What's Culture Got to do with It?

The Melting Pot. Not a restaurant; a philosophy. There is a trend of ethnic diversity that not only seeps through the streets of our busy cities, but also permeates almost every public school in the nation. But, sadly, state and national reports have found that students who are outliers when it comes to the mainstream fall behind in classes, which affects their education so much that they oftentimes end up with low-skill, low-paying jobs.


Students who are linguistically and socially diverse also find themselves vulnerable, as they are already behind in classes and frustrations grow. And the trend of diverse students has only risen annually as we grow as a nation. In 1986, 50% of California's school population was non-Anglo. It is much higher now in 2011.


With these statistics about the negative aspects of diversity, educators might become overwhelmed. But there is hope. So what are some effective instructional practices that will actually place diversity in the favor of students? Which ones might bring success? Author Eugene Garcia suggests a few key ways to help these students: high levels of communication, integrated and thematic curriculum, collaborative learning, a focus on language and literacy, and changing student and teacher perceptions into positivity.


One of the best things a teacher can do if he/she has a highly diverse classroom is to focus on organized instruction with small groups where communication is used between students, and where competition is actually against the students themselves to create a motivational ingredient.


Using some (or hopefully all) of these techniques is a great start to forming cohesion between students as diversity is recognized as a blessing, not a burden. That way, our melting pot of eager students boils into a beautiful soup of encouragement, appreciation, hard work, and most importantly, lifelong success.


Dr. Jones, Stephen. 17 April 2009. "Incorporating Cultural Diversity in the Classroom." Teachers of Color. Retrieved from http://www.teachersofcolor.com/2009/04/incorporating-cultural-diversity-in-the-classroom/
Garcia, Eugene E.(1991). "The Education of Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students: Effective Instructional Practices." UC Berkeley: Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence. Retrieved from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/2793n11s;jsessionid=73F1285E30451E8B72CBB97BE04A4EF8#