Week of 2/22

In the Sleeter & Grant reading for this past week, the chapter touched upon cultural transmission and social learning theories which we discussed briefly in class. That section of the chapter made me think a little harder...

I did know that multicultural education was about highlighting cultural diversity in the hopes that this awareness and knowledge could produce societal changes that will, as the years go by change the disadvantages some people face, and improve opportunities for others. But on p 172 (6th edition) the book says that, "The approach [multicultural education] does not maintain that the world is fine as it is and that children should learn more about it. Rather, its advocates are concerned that society as it exists is unfair and oppressive to many people and does not afford equal opportunity to all. Furthermore, people are expected to conform to restricted definitions of what is considered normal if they want to succeed...." I guess I didn't know that it was a distinct way to kind of fight the mainstream powers that be, I guess I just thought it was a means of promoting and provoking change in the future.
Although later in the chapter it does say that "for equal opportunity to exist, members of diverse groups need to learn to function successfully in various contexts. It is imperative that members of marginalized groups learn to function successfully in mainstream cultural contexts." Although I do understand essentially what is trying to be expressed I do find it to be a bit of a contradiction. If the point of multicultural education is to add awareness and knowledge of cultural diversity, so that these differences are not forced to disappear but rather be appreciated, then in essence multicultural ed is not really being successful if those in the diverse group still have to change themselves to fit the mainstream. Also interesting is that they use an example of having to learn standard English as a means of fitting into mainstream culture, but in the very near future the defined minorities of today will actually be the majority over anglo/european/white people. So what will the changes have to be in the future, for minorities/majorities. Who will have to make the changes to fit in mainstream culture in the future. I am also a little torn on the whole language thing, because as much as I respect and appreciate other languages, from a political/organizational standpoint I do think there needs to be a unifying language.

I also found an article with misconceptions about multicultural education;
http://www.acei.org/misconceptions.htm
In the article #3 is what really interested me. I think that a huge misconception about multicultural education is that, like Prof. Smith said, everyone bringing in food from there culture does not really cut it. The same thing with during black history month reading Maya Angelou but not reading it any other month than February. The same goes for younger children, just reading a book with characters from a different culture doesn't make it a correct representation of the culture. I myself read Tikki Tikki Tembo as a kid. Also the reference to what a book would call southern people was funny!

On a side note, I hope it snows!!