Entry #4: Reaction to Reeves' article

Cultural diversity has been the focus of many educational concerns in recent years. Reeves (1997) talks about how cultural diversity is a critical issue in evaluating instructional programs, products, and assessments. Looking at this closely, I realize it is one significant part of a broader attempt to meet the needs of each student.

I was amazed by the examples of cultural insensitivity discussed in the article, such as the use of animals as metaphors for people in “edutainment” software being insulting to Muslims. One may never give something like this a second thought, because we tend to take elements of our own culture/society for granted as being commonplace for everyone. Understandably, one cannot be aware of all cultural beliefs and practices. Nonetheless, it is important to be understanding and strive to become more multicultural. The question remains as to what we can do to minimize the bias. Here are a few suggestions of what to look at and how to improve.

Publishers of instructional materials, programs, and assessments should take a cue from the success stories of the corporate world. Look at McDonald’s for example. This franchise expanded globally, but not without making significant changes to their restaurants. The McDonald’s throughout India serve 100% vegetarian food – very different from the United States. Corporations know that to succeed, one must first identify and analyze the audience BEFORE trying to develop and sell their products. Businesses cannot expect a “one-size-fits-all” model to work. Likewise, people ranging from program developers to teachers must know their target audience: students. Many times, it seems that those in the education sector develop materials, programs, and assessments without analyzing the audience first, resulting in imminent failure. The difficulty here though is how feasible it is to cater to the diversity in American schools. How do we incorporate so many cultures?

One important answer to this is for teachers. Know your students! Take the time to learn about who your students are. Developing instructional materials that incorporate the life experiences, language, and skills of students has been shown to improve academic performance (Hulsebosch & Koerner, 1993). This should be incorporated into staff development opportunities. Teachers need support and guidance to effectively use a vast repertoire of teaching strategies and to explore curriculum, technology, and assessments that meet the needs of a diverse classroom. Lastly, teachers need to be able to establish a classroom that is a safe place to explore issues related to differences (Calderon, 1997).

Finally, it is extremely valuable to infuse multicultural learning into the classroom. We do not want to avoid cultural references and be “culturally neutral”. Instead, we should welcome this as an opportunity for learning. One example is a story I was told by a teacher in Allentown. He had tried to use a picnic as an example for mathematics students to determine what quantities of food they could buy while remaining within the given budget. The problem: none of the students knew what a picnic was. Such a simple concept for many, but for children who grow up in the city, they may never have the chance to go to the park for a picnic. This is only one little example, but imagine the wonderful things students can learn about each other and different cultures. Together, we can help students embrace cultures different than their own.


References

Calderon, M. (1997). Staff development in multilingual multicultural schools. New York, NY: ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Services No. ED410368)

Hulsebosch, P. & Koerner, M. (1993). What does cultural identity have to do with the preparation of teachers? Case studies of “culturally-aware” teachers. Paper presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English (November 17-22, 1993), Pittsburgh, PA. (ERIC Document Reproduction Services No. ED 403553)

Reeves, T. (1997). An evaluator looks at cultural diversity. Educational Technology, 37(2), 27-31.