Importance of Multicultural Education
The United States of America is known to be one of the most multicultural countries of the world. It accumulates people of multiple ethnicities and backgrounds. There is no typical American appearance, and the culture of the United States incorporates a variety of beliefs and attributes. Overall, children of color compose about 40% of the United States population, whereas globally 70% of children are children of color (Brinson, 2012). This country has been though decades of discrimination, racial division and segregation. The modern American society is determined to overcome the issues of the past and raise bias-free generation of tolerant and diverse citizens. This problem is approached upstream and the youngest members of the contemporary American society are the focus of specially designed curricula providing multicultural education.
Can Young Children Be Biased?
There are many examples of biased perceptions among young children: black toys represent villains, white-skinned dolls with blond hair are chosen by brown girls because they are viewed as more beautiful, standard image of a princess from cartoons is represented by a white female (Souto-Manning, 2013). The contemporary children are the first generation to be given special multicultural curricula addressing diversity issues. All the previous generations grew up and studied in much more indifferent surroundings with predominantly white teachers and Eurocentric curriculum, this is why racial stereotypes are still present in the modern society (Sarraj, Bene, Li & Burley, 2015). The educators do not want to allow them move further to the future.
Utilization of Multicultural Education
Over the years of the introduction of multicultural education to the American young learners the teachers have developed a number of techniques and approaches utilizing multiculturalism and integrating it into the learning experiences creating an ongoing impression of multiculturalism present in every sphere of life. In reality, the essential for the Americans multiculturalism is just brought up and pointed out to the children so that they could notice and appreciate the diversity. Growing up in unbiased diverse surroundings the children develop better understanding of multiculturalism, obtain better chances for lifelong success, avoid facing ethical issues and become more civilized (Morrison, 2012).
Multicultural Literature
There are many options of age-appropriate multicultural literature that explains issues of diversity and equality in the ways comprehendible for young children. Besides, story books and picture books that present cultural contents usually contain right and colorful pictures of multicultural scenarios and provide visual examples of diversity so young children are subconsciously taught to treat differences as a natural part of life and society (Mendoza & Reese, 2012).
Examples of Multicultural Literature
- “A Gift from Papa Diego” (A story of a Mexican American boy)
Values described: Family, unity, culture.
Introduces children to simple Spanish words, integrates the two cultures
- “A Name Jar” (About a Korean girl, who is a recent immigrant)
Values described: Understanding, friendliness, acceptance of diversity
- “A Sandwich Swap” (Features two friends of different backgrounds)
Values described: Tolerance, diversity of cuisines, parental love, friendship that overcomes differences
The three books were found during the research for this paper. They are written for young children of preschool or elementary school. The authors of these books target different aspects of diversity in the American society such as the emotions of a newcomer trying to fit into the American lifestyle, different views of cultural attributes such as food, life of immigrants and immigrant descendants in the United States.
Multicultural Textbooks
Textbooks for young learners are designed differently fro the books for older school children. The best of them are built in a form of a complete story which incorporates exercises, lessons in different disciplines and at the same time attract the children with its bright colors and illustrations. In fact, pictures may be also used to teach children some ethnic art. The story in the book is broken down into parts so that the educator has no problem organizing lessons based on the themes in the book.
Textbooks for young children are filled with pictures and attractive stories. They are designed to engage the reader and make academic experience smooth and interesting so that the child learns actively and eagerly. They introduce the children to general knowledge incorporating it into multicultural contexts.
Multicultural Activities
Games and activities are some of the most common elements of the lessons conducted in preschools. Young children learn faster when their sense are engaged. They require a so called hands-on experience when they get to play a role, dress up, draw or create something, learn rhythmic songs or dances. Conversations are a very important part of multicultural activities, they have to be well-built and unbiased to teach the children appropriate ways of speaking about diverse individuals (Lee, Ramsey & Sweeney, 2008).
Examples of Multicultural Activities
Activities in multicultural education represent learning through real-life experiences. Activities allow children not only to view or listen to the stories of various cultures but act them out, perceive them applying creativity – make their own African masks, or Indigenous head-dress, wear a self-made kimono or sari, learn to greet each other in foreign languages, perform ethnic dance. This provides better and deeper understanding, acceptance and interest towards various cultures among children.
List of Multicultural Materials
All of the books mentioned above are designed to teach children positive ideas and behaviors, educating them about the diverse world they are part of and the proper way of treating people of different cultures. Friendly and compassionate relationships between diverse individuals are promoted and detailed demonstrations of various cultures are provided in order to familiarize the learners with experience of those who tend to be viewed as “others” in the contemporary world. Growing up in the surroundings where diversity is emphasized children learn not to form judgments or to develop complexes due to their cultural and ethic backgrounds. It is important to address biased perceptions before they become fixed ideas, this is why multicultural education targets the youngest learners.
Reference List
Brinson, S. A. (2012). Knowledge of multicultural literature among early childhood educators. Multicultural Education, 19(2), 30-33.
Lee, R., Ramsey, P. G., & Sweeney, B. (2008). Engaging Young Children in Activities and Conversations about Race and Social Class. Web.
Mendoza, J. & Reese, D. (2012). Examining multicultural picture books for the early childhood classroom: possibilities and pitfalls. ECRP, 3(2).
Morrison, G. S. (2012). Early childhood education today (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Sarraj, H., Bene, K., Li, J., & Burley, H. (2015). Raising cultural awareness of fifth-grade students through multicultural education. Multicultural Education, 22(2), 39-45.
Souto-Manning, M. (2013). Multicultural Teachong in the early childhood classroom: Approaches, strategies, tools, preschool 2nd grade. New York: Teachers College Press.