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Updated January 27, 2017
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Multicultural education is more than celebrating Cinco de Mayo with tacos and piñatas or reading the latest biography of Martin Luther King Jr. It is an educational movement built on basic American values such as freedom, justice, opportunity, and equality. It is a set of strategies aimed to address the diverse challenges experienced by rapidly changing U.S. demographics. And it is a beginning step to shifting the balance of power and privilege within the education system.
The goals of multicultural education include:
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According to the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME), multicultural education:
- Helps students develop positive self-image.
- Offers students an equitable educational opportunity.
- Allows multiple perspectives and ways of thinking.
- Combats stereotypes and prejudicial behavior.
- Teaches students to critique society in the interest of social justice.
Since diversity and multicultural education must occur all the time in school-age programs, we need to look at ways that we can make our curriculum and instruction as multicultural and diverse as possible. Probably the best way to support children’s own secure identity development and at the same time expose them to diversity and tolerance is to take the children into the community, and to bring the community into the program.
For children to develop a sense of belonging they must see themselves, their families, and their communities represented throughout the center or school in books, posters, artwork, family sets, dolls, cooking utensils, environmental print in their languages, photographs, workbook illustrations, etc. (Wardle, 1995). These images must be available throughout the program, not just in the classroom, and should also be in parent handbooks, annual school reports, parent training materials, etc. Thus, if you have a biracial in your program, that child must be able to play with biracial dolls, puppets, and miniature toys, and see pictures and photographs of interracial families that look like his.
Is it necessary to have multicultural students to have a multicultural classroom?
No. This is a common misconception, in fact, if you have a homogenous classroom is it especially important to emphasize multiculturalism because the only exposure your students may get to other cultures is through the activities, books, and lessons that you provide them with.
No. This is a common misconception, in fact, if you have a homogenous classroom is it especially important to emphasize multiculturalism because the only exposure your students may get to other cultures is through the activities, books, and lessons that you provide them with.
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