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ETH305V – Assignment 2
Question 1: Theoretical background
i) Prejudice Prejudice is a pre-held negative opinion, perception, or judgment a person holds or expresses against something or someone, without justification or analyzing facts. For example, when one meets a Muslim person, or sees someone dressed as a Muslim on a flight, one automatically perceives him/her to be a terrorist, and is suspicious or unreasonably “sure” that the Muslim person intends blowing up the plane. The negative perception was based purely on perception of the Muslim person‟s religious belief, and not by knowing the person personally etc., thus stereotyping deals with ill-informed description of people whilst prejudice is based on unjustifiable feelings towards someone. Social conflicts can be generated by racism, prejudice, and stereotyping; therefore efforts need to be made to reduce racist tendencies and prejudice in order to correct stereotyping. Ways of achieving this include more awareness education, and contact between the stereotyped and those who form stereotypes, as well as the accurate portrayal of individuals and groups in literature. ii) Stereotypes Stereotyping takes place when we conjure mental categories where one deposits people, items or events into conceptually specified groups. Stereotypes are formed as a result of the overload of experiences we have, and the continuous deluge of information preset in implication that we are subjected to e.g. media. In order to keep us from being cognitively overwhelmed, our brain has developed the mechanism of stereotyping – creation of categories in which we conveniently deposit large amounts of information in order to organize and simplify the world. Stereotyping sometimes amounts to a rigid overgeneralised description of a person o group. When a stereotyped description is attached to a racial, cultural, or national group, it often implies that the characteristics are genetically determined and so cannot be changed. Stereotypes influence people‟s perceptions of and behaviour towards groups other than their own. Examples of some common stereotypes include sayings like, “fat people are lazy”, or “athletes are dumb”, or “Jews are stingy”, or “Japanese are highly intelligent”. iii) Racism Racism is the belief that one‟s race is superior to another. This belief is based on the false premise that the physical attributes of a racial group determine the group‟s intellectual characteristics as well as social behaviour. In many societies racism became institutionalized by way of established laws and practices. In addition to this is the aspect of cultural racism, which is the belief that customs art, music, literature, economics, language, traditions, and religious beliefs of minority groups are inferior to those of the dominant culture.
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iv) Discrimination Discrimination refers to unjust perception of people which leads to unjust treatment of them. Discriminated people are treated differently through prejudice. It is unfair treatment of one person or group, usually because of prejudice about race, ethnicity, age, religion, or gender. v) Multicultural education Essentially multicultural education is about changing the nature of teaching and learning in order to create a suitable learning environment for learners from diverse backgrounds. Multicultural education refers to the recognition and inclusion of our diverse races and cultures into the education system in a just manner. It is an umbrella term which strives for equality in education for every racial, ethnic, and social class or group. vi) Culture Culture is a complex human phenomenon often associated with material goods and artifacts; or with obvious visual aspects such as food and dress; or in reference to a particular group‟s music, art, or literature. The term culture is most often used in the place of society, termed as e.g., “African culture “ which refers to African society and its culture. Other definitions include a more detailed involvement like, “…that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and other capabilities acquired by man as a member of society.” Culture has also been defined as “the distinctive way of life” of a group of people, or, “their design of living”. Probably the simplest definition refers to culture as shared and learned patterns of information that a group uses in order to generate meaning. An inclusive definition views culture as a composite of significant and interrelated factors, all of which have significance for the teaching and learning process.
. b) Gender: Educators should take into cognizance the gender of learners when planning educational
experiences since males and females allude to individual and different thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. Which influence their learning process. Barriers To Learning: learners who experience barriers to learning, e.g. physical disabilities are now included in mainstream education; and would not be able to achieve successful learning if they are not afforded due attention to assist them in addressing and overcoming their barrier. Learning programs must be adapted to suit specific abilities. Socio- economic class: Socioeconomic factors play a significant role in determining the behaviour of a person, how they think, live, and relate to others. Educators who come from middle- or upper-class backgrounds may have difficulty understanding the social and economic impact learners from lower socioeconomic homes endure. Language: The desegregation of schools has resulted in a linguistically diverse learner population. Learners speak different home languages and have different levels of competence in the language of teaching and learning. Although the learner and educator population may be multilingual, for historical reasons the majority of the schools have only Page | 2
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one language of learning, which in many cases is not the majority of learners‟ first language. This creates a disadvantage to such learners. Family Structure: Learners are either a part of a nuclear family, with a mother, father, and a few siblings; or they may be part of a single parent family; or many are part of an extended multigenerational family which includes maternal or paternal grandparents, and even aunts, uncles, cousins and close family friends or a structure where the adult in the learner‟s lives are caregivers but not biological parents. Other learners may be part of homosexual partnerships or where adult partners are living together. Often educators who are used to a nuclear family structure issue concerns about the guidance and involvement and adult supervision in the lives of learners living in circumstances other than nuclear or single family units. In any case educators need to familiarize themselves with learners from all kinds of family structures in order to address issues that generally stem from them. Informed educators can as such handle learners with sensitivity. c) (i) Yes it is; the major reason being importance of sensitivity and understanding of learners‟ cultures in order to prevent misunderstanding, and forming a bridge of informed communication between teacher and learner, which would have a positive impact on leading and achieving the goals of learning, leading learners progressively. (ii) The learners‟ socialization, communication, learning preferences, social values, and world-view must be determined in order to guide learners in acquiring necessary skills to become well integrated into society. Crucial communication skills for teacher-learner understanding and other steps needed to facilitate learning can be addressed and adopted for successful learning. (iii) Teachers need to be informed about cultural diversity in order to base their teaching on learner‟s cultural background, offering different ways of organizing and presenting learning experiences, and to facilitate understanding, without compromising expectations and standards, nor basing learning on cultural differences nor support of cultural inferiority. (iv) Conflict can occur through confrontation of ethnocentric views. The potential for cultural conflict increases when learners and educators don‟t share the same cultures. Such conflict can have a negative impact on interpersonal relations. Male and female learners may experience gender conflict due to sexist viewpoints, or they may undergo physiological attraction as they enter their teens which can disrupt the learning process.
Question 2: The history of multicultural education
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a) Most societies throughout the world have become heterogeneous as a result of various social, economic, and political developments. Consequently education policy –makers had to deal with the challenge of dealing with such diversity. The earlier responses of assimilationist policies have now been replaced with multiculturalism. b) In the USA multiculturalism emerged as a reaction to the ideology of assimilation in an attempt to preserve cultural diversity and recognize the rightful existence of different cultural groups, which it views as an asset and source of social enrichment rather than a problem. In South Africa the few schools that pursued the policy of desegregated schooling prior to 1994, generally followed an assimilation approach, as “learners of a dominant grouping saw „minority group‟ pupils as the ones who had to change and adapt to the school”. This approach was adverse to the democratic dispensation in South for equality in education for all races, across the colour and creed divide lines, whereas multiculturism rightfully acknowledged cultural diversity in the new South Africa without any ethnocentric tendencies. c) Content Intigration – The extent to which teachers use examples and content from a variety of cultures and groups to illustrate key concepts; principles and theories when teaching a diverse group of learners. The knowledge construction process – The methods, activities and questions teachers use to help learners understand how the implicit cultural assumptions, perspectives and biases within a discipline influence the ways in which knowledge is constructed within it. Prejudice reduction – By reducing prejudice, educators help learners develop positive attitudes towards different racial and ethnic groups. Equity pedagogy – This exists only when teachers modify their teaching in ways that will facilitate the academic achievement of students from diverse racial, cultural, gender and social – class groups. This is done by using different styles and approaches that are consistent with the wide range of learning styles within different cultural and ethnic groups. An empowering school culture – This involves restructuring the culture and organisation of the school so learners from diverse groups experience equality. d) Educating for assimilation Educating for amalgamation Educating for pluralism Educating for cross – cultural competence Educating for critical awareness Educating for social action e) i) We need multicultural education in mono-cultural schools because: learners should be prepared for life in a multicultural society learners need to learn about other cultural groups Page | 4
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learners have little experience of other cultures learners need to be less racist ii) Definitely, the only way to redress scars of the past political injustice, and uphold our democratic dispensations is for the present peoples of South Africa and the youth of the future to come together in sincere unity. This is only possible if we advance mutual understanding and respect between our peoples; and for this achievement we need to learn about each other‟s cultures in a spirit of tolerance and equality, which is addressed by the multicultural approach. f) (i) The South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 This Act Provided for the democratic transformation of schools in South Africa in order to redress past injustices in educational provision and to provide education of progressively high quality for all learners. In so doing it is hoped that education will lay the foundation for the “Development of all our people‟s talents and capabilities, advance the transformation of society combat racism and sexism and all other forms of discrimination and intolerance.(RSA 1996: Preamble) (ii) Report on the Study of racism in schools by the S.African Human Rights Commission (1999) This report studied racism and racial integration in S. African public secondary schools detailing incidents of racism in S. African schools and exploring the lack of racial interaction in many schools. It also indicated that much still needs to be done to ensure multicultural education in South African schools. (iii) Report of the gender Equity Task Team (1997) This report studied gender equity in education, and set the parameters for tackling the gender inequity in the education system. The Task Team found evidence of child abuse, sexual harassment, and violence against women, as well as deeply held ideologies on gender differences that legitimate girls‟ and women‟s subordinate roles in schools and society. Since the formative years of a child are the most crucial in developing non-racist and non-sexist attitudes, the Task Team suggests that these issues be addressed in all phases of education.
Question 3: Cross-cultural communication
a) (i) Physical Barriers : (physical noise such as sound of heavy traffic passing the school building or the scratching of chalk on a chalkboard) (ii) Physiological Barriers: (poor health or specific disabilities, such as a hearing impairment or a stammer) (iii) Psychological Barriers: (a negative attitude such as the dislike of a particular school subject or emotions such as fear and punishment) (iv) Perceptual Barriers: (differences in age and background, or education and gender) Page | 5
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b) Educators who are ignorant about their learners‟ cultural background can misinterpret learner‟s behaviour. Also, cross-cultural understanding leads to tolerance during classroom communication. It is advisable to note forms of address used in communication with learners, pronouncing their names as accurately as possible. It would be imperative to recognize etiquette in individualistic and collectivist cultures respectively with regards to customary behaviour of learners who need encouragement to participate or to provide feedback to the educator and in class. c) The educator must be an objective, concentrated, listener who checks with the learner whether his/her perceptions were grasped correctly. The educator seeks feedback from learners to see if correct understanding was reached during communication. Premature and emotional judgements should be avoided to develop tolerance during communication. Develop a self-awareness of communication style t conform with the ideals of multicultural goals. Have the courage to take risks by asking for honest critique, opening channels of communication between educator and learner, and developing a trusting relationship.
Question 4: Multilingual teaching
a) The educator b) BICS= Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills, are acquired casually through conversational interaction, and is an informal grasp of the language. They consist of “visible aspects of language, such as pronunciation, basic vocabulary and grammar, which allow learners to coverse fluently in undemanding everyday situations. CALP= Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency, is a formal grasp of the language necessary to understand academic concepts and to perform the higher cognitive operations necessary to achieve in school. Learners learning new language often experience difficulty with academic concepts and terminology because of the more abstract nature of these terms. c)(i) Class Environment Educators should integrate learners‟ diverse cultural experiences and backgrounds into meaningful language learning within the classroom and provides opportunities for authentic communication within the classroom. (ii) Formal Language Learning Teaching formal English as a core subject is a key area for effective language acquisition by learners who are not proficient in English. Guidelines for oral, listening, reading, and writing skills should be implemented to assist learners to become proficient in a language that is not their first language. (iii) Content Area Instruction Instructing learners who are not proficient in English in the literacy skills needed to achieve in all learning areas across the entire curriculum is an essential component of a strategy aimed at supporting these learners. (iv) The Classroom As an Environment for Language Learning
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The educator has to create a rich literal environment which is supportive, non-threatening, and encouraging in making the learners participate in speaking, reading, and writing activities. Educational material must be relative to the child‟s understanding and interests to create enthusiasm for learning the language. Planning of lessons must entail a progressive scheme with continuous evaluation as direction for progress. Group activities in particular are encouraged to achieve these aims.
SECTION B:
1) I would tend to agree with the observations made in this article, but would also add some
objective comments on the reality of grass roots education in South Africa. Firstly, it would be naïve for us to think that multicultural transformation could be achieved within a few decades into democratic SA, considering the scale of influential socio-economic factors that need addressing and correcting for it to mirror a change in educational environments of schools. Also the vast population of the country is still isolated, i.e. rural schools, and are as such still mono-cultural environments of education. The only differences in post apartheid educational institutions would basically be the right to an equally rendered, free quality education; the influx of state funds to these schools; an attempt at fixing physical building structures; and provision of educational material, but all of this is by far too meager to turn the tide towards quality education so to speak. Also these schools have no chance at tasting multiculturalism due to poverty and circumstance. Also, their lives have not changed much with regards to basic necessities like food and homes. Most of these children suffer from the insecurity of family units, as family structures lay at the peril of HIV/AIDS, joblessness, and other social ills. As long as the gap between the haves and the have-nots seems to be widening instead of decreasing, social integration will be hindered with racial perceptions and stereotyping by the “have-nots” against the “haves”. This in effect mirrors a gloomy outlook on democratic progress at grass-root levels on all fronts, be they social, educational, or economical. In a local detailed survey I carried out for an assignment in ETH306W, of public primary and secondary schools, I found social ills stemming from social & economic problems to be the worst gremlin in classrooms causing havoc in behavioural problems and lack of academic enthusiasm. Overcrowded classrooms; the inclusion of inappropriate ages of learners into classrooms, and the vast domination of one culture over others, all proved to be serious hindrances in providing quality multicultural education. Educators could not give learners due attention or individual assistance when necessary due to large classes, and many serving schools in the lower income bracket were at the mercy of older learners in classes, and even subjected to threats of violence and vandalism of their vehicles. I think a natural multiculturalism transformation depends on the sturdiness of the foundation and core of a learner‟s pyramid, in order to reach the tip of a truly democratic multicultural education. Learners whose foundation of home, family, and status of basic necessities display a form of security, are more likely to benefit from multicultural education and attaining academic success. Page | 7
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Another reality is that educators stemming from education degrees attained during predemocracy, are still a strong feature in most schools, blended with newly qualified educators who have been trained in the new educational system. I‟ve found in my research that whilst all educators are zealous in creating a non-racial society, be it in a classroom or in general, the methods used to accomplish this aim differ widely between the two. Many older teachers still find it difficult to adopt the new methods of teaching. especially those teaching mathematics. They are informed about the new teaching systems; try to execute teaching accordingly, but are easily disillusioned when results aren‟t ideal, and easily revert to their own tried and tested ways of achieving academic success for their learners. I‟ve found this most evident in mathematics teachers. I also think that it would be naïve to expect the “old guard” to “suddenly” change their ingrained way of teaching after so many years of experience, and can understand why they‟d choose assimilation as an easier option. I‟ve also noted that when it comes to dedication the “older guard” are the ones prepared to -- and make sure they go the extra mile to bag their learners‟ academic success, in comparison with the new breed who may have noble intentions but few manage to undertake such dedicated initiative. Also, many teachers are now engaged in the “tuition industry” where charges for out of school tuition far outweigh any extra fees a teacher may be offered by a governing body for extra tuition for pupils within the school. It is not only teacher perception, but an overall low morale stemming from root issues that is hindering the gateway of multicultural education. Right now the transition into democracy is still taking place and it seems vital socioeconomic issues take precedence over achieving aims and goals of multicultural education. I think that every effort to fight the root cause of socio-economic problems must be made to narrow the financial divide amongst cultural groups. More has to be done in schools to address learners‟ social problems which are birthed in the home-front. When a national environment of balance will be attained then natural progress would be made in achieving the aims and goals of multicultural education. All state funding must be transparently accounted or in order to root out corruption and loss of funds which are supposed to benefit the education cause. It would take a few more decades before natural integration and multicultural education becomes ingrained into all classrooms, and learners can wholly benefit from multicultural education.
Bibliography:
Lemmer, E., Meier, C., van Wyk, N., 2006. Multicultural Education: An Educator’s Manual, Van Schaik Publishers, Paarl, South Africa Meier, C., 2006. Only Study Guide for ETH305V Module: Multicultural Education: Programme: Bed (Early Childhood Development) and (Intermediate and Senior Phase) : Pretoria: University of South Africa.
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Internet (World Wide Web)
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