A question that often finds itself as the focus of curriculum debates and school planning discussions is that of moral and character development. Does character development have a place in our schools? Should public schools take the responsibility of educating students on morality? The answer is complex and has a multitude of sides and opinions. In a way, however, schools already educate students on what to believe and how to behave. By excluding the history of the "other" Americans, such as people of color, women, and homosexuals, and focusing instead of the failures and successes of those of European descent, our schools already instill a distinct vision of who and what we are supposed to be. The white Protestant male’s vision of history and view of the world tends to be placed into the text -books and overall teachings of public schools in the United States.
A very real example of this bias can be seen in the teaching of Thanksgiving. A holiday celebrated universally through all religions gives educators in public schools the opportunity to discuss and rejoice in the day with classroom activities and parties. Neglected from the Thanksgiving lesson, however, is the plight of the Native American who lost land and life when the Puritan settlers landed. Although moral education differs from multicultural education, they have points that intertwine. To me, the goals of character and moral education are to open up the minds of children and encourage an acceptance of others different from themselves. One of the most important pieces to moral education is fostering respect. Through development of respect and understanding of difference and humanity in general, perhaps much of the hate and intolerance that occurs in our society pres...
... middle of paper ...
...dence Institute [on-line]. http://i2iorg/Publications/Op-Eds/Education/itselementary.htm
Petrovic, J.E. (1999). Moral Democratic Education and Homosexuality: Censoring Morality.[Electronic Copy] Journal of Moral Education: 28, 201-210.
Pierce, K. (1999). It’s Elementary: The New Gay Public Education Outreach. NLJ On-Line. http://www.liberty.edu/chancellor/nlj/July1999/Gay1.htm.
Simonds, F. (2001). CEE Strategy. Citizens for Excellence in Education [on-line]. http://www.webcom.com/webcee/ceestrategy.htm.
Stoltenberg, J. (1989). Refusing to Be A Man: Essays on Sex and Justice. London: UCL Press.
Teaching Tolerance Project. (1997). Starting Small: Teaching Tolerance in Preschool and the Early Grades. Montgomery, Alabama: Southern Poverty Law Center.
Teaching Tolerance. (2001). Ten Ways to Fight Hate. [on-line]. http://www.Tolerance .org/10_ways/teach/index.html
It is the new decade after the end of world war two and modernism is a well-established practice. Its pioneers and spearheads are prevalent figures looming over the new architects and designers who are trying to make their mark in the shadows of such historically influential people. With new technologies and materials emerging from the world wars the next era of modernism had started to evolved, bringing with it philosophies and ideas which seemed far removed from those of the pioneers of modernism “What emerged in the late 1940s and 1950s was an expanding synthesis of questions utterly removed from the confident statements of the pioneers.”(Spade 1971,10) Two significant buildings were designed in the 50's, both of them for educational institutes and to house students of architecture, there were both designed in completely different styles and methods. The first is Ludwig Mies van der Rohes' Crown Hall, finished in 1956 and designed as a part of a campus master plan for the Illinois Institute of technology in Chicago. Mies' design for Crown Hall is one of his most realised expressio...
The speaker begins the poem an ethereal tone masking the violent nature of her subject matter. The poem is set in the Elysian Fields, a paradise where the souls of the heroic and virtuous were sent (cite). Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and
“The world’s greatest problems do not result from people being unable to read and write. They result from people in the world-from different cultures, races, religions, and nations-being unable to get along and to work together to solve the world’s problems.” These statements by James A. Banks have made a profound impact on my view towards multicultural education and the nation’s current trend of standardization and high-stakes testing. Scholarly research shows that the emphasis placed on testing and standards, mandated by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, is causing teachers to focus entirely on basic skills in reading, writing, and math (Banks & Banks, 2010). This focus on basic skills is taking much needed time and attention away from multicultural education, and the teaching of social justice skills. These skills are critical to students becoming active citizens that can work together with all different groups to tackle the world’s issues. Thus, the problem and question for me becomes, how do we as educators maintain excellence and equity in our teaching through multicultural education, in the face of the standards and mandates set by NCLB and our state, so that no student-of any group-is left behind?
...,1994:246-247. Geraci, Joseph and DonaldH. Mader. "Pedophillia." Encyclopedia of Homosexuality Ed. Wayne R Dynes. Garland Publishing, Inc , New York, 1990: v2, 964-970. Hamill, Pete. "Confessions of a Heterosexual." The Aims of Argument. A Rhetoric and Reader. 2nd Ed. Timothy W. Crusius and Carolyn E. Chanell: Mayfield Publishing, Mountain View, California,1998: 531-536. Mohr, Richard D. "Gay Basics: Some Questions, Facts, and Values." Taking sides: Clashing Views on controversial Issues. Moral Issues. 4th Ed. Stephen Satris: The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc, Guilford,1994:186-194. Nickel, Jeffrey. "Everybody’s Threatened by Homophobia." The Aims of Argument. A Rhetoric and Reader.2nd Ed. Timothy W. Crusius and Carolyn E. Chanell: Mayfield Publishing, Mountain View, California, 1998:527-530. Schuklenk,Udo and Tony Riley. "Homosexuality, Social Attitudes Toward." Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. Editor-in -Chief Ruth Chadwick. Academic Press: San Diego, 1998: v2, 597-603. Ulanowsky, Carole. "The Family." Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. Editor-in-Chief Ruth Chadwick. Academic Press: San Diego, 1998: v2,
Over the past few decades, the need for character education programs in United States’ schools has been widely debated and become increasingly popular particularly at the elementary level. However, the root of character education in the United States extends back to Horace Mann in the 1840’s who advocated that “character development was as important as academics in American schools” (USDE, 2011, para. 1). In response to the more recent realization of the importance of character education, the U.S. Congress authorized the Partnerships in Character Education Program in 1994; and character education was re-emphasized again in 2001 in the No Child Left Behind Act (USDE, 2011). As a result of the U.S. Department of Education’s goals to “promote strong character and citizenship among our nation’s youth” and increase student achievement, numerous federal resources as well as grants at the state and local levels have been established to assist in the design, implementation, and sustainment of “high-quality opportunities for students to learn and understand the importance of strong character in their lives” (USDE, 2011, para. 9). In addition, President Bush increased funding for character education program implementation in 2003 from $8 million to $25 million following a White House conference including “nationally recognized experts” who met to discuss “the need for and effectiveness of character education programs” (USDE, 2003, pg.1).
Family’s beliefs and values may be different for some and in other cultures they may not be accepted. As teachers, we have to learn about different cultures and expand our knowledge so families could feel more accepted. In the book, Anti- Bias Education for young children and ourselves by Louise Derman-Sparks & Julie Olsen Edwards, talks about how culture and fairness involves two dimensions, children’s development of a positive culture, identity, and their respectful interactions with other cultures. With these two dimensions, it will help the child to continue to express their home culture at school while learning the different cultures at school with their classmates. They learn about what’s right from wrong, how to dress, and talk
The goal of an education is to gain knowledge to help improve one’s understanding of the world. If we shy away from topics like racism and cultural diversity, then we risk not being able to understand a huge part of the way our world works. Consider this: are all the people we converse with in a day the same ethnicity? Are they all from the same cultural background? If they all are the same ethnicity or from the same cultural background, then one might not need to understand why cultural diversity affects how someone would respond to a problem or situation. Let’s face it: the world is not homogenous there are multiple different races and cultures. We need to teach not judge others without getting to know them first.
The world is made up of many different types of people, each one having his or her cultural background. Over the years, the United States has become increasingly populated with cultural diversity. This influx has prompted school administrators to recognize the need to incorporate multicultural programs into their school environment including classroom settings, school wide activities, and curriculum as it becomes more evident that the benefits of teaching cultural diversity within the school setting will positively influence our communities, and ultimately the entire nation’s future. The purpose of this paper is to share the pros and cons of multicultural education in the classroom. Additionally, I will express my views compared to those in the reading requirements for this assignment, as well as, new knowledge obtained through the research. Finally, I will share situations where I was challenged introducing a multicultural issue during a class.
Haynes, C. C. (2011). Getting religion right in public schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 93(4), 8-14. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? sid=c87613b3-ed54-42e8-8a36-e6d7876ef8bd%40sessionmgr10&vid=4&hid=21
In 1995, the Carnegie Corporation commissioned a number of papers to summarize research that could be used to improve race relations in schools and youth organizations. One way to fight against racism is to “start teaching the importance of and strategies for positive intergroup relations when children are young”(Teaching Tolerance,). Bias is learned at an early age, often at home, so schools should offer lessons of tolerance and
Multicultural Education in the United States made its debut beginning with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s. Its intent was to become part of the cultural mainstream. The Civil Rights Movement brought to light the apparent concerns of discrimination, intimidation and inequality. During this period, pressure was placed on the Federal Government to examine their roles in the perseverance of inequalities when it came to Multicultural Education (Russell, Robert, The History of Multicultural Education, 2011). It can be compared to “Affirmative Action” where whites were asked to leave behind their own point of view and gain knowledge of the traditions of Multicultural groups (Taylor, Samuel. The Challenge of 'Multiculturalism' In How Americans View the Past and the Future, 2011).
The essence of modern architecture lays in a remarkable strives to reconcile the core principles of architectural design with rapid technological advancement and the modernization of society. However, it took “the form of numerous movements, schools of design, and architectural styles, some in tension with one another, and often equally defying such classification, to establish modernism as a distinctive architectural movement” (Robinson and Foell). Although, the narrower concept of modernism in architecture is broadly characterized by simplification of form and subtraction of ornament from the structure and theme of the building, meaning that the result of design should derive directly from its purpose; the visual expression of the structure, particularly the visual importance of the horizontal and vertical lines typical for the International Style modernism, the use of industrially-produced materials and adaptation of the machine aesthetic, as well as the truth to materials concept, meaning that the true nat...
The German Pavilion, more commonly known as the Barcelona Pavilion, is one of the most recognizable buildings of the modern period during the early 20th century. It encapsulates every element of modern architecture in one structure. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the fathers of modern architecture, was the architect of this beautiful building. In this essay I will explore how Mies impacted the modern movement in architecture through his groundbreaking ideas using the Barcelona Pavilion as a case study.
Salter, Guenter E. “A Christian Liberal Arts Education Provides a Moral Education.” Opposing Viewpoints: Education. Eds. David Haugen and Susan Musser. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2009. 176-189. Print.
The book as a description of modern architecture, its styles and influence succeeds but falls short as a prescriptive methodology. His work is still recalled for the need by modernists to categorize everything into neat little boxes, not necessarily for the sake of uniformity, but for sake of some ambiguity. The ambiguity may be the triumph of this book as post modern architecture era is supposed to create more questions than the answers.