Incorporating and Promoting Cultural Diversity in the Middle and High School

Classroom

Euniqua Harris

EDUC 3200 Foundations of Education

12:30pm
Dr. Jim McKernan
March 24, 2013

Harris 1
Abstract

Most students spend their whole lives growing up with people of the same race
and similar socio-economical standings with little variation. Promoting diversity in the
classroom exposes the child to different cultures. Allowing a student to see different
cultures enables them to recognize that all people are unique in their own way. Diversity
education in middle and secondary schools teaches the students to avoid prejudice,
develop their own opinions and experiences, and develop strong skills necessary in the
business world.
Children between two and five start becoming aware of gender, race, ethnicity,
and disabilities. They also begin to absorb both the positive attitudes and negative biases
attached to these aspects of identity by family members and other significant adults in
their lives. Not that all parents are teaching their children to hate people who are different
but not correcting a child when they display prejudice behaviors teaches the child that it
is ok to act in such a manner. If we want children to like themselves and value diversity,
we must learn how to help them resist the biases and prejudices that are still far too
prevalent in our society (National Association for the Education of Young People). I see
a huge change in many students once they started working with students across the
world. They became more open minded and I saw that they were making decisions and
judgments based on what they thought and not just what the family or community
thought. (as far as racism goes.), stated Darcy Grimes 2012-2013 North Carolina
Teacher of the Year. A great way to incorporate diversity into the classroom is to let
students to use monitored social media such as edmudo, skype, ect., to complete projects

Harris 2
with students of different cultures. The more interaction a student has with different
people the more they become less judgmental of others beliefs, values and or lifestyles.
Diversity programs in college help to promote tolerance, acceptance and knowledge
about diverse cultures. Applying some of the same concepts in middle and secondary
school gives the students the tools to start to think for themselves. Having discussions
about diversity in class permits the students to express how they feel about a subject
while all developing their own opinions.
Most students are comfortable interacting with people, behavior and ideas that are
familiar with their own but react with fear and apprehension when faced with the
unfamiliar. Promoting cultural diversity in the classroom exposes the student to different
cultures and through research the student can create their own experiences and opinions.
The classroom environment offers potential opportunities for students to communicate
their beliefs while overcoming the inherent challenges in working with diverse groups.
Educating students on different cultures teaches students that differences in perspectives
and culture are to be appreciated rather than feared and judged. Allowing a student to be
exposed to different cultures increases the students awareness and creates a learning
experience and promotes change within the student itself. This includes respect for other
cultures and people they will interact with throughout their adult lives. Also, a students
own culture will be enriched and will make them more open to diversity. According to
some, By creating contexts in which students encounter others from different
backgrounds, interact across those differences, and learn about diverse people and
perspectives help students learn the knowledge and skills necessary to function
effectively in our increasingly diverse and complex society. (Thomas Laird)

Harris 3
Skills such as effective communication, problem solving, creativity, networking,
etc., are important in the business world and can all be achieved through diversity
education programs. Evidence suggests that incorporating diversity into the curriculum,
through both content and structured interactions among diverse peers, makes students
more likely to increase, among other things the complexity of their thinking and
willingness to engage current social problems. (Thomas Laird). By permitting students
to interact with diverse people they have to work on their communication skills to get
across different language barriers. Through the expression of their ideas, when working
on a project, the student has to be careful of the things they say because of a difference in
culture specific language. This in turn teaches the student that what is acceptable in our
culture may be offensive in other cultures. In completion to successfully communicate
with someone of a different culture in turn boosts the students self-esteem and gives the
student confidence to engage with other students socially. Diversity education programs
gives the student the ability to think creatively when working on projects with students of
different cultures. Incorporating diversity assignments into the curriculum gives the
students the opportunity to work on networking. Networking as we know in the college
community is essential for a healthy business career. Teaching students, particularly high
school, strategies on how to display yourself in a professional manner are proved to be
useful in the context of the business community. Having students do projects with other
students gives them the practice they need to work on these skills.
Promoting and incorporating diversity into the classroom is a great way for students
to see that the world is not just black and white or the world expands only as far as their
front yard. Diversity education classes expand the cultural horizons of the students and

Harris 4
are a great way to correct students bias about certain issues. Having children do
structured projects with students of different cultures gives them first-hand experience
when working with someone with possibly completely different values. Overcoming
these possible cultural hurdles and accomplishing a preset goal boosts a students selfesteem and gives them the confidence to accomplish anything in life. Most importantly,
diversity education classes promote self-reflection in a student. When doing research on
different cultures most like to apply findings to ones own self and begin to notice things
about ones own culture. This period of self-reflection promotes deep thought about a
culture which starts a spark into further research into a culture. Further belief of
understanding another culture creates a sense of pride. The cycle of misinformation is
broken when students are actually taught that being different is a beautiful thing.
Diversity education programs in middle and high school gives the children a head start on
skills needed in life and makes the transition from adolescent to adult to working adult
much smoother.

Harris 5
References
Borkar, Rujuta. "Cultural Diversity in the Classroom." Buzzle. N.p., 6 May 2010. Web.
20 Mar. 2013.
Coleman, Arthur L., Francisco M. Negron Jr., and Katherine E. Lipper. "Promoting
Diverisity in Your Schools." American School Board Journal. Ed. Glenn Cook.
N.p., 20 Jan. 2013. Web. 25 Mar. 2013.
Grimes, Darcy. "Global Education." Message to the author. 27 Feb. 2013. Web.
Jones, Stephen. Teachers of Color. Teachers of Color, 17 Apr. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.
Lynch, Matthew. Huffington Post. HuffPost Education Group, 6 Jan. 2012. Web. 22 Mar.
2013.
Martin, Marie, Gerry Gaden, and Judith Harford, eds. Rethinking Education. Vol. 1.
Bern: International Academic Publishers, 2011. 12 vols. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.
Nelson Laird, Thomas F., Mark E. Engberg, and Sylvia Hurtado. "Modeling
Accentuation Effects." The Journal of Higher Education. N.p., 7 Feb. 2005. Web.
20 Mar. 2013.