Multi-culturalism in Schools

I think that it is important to respect another culture’s way of life, and that multiculturalism can be extremely beneficial to the school system. That being said, in the United States, our way of life should be respected as well, and the students should have to adapt to the American school system. If the situation were reversed, a school outside of this country would not bend over backwards to change their education core to accommodate a student from the United States. Because we live in the United States, it would be a dis-service to the students, because school is supposed to prepare them for the world after school. It is important to respect other cultures and do what is reasonable to accommodate them, but English should be spoken in the classroom. Unlike a disability, coming to a school in the United States is a choice, and translators and extra learning items should by the responsibility of the families, not the school system. If an individual teacher chooses to go above any beyond to provide learning resources that is great, but accommodating people who made the choice to come to a school in the United States should not be mandated. Some schools may choose to provide these services because if they do not, their overall grade report and rankings decrease dramatically, as these students may not be able to pass standardized grade tests.

There are several different types of learning diversities: Learning differences, Economic status, Language diversity, Gender diversity, and Ethnic diversity.

-Learning differences: There are a wide range of students in a school who have a wide range of learning capacities. Learning differences can range from a student who is exceptionally gifted to a student who is severely disabled, and it is important that the school system is capable of supporting this wide range.
-Economic status: There is also a wide range of students with varying economic status, ranging from the poor to the rich. In some schools, children may predominately take the bus, while in others, students drive their Range Rovers. (I can’t tell you how many times I have seen a car parked in a student parking lot that is one of my dream cars-the student said she would probably end up wrecking it). If a student is tired, hungry, or ill as a result of not having enough money, this can affect their learning.
-Language diversity: Today, many students come from different parts of the world and speak a variety of different languages. ESL is increasing rapidly in the classroom.
-Gender diversity: There are learning differences between males and females, and learning styles may vary amongst the 2 genders.
-Ethnic diversity: This pertains to the varying diversity from different cultures. This can affect learning in schools because different ethnicities have different ways of living, and what is culturally acceptable in one ethnic group may not be culturally acceptable in another.