Critical Topic # 4
Understanding Your Student as well as
Incorporating Student’s Awareness into the Curriculum
By Kathleen Hagerty
As an educator, it is important to recognize that there are many different factors involved in being an effective facilitator of learning. Various elements involve being an educator that works with instructing in the multicultural setting. It is important as an educator to fully understand all students and where they come from. As a student, a child is able to identify the difference between the different ethnicities within their class. Gollnick and Chinn (2009) stated that between the ages of 4 and 5, a significant number of children are able to make ethnic identifications (p. 343). This is important to notice as an educator because that means that children are able to recognize that children are different within the classroom. It is important to be able to relate to their student’s self identification as well as their ethnical awareness.
As a child grows within the classroom, an educator sees how the ethical awareness could either develop into a positive awareness or into a negative influence of prejudice within the classroom. Gollnick and Chinn (2009) discussed how prejudice begins at a younger age than many assume. “Some children of color demonstrate an early preference for whites, and some white children indicate a preference for their minority group peers” (Aboud, 1988). These cultural preferences are not developed by the children individual or introduced by themselves. Unfortunately, the idea of race differentiation occurs through the ideas and concepts affiliated with their parents and adults around them.
Even though it is assumed that children do not develop the prejudice on their own it is not just parent’s statements that influence their choice and decisions on whether or not a child will become prejudice towards other races or groups or have a desire to learn towards a certain ethnic group. Besides being influenced by parents, Gollnick and Chinn (2009) stated that one proposed theory of prejudice in children is the social reflection theory (p. 343). This social reflection theory relates to how children are influenced by society. Another theory that is mentioned by Gollnick and Chinn (2009) is that children are influenced heavily by the media as well. The media encourages stereotyping as well as incorporating displaying prejudice viewpoints to openly see via television, newspapers, and the news. Gollnick and Chinn (2009) showed how both of the influences of parents and the media encourage students to have negative viewpoints of different ethnical groups (p. 344).
Through understanding both of these influences of children in regards to children, an educator needs to make a connection with children in regards to educating them on prejudice. It is important that an educator begins this instruction within the early childhood setting. This is important because at this time in a child’s life an educator will be able to focus on encouraging students to work on being less prejudice. “Because prejudice appears to be somewhat prevalent among young children (ages 4 to 7) and because children are cognitively capable of becoming less prejudiced, it would appear to be very appropriate to develop activities that have been shown to reduce prejudice during the early years of elementary school” (Gollnick and Chinn, 2009, p. 345). An educator developing different activities and instruction relating to the prejudices will encourage an adequate understanding between educator and student in regards to understanding their views and opinions of others within the world. It will allow the student to make connections and identify the prejudices in the world before it has developed into a negative aspect and view within the classroom setting and society.
References
Gollnick, D. M. & Chinn, P. C. (2009). Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society (8th Edition) Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
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Critical Project 4
ReplyDeleteThe Media’s Influence on the Public’s Perception of Multicultural Affairs
By: Marijana Ljutic
A heated debate that is brewing throughout the nation in the field of education is the impact of the media on multicultural affairs. In modern societies, the media plays a significant part in shaping our ideas and perspectives on various topics. As educators it is important to use the media in classroom as an effective tool of learning. It can be used to
transmit current and past events as well as a visual aid for our language learners.
Who is a consumer of the media? - Children, adolescents and adults of varying ages and
intellects are all consumers of some form of mass media whether it be newspapers,
televisions, internet or radio. The influence of the media is effective and widespread upon
its viewers. In this digital age, the media has become an all-encompassing phenomenon.
The media portrays many biases towards multicultural issues. It is a common consensus among consumers that what is portrayed on screen or through other audio/visual means is not always ‘reality’ and correct. The lines between reality and fiction have become blurred with the media’s influence and biases. Using the media in the classroom for instructional purposes is a sensitive topic because the questions always
are: ‘How are my multicultural students seeing their cultures/races being portrayed
through this lens? How do I as an educator critically evaluate the media available in the classroom for students? When does the media and the use of media become too much? Are students’ critical thinking skills utilized during the media instruction or have they become desensitized to the images on the screen or audio medium? and finally How can I monitor students’ use of Internet media in the classroom for safety reasons?’ These questions are ever-present in deciphering the media’s influence on our ideas of multicultural affairs.
On the opposite side of the debate, there are various deterrents to using media in
the classroom. Since its conception, the media has opened a platform for communication/conversation reacting to social, political, and cultural events. Author Gary L. Anderson (2007) in his article Media’s Impact on Educational Policies and Practices: Political Spectacle and Social Control states that there are distorted and inaccurate information and realities presented in the media about all topics of interests, but it is left up to the educated consumer to be sophisticated in detecting these distortions (Anderson, 2007). On behalf of the media’s defense, there are benefits to it impact on multicultural affairs, Anderson states:The media’s strategic importance in promoting social agendas has always been apparent, but with the advent of television in the years after World War II, its importance grew exponentially and continues to grow in the age of the Internet. Television helped to legitimate the Civil Rights Movement by showing snarling dogs attacking young Black protesters, and it was Nixon’s televised “five o’clock shadow” that some say lost him his first presidential election (Anderson, 2007, p. 104).
The Civil Rights Movement, as an example, was publicized by the use of television, radio and newspaper mediums to shed light on the issue of equality amongst races in the land of equal opportunity. This important historical movement led to the progress of human rights and providing steps towards establishing toleration, equality, and legislation protecting racial differences in the United States. The event would not have been possible without the media’s influence. The media does more than any other
industry to draw attention to injustices and provide opportunities to voice the dissention
of its citizens.
Reference
Anderson, G. (2007). Media's Impact on Educational Policies and Practices: Political
Spectacle and Social Control. Peabody Journal of Education, 82(1), 103-120. Retrieved on 14 October 2009 from http://search.ebscohost.com.avoserv.library.fordham.edu.