Dr. Martin Luther King: A Critical Reflection Of Multicultural Education

Critical Reflection Paper Dr. Martin Luther King (1963) spoke eloquently as he declared, “I have a dream that my four little children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” (p. 5). Dr. King’s dream of a character-based society is not one that denies its cultural diversity, but that celebrates it as an integral part of its character. Educators help create this society by using their knowledge, skills, and disposition to celebrate his or her students’ cultural heritage while refining characters to become productive members of society.

Knowledge

No one becomes a master carpenter experience, extensive knowledge, and necessary skills. The same applies to educating

2). She writes, “Educational inequality is repugnant in a society that has pledged to provide an equal education for all students regardless of rank or circumstance. Yet educational inequality is commonplace in schools all over our country” (p. xiv). She provides an excellent overview of how to construct effective multicultural educational programs. Her characteristics of multicultural education (p. 68) create the foundation upon which we build comprehensive understanding insuring a teacher does more than give cursory asides to diversity in the classroom but appreciates fully the different gifts the students bring to the educational experience. Fundamental to multicultural education is recognizing how culture affects academic performance.

116). Nieto argues bilingual education is necessary for students to know success and educators should see bilingualism as an asset upon which to build further success. Acknowledging bilingualism is common in elsewhere, she maintains the same should be true in America (p. 112-116). Though she cited studies supporting her position, she failed to note studies supporting language immersion as an effective educational tool. In 1986, the Defense Language Institute (DLI) commissioned a study comparing two means of language instruction. According to Bush (1986), the suggestopedia method evaluated attempted to recreate, as much as possible, the childhood experience of learning languages. The traditional DLI method was full immersion with emphasis on functions, contents, and accuracy components of language mastery (p. 17-18). The study concluded suggestopedia students scored significantly lower than students taught more traditionally after 15 weeks (p. 27). These studies demonstrate that learning a second language is more complex than many argue and that different methods are necessary. Equally important are costs of bilingual programs. My school