and Plato dealt with the apprehension that "differences bring on chaos and thus demand that the world be put into an orderly pattern." Plato envisaged a city where unity and harmony would be founded on the shared characteristics of a uniform. Plato, however, did warn about too much unity. It was Aristotle, according to Saxonhouse, who was able to surmount the fear and receive the diverse. Aristotle aw the city as made up of different parts: owners, families, lovers - that would have dissimilar and often contradictory ideas about the bad and the good, the unjust and just. Saxonhouse concludes that anyone involved in politics must study, examine, and integrate those parts.5 Pitkin and Shumer emphasize that there are two elements that make democracy work, in Aristotle's opinionated theory. These two elements bring those parts and multiple viewpoints into political discussion: parity among citizens who are colleagues (these does not include women and slaves), and relationships that are administered by discussion and freedom under rules of civil discourse. In this structure, diversity of perspectives and dialogue over conflict, rather than homogeneity and one unified perspective help democracy prosper.6 Sociologist Coser (1975) laid emphasis on similar provisions in a theory of compound social structures. Complex social structures are social situations that are unfamiliar to us and are generally quite different with our past lives. Complex social structures comprises of several rather than a few people who have dissimilar, even opposing, expectations of us. She argues that discrepancy, multiplicity, unfamiliarity, and potential conflict in the complex social structure necessitate people to pay more attention to the social situation and dare them to think or act in novel ways. People hence develop an outward orientation. She shows that people who work in complex social structures have a deeper understanding of the social world and as well as the ability to function as effective citizens.7 Many cognitive developmental theories also highlight discontinuity and inconsistency. Cognitive growth is promoted when individuals come across experiences and demands that they are not able to completely comprehend or meet, and thus must work to understand the new and irregular demands. Piaget calls this most favorable learning situation a sort of disequilibrium. 8Using these theories, Ruble9, a developmental psychologist, hypothesizes that cognitive growth as well as other development changes will be enthused by developmental changes, like going to college or taking up a new job. Transitions are important moments for development as they put individuals into novel situations involving indecision and necessitating new knowledge. The University of Michigan's racial and ethnic make up presents discontinuity and discrepancy from the pre-college backgrounds of a number of its students. During the 1990s when a research was conducted there, 50 percent of the African American students and 90 percent of the white students attending the university had grown up in localities and attended schools that were ethnically and racially homogenous. 10 Because of its difference from their experiences of the past, racial and ethnic diversity provides students at the University an opportunity for growth and preparation for citizenship. 6. Teaching Implications As the student population in American schools becomes more and more diverse, educators must react with school reform efforts that cater to the needs of all students. They must bring about culturally sensitive syllabi that incorporate multicultural points of view as well as histories, utilize instructional strategies that encourage students to accomplish, and evaluate school and district policies pertaining to educational equity. Teacher education programs are particularly responsible for preparing teachers of the future to endorse meaningful, engaged learning for students of all gender, race, ethnic heritage or cultural background. There is a call for multicultural education, long in the shadow of traditional American education, which is growing clearer in the mainstream, and new voices are joining in the revolution. Multicultural education had got its momentum from a spectrum of interrelated factors. Primary among these factors is society's mushrooming demographic diversity, which is mirrored in the country's schools. In 1984, roughly 25 % of all schoolchildren were minority students. By 2020, that figure is likely to multiply by two, and a great number of these students will be poor.11 In the 25 major American school districts, marginal students comprised nearly 72 percent of the total school enrollment in the year 1994. 12 Complicating this demographic phenomenon is the academic underperformance of many minority students. Such low achievement is attributed to a complex pattern of causes, one cause being the dearth of impartiality of opportunity to learn. "Too often schools do not legitimize the knowledge or experiences these [minority] children bring to school. Instead, schools are most likely to label these children as failures because their backgrounds--usually their language and culture--are seen as inadequate preparation for learning." 13 Multicultural education also gets momentum from the usually poor condition of modern race relations - a condition that was made painfully apparent by such fresh events as the Rodney King case, the resulting riots, and the ethnically polarized reaction to the O.J. Simpson verdict. The nation's schoolchildren are responsive to the reality of racism, and they are susceptible to its effects. Of 248,000 students that were surveyed in grades 6 through 12, more than 80 percent pointed out that "most [teenagers] carry some form of racial prejudice," while nearly 45 percent had "personally experienced prejudice in the past year" 14 Individual teachers in individual classrooms have an important role to play in providing evenhandedness of opportunity to learn and in getting rid of racism, but more complete conceptions of multicultural education capture the school's vital role as well. Banks describes multicultural education as a "total school reform effort designed to increase education equity for a range of cultural, ethnic, and economic groups". 15 This appeal for total school reform suggests that present conceptions of education are insufficient for upholding multicultural equity. Regrettably, these same conceptions have fashioned the schooling of potential teachers. Their education probably has been typified by tracking (or the procedure of assigning students to different classes, groups, or programs based on yardsticks of achievement, intelligence, or aptitude), conventional instruction that appeals to a narrow range of education styles, and syllabi that exclude the contributions of people of varied cultures as well as women. Competition drives this factory-type model of schooling, in which students are more or less products coming off an assembly line. 16 Visions of education for a multicultural civilization, on the other hand, endeavor for fairness of opportunity to learn, mainly through the meeting of three practices: varied grouping, highly interactive instruction that attracts a wide variety of education styles, and inclusive syllabi. A constructivist comprehension of education, in which learners are lively architects of meaning, pervades this shared vision of education. "From a multicultural perspective, all students should receive an education that continuously affirms human diversity--one that embraces the history and culture of all racial groups and that teaches people of color to take charge of their own destinies.... With regard to teaching, a multicultural perspective assumes that teachers will hold high expectations for all students and that they will challenge those students who are trapped in the cycle of poverty and despair to rise above it." 17 However, neither the educational experiences nor the attitudes and history of prospective teachers empower them to partake in the culture of schooling imagined for a progressively pluralistic society. Overwhelmingly white and middle class, these teachers are generally monolingual, and come with little intercultural experience from their mainly suburban and small-town upbringing.18 69 percent of white teacher education students reportedly spend most of their time with people of their own color and racial background 19 and they state a desire to work with youth from communities that resemble their own. Disturbingly, considerable numbers of teacher education students do not deem that low-income and minority learners are competent enough to incorporate high-level concepts in the subjects they are training to teach.20 To address these burning issues, Banks notes the significance of incorporating multicultural teaching within the teacher education curriculum: "An effective teacher education policy for the 21st century must include as a major focus the education of all teachers, including teachers of color, in ways that will help them receive the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to work effectively with students from diverse racial, ethnic, and social class groups." 21 Chisholm states that multicultural learning "is as essential to teaching as nurturing is to human development." She adds: "To be effective and equitable teachers, education students must understand and appreciate human diversity." When training teachers for multicultural classrooms, importance should be placed on extensive education in the liberal arts, which is an initial course in multicultural education. Also, there should be a blend of multiculturalism all through the teacher education curriculum, field experiences in a multicultural surroundings, and evaluation of the cultural aptitude of each preservice student. 22 The task in front of programs of teacher education is huge, for it is more or less preparing preservice students to be effective teachers for all students and to contribute in the understanding of comprehensive conceptions of schooling. Cultivating teachers for cultural and linguistic diversity means that teacher education programs must stress on linguistic diversity, cultural sensitivity, and instructional approach for teaching culturally diverse students.23 Of vital importance in assuming this task is the appreciation that multicultural education is for everybody: learners, classrooms, and educational institutions - in spite of of demographic makeup or geographic location in suburbs, small towns, cities, and rural areas. 7. Objectives The task of training prospective teachers to serve as efficient teachers for all students must not be carried out in a gradual fashion; rather, it must be moved toward holistically. "Educating Teachers for Diversity" takes such an approach. Two goals strengthen this Critical Issue: Teacher educators will highlight multicultural education to make sure equity of chance to learn, both in the teacher education classroom as well as the future classrooms of preservice students. Teacher educators will employ multicultural education to aiming those preconceptions of preservice students that are pertinent to educating children for diversity. 8. Implications for Action In an extensive review of the literature, Zeichner states 16 key elements of successful teacher education as regards diversity. Twelve of these elements offer the organizational structure for "Educating Teachers for Diversity." Each element is a part of the puzzle of multicultural teacher education. Just as a puzzle must be finished so as to see the bigger picture, the education of teachers for diversity must be attended to in a holistic manner.24 The 12 elements are: Element 1: Preservice education students are aided to develop a better sense of their own racial and cultural identities. Elements 2 and 3: Preservice education students are assisted to examine their attitudes toward other ethno-cultural groups. They are taught about prejudice and racism and the ways to deal with them. Element 4: Preservice education students are trained about the dynamics of privilege and economic domination and about school practices that add to the reproduction of communal inequalities. Element 5: The teacher education curriculum looks at the histories and contributions of a variety of ethno-cultural groups. Element 6: Preservice education students are given data about the characteristics and educational styles of a variety of groups and individuals. They are taught about the constraints of this information. Element 7: The teacher education curriculum gives attention to socio-cultural research knowledge about the relationships among culture, language, and learning. Element 8: Preservice education students are taught a range of procedures by which they can increase knowledge about the communities that are in their classrooms. Elements 9 and 10: Preservice education students are trained how to evaluate the relationships between the various methods they use in the classroom and the favored learning and interaction styles in their students' communities and homes. They are taught how to use an assortment of instructional strategies and assessment procedures perceptive to cultural and linguistic differences, and how to adapt classroom instruction and evaluation to contain the cultural resources that students bring to school. Element 11: Preservice education students given examples of the successful teaching of ethnic-minority and language-minority students. Element 12: Instruction is entrenched in a group setting that gives both intellectual challenge as well as social support. 9. Impediments to Action To be truly successful, multicultural education - whether in elementary schools and secondary schools as well as teacher education programs - must be a division of a total school development effort. Such efforts need an immense deal of collaboration, planning, implementation strategies, as well as thorough evaluation. Anything less and results could be inadequate. "Too many teacher educators (and teachers) believe that they can implement an effective multicultural education program without effecting fundamental change in the classrooms and schools in which they teach. This belief contributes to the superficial and trivial treatment of issues of race, class, and gender in elementary and secondary school classrooms." 25 10. Different Points of View Some universities and colleges do not require nor provide courses in multicultural education for preservice students. As a matter of fact, these schools of education stress the necessity of preservice students having a wide background in liberal arts and a thoroughly focus on a specific area of concentration or major field where the students are preparing to teach. Suitable courses in methods, field experiences, and student teaching are deemed adequate preparation for teaching in diverse environments. 11. References Read More