Affirming Diversity Chapter Eleven

This chapter really serves as a great ending for the class, bringing together the main points and things we as future educators should keep in mind.  At times, I felt as though many of the course readings were simply complaining about one injustice or another, never offering a solution.  However, this chapter gives advice about what we as educators can do to ensure an equal education for all.  For example, as shown by an interview with a student, most students just want teachers to accept them as unique individuals.  We need to stress to our students that they can be whatever they set their mind to.  We need to dump our traditional, one size fits all expectations and use judgement on a case by case basis that makes sense.  We need to be racially aware in our classrooms, even with issues that are not blatantly discriminatory, such as not having the culture of a student represented in some way in the classroom.  Though the text states that we need to build on the identity of our students, I fear that due to all of the demands on academics and standardized testing that exist, it may be difficult to explore the cultures and identities of every student due to time constraints.  However, I will try my best to find creative ways to solve this problem.
Through my ELL class and this one, I think it is integral that foreign languages are not only allowed, but encouraged in our classrooms, as we know it will help students of other cultures learn.  The book makes note of the need for multicultural programs, which I do indeed agree with to a certain extent.  However, my only fear is that students benefiting from these programs may feel different than other students and this is not our intention.  I think to a point we should be more focused on bringing students from different cultures into ours and including them, though I do understand the benefits of such programs.  Our readings and this chapter really highlighted for me just how much power we really have as teachers to change the lives of our students, positively or negatively.  Furthermore, out of all the points this chapter raised regarding dealings with students, I feel the most difficult part will be getting parent involvement and dealing with parents.  Adults seem like the hardest people to connect to in a way.  Lastly, the part of the reading which emphasized that one cannot be a multicultural teacher without first becoming a multicultural person made lots of sense to me.  I am glad that the book went over ways for teachers to reach this objective, such as by confronting deeply hidden racism within all of us.  I feel after reading this section that I may be able to take some of the tools given to me and apply them to my own life and most of all, my future teaching practice.

From Moral Supporters to Struggling Advocates

Parental involvement is an important topic in the field of education.  This article by Auerbach highlights some important flaws in assumptions we make about parental involvement in education.  For example, we know that it is good that parents are involved with their children's education.  However, we assume that every demographic has the same involvement and ability to be involved with education.  In reality, discriminated groups such as African Americans do not have the economic ability to be as involved in their children's education in the same way as whites.  I think we as educators forget, as the article highlights, that these groups have been discriminated against over time with the educational system failing them.  Therefore, these groups are more likely to be skeptical and not want to participate in the educational system.  We need to restore their faith.
Though the article highlights the inequality that contributes to less minority parent involvement, I think solutions are what we need most.  Teachers need to do all they can to work in a team-like fashion with parents to make them feel comfortable and welcomed by the educational system.  If not, they will feel alienated and participate less rather than more.  It is our jobs as educators to reach out to these families, such as by a friendly phone call in the evening, to try to warm them toward involvement.  If we don't make all demographics feel welcomed, it will be impossible to get them involved in the educational system.
The biggest thing I got from this article was that we need to look at this topic from the minority perspective, as up until now educators use their white middle class perspectives to inaccurately explain why minority parental involvement is limited.  For example, they do not realize that minority families may make sacrifices to enable their children to go to better schools or might limit chore responsibilities of their children so that they can focus on school (pg. 252).  Teachers may not see this and view minority parents' apparent apathy towards attending things such as conferences or back to school nights as laziness and a lack of care.  However, these educators need to realize that minority parents may have different cultural assumptions, such as that parents do not have a role in their child's education and should not be actively involved in the school.  This is simply miscommunication between cultures and results in misunderstanding and an end result of continued non involvement in education by minority parents.  Instead, we need to let them know it is alright to be involved and welcome them, not making assumptions of these people who are from different cultures. This article suggests it is possible to find a way in to get minority parents involved in their children's education, we as educators just need to stop finding these ways through a strictly white middle class perspective.