Not Everybody is Proud of Their Heritage/Root!
An Urgent Task of Multiculturism
An Urgent Task of Multiculturism
By Scott Robinson
EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 27, 2009
Tonight was an eye opener, I was fully engaged, exhilarated, and by the end of the evening, exhausted. As much as we try to deny and ignore it, race, culture, and ethnicity are still such hot button topics. Reading "Psychology Applied to Teaching" makes so much sense, apply Cultural Pluralism to our classroom situation; strive to maintain our different cultures, respect all of our different cultures, and recognize the rights of others to maintain their cultural identity. However, as demonstrated this evening, there is a lot of gray area in between these black and white lines.
Since everyone doesn't want to wear their "roots" on their sleeves, our job as teachers is to do our homework and treat our approach to multiculturalism as it relates to our specific, case by case, situations. Besides gauging the "community cultural pride" of wherever we teach, at the start of the school year, we should reach out to our individual students and their parents to get a sense of their specific cultural drives. Those heavily involved in their culture get exposed through the curricula to enhance their cultural pride. Those more tentative with culture specification get exposed as who they identify themselves as.
The key words that I heard, again and again, this evening that will carry everyone through their lives are respect and tolerance. If we as teachers can instill this in our students, I mean really instill it, we will have accomplished more than we can imagine. However, great points were made to the contrary, what if their parents sing a different song at home? What if the child's life experiences at a later age cause them to change their tune? These are great points not to be ignored.
One thing that scared me about watching "A Class Divided" was how much it had in common with certain themes explored in "The Twilight Zone" television series. Feeling superior makes people feel better about themselves, it gives them a psychological advantage, which can actually improve performance. It is scary how these thoughts can so easily turn a group of people into an out of control mob.
This class was great.
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 27, 2009
Tonight was an eye opener, I was fully engaged, exhilarated, and by the end of the evening, exhausted. As much as we try to deny and ignore it, race, culture, and ethnicity are still such hot button topics. Reading "Psychology Applied to Teaching" makes so much sense, apply Cultural Pluralism to our classroom situation; strive to maintain our different cultures, respect all of our different cultures, and recognize the rights of others to maintain their cultural identity. However, as demonstrated this evening, there is a lot of gray area in between these black and white lines.
Since everyone doesn't want to wear their "roots" on their sleeves, our job as teachers is to do our homework and treat our approach to multiculturalism as it relates to our specific, case by case, situations. Besides gauging the "community cultural pride" of wherever we teach, at the start of the school year, we should reach out to our individual students and their parents to get a sense of their specific cultural drives. Those heavily involved in their culture get exposed through the curricula to enhance their cultural pride. Those more tentative with culture specification get exposed as who they identify themselves as.
The key words that I heard, again and again, this evening that will carry everyone through their lives are respect and tolerance. If we as teachers can instill this in our students, I mean really instill it, we will have accomplished more than we can imagine. However, great points were made to the contrary, what if their parents sing a different song at home? What if the child's life experiences at a later age cause them to change their tune? These are great points not to be ignored.
One thing that scared me about watching "A Class Divided" was how much it had in common with certain themes explored in "The Twilight Zone" television series. Feeling superior makes people feel better about themselves, it gives them a psychological advantage, which can actually improve performance. It is scary how these thoughts can so easily turn a group of people into an out of control mob.
This class was great.
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