Multicultural Education Essay

The country is becoming a potluck of people coming from different nations. Many of them decided to pursue their studies in the U. S. in the hope of acquiring quality education. Consequently, a dilemma has arisen in this particular field which is caused by cultural and racial diversity. To address this problem, multicultural education emerged. Multicultural education aims to provide equal educational opportunities to all students coming from â€Å"diverse racial, ethnic, social-class, and cultural groups† (â€Å"Multicultural Education†, 1995, n. p. ). One of its main objectives is to aid students to acquire the necessary â€Å"knowledge, attitudes, and skills† in order to perform and function successfully in a free society where various races and cultures are present (â€Å"Multicultural Education†, 1995, n. p. ). Another primary objective of multicultural education is to arm the students with socializing skills that are highly essential for interacting, negotiating, and communicating with individuals from various groups that are culturally, racially and ethnically diverse so as to establish a value-centered community that benefits everyone in it (â€Å"Multicultural Education†, 1995). One of the major problems in multicultural education is the integration of the various cultural backgrounds of different nations in the school curriculum. The various cultural overviews and concepts should be reflected in the curriculum that offers multicultural education. A nation or a school that denies the integration of different aspects of culture into the curriculum is neither demographic nor cohesive, in the sense that the curriculum focuses mainly on one dominant culture and neglect the growing culture of the other students. Thus, diversity and disparity are encouraged by such types of curriculum for enriching one main culture (Banks, 1991). The topic has long been debated since there is a major alteration on the ethnic and cultural fabric of the country. The issue revolves on whether or not the changes in the cultural texture should be extended over the schools’ curricula. It is vital to affirm the adherence of the schools’ curricula to the nation’s racial, ethnic and cultural diversity. At present, most schools in the U. S. are utilizing the multicultural education and integrating cultural education in their curricula such as the Palm Beach County School District which has a separate department for multicultural education (Department of Multicultural Education, 2008). References Banks, J. A. (1991). Curriculum guidelines for multicultural education. National Council for the Social Studies.Retrieved August 15, 2008 from http://www. socialstudies. org/positions/multicultural/. Department of Multicultural Education. (2008, August 21). The School District of Palm Beach County. Retrieved August 22, 2008 from http://www. palmbeach. k12. fl. us/MULTICULTURAL/ Multicultural education. (1995). North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Retrieved August 15, 2008 from http://www. ncrel. org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/presrvce/pe3lk1. htm.