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 equalÐ'..." (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 the condition of the minds of those in power, minds that bestowed upon many others the same invisibility that Ellison's narrator encounters" (Greene,1995, p. 159). Multicultural education is needed because it seeks to eradicate "invisibility" and give voice, power, and validation to the contributions and achievements of people with varied hues, backgrounds, and experiences.

Multicultural education is a process of comprehensive school reform and basic education for all students. It challenges and rejects racism and other forms of discrimination in schools and society and accepts and affirms pluralism (ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, economic, and gender, among others) that students, their communities, and teachers reflect (Nieto, 2000). Schools are microcosms; therefore, the presence of multicultural education is needed to demonstrate accurate representations of the global community. The U.S. Bureau of the Census estimated that people of color made up 28% of the nation's population in 2000. The census predicted that they would make up 38% of the nation's population in 2025 and 47% in 2050 (Darling-Hammond, et al., 2002).

Furthermore, multicultural education offers insightful perspectives on the views, customs, and beliefs of others. The knowledge gained from such a curriculum can foster a paradigm shift in social consciousness and global race relations. "An important goal of multicultural education is to improve race relations and to help all students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to participate in cross-cultural interactions and in personal, social, and civic action that will help make our nation more democratic and just. Multicultural education is consequently as important to middle-class white suburban students as it is for students of color who live in the inner city. Multicultural education fosters the public good and the overarching goals of the commonwealth" ( Darling-Hammond, et al., 2002, p.x). Middle-class white suburban students may be the majority but they are not the whole. Curriculum must echo the increasing presence of minorities and their significant contributions. No student is a carbon copy of the previous one. Inherent differences make life and the exploration of it dynamic and interesting. Due to students' learning differences, teachers constantly make concessions and modifications. Adjustments are made for students with visual, hearing, and speech deficits. Some students are more visually stimulated, while others function optimally from auditory instruction. Teachers regularly alter their techniques to include elements of both styles to help students comprehend.

If educators can ascertain the concept of versatility in teaching methodology, why can't they translate this principle to the acknowledgement and instruction of multicultural education? "Enabling learning for all students requires knowledge about