Collaborating with Multicultural Students and their Family

Since parenting is imperative in molding the personality of the children, then it would be of good idea to engage families in children's learning in school. The schools, at the same time, must develop and guide children in a manner compatible with local approaches to parental and school authority relations. In addition thereto, school curriculum should, in a way, geared towards local knowledge and ways of learning. This is because each locality has its own diversity and culture to be adopted. A general approach on curriculum may not be effective as it may not be suitable in one locality. Curriculum must be locally based approach in order to lessen different types of diversities.

It is a great challenge if collaboration is done among students, their educators and their families. Let us take note that many students, particularly those young adults discourage parents from personal involvement in school as they would rather show to the world that they are grown up and could live independently. However, said collaboration can help the students, educators and the students’ families in navigating for more learning.

Another kind of diversity in some school involves students whose mother or father is a military personnel. These students find difficulty due to parents’ transfer from one place to another, thus facing repeated struggles settling in to new schools and communities. Due to transfer from one place of assignment to another, students face regular disruption of their homes. More problems ranging from the effect of parents’ absences to lack of parents’ guidance arise when either or both parents are posted to a distant place.

The Problems of Diversity

Diversity is a responsibility to be acquainted with and understand the variety of characteristics of individuals that make them unique in a pluralistic democratic society. These characteristics referred to are: age, religion, cognitive style; culture; mental and physical disability, economic background, education; ethnicity; gender identity, race, geographic background, language, physical appearance, political affiliation, beliefs, and sexual orientation. It includes the difference between cultural groups.

Authorities argue that one way people in a nation could live harmoniously is to understand individual differences. People have to appreciate others by understanding their individual cultures. But the problem lies on the time needed to understand others’ cultural roots. Much to their desire to understand others’ culture, time for them is of the essence for survival. Another factor for consideration on factionalism is people’s religious belief. People tend to interpret God’s laws according to their individual desire and understanding. Others refuse to accept the truth but instead go for their own ways.

Because of top to bottom management approach, thereby having no consultation with parents and teachers, school curriculum becomes a problem. Complaints arise because sometimes school officials are at a loss for having no idea of how they should be responding some issues.

These and such other problems on diversity could be solved by way of building a bridge for educational institutions that would promote diversity between and among students, teachers and the society they live in.

Getting Off to a Good Start

Starting the school year with an atmosphere conducive to learning is a good concern that school authorities should give priority. The more efforts should be exerted in making a good atmosphere in learning particularly with students of culturally diverse and low-income settings. Noticeably, during the early days of the first year of students in school, students would almost want their parents to be with them. Students want parents to sit side by side with them. Students need more time to adjust to be more or less independent in the classroom. But while in the process, an orientation has to be made in order to lessen the anxiety of new students, and on the part of the parents, they could be assured of the safety and learning of their children, thereby allowing them to settle into their new school community successfully. The orientation should lead to students' adjustment that would redound to an adoption of a new environment. It must lead to improvement. And improvement should be evidenced by their ability to make friends and their interest in class discussion and activities.

Teachers must be able to reach out new students to nurture and guide them. This could be done by assigning them a classmate who could help them adjust to a new environment. Meanwhile, school counselors may help parents of new students to acquire parenting skills.

The content of curriculum is so vital in the learning process. It is therefore imperative that the processes by which students and teachers engage must be made accessible and inviting to everyone. As much as possible, curriculum should be rigorous, integrated, and multicultural curriculum.

School must take family and community engagement a step towards students’ acceptance of the new environment. There must be a concerted effort between and among parents and teachers to reach out an activity that would lead to showcase in which students share their stories on such issues as local environment, career development, and educational options. In this way, family and community members present in the activity not only learn from the students, but are empowered to give feedback.

In conclusion, it is imperative that school authorities should be able to reach out actively and persistently to their diverse students and their families, rather than waiting for nothing because parents are not involved that plagues multicultural and low-income contexts. Moreover, school should be innovative in connecting with the students and families because in doing so, students would learn more as they have more mentors whom to interact – the teachers, the parents, and the community. Students felt acceptance in and out of the school.

Clearly, it is imperative for schools to collaborate effectively with multicultural, no matter how high or low is the standing of the students and their families in the society, particularly when the students are at their early stage of learning.

Multiculture Education

Multicultural education is an imperative approach that educators nowadays should understand and appreciate for it is an approach to school reform. It is a progressive move towards equity, social justice, and democracy. In it, there would be understanding of the different components of cultural groups. Understanding multicultural education is aiming towards school restructuring in terms of students acquisition of knowledge, attitudes, skills, and abilities needed to function in an ethnically and racially diverse country. Multicultural education is aimed to guarantee educational equity for members of diverse racial, religious beliefs, ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic groups.

In multicultural education, teachers should be given the opportunity to develop themselves by way of introducing them in a program which would help them understand the complexity of the characteristics of the different groups within the society and the ways in which race, ethnicity, language, and social class interact to influence student behavior.

Schools based management should be anchored on assurance that all students be given the equitable opportunities for learning of the different cultures in the society. In preparation of the school curriculum, students should be guided in understanding and appreciating that social construction is knowledge and that it really reflects the social, political and economic framework of the society. Students’ participation in school activities that would redound to their personal development, thereby acquiring knowledge, skills, and abilities, should be assured. Students’ participation in school activities fosters a positive personal relationship between and among fellow students.

Intergroup relationship in schools should be encouraged. Students will be able to understand the inner attitude of individuals as time goes on. Adjustment and acceptance will follow. They will learn related biases that have negative effects in intergroup relations. Negative effects may lead to mistakes. But mistake may be taken to serve as mirror for positive approach. Students will be able to learn about the values shared by virtually all members of the groups such as but not limited to justice, equality, freedom, peace, compassion, and charity.

Faculty development is a must in order that teachers should be able to help students acquire the social skills needed to interact effectively with students from other groups.

Diversity in schools poses as an opportunity and a challenge. The Philippine is enriched by the different school diversities. However, noticeably, whenever diverse groups meet and interact, different opinions are shared that sometimes discrimination is evident. Since schools is the place where first formal learning is acquired and where students’ personalities are also mold, school authorities must find ways for their students to learn to respect the diversity of as well as help to create a unified nation to which all of its citizens have allegiance.

Multicultural Education Approach

The rich diversity of the society nowadays is clearly evident in many schools. It is not enough that some of our school children be educated. School educators and the society they serve must work for all and must reflect the cultures of the communities. Multicultural education is an idea which has reached its time. The society we live is a society of mix-culture. Conflicts arise due to lack of understanding of other’s culture, ethnicity, social class, and beliefs.

The imbalance of power between the dominant and the dominated cultures has created years of arm conflicts, aggression, and resistance. The case of Christian-Muslim conflict in the Philippines is a typical example of imbalance in cultures’ appreciation. It is the lack of understanding of other cultures that weakens the society. The practice of multicultural education is but one of the many answers for peace. Approaches to multicultural education need to be given emphasis in searching for answer for cultural diversities.

Understanding the concept of human relations would certainly help students understand the commonalties of people through understanding of their social and cultural differences. Knowing the different cultures raise the academic achievement of students of color through culturally relevant instruction. The introduction of multicultural education in educational system is also a response to the need of addressing the various learning needs of such a cultural diversities thereby leading to the transformation that would really reflect the ideals of democracy in a pluralistic society.

Multiculturalism in Education

In all school level, it is imperative that students be given the chance of equal educational opportunities that would free them from multicultural diversity such as diverse racial, ageism, ethnic, social-class and cultural groups. It must be noted that multicultural education is aimed to create equal educational opportunities for students from these groups. And one of its important goals is to help students acquire the needed knowledge, skills, and abilities in order to function effectively in a pluralistic democratic society. With this type of education, students would be able to interact and communicate with other people from diverse groups in order to create a civic and moral community that works for the common good.

There are schools whose diversity in race, ethnicity, language, religion, and national origin increased. And this of course poses challenges to teachers. Teachers would be facing difficulties in the teaching process with different students of different diversities. What teachers should do is to update themselves educationally on multicultural education. A faculty development is imperative. There should be efforts for teachers to develop a broader awareness of issues affecting diverse learners. One approach that may be introduced is to strategize an interdisciplinary approach in assessing the skills and abilities of the teachers in dealing with diverse learners.

Multicultural Education Introduction

The issue of multicultural education in the Philippine is of paramount importance. This is because of the different culture in the world and learners tend to like studying from one place to another. Nowadays, diversity becomes progressively more reflected in the schools. Poverty is also becoming an increasingly important issue that affects quality of education. Rich students would rather prefer to an exclusive private schools while the poor would rather stay at public school. Admittedly, generally, Philippine public school lacks the necessary technology tools to enhance the skills and ability of their students. More so, these students lack the necessary foods for themselves. Students with empty stomach will certainly learn not much.

These demographic, social, and economic and such other trends have vital implications for education. Multicultural education is intended to decrease religion, race, class, and gender divisions by helping all students attain the knowledge, skills, and abilities they need in order to become productive citizens in a democratic society and participate in social change. It is imperative that teachers be knowledgeable on how to be familiar with, respect, and incorporate the personal abilities of students into their teaching strategies. Teachers must be familiar with what is multi-culture in education. If this is done properly, then school expects the best of achievement.

Making Students Feel Comfortable At School

As others would put it, first impression is lasting. It is therefore imperative that either on the part of the teacher or the student to create a good school atmosphere at the beginning of the school year. With such a kind of environment, both parties would be of positive start and encouragement creates a center of attention.

For teachers, to give students the impression at the start of the school that their teacher is a terror makes no good. Students tend to create an atmosphere of fear and dislike. This would make them discourage from attending the class. At all times, teacher, from the very start, should encourage students to study hard and one way to do this is to highlight positive examples.

But how? It is of the essence that students be given the opportunity to share his part. Let them be a part of discussion process such as those in policy process in the classroom or of their daily learning. To further encourage students, it is also important that parents must be involved. Students should be given the impression that parents are parts of their learning process. Parents must play vital roles in the students’ school learning. This may be done by way of organizing the parent-teacher association. In this group, parents should be guided by the teachers of the lessons that may be taught of as a matter of following up.