chapter six creating classrooms that address race and ethnicity (c) 2006 the mcgraw-hill companies,...

Chapter Six Creating Classrooms

that Address Race and Ethnicity

(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Cushner/McClelland/Safford, Human Diversity in Education, 5/e

Lay versus Scientific Understanding of Race and Ethnicity

Pedagogies: Old and New Teachers do not shy away from the deep-seated

influence that race plays in people’s lives Teachers understand the historical significance

of race Teachers are aware that majority children may

not understand the role race plays in their lives


Roles: Old and New

Teachers understand their roles as active agents of change

Teachers reach out to individuals and community groups that represent various ethnic and racial groups

Students interact with community groups working to change the status quo


History of diversity in the United States a critical element

Concept of “race” often used incorrectly

Genotype—shared genetic material

Phenotype—visible traits (e.g., skin color)

Textbooks often inaccurate and dated

Content materials often biased (intentionally or unintentionally)


Place of Content Knowledge: Old and New

Assessment: Old and New

Assessment instruments may be developed and normed with only one race or ethnic group in mind

Assessments should consider the sociocultural context of the learner

Biases and stereotypes

Prior experience of the learnerAssessments should be varied


Understanding Prejudice and Racism

Ethnocentrism leads people to believe that their own “ways” are good and “natural”

Prejudice implies a lack of thought or care in making a judgment about others

While racial and ethnic prejudice can be expressed both positively and negatively, in the United States it is most often negative


Prejudice Formation: The Components of Prejudice

The cognitive component refers to the process of categorization

The affective component refers to the feelings that accompany a person’s thoughts about members of a particular group

The behavioral component refers to the discriminatory behavior that people who harbor prejudices direct toward others


The Functions of Prejudice

Adjustment Function—prejudicial attitudes may help one adjust to a complex world

Ego-Defensive Function—prejudicial attitudes may protect one’s self-concept

Value-Expressive Function—prejudicial attitudes may help demonstrate one’s own self-concept to others

Knowledge Function—prejudicial attitudes may reinforce the stereotypical knowledge of one’s ingroup


How Children Learn Prejudice

Observation and passive learning from respected elders

Membership in a group that excludes others The media, when it reinforces stereotypes Religious fundamentalism that emphasizes

exclusive rights to “the truth”


Extreme Cases of Prejudice

Racism—the transformation of prejudicial attitudes through the use of power directed toward those one regards as inferior

Hate Groups—any organized body that denigrates select groups of people based on ethnicity, race, religion, or sexual orientation

White Privilege—the largely unconscious acceptance by dominant groups of privileges denied to oppressed groups

Racial Profiling—law enforcement practices aimed at those who “fit” a particular profile—usually age, ethnicity, and/or race


Curriculum Transformation: Strategies for Prejudice Reduction

Critical to reducing prejudice and establishing an interculturally sensitive classroom is the teacher’s understanding of, and ability to integrate, intercultural awareness and prejudice reduction activities into the curriculum

Intercultural sensitivity is not “natural”—cross-cultural contact has historically been accompanied by bloodshed, oppression, or genocide


Educational Strategies to Reduce Prejudice

Improving social contact and intergroup relations Equal Status Contact: when those who are

brought together perceive they are of equal status

Superordinate Goals: when the purpose of bringing people together cannot be accomplished without the participation of all

con’t.


Encouragement of Intergroup Interaction: all involved in a school must actively encourage and support efforts of teachers and students to experiment with curricular and other innovations to improve the school involvement with differences

Personal Familiarity: people must have the opportunity to get to know the “other” person in ways that render the stereotypic image clearly inaccurate or inappropriate


Educational Strategies to Reduce Prejudice

Some Cautions in Applying the Contact Hypothesis

Many schools are monocultural, providing little opportunity for intergroup contact to occur; in such cases it is best to stress the diversity that is present (e.g., socioeconomic or gender)

Equal status contact within the school may conflict with that which occurs outside the school


Increasing Cognitive Sophistication

Improving students’ critical thinking skillsQuestioningAnalyzingSuspending judgment until all

available information is collected and studied


Improving Self-Confidence and Self-Acceptance

A sense of self-worth and self-confidence supports the reduction of prejudice Students feel secure and accepted Student participation is valued Students know the boundaries and limits

of behavior


Increasing Empathy for and Understanding of Others

Long-term gains in prejudice reduction require educational activity that actively engages the emotions Writing stories or acting out dramatizations of

cross-cultural situations Any activity that enables students to “step

into the shoes” of another Classroom simulations that generate “culture

shock”


Comprehensive Programs That Improve Intergroup Relations

Anti-Bias Education for Young Children—a curriculum published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

Cooperative Learning—helping children work together

A World of Difference—a curriculum developed by the Anti-Defamation League

Facing History and Ourselves—focus on the history of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust


Something to Think About

“…let’s think about the consequences of silence. I think about Hitler. He got into power by people around him were silent and didn’t challenge him. When you are silent, you are giving tacit approval of the messages you hear around you… Your simple comments can go quite far at making change.”

—John Gray


chapter six creating classrooms that address race and ethnicity (c) 2006 the mcgraw-hill companies,...

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