Heather Hawkins

Educ 275 - Schooling in the US

Dec. 19th, 2014

The Purpose of Schooling in the United States

Reflection

This class has really opened my eyes to reasons behind the way I think, and the

errors of it. Schooling in the US has really taught me about the dierences and the
struggles of those around me and the ways I can help, or being understanding. The
world around us is clearly a wonderfully, diverse place. We need to embrace the
diversity surrounding us and find ways to encourage our students to do so, as well. I
think the discussions on prejudices and Dr. Akintundes video on the every day racism
we experience has really broaden my views and goals as a teacher. I hope that I can
make a dierence in all my students lives and help them to respect and value one
another as they should.

Introduction

Throughout this class we have inquired, discussed, and observed various claims

regarding the purpose of schooling in the United States, with one distinct claim outweighing all others; to create thinkers. The purpose of schooling in the US is to create
not only thinkers, but multicultural thinkers, who will be prepared for the world. To
better understand this purpose and the ways we can accomplish it, we interviewed
community members, teachers, and spend hours in discussion. Being a teacher will be
no small task; there will be challenges in teaching our content, challenges in
connecting to our students, and challenges in bettering not only our students, but
ourselves. When we look at the ways we can transform the existing order, when can
make our goal of creating multicultural thinkers a reality.

What it Means to Become Multicultural

In my first paper, I explained that school was a place to cultivate learners

create a place where students can obtain knowledge, where they learn to form their
own ideas and opinions, where they can learn to work with others and embrace
dierences amongst themselves. The purpose of school is to do all these things, but
the real goal is to create thinkers and learners that can be valuable contributors to
society. School is a place where students are thrown into a world amongst their varying
peers from early childhood through young adulthood; its a place where they learn not
only how to read or do math, but a place where they learn how to solve problems, how
to think critically, how to communicate, how to work with their peers. They do all of
these things within the existing order, and there is so much we can do to transform this
order!

In Dr. Akintundes video, he explained some of the challenges we will face with

the existing order. He explained the dierent levels of racism; individual, institutional,
societal, and civilizational racisms that contribute epistemological racism (White
Racism, White Privilege and the Social Construction of Race). Epistemological racism,
according to the reading Coloring Epistemologies is this ingrained and unconscious
racism in our society that our students will have to face (Sheurich, J., & Young, M.
(1997)). Coloring Epistemologies also points out that this is often not a conscious or
vicious racism, but deeply rooted in our every day lives, which is important for students
to understand to be able to grow and change the way they think. It also helps students
to understand where some of their misconceived views originated as well as why they
are wrong.

Dr. Akintunde demonstrated many situations that arise from racism today; I

specifically enjoyed the Schindlers List story, where Dr. Akintundes family discussed
the mistreatment of Jewish people during World War 2. Dr. Akintunde was astonished
at the blatant genocide of Jewish people, while his sister and mother of christian faith,
were less concerned as Jewish people would not go to heaven, anyways (White
Racism, White Privilege and the Social Construction of Race). I found this example
incredibly relatable, because you believe and understand the beliefs of those around
you so easily, you often forget or dismiss other peoples beliefs. Examples like this in
class really opened my eyes to the types of discrimination students will encounter and
the challenges I will be able to help them overcome. The message in Dr. Akintundes
video about epistemological racism that our students will face demonstrated the need
for dialogical pedagogy in the classroom.

The reading Dialogical Pedagogy in Teacher Education: Toward an Education

for Democracy, describes the benefits of dialogical pedagogy, or discussion in the

classroom. The reading proposed that instead of the traditional way of teaching, where
the teacher has all the knowledge, there should be student discussion, where the
students can contribute their own knowledge and ideas to the class (FernandezBalboa, J., & Marshal, J. (1994)). The quote, Dialogue enables individuals not only to
tap into their human qualities of self-awareness, self-reflection, and self-criticism
which, in turn, acquire a political dimension, demonstrates how dialogical pedagogy
can open up the minds of students, creating understanding and unique learning
environments (Fernandez-Balboa, J., & Marshal, J. (1994)). If growing up, Dr.
Akintundes family knew Jewish people and were able to discuss the struggle their
families had gone thorough during WWII, then maybe they would have an
understanding of the cruelty they endured and have more empathy for the situation. I
think our class is an example of this working successfully in practice. Each week we
met and discussed the readings, by not only sharing our thoughts and ideas, but our
personal experiences. We learned as much from one another as we did from the
readings, but none of this would have been possible if we had not first created a
peaceful, accepting classroom community.

Another big part of creating the type of multicultural learning environment our

class had, is creating a peaceful presence in the classroom. Peace education is

another step towards creating multicultural learners, because it embraces our
dierences and works to create peace within them. In the reading, Creating Inclusive
Schools, Lantieri and Paiit discuss the possibilities of healing together as a way to

create peace in classrooms - to help create a future where no students are

automatically advantaged or disadvantaged over one another, and that to do so will
take time and hard work, but that, it is possible to build, rather than tear down our
social mosaic, (Lantieri, L., & Patti, J. (1996)). The idea of working hard to build a
diverse community that embraces and celebrates dierences instead of opposing them
is something I hope to instill in my students. It is important for students to be able
relate to those dierent from themselves to do this; the book, Spirituality, Religion, and
Peace Education, explores the idea of interconnectedness between students and the
world around them. It explains that wisdom based learning creates compassionate
students that will leave school and enter the world as compassionate members of
society (Brantmeier, E. (2010)).

While it is clear that we should help our students become multicultural learners

and thinkers, in order to do so we must consistently work to be multicultural learners

ourselves. In chapter ten of Arming Diversity, Nieto and Bode explain that it takes
years of multicultural education to become a multicultural individual (Nieto, S., & Bode,
P. (2012)). This means reeducating ourselves - engaging in pluralism, finding the allencompassing materials and providing them for our students. This also means we
need to confront our own racism and biases in order to move past them (Nieto, S., &
Bode, P. (2012)). Many times we have stereotypes or prejudices aecting what we do
or say without even noticing, but to really be multicultural we have to see things from
the dierent perspectives our students may have and think about how these biases
may aect them.

Nieto and Bode also describe a model for multicultural education with multiple

levels: tolerance, acceptance, respect, and armation/solidarity/critique. These levels

provide a model to help implement multiculturalism in schools and help list some of the
many elements required in building a multicultural community. I think this idea of the
dierent levels of multiculturalism can really help students understand ways they are
not necessarily being multicultural. An example in the book explains how an assembly
during Black History month is a step in the right direction, but really lacks in daily
application. We need to help our students to be able to engage in the diversity around
them, meaning they need to be able to welcome and support each other, especially
those dierent from themselves, and with this respect and come critique and peaceful,
dialogical pedagogy about the diversity they are experiencing. They also point out that
becoming multicultural is a very dynamic process, as cultures and identities are
constantly changing. There is a great need for flexibility and understanding to become
multicultural (Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2012)).

Conclusion
This class has taught me the importance of embracing our dierences and
understanding all that students can oer in a classroom. There is great potential for the
future generations to be multicultural people - people who are understanding and
compassionate for the world and people surrounding them, and as I teacher I can help
facilitate this type of growth and humanity in my students. We can educate our
students, help them engage in discussion, provide them with opportunities to express
themselves and be received and respected when they do.

Students spend the majority of their developmental life in our schools, and it is
our job as teachers to help them grow into multicultural learners who can think for
themselves, become adults who understand and respect our diverse communities, and
be individuals who are capable and prepared to navigate the diverse and dynamic
world beyond school.

Works Cited
Brantmeier, E. (2010). Educating for Wisdom. In Spirituality, religion, and peace education (pp.
261-265). Charlotte, NC: IAP-Information Age Pub.
Fernandez-Balboa, J., & Marshal, J. (1994). Dialogical Pedagogy in Teacher Education: Toward
an Education for Democracy. Journal of Teacher Education, 45 (3), 27-28.
Lantieri, L., & Patti, J. (1996). Waging Peace in our Schools (pp. 110-111). Boston: Beacon
Press.
Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2012). Implications for Teachers, Schools, Families, and Communities. In
Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education (6th ed.).
Boston: Pearson Education.
Sheurich, J., & Young, M. (1997). Coloring Epistemologies: Are Our Research Epistemologies
Racially Biased? Educational Researcher, 26(4), 4-16.
White Racism, White Privilege and the Social Construction of Race [Motion picture on DVD].
(n.d.). United States: Akintunde Productions.