Blog 4

I agree with Adam Wexler in the article Multiculturalism in School Curriculum that teachers do not need to teach multicultural groups as a separate entity, but as a part of the curriculum during a particular unit of study. When a particular group is singled out, it can cause problems in comprehension. For example, if a teacher is studying World War II during Social Studies and Martin Luther King during Black History month, the students could confuse the two time periods and not understand the time line of American History. Also, with the high rate of different ethic groups in some classrooms, it would be impossible to represent all different nationalities. A friend of mine who teaches ESL in Knoxville has 21 different nationalities who speak 21 different languages. There is not enough time to cover all 21 nationalities plus the required curriculum mandated by the state.

I teach fourth grade social studies. The changes in the curriculum since I was a child amazes me. For example, we were taught that Christopher Columbus was a hero. In the textbook that I am presently using, the author describes in detail how the Taino Native Americans were taken as slaves and forced to give up land for the new settlers who arrived as a result of Columbus' discovery. It also describes how the thousands of Taino Native Americans were forced to give up their land, freedom , and religious believes, and died of smallpox.

This pattern of revealing white culture as “the bad guy” continues throughout the curriculum. 

From Herando Cortes and the conquering of the Aztecs to Civil war, there were many people of all cultures who mistreated others because of their nationalities and ethnic groups. I agree that it was wrong, but not every white person was cruel. Because the way the curriculum is presented, I think it can be used as a means of social control unless the teachers present history in a way that shows that people of all ethnic groups are good and bad.

In my own classroom, I am constantly reminding the students that there are heroes and villains in every situation from every ethnic group. For example, I tell the students how the Spanish destroyed Tenochtitlan, but I also stress how a white priest named Bartholome de Las Cass preached against the enslavement and mistreatment of the native people. In the Civil War, blacks and whites fought in both the Union and Confederate armies. Also, many of the participants in the Underground Railroads were white people who provided “stations” for runaway slaves. A white couple named Levi and Catherine Coffin from North Carolina helped over 2,000 slaves escape to freedom and started a school for slaves.

In conclusion, I think multicultural education needs to be taught as part of the curriculum, and that all sides of the story should be presented to the students.