AS OUR STUDENTS BECOME

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Diversity in Education
AS OUR STUDENTS BECOME MORE AND MORE DIVERSE SO
MUST OUR WAYS OF TEACHING THEM.
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If we could shrink the earth's population to a
village of precisely 100 people, with all the
existing human ratios remaining the same, it
would look like this

• 61 Asians
• 12 Europeans
• 14 N S/W Hemisphere
• 13 Africans
• 50 would be female
• 50 would be male
• 74 would be nonwhite
• 26 would be white
• 67 would be non-Christian
• 33 would be Christian
• 89 would be heterosexual

• 11 would be homosexual
• 6 people would possess 59 of entire world's
  wealth (all 6 would be from US)
• 80 live in substandard housing
• 14 would be unable to read
• 33 would die of famine
• 1 would be near death
• 1 would be near birth
• 7 would have college educations
• 8 would own a computer

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Elements of Diversity

• Income
• Education
• Marital Status
• Religious Beliefs
• Geographic Location
• Parental Status
• Personality Type

• Age
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Race
• Physical Ability
• Sexual Orientation
• Physical Characteristics

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Primary Dimensions of Diversity

• Age
• Race
• Ethnicity
• Heritage
• Gender
• Physical abilities/qualities
• Sexual/affectional orientation
• Mental abilities/characteristics

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Secondary Dimensions of Diversity

• Education
• Communication style
• Work background
• Work style
• Income
• Marital status
• Military experience
• Religious beliefs
• Geographic location
• Parental status

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?Student Culture
Diverse in Many Ways

• ?Basis for association and identity
• Cultural ethnicity, race, gender, class
• Academic Biology Club, French Club
• Interest or Skill choir, band, football
• Social cliques, gangs

1998 CA did away with bilingual education services
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Teacher Culture Predominantly
Homogenous

• 71 female
• Historically working and middle class
• Relatively low status in adult social system
• 90 percent European American
• 6.2 million

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Gender Equity

• Title IX 1972
• Womens Educational Equity Act 1974
• Gender-Fair Classrooms

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?Culture of School as a Whole

• Overwhelmingly middle class in values
• Transmit cultural beliefs, values,knowledge
  affiliated with dominant society
• Interested in social control
• Often sees diversity as problem

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History of Bilingual Education

• 1838 - Ohio authorized German-English instruction
• 1847- Louisiana authorizes French-English
  instruction
• WWI - English only instruction laws
• mid-1920s - bilingual schooling dismantled
• 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education
• 1964 - Title VI Civil Rights Act
• 1968 - Bilingual Education Act federal funding to
  incorporate native languages
• 1974 - Supreme Court Lau v. Nichols - required
  schools to take steps to overcome language
  barriers
• 1974 - Equal Educational Opportunity Act (EEOA)
• 1980 - Jimmy Carter established Department of
  Education
• 1998- 25 states made English their official
  language

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Bilingual Programs
Castañeda vs. Pickard 1981 Set standard for
courts in examining programs for LEP students.
Districts must have 1. Pedagogically sound plan
for LEP students. 2. Sufficient qualified
staff to implement plan (includes hiring new
staff and training current staff). 3. System
established to evaluate program.

• Immersion
• Transition
• Pull-out
• Maintenance

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Multicultural EducationFour Approaches

• Contributions Approach
• select books that celebrate particular
  contributions from culture
• Additive Approach
• incorporate literature by and about people from
  diverse cultures into curriculum without major
  changes to curriculum

• Transformation Approach
• change basic assumptions of curriculum to enable
  students to view concepts, issues, themes, and
  problems from several ethnic perspectives and
  points of view
• Social Action Approach
• teach students to understand, questions, and do
  something about important social issues

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The U-Curve Hypothesis

• Honeymoon
• Excitement at dealing with new people
  preconceived notions
• Hostility
• Frustration when preconceived notions do not
  produce desired results

• Humor
• If frustrations are conquered, understanding
  begins and one can laugh at ones mistakes.
• Home
• Ones own cultural identity has been altered one
  feels at home.

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Reshaping Identity Takes Time
How will you deal with diversity among students
in your classroom? How will you educate yourself
about diversity in the field of education? How
will you create a positive climate that tolerates
diversity in the classroom? When does diversity
become disruptive? How will you encourage
assimilation among your students?

• May take two years if new language is involved,
• may take seven.
• It is difficult to alter deeply-held beliefs
  about others.
• In order to take full advantage of diversity,
  both teachers and students need to think
  seriously about reshaping their own cultural
  identities.

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From NEA Diversity Kit

• Strategies for exploration of diversity
• Seize opportunities to learn about people of
  different backgrounds, cultures and experiences
• through books, films, or
  conversations
• Examine your own attitudes and beliefs about
  people who are different
• Foster discussion in your workplace about
  diversity
• Assess diversity in your school and how students
  of different backgrounds are dealing with it
• Pursue ways to create diversity awareness or to
  celebrate diversity in your school community.

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If our destination is excellence on a massive
scale, not only must we change from the slow
lane into the fast lane we must literally change
highways. Perhaps we need to abandon the
highways altogether and take flight, because the
highest goals that we can imagine are well
within reach for those who have the will to
excellence. Asa Hillard, University
of Georgia