Recovery of Meaning (a summary of Diaz)
Multicultural
education’s primary aim is equitable educational opportunity for all. Basic assumptions must be challenged and
reform of current policies and practices must occur. Multicultural education
must also educate all students to become successful members of society. A basic
assumption of the author is that a democratic nation cannot survive without a
populace capable of striving in pluralism (Diaz, 2001, p. 13). Multicultural
education benefits everyone. Interventions focused on improving the performance
of minority populations are also good practices for all students. Critique is
changing the twentieth century’s Anglo-centric curriculum.
Challenging
multicultural education is the fear of a monolithic insurgency against Anglo American
culture. Ironically, those who have always held the power most fear
subjugation. Language is subverted to maintain the dominance of those in power.
Their interests are the common good while marginalized groups are special
interests. This terminology allows the dominant discourse to further
marginalize their experiences. Curriculum must be reformed to allow space for
the voices that challenge this status quo.
A
transformative approach to curriculum change allows for multiple perspectives and
fundamental reorganization of normative assumptions. As opposed to the
contribution or the additive approach, which employ broad representative
examples, the transformative approach allows for genuine exploration of
multiple ways of knowing. The decision-making and social-action approach allows
space for students to extend understanding.
Reconstruction of Meaning (a reading of Diaz)
In
certain disciplines where rhetoric is more highly conducive to practice, such
as literature, philosophy, or anthropology, multicultural education is enacted
in classroom practice with easily identifiable effects. However, in other
disciplines, those that might be considered more pragmatic in nature such as
instructional technology, it is sometimes less evident how to actively honor
multiple ways of knowing. I do not intend to imply that the potential is
limited, only that the ties are perhaps not as overt.
Banks
emphasizes that multicultural education should do two primary things: (1)
promote equity and (2) develop awareness of plurality in order to promote
successful democratic citizenship. I would contend if the goal is Nussbaumian
ideals of democratic participation, instructional technology is a primary
discipline for reaching that goal. The potential of technology is rich,
pluralistic understandings and more equitable access.
Reading at the Edges (connections)
In her presidential address to AERA, Gloria Ladson-Billings
(2006) developed the metaphor of educational debt instead of the achievement
gap. Her metaphor allows for the articulation of responsibility and methods for
repaying it. In instructional technology another gap exists, the digital
divide. It describes the inequity of access to technology for all students.
Instructional technology has a great power for supporting multicultural
education but it faces the challenge of a “technology debt,” if I may transfer
Ladson-Billings’ metaphor. The infrastructure in the United States is
improving. The latest FCC report on broadband data (August 2012) stated that
access to the most current broadband has risen from 20% to 82% since 2009 in
American households. Unfortunately, access is often limited by financial
concerns. As long as broadband and electronics remain prohibitively expensive
for many marginalized American families, the same inequities plague our system.
Ladson-Billings spoke to the responsibility of the community to support
education. It is also our responsibility to support access to the tools that
can power that education. While progress is being made through grants and other
means, much will always need to be done to struggle toward bridging the digital
divide.
References
Diaz, Carlos F. (2001). Multicultural
Education in the 21st Century. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers
Inc. (Chapter 2- Multicultural Education: Goals, Possibilities, and Challenges,
p. 11-22).
Ladson-Billings, G. J. (2006,
April 9). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding
achievement in U. S. schools. In AERA Awards Presentation and Presidential
Address. Retrieved September 8, 2012, from http://www.cmcgc.com/Media/WMP/260407/49_010_files/fdeflt.htm#nopreload=-1
Rapaport, R. (2009, October
27). The new literacy: Scenes from the digital divide 2.0. Edutopia.
Retrieved September 8, 2012, from
http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-divide-literacy
United States, Federal Communications Commission, Chief,
International Bureau. (2012, August 13). International broadband data report.
Washington, D.C.: Federal Communication Commision. Retrieved September 8, 2012,
from http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db0821/DA-12-1334A1.pdf
