Throughout the centuries America has been the place where cultures merged. It is embedded in our history. People from around the world traveled in search of a better life and with them they brought their music, language, religion, art and traditions. Today, the American family is more diverse than ever. Rapid demographic changes are altering the way we shape our education. Developing culturally competent schools is a process that begins with understanding the community, its surroundings and how it affects the students. Cultural awakening leads to better communication, acceptance and assists in developing an identity. It also expands understanding of the world. It is vital to provide inclusion of multiculturalism in our schools so that students
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Part of having a good education should include multiculturalism, but education alone will not fix all the problems in our society today. It can, however, help tremendously. Students live in multicultural homes. They live in communities that are surrounded by racial tensions, violence and lack of diversity. Their lives are influenced by the positive and negative things that are happening around them. Children begin forging their opinions of the world at an early age. Because of this, schools need to be more inclusive and promote diversity. These discussions can start by pointing out the differences between families, ethnicity and origin. According to an article by Janet Chang and Thao N. Le about the importance of multiculturalism, previous research shows “… that strengthening students’ perceptions of multiculturalism yields positive academic and social outcomes for minority youth.” Schools need to address these issues in order to develop better members of our society …show more content…
Due to the continuous increase of cultural diversity within the demographics of schools, the importance of multiculturalism awareness cannot be stressed enough. No matter the setting and situation an individual encounters, diversity will always be present. Perhaps the most important thing a teacher should take into consideration when creating a unit on multiculturalism is to think about which “ideas will endure long after the books are closed and years after the students leave their classrooms (Nieto & Bode, p.345)”. It can also help decrease the likelihood of cultural differences that are behind most of the issues in today’s society. Schools have made some progress in adding lessons about important ethnic figures in history, Black History Month and Hispanic History. Despite the addition of this diverse content in the curriculum today, it continues to fail at providing full inclusion and refers to being different as to what is “normal” and “abnormal” in our culture today. This need for inclusion is necessary so that we can provide our students with more accurate vision of the world, our society, and about
Part of having a good education should include multiculturalism, but education alone will not fix all the problems in our society today. It can, however, help tremendously. Students live in multicultural homes. They live in communities that are surrounded by racial tensions, violence and lack of diversity. Their lives are influenced by the positive and negative things that are happening around them. Children begin forging their opinions of the world at an early age. Because of this, schools need to be more inclusive and promote diversity. These discussions can start by pointing out the differences between families, ethnicity and origin. According to an article by Janet Chang and Thao N. Le about the importance of multiculturalism, previous research shows “… that strengthening students’ perceptions of multiculturalism yields positive academic and social outcomes for minority youth.” Schools need to address these issues in order to develop better members of our society …show more content…
Due to the continuous increase of cultural diversity within the demographics of schools, the importance of multiculturalism awareness cannot be stressed enough. No matter the setting and situation an individual encounters, diversity will always be present. Perhaps the most important thing a teacher should take into consideration when creating a unit on multiculturalism is to think about which “ideas will endure long after the books are closed and years after the students leave their classrooms (Nieto & Bode, p.345)”. It can also help decrease the likelihood of cultural differences that are behind most of the issues in today’s society. Schools have made some progress in adding lessons about important ethnic figures in history, Black History Month and Hispanic History. Despite the addition of this diverse content in the curriculum today, it continues to fail at providing full inclusion and refers to being different as to what is “normal” and “abnormal” in our culture today. This need for inclusion is necessary so that we can provide our students with more accurate vision of the world, our society, and about