Dead White Guys and Live Brown Guys: Including Multicultural Content in Secondary Language Arts Classrooms Katherine

Jones 3 August 2012 My intent in this paper is to show the implications of multiculturalism on my practice as a secondary school English teacher. Definition of multiculturalism The Oxford English Dictionary defines multiculturalism as the policy or process whereby the distinctive identities of the cultural groups withina society are maintained or supported, and that was the intent of the official policy of multiculturalism which Canada adopted in 1977 (Multiculturalism, 2012). Literature review of multiculturalism On ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), a search for multiculturalism turned up 2228 entries, and multicultural education plus Canada turned up 248 entries, so there is no shortage of journal articles on the subject. Many of them focus on particular cultural groups or fields of study, but the following is a sampling of the more general articles: A. In A Border Within: National Identity, Cultural Plurality and Wilderness (1997), Ian Angus asserts that English Canadians, in the process of defending their borders against American culture and nature, have ended up also building borders within against Others, which leads to a more fragmented society rather than a more cohesive one. B. Beyond Intellectual Insularity: Multicultural Literacy as a Measure of Respect (Taylor & Hoechsmann, 2011) is mainly about a study that was done to determine what students know about other cultures and where they learned it; however, it also has much to offer in the way of analyzing the state of multiculturalism in post-9/11 North America. C. Cultural Dimensions of Learning: Addressing the Challenges of Multicultural Instruction (Parrish & Linder-VanBerschot, 2010) uses what they refer to as a cultural dimensions of learning framework (CDLF) to assess differences in students learning preferences. The CDLF consists of eight cultural parameters in the following categories: Social relationships 1. equality vs. authority between teacher and students 2. individualistic vs. collectivistic interests in the classroom 3. a nurturing vs. challenging teacher approach Epistemological beliefs 4. stability vs. uncertainty with regard to activity planning

5. logic vs. reasonableness concerning determining truth 6. focusing on causality vs. the individual situation when positing explanations Temporal perceptions 7. focusing on events vs. the clock 8. linear time/do this, then this, then this vs. cyclical time/keep going back till you get it By determining where students fit in these parameters, teachers can adapt their style to fit the students. D. Although the article Monkeys on the Screen?: Multicultural Issues in Instructional Message Design (McAnany, 2009) concerns making university classrooms more multicultural, the same principles could apply to high school classrooms. They have three main criteria for evaluating multicultural activities: "Do no harm"; "Make the learning experience relevant"/know your learner; and "Incorporate global concepts and images into instructional messages." E. In Colarussos 2010 article Teaching English in a Multicultural Society: Three Models of Reform, the author interviewed fifteen Ontario teachers from different communities concerning how they teach English in multicultural classrooms, and she noted three categories of teacher dispositions toward multicultural curricular change: Adaptation or Coping, Collaborative Inquiry and Applied Research, and Activism. A pertinent question she asks is Are language and literature tools for cultural assimilation or for cultural identity? and she asserts that English teachers will need to change to be prepared to meet the needs of their students. F. Even though Farha Shariffs 2008 articles The Liminality of Culture: Second Generation South Asian Canadian Identity and the Potential for Postcolonial Texts and Straddling the Cultural Divide: Second-Generation South Asian Identity and The Namesake are focussed on using works of literature to teach multiculturalism in secondary schools (and in the first article, postcolonial works in particular), there is much in the articles about the experiences of secondgeneration ethnic Canadians: trying to fit in while remaining true to their native cultural ideals. Quotes from these articles will be used later in this paper. Justification for being mindful of multiculturalism in the classroom Since official multiculturalism was instituted in Canada, there have been unprecedented levels of immigration, and as of the 2006 census, one-fifth of Canadians were born overseas. ODonnell, DAmico, Schmid, Reeve and Smith state that The underlying assumption behind multicultural education is that only by understanding others cultures can we, as individuals and a society, prevent or overcome prejudice and discrimination (Educational Psychology,2008, pg. 157, 159). Unfortunately, as ethnic Canadian Farha Shariff points out, ethnic Canadians still become othered by a dominant culture which categorizes them as visible minorities, ethnics, immigrants, or foreigners. These categories are considered to be incommensurable with being a real Canadian despite the promises of multiculturalism (Liminality, 2008, pg. 72).

Shariff points out that new researchquestions the efficacy of official multiculturalism for the children of visible minority Canadians, who exhibit a more profound sense of exclusion than their parents, possibly because their parents may not even try to fit in, whereas their children do try, often with mixed success (Liminality, 2008, pg. 71); therefore, the problem could get even worse for second-generation ethnic Canadians. In addition, there are the problems faced by those of mixed white-ethnic heritage. Canadas current poet laureate, Fred Wah, is a Chinese-Swedish-Scots-Irish Canadian, and though he is only one quarter Chinese and usually passes for a white person, he grew up in a Chinese-Canadian household, so he thinks like a Chinese-Canadian. Often he does not feel like he fits in anywhere, because to mainstream Canadians he is Chinese and to Chinese-Canadians he is not pure. Nevertheless, he asks, Why deny the immigrant his or her real world? Why be in such a rush to dilute?...I don't want to be inducted into someone else's story, or project *white Canadas+. Particularly one that would reduce and usurp my family's residue of ghost values *from China+ to another status quo *again, white Canadas+ (Wah, 1996, pg. 881). Diamond Grill would be an excellent text for late-secondary English students to study so that mainstream students could acquire a perspective on what it is like to be an ethnic Canadian, and ethnic Canadians could feel that they have a voice. Implications of multiculturalism for teaching secondary school English Shariff states that the traditional literary canon for secondary school English has no resonance with my life, with my history, with my cultural values (Liminality, 2008, pg. 67). Fortunately, English teachers have the liberty of teaching almost any works of literature they desire; regrettably, though, when a teacher walks into the ELA book room in a high school, often the only novels there are by dead White guys, so in terms of novels at least, it is often difficult to incorporate multicultural literature into teaching, and schools may not consider it practical to purchase class sets of multicultural novels unless a large percentage of their students are of that culture. Fortunately, a positive trend I have seen recently is reading circles, where schools have a collection of novels which include multicultural works, and students choose which books they want to read individually. Nevertheless, the predominant way that multicultural texts would likely be incorporated into classrooms would be through short stories and poems, and even though it would be impossible to represent the culture of every student in the school in the readings in English class, I believe that an attempt should be made to include a fair amount of multicultural literature so that ethnic students see there is ethnic content in the curriculum and feel more affirmed as Canadians by that. However, it would be important that such works of literature have some relevance to all the students in the class. One example of a novel that many high schools have purchased class sets of recently is The Kite Runner, a well-written and interesting work that concerns recent Afghan history. That has national relevance for Canadian students because Canada has been directly or indirectly involved in the war in Afghanistan for a number of years, and the novel also has personal relevance for students because it focuses on the friendship between two adolescent boys. The same question could be asked about choosing works of literature as has been asked about hiring teachers: does one purchase a work of literature on the basis of the fact that it is multicultural or on the basis of its quality? In my view, for the English classroom at

least, the answer is clear: it should be primarily on the basis of quality, but English departments should lean toward multicultural texts and make sure they have a rich variety. Fortunately, The Kite Runner meets both criteria. Personally, I would give Aboriginal literature as much weight as other Canadian literature and remind the students that Aboriginals were the original Canadians, therefore Aboriginal literature is as Canadian as white Canadian literature. I would also make it clear that I consider Aboriginal, white and multicultural literatures equal. I would address the fact that I need to include much of the traditional canon in my teaching, and that could be a point of discussion about the canon, that there is a tradition of including certain works of literature in the curriculum which many people consider to be essential for a good education. As well, many of the works of literature in the canon are there because they are tried and true as being appropriate and attainable for secondary school students, and it would be difficult to replace them in terms of their efficacy for teaching and learning. Naturally, focusing on multiculturalism in the classroom is not simply a matter of including a sprinkling of multicultural literature in the curriculum, and naturally, I would make every effort to avoid exoticizing my students cultures, but I believe that with the right intent valuing the cultures and affirming the students in relation to their cultures that would not happen. A practical pedagogic action that is consistent with multiculturalism In order to affirm students cultural identity, to have students research multicultural literature, and also to teach students about the literary technique of symbolism, I would assign an individual project on their native culture or on Canadian culture which would involve the following: 1. A short work of literature from the culture The teacher would later select half a dozen of them to study with the class. If the work is not in English, it would obviously have to be a translation, and the activity would be preceded by a unit on poetry so that students would understand that poems do not have to rhyme. 2. A symbol that represents the culture This is a way of personalizing the teaching of the literary concept of symbols. 3. A recipe from the culture On the day that the projects are due, students would be invited, on an optional basis, to bring in some food from the culture for other students to try. 4. Pictures of the country and national costumes 5. A paragraph stating the students connection to the country or culture 6. If students wish, they could send or bring CDs, videos or links to music and/or dancing from the culture for the class to listen to or watch on the day the projects are due. If students have more than one cultural connection, they could choose which one(s) to do. If they cannot or do not want to pursue a connection with some other culture, they can focus on the Canadian culture. That would probably involve Black or White Canadians who do not know which countries their ancestors originally came from, or perhaps students who were adopted, but anyone could focus on the Canadian culture if they wanted to, because it would not be good to embarrass students who do not have a separate cultural connection in the process of affirming those who do. On the day the projects

are due, students could browse around and look at each other's projects, taste the food samples and listen to or watch the music or dancing. The idea is not for the students to spend a lot of time preparing the projects unless they want to, but it is mainly to acquire multicultural literature for use in lessons, teach symbolism and affirm students cultural identity.

Reference List Angus, I. (1997). A border within: National identity, cultural plurality and wilderness. Montreal, QC and Kingston, ON: McGill-Queens University Press. Colarusso, D. M. (2010). Teaching English in a multicultural society: Three models of reform. Canadian Journal of Education, 33 (2), 432458. McAnany, D. (2009). Monkeys on the screen?: Multicultural issues in instructional message design. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 35 (1). Multiculturalism. (2012). Nn OED Online. Retrieved from http://www.oed.com.proxy2.library.mcgill.ca/view/Entry/234921?redirectedFrom=multicultural ism ODonnell, A. M., DAmico, M., Schmid, R. F., Reeve, J., Smith, J.K. (2008). Educational Psychology: Reflection for Action, Canadian Edition. Mississauga, ON: John Wiley & Sons Canada. Parrish, P. & Linder-VanBerschot, J. A. (2010). Cultural dimensions of learning: Addressing challenges of multicultural instruction. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 11 (2). Shariff, F. (2008). Straddling the cultural divide: Second-generation South Asian identity and The Namesake. Changing English, 15 (4), 457-466. Shariff, F. (2008). The Liminality of culture: Second generation South Asian Canadian identity and the potential for postcolonial texts. Journal of Teaching and Learning, 5 (2), 67-80. Taylor, L. & Hoechsmann, M. (2011). Beyond intellectual insularity: Multicultural literacy as a measure of respect. Canadian Journal of Education, 34 (2), 219-238. Wah, F. (1996). Diamond grill (excerpt). Bennett, D. & Brown, R. (Eds.) (2010). An anthology of Canadian literature in English. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.