Diversity in the Classroom

From: Kathy H. Naito, with acknowledgements of Pamela Geisler, Melanie Meyer, Blanca Navarro, Nancy Ullrich, and Alison Wishard
Email: hiroko@cats.ucsc.edu
Course: Psychology 100G: Diversity in Development
College: UC Santa Cruz
Instructor: Professor Eugene Matusov
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com/psych100G
ChildrenObservations: No
Date: 13 Dec 1996
Time: 13:59:14
Remote Name: tsb-52.ucsc.edu

Abstract

This paper presents the challenges that diversity brings into the classroom and offers solutions and practical applications to these challenges. As we reach the 21st century, we are faced with an increasing population of minorities who come from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Because our current educational system operates to serve the white, middle class, minorities are denied the opportunity to receive an equal education (Ogbu, 1995). Teachers must leave behind middle class teaching strategies and values such as the achievement ideology (MacLeod, 1995) and the culture of power (Delpit, 1995), and learn to incorporate the lives of their minority students as part of the daily curriculum at school. However, incorporating several different cultures into the school curriculum is not an easy task. Diversity is seen by many teachers as a disadvantage and a barrier to effective teaching and learning because it slows down the mainstream schooling process. But overwhelming research has shown that diversity is, in fact, an invaluable advantage to both teachers and students of all backgrounds. With proper application of culturally relevant pedagogy (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988) and other proposed solutions, we are headed towards an educational system in the United States that adheres to all groups of students and uses diversity as a beneficial factor to learn about different cultures and personal experiences.

Paper

The classrooms of today are comprised of students from diverse ethnic, linguistic, and socio-cultural backgrounds. A look inside of a typical American classroom would reveal a significant population of minority students from backgrounds which are culturally distinct from that of the white majority. As the 21st century comes near, we face the prominent issue of the ever-increasing diversity of students within our educational system. It is estimated that by the year 2056, minority students will outnumber the white majority in the overall student population (Henry, 1990). As a result, the classroom has become a nucleus of convergence for children of different cultures and abilities. However, schools and teachers are not traditionally prepared to deal with the diversity of their classrooms. Teachers, classrooms, and curriculum are constructed to serve the specific interests of white, middle class students, prohibiting those students from non-white, non-middle class backgrounds from receiving quality education (Osborne, 1996). One factor that presents diversity in the classroom between teachers and students is socioeconomic status. The majority of teachers in the United States are from the middle class and grew up with middle class values. As a result, their teaching methods and instruction are a reflection of what MacLeod (1995) refers to as the "achievement ideology." The achievement ideology is the belief that if an individual works hard enough, s/he will be able to succeed in society. Middle class teachers use this ideology to try and motivate their students to work hard. However, what many of them do not realize is that this ideology contradicts the beliefs of their working-class students. They do not realize that the achievement ideology assumes that all individuals have the equal opportunity to succeed, which does not apply to working class individuals. In contrast to middle class individuals, working class students have grown up with the belief that no matter how hard individuals from their background try, they will never be able to succeed and move up the social ladder. MacLeod (1995) writes,

Teachers parrot the achievement ideology because they think it will motivate students, because it probably does not contradict their own experiences, and because they believe it. Most middle class Americans do. As Willis writes, "What kind of bourgeoisie is it that does not in some way believe its own legitimations? That would be a denial of themselves." This equality-of-opportunity line of reasoning may have worked in the middle-class high schools from which most teachers hail, but its utility in an urban school serving low-income neighborhoods is diminished greatly. (p. 262)

Aside from the achievement ideology, classrooms are also constructed within a "culture of power" (Delpit, 1995). There are five aspects of the culture of power which do not recognize diversity in classrooms and the different beliefs and values that may exist between teachers and students.

1.) Issues of power are enacted in the classroom. Within the classroom, the teacher has power over the students, publishers have power over textbooks, the school board has power to develop the curriculum to determine the view of the world presented, and the state has power to enforce compulsory education. It is this schooling process that prepares people for jobs which determines his/her economic status, and therefore, power. This takes all the power away from students which they need to express their views and beliefs.
2.) There are codes or rules for participating in power; that is, there is a "culture of power." The classroom reflects the white, middle class standards of linguistic forms, communicative strategies, and presentation of self; that is, ways of talking, ways of writing, ways of dressing, and ways of interacting. To succeed in the classroom, students are required to conform to these rules. Any other standards are unacceptable and wrong (i.e. Black English), and lead to failure.
3.) The rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the rules of the culture of those who have power. Children from middle class homes tend to do better in school than those from non-middle class homes because the culture of the school is based on the culture of the upper and middle classes--of those in power. As a result, these upper and middle class children come to school prepared with an understanding of the codes needed in order to succeed while children from other cultures suffer because although they operate within perfectly viable cultures of their own, they have not learned the codes or rules of power.
4.) If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier. It is much easier to function within an unfamiliar culture when informed about such matters as cultural expectations and beliefs. Many minorities feel that to succeed, they must take in the culture they learn at school (the culture of power) and give up their own cultural beliefs. As a result of assimilating into the dominant culture, they lose their identity.
5.) Those with power are frequently least aware of--or least willing to acknowledge--its existence. Those with less power are often most aware of its existence. This reflects the MacLeod quote at the beginning of the paper. Individuals in the position of power never realize the degree of power they have over minorities or people who are not in positions of power. It is a denial of themselves. However, minorities have no choice but to accept this because they do not have the power to change the dynamics of the culture of power. (p. 24)

The dynamics of the achievement ideology and the "culture of power" put minority students at a severe disadvantage. Their culture, values, and experiences are not recognized or validated. But with such a diverse classroom, teachers are at odds with how to give their students a fair, but complete education. Most teacher are well-intentioned. However, they are left with no instruction on how to teach their students. They resort to what they were taught as students from a middle class background (MacLeod, 1995). For example, Ogbu (1995) suggests that students themselves must completely assimilate and acquire the dominant culture of the school in order to succeed. This suggests that it is not the responsibility of the teachers to change the structure of the classroom to guarantee the success of minority students. Rather, it is the responsibility of the students to accommodate to the teaching style of the teacher. Diversity in the classroom creates challenges, like those stated above, for teachers who must meet the needs of all students, including students whose needs do not coincide with their expectations. As a result of these challenges, diversity in the classroom has become looked upon as a disadvantage and an obstacle to effective teaching. However, many researchers have found that diversity in the classroom can be a gift which allows students to learn from each other and to learn about different cultures, languages, and backgrounds. For example, in Spanish/English bilingual classrooms, English-speaking students have the opportunity to learn Spanish, while Spanish-speaking students can learn English. Furthermore, students can develop social and communication skills through interaction with those from different backgrounds. Diversity also opens up opportunities for teaching and learning. In Systematic Reform: Perspectives on Personalizing Education, it states,

If matching were achieved, then all teachers would teach only their kind, and children would be limited in educational advantages of learning form and about other people. (p. 3)

Current research on the subject of diverse classrooms demonstrates that today's classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse. As a result, an increasing number of children are not fitting into the white, middle class standard, and thus not receiving an adequate education (Price, 1995). Therefore, in response to these findings, measures need to be taken to incorporate cultural differences in the classroom as a positive aspect and to adopt new teaching strategies that will work to benefit both middle class and non-middle class students. Although different sets of recommendations have been suggested by various researchers and experts, there seems to be overlapping strategies similar throughout all of them. The fundamental strategies to be implemented include the following theories:

1.) Listening to the voices of excluded minority students and working towards increasing minority family involvement. Teachers can invite parents and community members to the classroom as guest speakers and volunteers. Parents can help teachers integrate both the home and the school languages into the children's education.
2.) Collaborating community social services with education. It is not only the role of the school to create a more culturally relevant environment. The efforts need to extend beyond the classroom and into the community. This collaboration creates a cohesive community environment between the school and home which provides opportunities for educational success.
3.) Prepare teachers for a greater range of students that reflect the actual student population rather than the white, middle class majority. Teacher training programs need to address and prepare teachers to deal with diversity found in their classrooms. Furthermore, these programs must provide teachers with tools to incorporate individual needs into the classroom (Bowman, 1996).

According to a study done by Ladson-Billings, what is needed is a "culturally relevant pedagogy" resting on three main propositions:

1.) students must experience success by working up to teacher expectations,
2.) students must develop and/or maintain cultural competence through the integration of cultural issues, and
3.) students must develop a critical consciousness to challenge the status quo through collaborative teaching strategies in which the teacher and student play an active and equal role in education (Bowman, 1992). Osborne (1996) took these three propositions a step further by forming them into five core theories and four different classroom strategies.

Fundamental Understandings:

1.) Culturally relevant teachers need not come from the same ethnic minority group as the students they teach. Teachers can address the diversity of the classroom through sharing their backgrounds and cultures with their students. Furthermore, teachers who are sensitive and culturally aware are able to recognize and meet the needs of their students.
2.) Socio-historical-political realities beyond the school constrain much of what happens in classrooms and must be understood well by the teacher who implements culturally relevant curriculum. The teacher must have knowledge about the history of the backgrounds represented in the classroom. They must also recognize the realities of their students' daily lives and experiences such as economic status, divorce, etc.
3.) It is desirable to teach content that is culturally relevant to students' previous experiences that fosters their natal cultural identity, and empowers them with the knowledge and practices to operate successfully in mainstream society. It is important that the teacher is aware and understands the realities of his/her students' community in order to present classroom material that is culturally relevant.
4.) It is desirable to involve the parents and families of the children belonging to both marginalized and normalized groups. The family and the school need to work cooperatively to enable children to receive positive reinforcement from both sides and come to feel a positive sense of ethnic identity as members of both cultures. This can be achieved through involving parents in classroom activities and assigning work which draws on knowledge learned at home.
5.) It is desirable to include students' first languages in the school program and in classroom interactions. Children need to have a sense of continuity between their home and school experiences, and bilingual/bicultural programs can help to fill the gap between home and school through connecting the two languages.

Classroom Practices:

1.) Culturally relevant teachers should be personally warm towards and respectful of, as well as academically demanding of, all students. Regardless of race or economic background, teachers need to clearly communicate their high expectations of all students.
2.) Teachers who teach in culturally relevant ways spell out the cultural assumptions within which the classroom (and schooling) operate. This way, students are also taught to break down cultural stereotypes.
3.) There are five components of culturally relevant pedagogy:

4.) Racism is prevalent in schools and needs to be addressed. Racism, sexism, and classism exist and the only way it can begin to be tackled is if we accept it and try to understand it (Osborne, 1996).

Culturally relevant pedagogy will surely make school curriculum more meaningful to minority students. However, we must also remember that we do live in a middle class society with a certain set of expectations, and therefore, are responsible to teach these minority students the mainstream cultural skills to survive and function in society. Without their acquisition of appropriate language, knowledge, skills, and credentials, minorities will be unable to participate, let alone succeed, in society (Ogbu, 1995). Most important of these acquisition skills is to learn the mainstream cultural frame of reference. This refers to the correct or ideal way to behave within the culture. There usually exists in a culture a widely accepted and sanctioned cultural frame of reference that guides people's behavior. Without this, the marginalized population of individuals suffers because they are unable to understand the proper attitudes, beliefs, practices, and preferences expected. For example, in the United States we put value upon individual effort. Therefore, we have become comfortable with the concept of individual work at school and do not have a difficult time with it when teachers ask us to work by ourselves. However, in Hawaii, they value working together in groups. When Native Hawaiian students attempt to work in schools in the United States, they have a hard time because they are not used to working by themselves. They do not do as well as they can in their own cultural frame of reference (Lecture notes, 1996). To address this problem, there also needs to be an integration of curriculum that teaches mainstream values and expectations along with the curriculum of culturally relevant pedagogy (Ogbu, 1995). These suggested starting points for teachers to begin to incorporate issues of diversity into the classroom are also starting points for teachers to reconsider their social justice strategies concerning marginalized students. This will result in the enhancement of participatory democracy for all (Osborne, 1996). These teaching strategies not only benefit the marginalized students, but they work to benefit teachers and students of all backgrounds. Although integrating a culturally relevant pedagogy is not an easy task and it demands teachers to broaden their ideas, it also serves as a tool for growth and education for both marginalized and mainstream students and teachers (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988). After all, education is a two-way street and requires collaborative strategies. Teachers need to learn how to learn from their students, and how to get them to learn from the diversity that surrounds them in their community.

Bibliography

Bowman, B. T. (1996). Cultural Diversity and Academic Achievement. [On-line]. Available: http://www.ncrel.org/srg/areas/issues/content/cntareas/math/ma1bowman.htm

Delpit, L. (1995). Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. New York City, New York: The New Press.

Estrada, P. (Spring Quarter, 1996). Lectures notes from Education 92C: Introduction to Diversity in Education.

Henry, W. (1990). Beyond the melting pot. Time (April 9): 28-31.

MacLeod, J. (1995). Ain't No Makin' It. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.

Ogbu, J. (1995). Cultural Problems in Minority Education: Their Interpretations and Consequences-Part One: Theoretical Background. The Urban Review, v27(3), 189-205.

Osborne, B. A. (1996). Practice into theory into practice: Culturally relevant pedagogy for students we have marginalized and normalized. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, v27(3), 285-314.

Price, K. M. (1995). Cross Cultural Collaboration [On-line]. Available: http://141.218.70.183/SPED603/paperprice.htm1

Tharp, R. G. & R. Gallimore (1988). Rousing Minds to Life. New York City, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Unknown (1994). Systematic Reform: Perspectives on Personalizing Education--Sept. 1994. [On-line]. Available: http://inet.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/SysReforms/tharp2.htm1

Last modified January 12, 1997