Sorosh Hesham
Multicultural Differences
In order to understand multicultural differences, one has to understand and
define culture. The textbook defines culture as a “complex system of underlying beliefs,
attitudes, and actions that shapes thoughts and behaviors of a group of people,
distinguishing them from other groups” (Friend 2010, pg.68). I think being exposed to
different cultures helps people understand the differences of values and beliefs. That
understanding can go a long way into fixing the knowledge construction process. Our
societal structure helps develop our school and it’s values.
There are two types of culture, macroculture and microculture. Macroculture
unifies members of a certain society and defines them to others, while microculture
distinguishes characteristics within that society. For example if i traveled to another
country, i would say that i’m an American which is the Macroculture and if i were to say
I’m an Afghan American, then I’m describing the microculture because that is a
subgroup. Another subgroup which distinguishes Americans is their Socioeconomic
Status (SES). The SES refers to an individual’s educational and income levels, so
when Americans label themselves as middle class or working class, they are describing
themselves in a microculture. Understanding the concepts culture is important in
understanding diverse students. Macroculture gives you a broad awareness of a
students likely cultural characteristics, while microculture helps you recognize that there
is different characteristics within that culture. So how does culture affect education in
schools? Well if schools and teachers only try to understand and value the dominant
culture or the culture of those in power in the United States, then they will alienate the
other cultures for being different. For example the culture in the United States is built in
a way that encourages students to be independent and to do everything on their own.
Other cultures such as mine encourages interdependence and sharing, and
accomplishing goals as a team. So if the schools only encourage independent and
individual accomplishments, then the students who do not have those cultural values
will have to adjust and may have a hard time adjusting. The best thing for a school and
its teacher to do is practice both all methods of learning so that all students can benefit.
Just like students from different ethnic groups have different beliefs on ways of
learning, students also have different cognitive styles and the book defines cognitive
style as “the inclination to take a particular approach or orientation to thinking and
learning” (Friend 2010, pg.72). There are two types of cognitive styles field independent
and field sensitive. Field independent students are those that focus on specifics and are
not influenced by their surroundings. Field Sensitive students are those that need to see
the broader picture before they get into details. A Student who is field independent
learns from
organized step by step instruction and working alone, while a field sensitive student
learns best from hands-on tasks and working as a group. Considering the fact that the
dominant culture or the culture that is in power in the United States favors
independence, they would only be able to help the students with field independent
cognitive style and not really focus on students who are field-sensitive.
Because the dominant culture in the United States put only their cultural beliefs
and values in the school system, the result creates a cultural dissonance. The book
defines cultural dissonance as “a significant discrepancy between two or more cultural
frames of reference.” This means that when classrooms reflect the dominant culture and
the other cultures are not reflected, then a dissonance is created between the diverse
learners. Students with field-sensitive cognitive style will experience academic
challenges not because they are not smart but because they are field-sensitive have
different way of learning and it is being taught that way. According to the book
“behavior patterns are also culturally influenced..for example some African American
students show greater movement,energy and vitality as a natural course of interacting
with others. Their conversation may have features associated with greater exuberance
or verve than is typical in dominant culture..teachers often consider these behaviors
inappropriate and disruptive...consequently, students from cultural backgrounds that
embrace these behaviors are at greater risk of being punished for them” (Friend, 2010).
It goes on to say that African American males are suspended more times than any other
student. Instructors have teach to students strengths so that all of them can have an
opportunity to learn and more often than not that does not happen.
There also seems to be more African American students in special education
than non African American students. The data shows that Students of African American
descent are three times more likely to be placed in Special Education and two times
more likely to have emotional or behavioral disabilities. When it comes to gifted
education however, the opposite is true. Meaning there is a very small amount of racial
and ethnic representation in gifted education. This is described as disproportionate
representation and there are two factors that contribute to disproportionate
representation, and those are poverty and systematic bias. According to the book “
Higher poverty rates have been shown to exist among people of color than among
people from the dominant culture...poverty rates among African American and Hispanic
children are more than twice of their white counterparts.” Friend 2010,pg.76). It
continues by saying “Poverty has been associated with factors such as increased
childhood exposure to lead, tobacco and alcohol, lack of prenatal care and poor
nutrition, all of which have been associated with increased disability rates” (Friend 2010,
pg.77). That would explain the increased amount African American students in special
education. But to explain the lack representation in gifted education, you have consider
the systematic bias that exists in school systems. Systematic bias is showing favoritism
towards a particular group or race and it occurs in multiple levels of society. I
mentioned earlier that the dominant culture controls the curriculum and instruction in
which the curriculum favors students with a certain cognitive style. Most teachers only
teach thru step by step instruction and prefer individual work over group work. Such
actions are considered biased because the teacher is only considering one type of
learners. The special education referral process has also been criticized for being
biased because professionals do not notice that the curriculum is taught in a way that
favors certain students and that other students learning style is not being considered.
The professionals dismiss these students by placing them in special education classes.
There are now focus on how to reduce disproportionality and IDEA has started to
further study the problem. Some of the things that IDEA is focusing on is teacher
preparation regarding cultural differences and potential biases, better strategies for
behavior management, prevention and early intervention, increased attention to
possible bias in the assessment process, and increased family involvement. All of these
are necessary in improving the schools and reducing the disproportionality.
Some of the teacher practices that show great promise are differentiated
instruction, which focuses on creating effective learning experiences for students
regardless of their unique characteristics. Another great practice is multicultural
education. It is a “approach to education that includes perspectives from and contents
about diverse groups,embrace different cognitive styles, and promote equity in a diverse
society.” (Friend 2010, pg.82). This type of instruction style will help reduce bias
teachings in schools. As for students whose primary language is not English, now
referred to as English Language Learners (ELLs) there are a few instructional methods
to address those students. There is bilingual education which uses the students
dominant language along with english for instructional purposes. There is also english
as a second language where professionals teach teach english directly to students
without using the students native language. And finally there is sheltered english in
which teachers use concrete objects and gestures to help convey meaning. So there
seems to be a lot of ways in which instructors can successfully teach all their students
and there is a framework called the M2ECCA
(methods,materials,environment,content,collaboration and assessment) which applies
the different approaches that were mentioned.
Promoting collaborative relationships with families is a critical factor in the
educational success of culturally diverse students with disabilities. In order to to
facilitate such relationships, school personnel must be prepared to work with parents as
individuals and respect the cultural differences. Some of the Issues affecting diverse
learners are equity issues, school choice programs, and the conditions of urban
education and the character of urban education reform.
Works Cited
Friend, M. P. (2005). Multicultural and Bilingual perspectives. Special education: contemporary
perspectives for school professionals (). Boston: Pearson/A and B.