Diversity in Education

Diversity in 21st Century Education

Diversity is very important. It helps us explore other cultures and gain awareness of the world around us. Being in a diverse environment, we see things from other perspectives and learn that there are many ways to accomplish things in this world. Multicultural education is about learning and teaching in such setting where cultures mix and share experiences.

In one video from unit one, talked about “borders”. Borders, as we know it are visible. We see them crossing from one country to the next and so forth but what the video mainly spoke of was the reinvention of the border. Borders are complex and filled with ambiguity. They are not always what we see or think of them. In actuality a border is an unseen barrier we place among other people, places etc. that are in a different category than us. The border, as we may thought of before hand is different as we need to see it now. It is reachable by anyone and it is needed to transform contradictions into something else- something that will make us feel different, like becoming more human. We have to let go of prejudices, that we place on others that are different from us- others from diverse cultures. Coming all together as one is being multicultural, and with that we can achieve many things. Multicultural education is important and a necessary tool for us to learn about the world we live in.

Multicultural education is achieved by several different ways. One way is the reformation of the nation’s schools. Anti racism and the importance of culture in teaching and learning aids to bring multicultural education to pass. This sheds a light on the the borders we create among others. In one video, losing a language was talked about. Years ago, there were over 6,000 languages but since then have died down because the languages were not taught to the children. Elders would die and along with them dying, the language would also die, never to be spoken again. If this keeps happening, more and more cultures would be lost. Diversity would dwindle and what would become of the world. We need to respect the uniqueness of others and have a sense of urgency wanting to know what they do to live and how we are really are all the same but different at the same time.

In reality, multicultural education is complex. The approach is that teaching and learning make a movement towards equity in schools and classrooms along with transforming of the curriculum and importantly, the whole process of becoming multicultural competent. We have to have the commitment to address social injustices. Going back to the video, this means to transform the notion of what a border actually is because we are the ones who place them among others.

Those were some of the connections that I have made between the activities sand the readings. There is a connection between being diverse and gaining achievement. If we as a society want to comprehend multicultural education and all that it is worth than we must be open to diversity, releasing any preliminary borders, or motions that we have had in our minds to truly appreciate the real values of others. This will be a great achievement.