Multiculturalism

With the presidential election this year, there has been an extreme emphasis on multiculturalism in society. Now that we have an African American president, one may argue that some cultures may be pushed aside due to a different kind of custom in the White House.
In class we talked about the concept of multiculturalism and how important or not important it may be to our students. I view our world and society as one big classroom filled with different cultures, individuals and ideas. Together, we must work as a community and learn from each other. Because the world can be related so closely to the concept of a classroom, why can’t we relate multiculturalism within a classroom to the bigger aspect of multiculturalism in the world?
We can focus on diversity in our classrooms, but maybe the classroom is just the catalyst for making EVERYONE aware, not just our students. There are many full grown adults that have issues with diversity and different customs. For example, I cannot tell you how many times during the election process I heard conversations in which people would express that they were fearful of having a black president, simply because they were unsure of others’ ethnicity and customs.
As far as I am concerned, we are all one big community. Like the communities we stress about every day in our classrooms, we must work together to honor the differences we each bring to the table. Think about how boring our lives would be if we all believed in the same things. Variety is the spice of life and as teachers we have the opportunity to foster that in our students right from the start.