Term Paper on "Culturally Sensitive Education"

Term Paper 10 pages (3626 words) Sources: 15 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Culturally Sensitive Education

Education as Change Agent for Cultural Awareness and Collective Need

Any review of literature regarding change affect and culturally sensitive education would be remiss if it did not begin with a discussion of the work of Pablo Freire, as to some degree he is the first scholar and thinker that observed the validity of education as a change agent, and specifically as an agent to restore cultural points-of-view that had been lost in oppression. In an overall sense Freire stressed that the culture of the oppressed must not be overshadowed by that of the oppressor in education and that this applies to majority minority status in any culturally diverse population. Though Freire stresses a pedagogy of post-colonialism including a great many of its dogmatic terms and meanings he also stresses that educators and students through developed mutual love will together be a change agent.

As individuals or as peoples, by fighting for the restoration of our humanity we will be attempting the restoration of true generosity. And this fight, because of the purpose given it, will actually constitute an act of love. (Freire, 2000, p. 45)

The concept of "educating for social reconstruction" speaks to the humanitarian side of the teaching profession. We live in a world engulfed in wars, AIDS, hunger, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness and global warming, to name a few of the problems that afflict people around the world. According to a new trend in the global world, the solutions to many of these problems, including the adaptation of a previously subjugated population to democracy will be gained through "global education." Which in other words can be described as culturally sensitive education, that to some degree responds to a universality of humanity, making clear to the educated that we as people are all members of the same family and are all deserving and responsible for recognizing and enforcing the humanity in all. The global education movement has a significant following and is based upon the premise that educating the masses will give them greater opportunity in an increasingly global economy. (Henderson, 2005, p. 306) There are concerns that any kind of global education will once again create a system that does not effectively impart issues of culture and individuality, but simply whitewash or create political correctness that does not impart culture the cultures in which it is adopted, leaving the world full of people who have no sense of history or culture, and an educated desire to serve a larger community that might not be relevant to their lives. (Henderson, 2005, p. 306) the argument in favor of global education for change contends that this is not the case and that the framework of any global education movement should and will answer to the fact that culture is an essential element of humanity and must be illuminated in both majority and minority without the traditional, winner writing the history books scenario which as occurred all over the post-colonial worlds. (Giroux, 1981, p.39) Freire's work itself warned of the need to develop universal education but also stressed the importance of making sure that the intentions of educators to improve culture did not repeat the mistakes of the past, including but not limited to teaching a curriculum that stressed the victor's point-of-view and created a world full of individuals who did not know their own cultural/linguistic identity. (Freire 2000, p.125). (Giroux & Simon, 1989, p. 8)

Global education is defined as an education system that teaches modern ideals that will assist the growing global economy by creating a world community view, "...national governments are proclaiming education as the key to success in the global economy. " (Spring, 1998, p. 5) the idea is based on the concept that the U.S. And other nations need to address issues of global concern in a manner that effectively imparts social and civic responsibility as well as cultural history. The adoption of a global pedagogy in the U.S. is a highly contested issue, as many believe that the need for addressing global issues is devoid of cultural identity and will replace curricula that is important to individualism and American social identity. In a more modern sense, global education is a term that denotes the need to teach all international citizens the skills they will need to accomplish success in a global economy. Multicultural education, on the other hand is an attempt to ingrate more than one cultural expression into curriculum, an example would be a stress to include varied cultural curriculum including linguistics from other locals and history and culture of other nations or peoples.

Characteristics of Culturally Sensitive Curriculum

As educational theories go, multicultural education and individual education have more of a following among educators while "global education" has more of a following among economists and philosophers. The reality is that educators by their nature attempt to navigate the needs of the individual and doing so necessitate making sure they are acknowledged as individuals through cultural and social representation, not so they will simply be capable of making good money in the future. As a symptom of being members of the dominant culture, the U.S. would probably do well to adopt some of the standards and practices of global education curriculum to improve awareness of global social and economic issues, teaching a sense of social and civic responsibility in a global market would likely improve the individual member of the dominant culture. It must also be said that adopting a culturally sensitive education policy within the global environment must take special care not to over emphasize the culture and linguistics of the dominant western tradition. "Dialogue requires an intense faith in [others], faith in their power to make and remake, to create and re-create, faith in [their] vocation to be more fully human (which is not the privilege of an elite but the birthright of all)" (Freire, 2000, p.79). Freire warns that the emphasis on dominant cultural teaching must be careful not to view the individual as a pathological aspect of culture.

A those who deviate from the general configuration of a "good organized and just society." The oppressed are regarded as the pathology of the healthy society, which must therefore adjust these "incompetent and lazy" folk to its own patterns by changing mentality. These marginals need to be "integrated," "incorporated" into the healthy society that they have "forsaken" (Freire,2000, pp. 60-61).

The key to development of a true culturally sensitive education system must stress an emphasis on cultural identity and independence, as well as reestablishing the importance of linguistic and historical expression. (Giroux, 1981, p.39)

The oppressed suffer from the duality which has established itself in their innermost being. They discover that without freedom they cannot exist authentically.... They are at one and the same time themselves and the oppressor whose consciousness they have internalized. The conflict lies in the choice between being wholly themselves or being divided; between ejecting the oppressor within or not ejecting him; between human solidarity or alienation; between following prescriptions or having choices...between speaking out or being silent, castrated in their power to create and re-create, in their power to transform the world (Freire, 2000, pp.32-33).

Freire stresses the importance of an education system that acknowledges individuality and freedom of expression with regard to the context of the individual being educated. While the intentions of "global" education may be good ones they also stress the importance of universalizing culture, such as stressing the importance of English as a universal language of global business. "As a result of British and U.S. expansionism, commerce, motion pictures, broadcasting, and popular music, English is the primary language of the global economy." (Spring, 1998, p. 27) This emphasis on English as a universal language may be a logical one but must seriously be questioned in any given context, as English in a culturally sensitive education curriculum must not be the "only" language taught but must be either primary or secondary to other language depending on the composition of the classroom. (Stritikus, 2002)

The need for educators to make sense out of the needs of the broader community and the needs of the individual can be seen as an impasse, but it is one that is dire need of bridging. (Giroux, 1997, p. 71) According to Freire and others responding to the need for cultural sensitive curriculum and teachers there is a clear sense that the teacher can be a change agent through curriculum if such curriculum is responsive to cultural diversity and identity, linguistically and otherwise.

Freire recognized that the struggle of teachers to exercise our political will and capacity to decide within schools could be severely curtailed by the tendency to become "hardened" by the dominant bureaucracy's dehumanizing posture toward teachers who seek school change. Yet he recognized that there are legitimate reasons why this phenomenon is so prevalent among teachers. More often than not, teachers who are committed to such restoration of humanity within schools and communities are perceived as subversive, (1970, 46). (Darder, 2002, p.… READ MORE

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