Challenge of Defining a Single Multicultural Education

Challenge of Defining a Single Multicultural Education

1. Ideals

   • Equal opportunities to students
   • Students must participate in an intercultural society
   • Teachers must facilitate learning to each student
   • Schools must end oppression, making students socially and critically active
   • Education should be student centered
   • Schools must reexamine their educational practices

2. Transformation needed to affect social change: Main goal of Multicultural Education

   • Transformation of Self
     • Examine my prejudices, biases and assumptions
     • Study and understand how I understand people and everything happening around me
     • Work towards eliminating prejudices, determine who am I reaching by my teaching methods/style, relearning how my own identity affects their learning.
     • Be in a constant process of self examination and transformation
   • Transformation of Schools and Schooling
     • There must be a deep examination of all aspects of multicultural schooling transformation
       • Student-Centered Pedagogy
         • Experiences in the classroom for students must be active, interactive and engaging
         • Deconstruct traditional teaching systems and examine them so learn if they are supporting systems of oppression
         • All aspects in school must be refocused to students instead of test scores or school rankings
         • Emphasis in critical and creative thinking, learning skills and deep social awareness.
         • Pedagogy must give students equal potential to reach their max. potential
         • Pedagogy must be flexible for all learning styles in the classroom
       • Multicultural Curriculum
         • Must be studied for accuracy and completeness
         • "Inclusive curriculum" including voices of students in classrooms
         • Curricula must reflect the diversity of learning styles in the classroom
       • Inclusive Educational Media and Materials
         • The materials should be inclusive for all perspectives and voices
         • Students must think critically about media and materials
       • Supportive School and Classroom Climate
         • Teachers must create a positive classroom climate for all students
         • Administrative hierarchies must be examined to see if they produce a positive teaching environment
         • Teachers and administrators must be held accountable for practices that are discriminatory
       • Continual Evaluation and Assessment
         • Educators and schools must continue to examine the standardized test scores and develop alternatives to measure the student achievement
         • Continue to evaluate the success of new programs to provide more opportunities to underrepresented groups in colleges and universities.
   • Transformation of Society
     • The main goal is to have social justice and equity
     • The multicultural education aims to challenge, shake, expose and critique.
     • Everyone must apply multicultural teaching and learning principles inside and outside the classroom.