Multiculturalism- Reading Reaction

I found the readings for tonight's class to be very interesting concerning multiculturalism and the way to approach teaching in the classroom. On the one hand, people's beliefs and identities are so ingrained in their culture and religion that sometimes teaching an alternative view proves to be offensive. At the same time, not everyone's culture and religion aligns, and where does this leave the teacher and her curriculum? I find this problem to especially echo to me as an English teacher because of the censorship revolving around books being taught in the classroom. Many of the novels that are banned contain images, language, and scenarios that conflict with a certain culture or religion. While my personal beliefs and religion are very important to me, I find tolerance and education to be more important than ignorance.

A comical example that I have of cultural misconceptions is teaching English to African students who have never been to America. Their perception of American culture is gleaned from newspapers and television (if they have the privilege), as well as their text books. When I first started teaching in the classroom, my students would ask me if I knew Jean Claude Van Damme or Beyonce. "How ridiculous," I thought to myself. "Don't they know how big America is and how many people there are?" However, their cultural education had not presented them with the correct information. Another thing that the students thought is that EVERY American is rich, and that if they could get to America, they would be rich and their problems would be gone. I will acknowledge that African education has much to be desired, but reminded me vaguely of the importance of addressing multiculturalism.

Education should be able to transcend the individual so that they can become more knowledgable. Schools should be able to provide an unbiased cultural education that allows students to learn and be able to live in tolerance of people who believe and live differently than they do. Whether this is done in a literature, science, social studies class is not of importance. I think that cultural education should also extend to different countries because most Americans have come from other countries at some point in their geneology.

People should be able to hold on to their beliefs and values while simulataneously acknowledging others, whether inside or outside of the classroom. It is a teacher's responsibility to educate an individual to become a participant in a democratic society, which is made up of a blend of cultures and religions, and to prescribe to the governing body of that society. Teaching ideas/theories from various beliefs, disciplines, and religions should not be a thing to be feared or abstained from, but rather embraced for the knowledge and understanding that it provides.