Multicultural Education In University

According to the USA’s National Center of Education Statistics (2004), there were approximately 40% of students of color in American campus and it is predicted that it will increase to around 50% by 2020. It is obvious that minority students and colored students is a large percentage of the total students in America. So does in all Western universities. However, different backgrounds and cultures sometimes bring bad effects, like racism, to both students’ academic achievements and daily life and this is becoming a serious social problem. So coming up with some solutions to make diversity an advantage is essential for the universities. This essay is about multicultural education in universities and will discuss implementing multicultural education

There was an experiment done by Falbo and Da Baessa (2006) with Indian and Latino students speaking either Kiché or Q’eqchi’ to see the effects of multicultural education on their academic performance. They studied both their own cultures and languages and other’s for one year. The result of the experiment showed that the students having multicultural education had a better academic achievement on reading, writing and mathematics than the students who only learned about their own or a totally different culture. Multicultural education teaches students strategies to solve problems, especially cultural problems, and builds students’ self-confidence with study in both universities and in their communities (Alismail, 2010). Furthermore, the study showed that multicultural education could reduce prejudice among students. Most students having bicultural education had a higher respect for diversity of cultures and were positively interacting with other ethnic groups. Although this experiment did not last too long to show the long-term effect, this proved the importance of bicultural education. So, universities can implement multicultural courses to enhance both students’ academic results and their respect and understanding to cultural

There are five approaches addressed by Jenks, Lee and Kanpol. (2001) to Multicultural Teacher Education (MTE). The first approach is called Teaching the “Other”, which prepares teachers with enough knowledge and skills about diverse cultures, values, histories, languages and lifestyles so that they can work well with students of different identities. The second one is Teaching with Cultural Sensitivity and Tolerance. By examining personal biases and prejudices and studying human relations, intergroup relations and cultural sensitivity, teachers become tolerant and respect the differences and sensitiveness of the cultures. Teaching with Multicultural Competence provides teachers appropriate ways to teach multicultural curriculums by learning multicultural competence and pedagogies to satisfy students’ different needs. However, it pays less attention on injustice in education compare to the other approaches. Through Teaching in Sociopolitical Context, teachers are able to learn social justice education, critical theories and pedagogies by examining the results of inequity and injustice through their own practices. The last approach is called Teaching as Resistance and Counter-Hegemonic Practice that is based on the fourth approach but adds the introduction of postcolonial theories. It deepens