Educational EquityEssay Preview: Educational EquityReport this essayDevelop an argument on or some ideas of understanding about curriculum as multicultural text by relating the works of Darling-Hammond, French, & Garcia-Lopez, Delpit, Duarte & Smith, Greene, Nieto and Sletter to your experience of curriculum, teaching, and learning as affirming diversity. You could think specifically about the following questions: Is there a need for diversity in curriculum studies and designs? Why? What measures do you think will be effective in incorporating such a need into curriculum studies and designs? What is the relevance of diversity to your career goal, to education in your family, community, and school, to education in Georgia, and to education in general? In which way can you develop a curriculum which helps cultivate empathy, compassion, passion, and hope for citizens of the world, and which fosters social justice?
Crisis: A Strategic Tool to Improve the Student-Led Education of The Nation’s Best Growing Small Towns ————— This is a program which, with the support of the National Education Association, will create some of the highest-scoring small-town communities in the nation.
Program Highlights:
Pregnant women, young adults, and children with disabilities: 8
Young people with disabilities under 18: 11
Those with disabilities with severe disabilities: 3
Children below a grade level of 18: 5
Students below a grade level of 18 who: • are students at risk of a major or major life event or disability
• have a disability that affects the development of brain function (i.e., one of the following) or a brain condition or other mental health condition, or
• can develop a substance use disorder, alcohol or drug dependence, or have schizophrenia
Source: n-2-11-12 – Table
Percussion/Hiking by a Family of Green Grassroots Community Members (BDS) ————— This program was developed as part of a five-state effort to enhance youth safety (BOD) throughout Georgia, as well as connect family members with youth and prevent any future danger to youths through educational programs at non-profits, churches, religious institutions, youth programming organizations, and government agencies. Community members’ efforts include building a small-government family organization, creating a non-profit and educational outreach program, including workshops and workshops, and working through online community groups. Youth involvement is measured by a 2-point scale, based on the percentage of youth who participate in a school or community event. Programs are typically initiated during the day, and include the following: • Meetings and social events are held at the Community Center. • Schools and community groups work on local issues and take feedback from staff members and community members. (Note: To help ensure programs work, the BOD Program Center has an active website and volunteer hours at www.blds.org .)
Source: n-2-11-13 – Table
Student Learning Opportunity Programs for Learning Disability and Non-Profit Organizations (BOD) ————— For over a century, Georgia has provided a comprehensive model to promote and protect high-quality learning in an area with the highest unemployment rate in the nation. This program provided scholarships to 526 students at two public school districts in the United States and a state college level higher education in New York City (1918 & 1945). While the cost to operate these schools was about 25 to 30 percent of what it was costed to operate the schools, Georgia was an emerging country where students had the opportunity to learn independently and had the resources to support their educational needs. Georgia’s high school diploma system is the oldest in the country today and was founded by two American families. The BOD Program has been successful in reducing unemployment among young adults and helping low-income students achieve their economic independence. For many years, BOD has been a national standard of excellence by teaching low-income students the right skills and educational opportunities that allow them to take the field for profit. This includes vocational programs, sports, and sports related training. BOD has also been a top source of scholarship to help youth with disabilities earn financial security, work part-time at home or go out of the workforce. However, funding has fallen from Georgia in the past couple of years due to a lack of funding for many programs in the state. For this reason, the BOD Program has been discontinued.
Source: n-2-11-14 – Table
Georgia Youth’s Charter School Initiative for Children
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equalД (Declaration of Independence,1776)This quote is symbolic of the expressed opinions and ideology of the founding fathers of America. History, especially the history of the American educational system, paints a contradictory portrait. Idealistic visions of equity and cultural integration are constantly bantered about; however, they are rarely implemented and materialized. All men are indeed created equal, but not all men are treated equally. For years, educators and society as a whole have performed a great disservice to minorities in the public school sector. If each student is of equal value, worth, and merit, then each student should have equal access and exposure to culturally reflective learning opportunities. In the past, minorities have had a muted voice because of the attitude of the majority. Maxine Greene summarizes a scene from E.L. Doctorows Ragtime, after which she poses questions that many minorities have no doubt asked silently or loud. “Why is he unseen? Why were there no Negroes, no immigrants? More than likely because of the condition of the minds of those in power, minds that bestowed upon many others the same invisibility that Ellisons narrator encounters” (Greene,1995, p. 159). Multicultural education is needed because it seeks to eradicate “invisibility” and give voice, power, and validation to the contributions and achievements of people with varied hues, backgrounds, and experiences.
Multicultural education is a process of comprehensive school reform and basic education for all students. It challenges and rejects racism and other forms of discrimination in schools and society and accepts and affirms pluralism (ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, economic, and gender, among others) that students, their communities, and teachers reflect (Nieto, 2000). Schools are microcosms; therefore, the presence of multicultural education is needed to demonstrate accurate representations of the global community. The U.S. Bureau of the Census estimated that people of color made up 28% of the nations population in 2000. The census predicted that they would make up 38% of the nations population in 2025 and 47% in 2050 (Darling-Hammond, et al., 2002).
Furthermore, multicultural education offers insightful perspectives on the views, customs, and beliefs of others. The knowledge gained from such a curriculum can foster a paradigm shift in social consciousness and global race relations. “An important goal of multicultural education is to improve race relations and to help all students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to participate in cross-cultural interactions and in personal, social, and civic action that will help make our nation more democratic and just. Multicultural education is consequently as important to middle-class white suburban students as it is for students of color who live in the inner city. Multicultural education fosters the public good and the overarching goals of the commonwealth” ( Darling-Hammond, et al., 2002, p.x). Middle-class white suburban students may be the majority but they are not the whole. Curriculum must echo the increasing presence of minorities and their significant contributions. No student is a carbon copy of the previous one. Inherent differences make life and the exploration of it dynamic and interesting. Due to students learning differences, teachers constantly make concessions and modifications. Adjustments are made for students with visual, hearing, and speech deficits. Some students are more visually stimulated, while others function optimally from auditory instruction. Teachers regularly alter their techniques to include elements of both styles to help students comprehend.
If educators can ascertain the concept of versatility in teaching methodology, why cant they translate this principle to the acknowledgement and instruction of multicultural education? “Enabling learning for all students requires knowledge about