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!!

Week of 2/8 class posting

This week we had a reading in all three of our books, they were all interesting but the Sleeter & Grant reading was the most interesting. At first I thought all the statistics would be boring to read about, but actually seeing statistics which are based upon collected data that prove and support something is thought provoking to say the least. Initially, even at the beginning of this class I was struggling with myself, because as a white female I felt that I personally did not contribute to racism. I have friends from all different cultures, and was fortunate enough to travel some of the world with my family which taught me to appreciate differences between people, but because of this class I understand institutional racism and I how am privileged in certain aspects. Coming to this understanding has made me more aware of what societal practices there are that do contribute to institutional racism. The statistics that are shown in Sleeter & Grant have given me solid data to see just some of the privileges I do have as a white, from earning more with a certain education level, to having a higher life expectancy. I guess even as "worldy" and knowledgeable as I thought I was I am still learning about why my life has turned out the way it has so far.

Also in the Sleeter & Grant reading the section on "How Students Are Grouped" the information given on Dual Immersion programs I found intriguing. We touched on it briefly in class, and I think that it is something that needs to be more wide spread in curriculum and school models across the nation. I personally think I would have loved being in a dual immersion program, not to mention that it would help me to speak to my boyfriends family more easily! I just think that is a great idea that can make a classroom more comfortable for a student learning English, and for a native English speaker to learn a foreign language. Prior to this reading I had heard of programs similar to this only a few times. I had read about a program in mainly affluent private schools where the parents wanted their children to learn Chinese, a language they consider will be prominent in the future. So the children were taught the subjects half in English and half in Chinese. Although I am pro multi-lingual learning, I do think that dual immersion programs with Spanish is more relevant in America today, with the largest portion of immigrants coming from Latin America and the Caribbean. I personally would love to work in a school in the future with programs like this.

Below is the link to a video that is about a school with a dual immersion program
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akdsmMYv_uA

Enjoy!

Week of 2/1/2010 class

Something brought up in class that was of interest to me, was binary opposition. I have heard the term before but haven't always understood it. Now not a scholarly source but informative none the less Wikipedia defines it as; "In critical theory, a binary opposition (also binary system) is a pair of theoretical opposites. A classic example of a binary opposition is the presence-absence dichotomy. In much of Western thought, including structuralism, distinguishing between presence and absence, viewed as polar opposites, is a fundamental element of thought in many cultures." In trying to understand this concept a little better I now consider it to be some of the basis behind multicultural education. If there is a priviliged white student in a class there has to be an underpriviliged black student in a class. There must be a majority and a minority, a student who receives tons of extra help and one who does not. And more specifically for multicultural education a student who can easily relate to what is being taught and be interested and then just the opposite a student who cannot easily relate to what is being taught and is uninterested. For these reasons curriculum in schools need to address a multitude of issues so that all children are educated better on all people of the world. If anyone can help me to better understand binary opposition, please comment and help! =)

A cute video I found that shows obvious, visible examples of binary opposition is,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUlnAjQl8ko
The video uses images to portray clear opposites.

A second issue we briefly touched upon in class is the colorblind approach that was discussed in the Wu book, in the interview with Christine Sleeter. If a teacher looks at a student and purposely ignores a certain characteristic of the child, for example skin color, something that is visibly present, by trying to remove it in their mind they actually ignore part of who the child is. A child of a certain race, culture or ethnicity cannot exist as a whole person without those specific characteristics that come from their culture being recognized. I feel the better way to address students, neighbors, or anyone is actually a color concious approach. If you do acknowledge what the other person is it might be able to facilitate more open communication. A short article I found that discusses this is;

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/361733/have_we_become_too_color_blind_a_look.html?cat=4

Week of 1/25/10 class

This is the first post for Multiculturalism and the Practice of Schooling class.

Starting with the video we watched on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg

A few thoughts on the above link. The video is of Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie giving a speak on the danger of the single story; which in essence is what occurs when you show people as one thing, and only one thing over and over again. For her it meant how she was treated based on American's ideas of Africa. But a single story can be formed about anyone. I personally relate to this through my Italian heritage. In popular media, Italians are normally portrayed as mafia men who eat spaghetti and speak with a thick accent and more recently as guidos/guidettes who get drunk down the Jersey shore over the summer. Now I find the movies and TV shows that portray the aforementioned stereotypes as entertaining as the next person but there definitely is a down side. There have to be people out there who have not met an Italian immigrant or possibly a person of Italian descent, do these people feel that the characters based on stereotypes shown in the media are what Italians are really like? It can only make me wonder what people do I have a single story about?

In the same trend of questioning myself and my beliefs, I was very torn after viewing a part of the video The Color Of Fear. I have never viewed being an American as a way to promote being white, I always have had national pride, for various reasons but I was really shocked when I heard that for some people there is a distinct purpose in calling themselves as American, just to fight against the notion that whites can only be American. And on the same page I was surprised when the term human being was related to being white only. For me, it made me question things on both sides. I remember being in an anthropology class in high school and learning about evolution and the different races etc. and I distinctly remember my teacher saying I just wish I could show racist people the genetic difference between a human and an ape and then maybe they would realize that the differences among the races are so incredibly small. But making a statement like now, especially after the movie makes me question if it really would make a difference or does it just make white people feel better?

To be honest I didn't expect much the first class, but it has definitely gotten me thinking already. I am considering being a NYC public school teacher, and I would be teaching children of all different backgrounds, I'm hoping this class will help me to truly find ways to be conscious of everything multicultural especially in my actions.