Color Blind Philosophy

When the multicultural music education movement was first being put into place, it was assumed that if the curriculum was more multicultural students would gain empathy, a deeper appreciation, and a better understanding of the many diverse cultures present in society. Although the movement places an emphasis on multicultural music, teachers do not necessarily teach about the cultures of their foreign students. To better know students and form positive and respectful relationships, it is important for a teacher to be aware of their past musical experiences. In today’s world, some teachers have followed a color blind philosophy to show that racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds do not matter to them.
During a yearlong case study of the
perceptions of ELL high school students and their participation in the Marshall High choir there were many observations, interviews, questions, and narrative inquiry. One student that stood out was a girl named Irina Choi. Even though her last name is Korean, she identified herself as a Russian. After her parents got divorced, her mother took her to live in Kazakhstan. Later, the two moved to the United States so that they could care for a relative. When Irina was enrolled in her new school, she was placed in Level 1 ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) classes with students that were linguistically different from her. Although Irina had been in the chorus offered at her previous schools, she was placed in the lower chorus class.
Irina was isolated in her classes due the lack of linguistic similarities of her peers. She also seemed very detached and disappointed during class. At her previous school, Irina sang folk songs, classical music, did warm ups and participated in festivals. Although Irina enjoyed singing, she did not enjoy the Chorus class at Marshall High. She did not like the class work, repertoire, or the teacher and it showed. She also felt that the teacher disregarded her chorus class because it was one of the lower level classes. The students were not allowed to have solos and were not even told about the higher classes until they were mentioned for their excellence. Because the teacher did not know that she was Russian, she did not choose music from that culture. When the teacher, Ms. Walker, realized that Irina was not happy about choosing chorus as one of her electives, she did not know how to help her. Irina felt that her voice was unimportant and did not understand Ms. Walker.
Irina was convinced that her mother would not like the concert because she could not understand English very well and it would be boring. The ESOL students were the main performers on International Night. The ESOL teacher convinced Irina to participate. When it came time to sing at the International Night, however, Irina sang a Russian song that her family loved. Through this performance, Irina’s inner star made an appearance.