Equity and Multiculturalism
Many of John Dewey's ideas were adopted and expanded upon after the Second World War. While education and curriculum development was a non factor during the tumultuous 1930s and 1940s, after the war with the "baby boom" public education got a much needed shot in the arm. Reinvigorated, elementary and high schools sprang up across the country, especially as the phenomenon of suburbia took hold. From 1950 to today, three primary considerations have dominated education and curriculum development--the move toward equity, the demand to compete with the rest of the world, and the rise of multiculturalism.
The issue of equity affected all aspects of education. The Supreme Court's important Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka Kansas decision began the process of integration. Segregation was no longer the law of the land, but it was a fighter and it took decades to fully integrate schools. This impacted curriculum in that all schools had to develop methods and materials to educate a population, many of whom had little to no schooling. In many ways the whole curricular concept of remediation begins in the 1960s. In addition, more progressive schools began to modify curriculum to begin emphasizing the contributions of African Americans to science, the arts, politics, etc. Some districts began to adopt texts that had been reviewed to ensure no offending racial language was found within them.
In 1957 the Soviet Union sent a basketball sized hunk of metal with a transmitter and antennae into outer space. It was named Sputnik. This changed education in America. Panic set in. The fear that we were falling behind the Soviets was blamed on schools and what they taught. The federal government took the unprecedented step of involving itself in the funding of public education. Money was appropriated to improve math, science, and foreign language programs in America's public schools. This was obviously a boon to those subject areas. Unfortunately, it also began the trend of pitting one subject area against another for funding. While this infusion of funds improved the targeted areas and the United States continued to dominate technologically, it opened the door for future federal involvement in what had historically been a local and state matter.
Multiculturalism is a hot topic. The right sees it as the root of much evil, while the left embraces the concept, even though it has evolved into something very different from what it meant in the 1970s and 1980s. Multiculturalism has gone through two phases. In the first phase, beginning in the early Seventies and lasting about twenty years, multiculturalism meant an exposure to other cultures and religions. The original goal was to develop a level of understanding of the variety of ethnicities that populated the United States to bring us closer together as Americans. The curricular focus tended to be on basic things like holidays, cultural practices, religious beliefs, etc. The curriculum was designed to make integration easier to accomplish.
Beginning in the 1990s multiculturalism began to morph itself into something very different. While the earlier form was acceptable to almost anyone, regardless of their political persuasion, the second phase of multiculturalism was more radical and heavily influenced by postmodernist, deconstructionist, and relativist ideas. This form of multiculturalism taught that cultures and religions were equal and that students should not make any ethical judgements since it was all relative anyway. Christianity and Western Civilization in particular was the target of multiculturalists who pointed toward tragedies, massacres, inequity, etc. within the western world to prove their points. This view found its way into the public school curriculum in subtle ways.
The social sciences were transformed the most by modern multiculturalism. For example, every history teacher would agree that to not teach about Japanese American Internment would be professionally irresponsible. On the other an over emphasis on that event has been promoted by multiculturalists and things like the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March and even pivotal battles like Midway are neglected. The goal is to demonize the west and avoid criticizing the east ("the other" in postmodernist lingo). Multiculturalists influence is more subtle in other areas like math and science, but changes in teaching approach, style and materials have been made to accommodate the needs of females and minorities. Now you may ask what's wrong with that? The answer is that there is no evidence and research that shows any real improvement; and many districts have found reverting back to the "old" ways was better for all involved. Even Physical Education has been affected in terms of limiting the "competition" factor.
Again, these changes have generally been embraced by the federal government as a way to increase their control and influence in public education. Please do not get me wrong, the original intent of multiculturalism was a valid and admirable endeavor, but as practiced today it demeans the foundations of our nation by marginalizing the importance of our Greco-Roman roots, Judeo-Christian influences, and embrace of western ideas.
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment