Blog Post #1

Coming into this class, I have to admit I was a bit unsure and felt a little unprepared to discuss and understand diversity. This is due to the fact that I grew up in a predominantly white community and wasn’t exposed to a lot of diversity. A small private school in Tulsa, Oklahoma didn’t open me up to the big, scary “Real World.” After two nights of Diverse Learners I realized being in this class with such strong and intelligent women from all over the world, is going to be very inspiring.

In yesterdays lecture I enjoyed our discussions about how multicultural education has evolved in the U.S. In the 1920’s, different cultures began disagreeing about their differences regarding religion. At this point, the wars decided which religion was dominant and held the power. Then the issue of race came into play with the Civil rights movement. After this, gender became the focus with women’s rights when women made their presence known in the world by showing men that they too could contribute. These are just some of the controversies that have evolved in the United States in multicultural education.

A lot of pressure and strain is put on school systems to be politically correct and be inclusive of all of the children’s differences. These differences could be in religion, race, or a different learning style. I think the problem is that the expectation is for everyone to be equal, but no matter what people do in the world, I don’t think this will ever be the case. As much as I would love to see everyone get along and respect each other’s differences, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. I do have to say though, in my 27 years, I have seen a difference in the way children see other children that are different than they are. When I was growing up, I would refer to another child that looked differently than I did by calling them by a name. Now, young children are less likely to acknowledge children of other race as different than they are.

I also liked the topic of patriotism in schools that we discussed last class. It doesn’t exactly apply to me because I teach in a private school, which isn’t funded by the state. But, I do agree that patriotism should be a school requirement if the child is attending a public school that is being funded by the United States of America. The child doesn’t necessarily have to take on the culture, but I believe it’s important for them to understand it and respect it. I liked the example Hillary used in class. She told her students, “You don’t have to love me, but you do have to respect me, because I am your teacher!” I feel the same way about patriotism.