Blog Post #1

 Blog Post #1 

Over this course, I have learned a lot of new concepts that will help immensely in the classroom. In the first week of this course, the focus was on multicultural education as a whole. We read the first two chapters of the book Comprehensive Multicultural Education: Theory and Practice. These chapters delved into the core of multicultural education; what it is, why the author felt that it was necessary, and its core values. These chapters were eye opening to me, honestly, I had never thought much about multicultural education. Coming into this class, if someone asked me my views on multiculturalism and multicultural education, I would have honestly had no idea. Three weeks in, I’m still figuring it out all that it entails, but I am gathering my thoughts more and more every week.  

I am the type of person who is a hands-on learner. Personally, I don’t do well with theories and a lot of head knowledge. For me to truly learn something I must see it for myself, so how effective is this theory of multicultural education? To find the proof we can look at these DEI programs that have been introduced everywhere from schools and universities to businesses and to our military. I conducted some of my own research of the effectiveness of these DEI programs and came across a study conducted by Network Contagion Research Institute, released in collaboration with the Rutgers University Social Perception Lab (Jagdeep, et al. 2024). This study aimed to answer the question, “do diversity programs that highlight systemic oppression actually reduce bias and improve group dynamics by “increas[ing] empathy,” or do they “increase hostility” towards those that antiracist philosophy paints as oppressive?” (Willour, 2024). After concluding this study, they found that “many modern DEI narratives can increase bias, hostility, and attribution of discriminatory beliefs among groups, as opposed to decreasing them.” (2024). Do these programs actually do exactly what they are trying to prevent, just aimed at a different group of people? 

The first chapter of the textbook focuses on the cores of multicultural education. Multicultural education rests upon four principles, according to the textbook, “the theory of cultural pluralism; the ideals of social justice which would bring an end to racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression; affirmations of culture in the teaching and learning visions of educational equity and excellence leading to high levels of  academic learning and personal development for all children and youth.” (Bennett, 2019. P. 3). In theory, all of this is great, of course all people should be treated the same regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, etc. After reading this I couldn’t help but think – how do programs like this work in reality? From the ideals of multiculturalism and multicultural education stem Diversity Equity and Inclusion Programs (DEI) which have become ever popular in our modern era.  

 

In week two, we read chapters three and four in the textbook, these chapters focused on race relations and religious pluralism, respectively. Chapter three details race relations and how our students are being exposed to more at increasingly younger ages. The textbook defines prejudice as, “an attitude based on preconceived judgments or beliefs (usually negative) that develops from unsubstantiated or faulty information.” (Bennett, 2019. P. 86). This chapter looks at our history in the United States and previously laws that participated in institutionalized racism. While none of these policies exist today, these are important, hallowing, parts of our history that must be taught in our schools. It is important that even the hardest parts of history are taught to our youth, so we are not doomed to repeat it. I will be honest; I have struggled with some of the language used in this text as I perceive it to be particularly weaponizing. For example, when the author said, “It refers to the subtle and pervasive uses of power by Whites “to perpetuate their cultural heritage and impose it upon others, while at the same time destroying the culture of ethnic minorities.” (Bennett, 2019. P. 89). I find this to be a gross generalization, isn’t this what multiculturalism is supposed to preach against. Is language like this why the study mentioned earlier has found DEI to be counterproductive and to actually increase hostility?  

 This past week, we moved into part two of the textbook, titled “Roots of Cultural Diversity in the United States: The Conflicting Themes of Assimilation and Pluralism” (Bennett, 2019. P. 167). We read chapters five and six which dealt mainly with the topic of immigration. Immigration is a hot button topic in today’s society. Well, aren’t all the topics that we have discussed over this course. Immigration is at the root of the United States; we are a country built off immigration. In the respect of education, for me it is most about making my students who are immigrants feel welcomed and included. I have the privilege of working at a school that has an immense number of students from countries all around the world. I enjoy talking to these students and learning about their culture. I had a student a last week from Uzbekistan who I really enjoyed talking to and learning about his culture, he even tried to teach me a little Uzbek (which he laughed at me as I was horrendously bad at the pronunciations). As educators, it is part of our job to ensure that these students feel as comfortable as possible in our classroom and our schools.  

​​References​ 

Bennett, C. I. (2019). Comprehensive multicultural education: Theory and practice. Pearson Education, Inc. 

Jagdeep, A., Jagdeep, A., Lazarus, S., Zecher, M., Fedida, O., Fihrer, G., Vasko, C., Finkelstein, J., Finkelstein, D. S., Yanovsky, S., Jussim, L., Paresky, P., & Viswanathan, I. (2024). Instructing Animosity: How DEI Pedagogy Produces The Hostile Attribution Bias. https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/Instructing-Animosity_11.13.24.pdf 

Willour, I. (2024, November 26). New Bombshell study shows dei programs “increase hostility.” New Bombshell Study Shows DEI Programs “Increase Hostility.” https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-bombshell-study-shows-dei-programs-increase-hostility