Multicultural Education

Prior to reading Paul Gorski's The Challenge of Defining "Multicultural Education," I thought that to define my own working definition of multicultural education would be easy, but then I realized that my initial definition was elementary at best. Naively, I would have defined it in the following: multicultural education is accepting, promoting, and understanding diverse populations throughout the world, most effectively expressed by school systems providing a right to equal education for all. However, after reading the links pertaining to multicultural education, I realize that it's much more complex.

Gorski states that the underlying challenge in defining multicultural education is that teachers and institutions rarely share a common view on multicultural education. More commonly, definitions are defined and practices are implemented institutionally to fit individual contexts and disciplines. He states that some see it as a shift in curriculum, others as a reference to teaching styles and testing practices, while others view it as method for social transformation in order to "explore and criticize the oppressive foundations of the world around us and how education serves to maintain the status quo -- foundations such as white supremacy , global socioeconomic conditions, and exploitation." No wonder it is so confusing and impossible to define.

Multicultural education is a current trend in creating educational policy and setting standards for curriculum in education. The foundations of the American education system and its institutions were built in response for a need for change from society. Multicultural education is a response from society for a need for change.

I've recently heard many people say that the U.S. is more diverse than ever. Our population might be growing, but is it really more diverse? I think that's a funny statement since the nation itself was built on an Open Door Immigration Policy. The Statue of Liberty has been holding its torch for the "hungry, tired, and poor"since the late 1800s. In the early 1900s and again in the late 1940s after WWII, waves of immigrants came to this nation in search of opportunity, freedom, and the American Dream. We ranted, raved, and branded ourselves a "melting pot." During that time, immigrants were encouraged to give up their cultural traditions and languages in order to take part in creating a single American identity and share a common national pride.

During that time, special programs in education to address these new immigrant populations did not exist to the level they do today. ESL instruction was not provided for most, and they learned English on the streets through immersion. Many became frustrated and dropped out.

Today, the American education system prides itself on a right to an equal education for all of its people. I think this is where multicultural education comes in. We are less commonly using words like "melting pot," but instead use"kaleidescope." In order to provide equal opportunities, more programs have been instituted and developed to make sure that this right is guaranteed.

The trouble is that this definition can be realistically defined depending on where you live and what the needs of the local society are. For example, when I lived in Chicago, I noticed more and more bilingual schools were being built in order to address the needs for the growing Hispanic population. New teacher applicants in many schools were required to speak Spanish for employment. Here multiculturalism might be defined differently. In other places, educational practice is about exposure and knowledge to new cultures from around the world. More and more IB schools are being built focusing on globalization.

So, the challenges teachers are facing as they strive to implement multicultural practices in their classroom are many. They must consider the needs of the local society, the students, and the school. How can they as individuals meet the needs of their students to provide them with an equal opportunity to education in respect to their linguistic, cultural, and societal needs?

I teach ESL at ELS Language Centers here on the campus of MTSU, so I address multiculturalism in my classroom everyday. For all of my students, the objective is the same: academic english proficiency. I have a diverse group of students. Most of my students come from Brazil, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Germany. They come from different types of education systems, have different cultures, traditions, religions, languages, etc., but we get along, and we all learn from eachother. We learn about eachother's countries and cultures, we learn how to make conclusions based on interaction, not from what we see on tv., we learn about different religions, and we make new friends. We are all different, but we are a community of one. I think that's what multicultural education is more properly defined.