Multicultural Content In Education

An education research paper on multicultural content discusses how teachers must learn how to integrate multicultural content related to cultures and minorities into classroom learning. The great focus on standards and assessments at this present time, however, has many advocates for multicultural education concerned.

A recent study discussed in an education research paper showed a notable decline in teacher and administrator concern about multicultural education in the American contemporary education system between 1997 and 1999, immediately following inception of the standards movement. Most staff members attributed it to the need to focus on the demands of standards and assessments when designing curriculum. Another drawback to standards implementation of curriculum has been that the content and wording of the standards are mostly white-oriented and do not account for differences between learning facilities or cultural background. Furthermore, content must be presented to pupils in such a way that they can connect with it. If they cannot connect with it, due to the teacher's shortcomings in multicultural education, they miss out on much of their education. Schools in America are a microcosm of different cultures.

Integrating Multicultural Content

Multicultural content must be integrated with other subject matter to provide meaning for students. School content must move Beyond Heroes and Holidays as the book by Barbara F. Boyd (1998) espouses. It needs to address the day-to-day experience of the minority individual in American culture. Beyond school, content, as well as demonstration of multicultural issues, should be presented to families.

Certainly, in addition to modeling the multicultural or global perspective, teachers also should somehow integrate content related to cultures and minorities into classroom management. The great focus on standards and assessments at this present time, however, has many advocates for multicultural education concerned. A recent study showed a notable decline in teacher and administrator concern about cultural diversity between 1997 and 1999, immediately following inception of the standards movement (Bohn, 2000). Most staff members attributed it to the need to focus on the demands of standards and assessments.

According to the Multicultural Curriculum Reform, another drawback to standards implementation has been that the content and wording of the standards are mostly white-oriented and do not account for differences between learning facilities or cultural background. Furthermore, content must be presented to pupils in such a way that they can connect with it. If they cannot connect with it, due to the teacher's shortcomings in multicultural methodology, they miss out on much of their education.

Multicultural content must be integrated with other subject matter to provide meaning for students. As Editors E. Lee, D. Menkart, and M Okazawa-Rey (1998) put it so simply in the title to their book, school content must move Beyond Heroes and Holidays. It needs to address the day-to-day experience of the minority individual in American culture.

Beyond school, content, as well as demonstration of multicultural issues, should be presented to families. A recent study cited by Kathleen Glascott Burris (2000) showed that familial multicultural intervention plays an important part in the formation of stereotypical ideas or upon acceptance and appropriate behaviors toward those whom a child perceives as being different from them.

James Banks has developed what he calls the "five dimensions" of multicultural education to help teachers in their endeavors to implement multicultural education. The first and foremost of these is integration of multicultural learning with regular classroom subjects.

It appears that there is much working against the implementation of multicultural education presently. Teacher education falls short in preparation of pre-service teachers, and staff development for veteran educators, overall is focused on other, more urgent matters such as standards and assessments. It is also apparent that, overall, teachers lack the knowledge, methodology, and philosophical roots to successfully implement multicultural education in their classrooms. Much change is needed regarding racial and gender, as well as cultural, issues.

Tips for Integrating Multicultural Content

• Ongoing teacher support of multicultural perspective is essential to the infusion of multicultural concepts.
• Art projects provide an excellent means of promoting multiculturalism in classrooms at all levels.
• A multicultural art project for grades 1-8 may include cut paper to demonstrate an art form from ancient China.
• Another multicultural art project suggestion includes teaching calligraphy in grades 4-8.
• Additional multicultural art projects include reviewing illustrated children's literature, taking virtual field trips to art museums using CD-ROMs, and others.
• Multicultural language arts lessons for grades 5-7 could focus on topics such as "the universal for friendship."
• Multicultural language arts lessons include composing a book review; examining art in children's literature conducting meaningful discussions; reading aloud; and role playing.
• Mathematics lessons can include multicultural lessons, such as "money around the world."
• Physical education lessons can incorporate multicultural sports collages into their lessons that would acquaint students with activities that are popular in other cultures.
• Science and technology become increasingly multicultural enterprises.
• Science lessons should incorporate critical thinking through lessons such as "dealing with stereotyped thinking."
• Multicultural science projects can include reviews of science stories in the news, emphasizing science and technology stories from many different cultures.
• Multicultural science projects may also focus subjects such as women in science.