Multicultural Education in the United States

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bojana Dimitrijevic ◽  
Danijela Petrovic

The paper discusses different approaches and strategies for educating teachers in the United States of America for work in multicultural schools, bearing in mind teacher efficiency. The first part of the paper contains theoretical considerations on the basic competences of teachers for multicultural education, provides an overview of the key questions that need to be answered in the process of developing multicultural teacher education and presents the effects of multicultural education programmes aimed at eliminating prejudice and establishing the pedagogy of equality. The second part of the paper lists strategies for the multicultural education of teachers who are members of the majority population and discusses the educational effects of these strategies. The third part of the paper discusses the approaches based on the model of crosscultural teacher development that facilitate the understanding of teacher behaviour and their resistance to change, as well as the adapting and sequencing of courses for future teachers. The concluding part of the paper offers recommendations for enhancing multicultural teacher education.


2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Rosenblith

If a pluralistic democratic state such as the United States wishes to move beyond coexistence and toward a more reflective religious pluralism, then public schools must take epistemic issues seriously. Taking a cue from multicultural education, many have called for including the study of religion from a cultural perspective. I argue instead that, while studying religion from a cultural perspective is necessary, for a comprehensive education in religious studies it is not sufficient. In order to enable our youngest generation with the skills and tools to be knowledgeable, thoughtful and respectful citizens, students must grapple with the thorny matter of religious truths.


Author(s):  
I.S. Bessarabova ◽  
◽  
E.S. Kurysheva ◽  

The relevance of the research is due to the multicultural nature of the modern world, where all members of any society must have equal rights for high quality educational services, despite individual characteristics that may manifest themselves in race and gender, social status, and alternative development. Multicultural education, being a priority in the US educational policy, has stimulated the development of inclusive education in the country, thereby providing access to education for all citizens with disabilities. Thus, a comprehensive school acquired the status of the main institution for the socialization of students, regardless of their educational capabilities and needs. Consequently, the problem of the research is to identify the relationship between multicultural and inclusive education in the United States. The purpose of the research was to characterize the common features of multicultural and inclusive education on the example of the United States. In the course of the research, the following methods were used: analysis of domestic and foreign literature on the research problem, as well as methods of comparative analysis, generalization and systematization. The research results are the main features of multicultural and inclusive education in the United States have been analyzed, the main goals of multicultural and inclusive education in the United States have been correlated; the principles of multicultural education, which form the basis of inclusive education in the United States have been considered; the relationship of inclusive and multicultural education on the example of the United States has been substantiated. Key conclusions: the presented principles of multicultural education (the principle of variability, differentiation, exclusion of any kind of discrimination, humanistic orientation of the educational process) forms the basis for the organization of inclusive education in the United States. A comparative analysis of the goals of multicultural and inclusive education in the United States has shown their general focus on providing affordable and quality education to all members of society, regardless of identity.


Author(s):  
Valentina Migliarini ◽  
Subini Annamma

Strategies for behavioral management have been traditionally derived from an individualistic, psychological orientation. As such, behavioral management is about correcting and preventing disruption caused by the “difficult” students and about reinforcing positive comportment of the “good” ones. However, increased classroom diversity and inclusive and multicultural education reform efforts, in the United States and in most Western societies, warrant attention to the ways preservice teachers develop beliefs and attitudes toward behavior management that (re)produce systemic inequities along lines of race, disability, and intersecting identities. Early-21st-century legislation requiring free and equitable education in the least restrictive environment mandates that school professionals serve the needs of all students, especially those located at the interstices of multiple differences in inclusive settings. These combined commitments create tensions in teacher education, demanding that educators rethink relationships with students so that they are not simply recreating the trends of mass incarceration within schools. Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) shifts the questions that are asked from “How can we fix students who disobey rules?” to “How can preservice teacher education and existing behavioral management courses be transformed so that they are not steeped in color evasion and silent on interlocking systems of oppression?” DisCrit provides an opportunity to (re)organize classrooms, moving away from “fixing” the individual—be it the student or the teacher—and shifting toward justice. As such, it is important to pay attention not only to the characteristics, dispositions, attitudes, and students’ and teachers’ behaviors but also to the structural features of the situation in which they operate. By cultivating relationships rooted in solidarity, in which teachers understand the ways students are systemically oppressed, how those oppressions are (re)produced in classrooms, and what they can do to resist those oppressions in terms of pedagogy, curriculum, and relationship, repositions students and families are regarded as valuable members. Consequently, DisCrit has the potential to prepare future teachers to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interactions and active engagement in learning focused on creating solidarity in the classroom instead of managing. This results in curriculum, pedagogy, and relationships that are rooted in expansive notions of justice. DisCrit can help preservice teachers in addressing issues of diversity in the curriculum and in contemplating how discipline may be used as a tool of punishment, and of exclusion, or as a tool for learning. Ultimately, DisCrit as an intersectional and interdisciplinary framework can enrich existing preservice teachers’ beliefs about relationships in the classroom and connect these relationships to larger projects of dismantling inequities faced by multiply marginalized students.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 202-203
Author(s):  
Bette Tate-Beaver ◽  
Lewis W. Diuguid

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