Reflections: Teaching within a multicultural context
Is diversity in the classroom possible?
Racial diversity is a hot topic because it may affect a parents right to choose where their child goes to school. The Supreme Court ruled fifty years ago to outlaw racial segregation in public schools based on the Brown vs. Board of Education court case highlighting the need for equality in education through integration (Jost, 2007). Today’s classrooms seem to be just as segregated as they were fifty years ago, yet as Kenneth Jost reports, a recent Supreme Court ruling restricts schools from using “race as a factor in individual pupil assignments” (2007). A new report by the UCLA Civil Rights Project cited by Jost states that since 1980, “African-American and Latino students are increasingly isolated from White students in public schools” (2007). Every state has the responsibility to properly utilize the tools of the constitution in implementing racial diversity in the classroom, but just how to go about doing that raises controversy. For example, cases in Seattle and Louisiana school systems used racial classifications to employ diversity in the classroom due to the segregated neighborhoods surrounding the schools (Jost, 2007).
Problems affected both the parents and the children. For the parents their children were being denied access from receiving a good education due to racial classifications barring them from the school when the school reached its percentages resulting in the child being bused to another school (Jost, 2007). Also, parents were concerned with how their child would be treated because of racial/ethnic differences (Jost, 2007). The problem affecting the children is their time is spent riding the bus and also handicapping their ability to engage in extracurricular activities (Jost, 2007). The idea of racial diversity in the classroom is to demonstrate how our educational systems support and include all children, no matter what their differences (skin color, socioeconomic background, religion) in the learning process and into a pluralistic democratic society.
Social stereotypes, biases, and misconceptions about differing cultural groups seem to highlight a need for instituting laws that regulate diversity to maintain civil order. America will always have work to do in dispelling racism because it is so deeply engrained in its culture. There is still a living memory regarding slavery among Blacks and a sense of superiority among whites. Our nation has existed as a racist society since its inception and people of the hegemonic as well as smaller cultures have learned to accept it. For example, among whites racism maintains a predictable economic status quo. This predictable behavior creates an environment for Blacks and other cultural groups to segregate or accommodate within the social norms. The end result is the same: whites dominate and other groups segregate as a means of survival. The difference in today’s racialized environment seems to be that more people are aware of the intention and the expectations of multicultural education, but the ultimate actualization of our desires fails miserably to reality.
The goal of justice and equality for all is an absolute value, but I think teachers need to separate fact from idealistic goals and teach to the individual student’s context. Multicultural education has been a work in progress since the Civil Rights movement and has evolved into a moral battleground for politicians and people without absolute objectivity and since no one is perfect in this area, I believe this issue will continue to raise controversy. Diversity in the early childhood classroom is an important ideal to consider because it helps teachers to neutralize the insecurities (biases, misconceptions, stereotypes) individual children will develop as they become exposed to racialized media and attitudes from American society. The goal of establishing a truly diverse educational system is noble, but it not possible because of the complexity and scope of the matter. So, it’s my responsibility to work in the best interests of the children and their families by directing them to available resources and providing guidance on the developmental needs of their children.
