Educational Equity
Develop an argument on or some ideas of understanding about curriculum as multicultural text by relating the works of Darling-Hammond, French, & Garcia-Lopez, Delpit, Duarte & Smith, Greene, Nieto and Sletter to your experience of curriculum, teaching, and learning as affirming diversity. You could think specifically about the following questions: Is there a need for diversity in curriculum studies and designs? Why? What measures do you think will be effective in incorporating such a need into curriculum studies and designs? What is the relevance of diversity to your career goal, to education in your family, community, and school, to education in Georgia, and to education in general? In which way can you develop a curriculum which helps cultivate empathy, compassion, passion, and hope for citizens of the world, and which fosters social justice?
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal " (Declaration of Independence,1776)
This quote is symbolic of the expressed opinions and ideology of the founding fathers of America. History, especially the history of the American educational system, paints a contradictory portrait. Idealistic visions of equity and cultural integration are constantly bantered about; however, they are rarely implemented and materialized. All men are indeed created equal, but not all men are treated equally. For years, educators and society as a whole have performed a great disservice to minorities in the public school sector. If each student is of equal value, worth, and merit, then each student should have equal access and exposure to culturally reflective learning opportunities. In the past, minorities have had a muted voice because of the attitude of the majority. Maxine Greene summarizes a scene from E.L. Doctorow 's Ragtime, after which she poses questions that many minorities have no doubt asked silently or loud. "Why is he unseen? Why were there no Negroes, no immigrants? More than likely because of
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal " (Declaration of Independence,1776)
This quote is symbolic of the expressed opinions and ideology of the founding fathers of America. History, especially the history of the American educational system, paints a contradictory portrait. Idealistic visions of equity and cultural integration are constantly bantered about; however, they are rarely implemented and materialized. All men are indeed created equal, but not all men are treated equally. For years, educators and society as a whole have performed a great disservice to minorities in the public school sector. If each student is of equal value, worth, and merit, then each student should have equal access and exposure to culturally reflective learning opportunities. In the past, minorities have had a muted voice because of the attitude of the majority. Maxine Greene summarizes a scene from E.L. Doctorow 's Ragtime, after which she poses questions that many minorities have no doubt asked silently or loud. "Why is he unseen? Why were there no Negroes, no immigrants? More than likely because of
References: Darling-Hammond, L., French, J., and Garcia-Lopez, S. P. (2002). Learning to teach for social justice. New York: Teachers College Press. Delpit, L. (1995). Other people 's children: Cultural conflicts in the classroom. New York: The New Press. Duarte, E. M., and Smith, S. (2000). Foundational perspectives in multicultural education. New York: Longman. Green, M. (1995). Releasing the imagination: Essays on education, the arts, and social change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Morris,R.B. (1981). The declaration of independence. The World Book encyclopedia. (Vol. 5, pp.66). Chicago: The World Book encyclopedia. Nieto, S. (2000). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education. New York: Longman.