In this chapter, multicultural education has been presented as a powerful force in our lives, schools, communities, nations, and world. One axiom is clear: multiculturalism is here to stay even though it continues to conjure scepticism because of its mismeasurement in education and psychology (Obiakor, 2014, p.129)."
Individuals and institutions have falsely responded to multiculturalism by:
- Practicing paternalistic patronization’ (i.e. when a culturally and linguistically diverse person is treated in a child-like manner as if he/she does not have a brain to think or fend for himself/herself)
- Encouraging tokenism’ (i.e. when a culturally and linguistically diverse faculty or staff is hired as a figurehead to appease requests for inclusion and equanimity)
- Engaging in suicide mission’ (i.e. when a culturally sensitive faculty or staff, especially White (or member of a dominant group), is intentionally made irrelevant, destroyed, or victimized because he/she dared to support equity)
- Playing the divide-and-conquer game’ (i.e. when culturally and linguistically diverse faculty or staff are set up to fight against each other based on the White supremacist idea of ‘goodness’)
- Encouraging the crab-bucket syndrome’ (i.e. when proactive efforts are made to pull down or devalue a high-performing culturally and linguistically diverse faculty or staff)
- Favouring quota’ (i.e. when an incompetent and mediocre culturally and linguistically diverse faculty or staff, or administrator is hired in place of qualified ones)
- Engaging in fraudulent multiculturalism’ (i.e. when multiculturalism is discussed in a halfhearted fashion to appease the masses or accreditation bodies and create a phony sense of community)
- ‘silencing of voices’ (i.e. when the White supremacist strategy of one-person-one-vote is adopted to impose majority views on a situation)
- Playing the revolving door game’ (i.e. when a culturally and linguistically diverse faculty or staff is hired to serve a major purpose and let go after that purpose is achieved)
- Making visible talents invisible’ (i.e. when talented culturally and linguistically diverse faculty and/or staff are made invisible by under-utilizing them or pretending that they do not exist)
- Rationalizing race-related issues’ (i.e. when racism against a culturally and linguistically diverse person is simplistically explained and justified as differences in personality or perception).
Generally, positive change results from positive risk-taking and some risky actions (Obiakor, 2014, p.127)."
An overall goal of multicultural education is to help all students develop their potential for academic, social, and vocational success. Educational and vocational options should not be limited by sex, age, ethnicity, native language, religion, class, or exceptionality.
"Recognizing our common humanity is only the beginning of our task. Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people. These needs will be met only if we act boldly in the years ahead; and if we understand that the challenges we face are shared, and our failure to meet them will hurt us all. (Vousden, 2014, p. 46)."
Lesson 4 Assignmet - Cultural Plunge: In a great country like the United States, where we find ourselves still having "outbursts of racism, police brutality, xenophobia, and so on" (Obiakor, 2014, p.125) the importance of multicultural educational has never been more apparent. The film “All In: The Fight for Democracy” opened my eyes and showed me that voter suppression has never been more rampant and the level of inequity and division has never been higher. From elected officials changing the rules as they go and disenfranchising the underserved population; the abuses of power to retain their elected posts have never been more obvious. This film truly opened my eyes to the importance of every citizen knowing that it is their constitutionally recognized right to partake in the election of their representatives that they feel best represent their values and beliefs, and no one can take that right away from them, no matter how difficult they make it.
Application to my future career: What I learned this week can easily be applied to my future career as a social sciences teacher in some capacity in a secondary educational setting is simple; I can use the different teaching strategies to see what connects with the students best and build upon it. Take the knowledge they already have and expand their understanding of the basic concept they already have and get a better in-depth understanding of the many topics we cover. Group work helps some, and as long as there is a social factor in the learning the students will enjoy it. |
