Abstract
This paper is aimed at discussing fully the roles of teachers in regard to teaching and sharpening a diverse and culturally rich schools following the sixteen key elements of effective tutor’s education for culturally rich schools or diversity children. In this paper I will deal with the sixteen key elements that concern the diversity of children before and after the 21st century. Generally, things have changed accordingly in terms of racial segregation and understanding of cultural changes, significance, implication and different perceptions in the 21st century. This paper will touch on how these sixteen key elements apply to teachers, students and various schools environments of 21st century in clear and detailed perspectives.
Cultural diversity
This is the richness in terms of different races and their customs, norms, believes as it pertains to their individualism and self esteem or self belonging. Cultural diversity put together the cultural differences and believes that exist between different people. This includes things like racial and ethnic differences such as native languages, mode of dress and their traditions respectively.
Introduction
In general case, cultural diversity is an issue that touches in the day to day’s life of people in America. This is because America is rich nation in terms of cultural diversity. American citizens come from ethnic originality that bears the gifts and the strength of other cultural traditions. In this regard, Americans are Asian American, African Americans, European Americans Latinos, American Indians, Creoles and other mixtures of numerous races and ethnicities. Therefore, teachers should be in a position to understand fully and appreciate cultural richness among the children and this should be reflected in their learning to avoid distress and conflicts among the students and the society at large (William Ayers 1993). Teachers ought to be sensitive when dealing with this issue to avoid creating tensions and hatred among the co-existing societies and this can start in the classroom.
The Key Elements And Their Effects
The key elements of successful teacher education for diversity children are the following:
First is to have well programmed procedures of admitting the students on the basis of cultural sensitivity and understanding in order to have equal success and commitment to the education of all students irrespective of cultural background and ethnicity.
According to this first key element, Zeichner admitted that students must be screened to identify their cultural background, interpretation and perception about racial and ethnicity in order for the teachers to tell how their cultural sensitivity could affect their performance in classes. Actually this was aimed at improving the welfare of all students generally without considering their originality. The main goal of Zeichner was to allow equal success for all students regardless of their cultural background. This was for the purpose of teachers to know how, why and the cause of failures to the non-performing students. This would enable the teacher to judge whether the cause may be due to racial segregation or perception especially for the different colored students with different ethnicity background who are not successful in schools. In this regard the role of teachers is to identify what might cause failures to different students irrespective of the origin of the teacher. Again the teacher should be able to differentiate whether the cause is due to ethnic and racial segregation or is it due to language barrier or any other cause beyond cultural background.
The second key element is that the students are helped to identify, develop and understand very clearly a sense of self belonging, their own racial and cultural distinctiveness. In this regard, the role of teachers is to alert the students that their self-esteem and belonging is appreciated and dignified irrespective of their racial differences and cultural diversity. This is for the wellbeing of all Americans at large in order to create one nation and one people entity. This would discourage racial segregation and call for a one working nation. The role of teachers is to make sure that the students interact socially and share the ideas and cultural gifts in order to have a diverse human resource for the benefit of the entire state. Generally, the entire citizens are brought up in an atmosphere of equality and the need of one another. Therefore, teachers should be able to sensitize the students on the benefits of cultural diversity. But currently, this is not fully implemented especially when the black Americans fail to appreciate their color due to inferior complex. A recent case of this is when senator Barrack Obama was being treated as an African senator in campaign gimmick by Senator Hillary Clinton. Ethnicity is still there in America and this was reflected by Hillary Clinton’s campaigners.
The third element is about the role of teachers to assist the students to swallow the pride about the perception and how they treat other tribes depending on the ethno-cultural origin (Zeichner, 2003). In this regard, teachers are supposed to cross-examine the students on their attitudes toward other students who come from different ethnic background and collect the attitude if it is negative and encourage the existence of positive perception and attitude toward marginalized groups. By encouraging the students to treat discriminated groups as their own, teachers bring and nurture a society that will be open and equal in the future, a society that will not have ethnic violence and segregation, a society that will work together as one country and share the ideas of their cultural richness.
The fourth key element is about the dynamics of chauvinism and racial discrimination among the society and the students at large and how to solve these problems in Lecture Theater. In this regard, teachers are supposed to teach the students about the demerits of prejudice, racism and segregation. Beside that teachers are supposed to identify the main causes of prejudice, racism among the students and try to give a detailed solutions and sensitivity. By doing this, the same image would be reflected in their families and in the near future racial segregation would be a forgotten case. Teachers should create an interaction behavior in the classroom such as assigning students social-group work that should be forwarded by groups with different race of students. Again, teachers should make sure that desk-mates come from different racial background and they interact socially and freely.
The sixth element is that students are supposed to be taught about the existing dynamics of opportunities, privilege, and economic coercion and about school behaviors that give rise to society disparity. In this regard, teachers are supposed to sensitize the students about the consequences of such behaviors and enable them to change the perception of dominating and humiliated regime and encourage a sense of equal belonging. This is a vital procedure as far as eradication of racial segregation is concerned. Teachers should tell the students openly that each individual has a gift different from one another and all these gifts should be shared and utilized for the benefits of the entire world without mistreating or exploiting others. Teachers should reflect equality among the students and acts as good role models to mould one nation one people sense and society in the future.
The seventh key element that Zeichner dealt with is about the suggestion for the teacher’s education curriculum to take in hand and address the histories and contributions of different ethno-cultural groups in the world industrialization and development. In this regard teachers should address this issue in the classes and teach the history and how industrialization began. Teachers should put more emphasis on the sources of raw materials for industrialization, human labor input and the final market of those products and the entire benefits of the world groups.
According to Zeichner, the eighth key element is the distinctiveness and learning approach of various groups and individuals. In this element it is the work of teachers to give the students right information regarding the distinctiveness and learning approach of various groups and individuals.Teachers are supposed to know when to release certain information or not and whether the information will have an adverse effect to the various students in the class. Teachers should allow the students to know and detect the weakness of their course mates in order to correct them without embarrassing them.
Another key element is the capability of the students to assess the relationships between the procedures or the methods they use in the classroom and the ideal learning and interaction styles among the various communities outside the school environment. In this regard the students should assess whether their parents succumb to the same problem of ethnic violence and prejudice or they interact (Zeichner and Liston, 1989)
The other key element is that the teacher education curriculum should reflect much on socio-cultural research knowledge that would involve a detailed research on how cultural diversity, language and learning are related. In this regard teachers should have a detailed lecture about how this are related. In this case teachers should allow the students to discuss and debate this issue in reality in order to make them realize that cultural diversity does not affect ones ability to understand things unless there is communication barrier. Therefore, learning to all students should be equal regardless of ethnicity. For example, there would be no perception that since you are an African American you cannot take difficult subjects etc.
Another element that is almost similar to the above one is that the students should be taught a number of procedures by which they can learn more and gain reliable information about the diverse communities in their country and these communities are well represented in the classroom by various students from different ethnic communities.
Zeichner highlighted on the need to teach the students how to adapt and use various instructional strategy and evaluation procedures responsive to cultural and linguistic differences and how to acclimatize teachers instruction and assessment to welcome the cultural resources that are brought to school by their fellow students.
Another key element is that arrogant students should be exposed to financially and academically successive students who are the minority in terms of ethnicity and cultural background to show that tribal ethnicity is useless in learning. The students should be taught on how to treat fellow students without discriminating them. Another key element is that students should be guided on how to do communal work that should involve all ethno cultural groups. This would reflect the good faith and relationship among the communities regardless of their ethnic origin.
The author suggests more on the urgency of assessing the readiness for the arrogant students to accommodate and treat fellow students as their own. In this regard the students are encouraged to enumerate procedures that are sensitive to cultural diversity and perception. In this regard the students should be taught in schools on how to accommodate and adapt various characters and cultural richness in positive and coherent manner in order to lessen the evil of racial segregation. Going on the author touches on the element of guiding the students on how to handle one another without showing signs of prejudice and spreading the idea beyond the school environment. This will include the parents of the students. Actually the graduating students should be encouraged to work or to teach in ethnically minority schools in enable to spread the gospel of truth and reconciliation scenario. Actually there should be some groups of people to investigate and analyze the level of intellectual challenges to the minority and the social support that they should be accorded in order to streamline the idea of social equality (Zeichner, 1993, pg23).
Generally, it is very hard to implement all the above elements because of cultural diversity and advanced technology. The use of computers to spread weird in formations that preach hatred is one issue, again the use of pornographic literature and alienation. The white race is treated with special respect and dignity compared to black who are the minority. In this regard many Africans decide to abandon their culture and adopt the western culture blindly. The culture later drops them in a doom of disasters that they cannot do without and eventually their cultural diversity becomes extinct. Even willing teachers are not able to change that attitude especially to the Africans that white people are the same as them in that the whites embrace the superior complex throughout.
Conclusion
Teachers should reflect equality among the students and acts as good role models to mould one nation one people sense and society in the future.
Teachers should avoid creating or favoring some students who come from their ethnic groups. It is understood that some teachers may inherit the characters of prejudice and self-esteem that make them to insult or discriminate students from other ethnic groups without worrying. It is important to be familiar with these differences and similarities in order to assist in helping the traumatized children to recover from a racial segregation and ethnic violence disasters. Teachers should encourage the students on the methods and skills to enable them to interact freely regardless of their ethnicity background in order to show dignity, respect and sensitivity to one another.
References
A journal on the cultural diversity and ethnic minority by Gordon C. Nagayama Volume 59, number 4, 2007.
A cross-cultural perspective and perception by Kenneth H, Volume 34, number 4, 1998.
Cultural diversity and ethnic minority, Web.
Journals and periodicals on cultural richness. Web.
The richness with cultural diversity and riding the waves of culture, Web.
William Ayers (1993) collaboration and interactions in the, Oxford University Press.
Zeichner (1993) Cultural diversity, Miller New York.