Multicultural Education
A model research paper could begin: The multicultural content in a Multicultural Education Research Paper is important because students cannot expect a comprehensive education upon graduation unless they are made aware of the issues facing them in the global community. How can they expect to succeed while maintaining their limited mono-cultural views? Sparks and Butt define multicultural education as the process of teaching the values of diversity, and the detrimental effect to society of racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination. Students cannot communicate with people of different backgrounds unless they are taught this skill, much like mathematics and science.American schools are a microcosm. Indeed, our classrooms, as well as those in all universities, are composed of a challenging mix of different races and ethnicity and students from different socioeconomic levels. They have religious and age differences, and may have psychological, physical, or emotional problems as education in America changes.
Benefits to Teachers of Multicultural Education
Teachers benefit from multicultural education research papers, workshops and dialogues. Subsequent to the workshops, the teachers must reflect on the cultural diversity in their classrooms, and observe the student interaction between race, gender, and other differences. To further educate teachers, a group may met weekly to examine multicultural concepts, identify personal multicultural goals, and implement an action plan for future responses to socially diverse situations. The increased awareness improves teaching style by sensitizing them to the fact that the teaching environment takes place with diverse groups. The greatest reward is that teachers learn to examine their own personal biases, thereby improving their teaching style for all of their students.
Common Features of Multicultural Education
According to The National Association for Multicultural Education advocates agree on some common features of multicultural education. These features provide the conceptual directions and parameters of reform initiatives for implementation of multicultural education in school practice. Effective m multicultural education:
- Requires total school reform
- Is for all students in primary and secondary education
- Involves acquiring knowledge, clarifying attitudes and values, and developing social actions and skills about ethnic and cultural pluralism;
- Includes recognizing, accepting, and celebrating diversity as a fundamental fact and salient feature in human life, U.S. society, and world communities
Strong collegial relationships enhance productivity, staff development, and school improvement efforts. Several researchers have found that collegial systems generate greater productivity in school improvement efforts. Collegiality increases the capacity for change and improvement, because collegial relationships provide powerful sources of stimulation, motivation, and new ideas. Research by Paper Masters has discovered key behaviors in schools with strong collegial orientations. In these schools, teachers value professional relationships, share ideas, and readily exchange new techniques. Teachers and administrators spend time observing each other, and they instruct each other in the craft of teaching through formal and informal demonstrations. These interactions can build a powerful and shared technical language about teaching and learning that is precise and concrete. Collegial environments favor in-depth problem solving and planning. Interactions among staff and administrators foster more successful staff development, ongoing refinement of instruction, and improved teaching.
Importance of Multicultural Education in the United States
Despite the pluralism of United States society, most people live in relatively isolated enclaves, away from others who are racially, socially, and culturally different. Individuals from the same ethnic groups live in close proximity to one another, creating largely single race or ethnic group geographic clusters, such as Anglo suburbs, Hispanic barrios, Chinatowns, Little Italy's, and Little Japans. The population tends to be separated along economic lines, so that members of the middle, upper, and lower social classes within and across ethnic groups do not interact with one another on substantive or egalitarian levels. The divisions between these groups are increasing instead of diminishing.