Chapter 14: Issues

for the 21st century!

Vanessa Barrios & Jacqueline Elias

OVERVIEW

Multicultural Education has

changed over the years, but to this
day there are still several issues
that remain unsolved. As educators
you should do whatever it takes to
reduce the impact of each issue.
This chapter shares some of the
issues and obstacles to the
progress of multicultural education.
We are here to show the present
and the future challenges that lie.

KEYTERMS
Blaming the victim
Brown V. Board of Education
Civil Rights Act of 64
Dialect

 Blaming the victim

Children and adolescents
are often victims of
discrimination and racism
and that all too often they
cannot change the
conditions and
surroundings of their lives.
There are two types of
orientations towards
victims
1. People who hold a
person-centered
orientation.
2. A system-blame view.

Brown v. Board of
Education

On May 17, 1954, U.S.

Supreme Court Justice
Earl Warren delivered
the unanimous ruling in
the landmark civil rights
case Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka,
Kansas.
State-sanctioned
segregation of public
schools was violation of
the 14th amendment
and was therefore
unconstitutional

Civil Rights Act of

64
Enacted July 2, 1964 is a
landmark piece of civil rights
legislation in the U.S. that
outlawed discrimination based
on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin.
It ended unequal application
of voter registration
requirements and racial
segregation in schools, at the
workplace and by facilities
that served the general public.

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Dialect
Dialects are
variations of a
language that group
of speakers share.
The language
corresponds to other
differences among
groups, such as
ethnicity, religion,
culture, geographic
location, and social
class.

ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. How can educators avoid blaming the victim? What issues
can administrators address to provide the means for teachers
and special school personnels to be more acutely aware of
these traps of blame?
2. Discuss the various issues pertaining to standardized tests?
3. Analyze and explain the differences between bilingual
education and English as a second language (ESL).
4. What methods/opportunities are available to professional
educators in becoming better qualified and committed to
working with culturally diverse students?
5. Imagine that you are at the end of your long career as an
educator. What would you like to be able to say about the
changes that took place regarding multicultural issues during
your tenure?

How can educators avoid blaming the

victim? What issues can administrators
address to provide the means for teachers
and special school personnels to be more
acutely aware of these traps of blame?
In the chapter it states that its easier for
some people to blame victims for their
condition than to look for more specific
causes. As future educators we must offer
commitment to victims of discrimination. We
also need to understand how children and
adolescents become victims. Lastly, it is our
job to reduce racism, poverty, despair,
injustice, and discrimination that can
contribute to the victimization of people.

Discuss the various issues

pertaining to standardized tests?
There are many issues pertaining to
standardized testing. The first being that it was
meant for individual evaluation, but the test
came out to compare students and schools.
Standardized testing was looking like a good
idea when it was ensuring that all children were
getting the same standard of education, but
quickly shifted to ability testing for the purpose
of classifying students. Another issue is that the
test is prepared from white, middle-class
perspectives and educators know this. There are
also invalid uses of the tests and tests scores.
For example, it is providing financial incentives
for teachers with high students test scores,
graduation or certification testing, and an
evaluation for teaching. A major issue is that the
assessments are indirect test of English
Proficiency rather than contest mastery.
Standardized Testing dates back to the mid1800s and the issues have been similar over the
years. We have yet try to fix these issues.

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Analyze and explain the differences

between bilingual education and English
as a second language (ESL).

The difference with bilingual education and

ESL is that bilingual education accepts and
develops native language and culture in the
instructional process. The theory with
bilingual education is that children must fully
develop their native language before they
can achieve anything in a second language.
Now with ESL, ESL instruction relies
exclusively on english as the medium to
assimilate LEP children into linguistic
mainstream as quickly as possible.
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What methods/opportunities are available to professional

educators in becoming better qualified and committed to
working with culturally diverse students?

A good step is by taking a class like this

one that deals with valuing culture
diversity. Educators must accept
responsibility for being trained to work
with students of different backgrounds.
Methodologies courses that show the
relationship between culture and learning
and how to address this relationship in
teaching situations. Another method is to
be open-minded because continuing to
teach with styles and strategies
appropriate only for one culture fails to
meet the needs of children and
adolescents.

Imagine that you are at the end of your long

career as an educator. What would you like to be
able to say about the changes that took place
regarding multicultural issues during your tenure?

I would like to say that there are no issues

with diversity in my classroom and there is
no discrimination. There is no judgement
based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin, but by the content of their
character. I would like to say that people
started to become more open-minded and
respectful for one another.

ACTIVITY
RED: How do you feel about standardized
testing?
ORANGE: What is dialect?
YELLOW: In your words, What is this chapter
about?
GREEN: What is something you found
interesting about this chapter?
BLUE: The Civil Rights Act was enacted July 2,
of what year?
BROWN: What are the 4 key terms of this
chapter?

Stop discrimination
and Respect diversity!
:D

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