Why Multicultural Education is Indispensable

Multicultural education, created in the 1990s by James A. Banks, is a reformed education system that “[strengthens] intercultural awareness/consciousness and [supports] critical thinking and democratic lifestyles” within students’ lives (Gezer). This type of education enforces the concept of expressing one’s own culture knowledgeably and the concept of discovering and accepting differing worldviews. It also opens the door to the adoption, also known as acculturation, of worldviews that are extracultural and probably would not have happened without multicultural education.

As a young learner, it can be extremely difficult to understand why your family does certain things vastly different from what is being taught at school. How disoriented and alone most of these kids must feel at school when they are learning about Christmas, but they celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Bodhi Day, Las Posadas,Yaldā/Chelleh Night or Dōngzhì Festival at home. They are studying events they most likely won’t ever celebrate with their family; and the holidays they do observe aren’t known to anyone else around them except those who are part of the same community. 

The students who do live according to what is mainly taught at school can also greatly benefit from multicultural education by understanding early on that their culture is largely specific to their geographic location (of birth) and social position. In areas where diversity is low, ignorance is high. Many students involuntarily lack the knowledge of other cultures' existences simply due to the lack of multicultural education. 

 Firstly, there are the multicultural classes that are considered discipline specific in which students "examine cultural similarities and differences in the United States based upon two or more attributes which may include, but are not limited to: ethnicity, race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation and disabilities" (UNLV).  Some of these may be certain U.S. history, anthropology, English, music, language, ethnic, sociology, theater or political science courses. The importance and benefit of thees classes are straightforward: the exposure to culturally diverse settings allows students to familiarize themselves to an environment unlike their own at home and accustoms them to varied perspectives. These courses set the path to cultural awareness, self pride and self introspection, but most crucially, they "[dilute] and [dissipate] the divisiveness of ignorance" (MacPherson).

Secondly, the integration of multiculturality in all courses no matter the subject is the most vital part of multicultural education and the most in need of reform and training. Robert Ferguson, an Associate Professor of science education at North Carolina A&T State University, explains that it is crucial for teachers to obtain training in "learn[ing] and understand[ing] who they and who their students are (socially, ideologically, culturally, etc.)" (Ferguson). To forge a strong relationship of respect, understanding, acceptance and curiosity between teachers and their students AND among students themselves, there needs to be an incorporation of dialogues, activities and demonstrations that can and should encompass various cultures. This means integrating multiculturality via content and context of any courses' curriculum.