Introduction
Multicultural education is an emerging discipline in education that is designed to provide equal opportunities to students from diverse ethnic groups, nationality, social-class, and culture. The concept seeks to develop an education system that enables the students to learn in a pluralistic society that embraces their diversity.
Over the past decade, scholars have reviewed the effectiveness of implementing multicultural education in different nations. There are emerging concerns about the effectiveness of the approach.
While some scholars believe that multicultural education fosters oppression, others share the sentiment that is influencing the development of freedom. This paper looks into multicultural education with a focus on its effectiveness in fostering freedom or oppression.
Merits of multicultural education
The main goal of developing the multicultural education system in developed nations like the United States is to provide an environment that accommodates all the members of the society despite their differences. Multicultural education provides a unique opportunity for the minority in a society to access the same opportunities as the majority ethnic groups.
With the current state of globalization, people from different nations, ethnic backgrounds, and cultural beliefs settle in the same areas, and they have to access the same social amenities. This has influenced the authorities in the areas to develop rules that accommodate the beliefs of the different people.
Education facilities have pioneered the accommodation of cultural diversity through the elimination of discrimination and racism in their facilities. Curriculums are shaped in a manner that provides fairness in learning. The system focuses on curriculums and rules that influence reflection on positive social changes (Jay, 2003).
Implementation
Despite the many years that multicultural education has been theoretically present in the curriculum, there is yet to be substantial evidence of its implementation. Many institutions still have multicultural education in the planning process; thus, the intended goals of the concept are yet to be achieved (Jay, 2003).
Part of the reason that has led to the slow development of multicultural education in institutions is the complication of transitional process from the traditional mainstream knowledge. It is apparent that the level of school dropouts in the education system is still affecting the minority in the society.
This has specifically affected the Latino and Hispanic groups in the American society. Developing multicultural education does not solve the underlying issues in the society. This failure is one of the challenges that must be met to influence higher attendance of school by the minority ethnic groups.
Social justice issues still prevail in the American education system. This problem hinders the implementation of the multicultural education ideas. It is apparent that equality in the education system is yet to be attained despite the claims that most of the institutions have already implemented multicultural education (Khan, 2008).
Conclusion
Multicultural education is a phenomenon developed to promote social equity in the education system. The goals of the concept are to influence equality in the access of education and the development of an environment that accommodates the entire society, regardless of the diversity of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, and cultural beliefs.
The implementation of the concept is yet to be realized in the American nation because of the social challenges that still haunt the society. The rate of school dropouts in the society still remains high among the minority ethnic groups.
The multicultural education concept aims at fostering freedom in the society, but it is yet to eliminate the social oppressions present in the society. The institutions that claim to have implemented the multicultural education still implement the oppressive values of the traditional mainstream education; hence, the multicultural education concept is oppressive.
References
Jay, M. (2003). Critical Race Theory, Multicultural Education, and the Hidden Curriculum of Hegemony. Multicultural Perspectives, 5(4), 1-9.
Khan, M. (2008). Multicultural education in the United States: reflections. Intercultural education, 19(6), 527-536.