(1994). Comparing the Best of Both Worlds: Cultures through Art. Art Education, v47 n1 p61-67 Jan. Contends that differences in child development and cultural backgrounds affect the way children represent their world through art. Describes an exhibit of children's art from Thailand and Australia. Discusses differences in content, media, and style and concludes that both cultures could benefit from adopting aspects of the other. (CFR)…
(1990). A Vindicationist Perspective on the Role of Ebonics (Black Language) and Other Aspects of Ethnic Studies in the University. American Behavioral Scientist, v34 n2 p251-62 Nov-Dec. Argues that education's current "deficiency" philosophy supports a negative view of the cultures of people of color, negatively affecting educational policies and the direction of research. Advocates the "vindicationist philosophy," which considers Blacks equally capable of academic achievement. Specifically recommends how to instill the vindicationist perspective through faculty workshops. (NL)…
(1993). Crossing Social Class and Cultural Barriers in Working with Families: Implications for Teacher Training. Teaching Exceptional Children, v26 n1 p48-51 Fall. This article describes a preservice special education teacher education course at the University of Maryland which requires students to interact directly with parents of different social classes and cultural backgrounds. Three students recount their experiences and changed attitudes as a result of this requirement. (DB)…
(1993). Educating Special Citizens. Social Studies, v84 n5 p218-23 Sep-Oct. Describes programs and activities of the Close Up Foundation for special needs students. Explains how the experiential citizenship education activities are adapted for hearing impaired, visually impaired, recent immigrant, Native American, Alaskan Native, Puerto Rican, and Pacific Island nation students. Includes two classrom activities used in the program. (CFR)…
(1995). The Role of Teachers in a Cross-cultural Drama. Journal of Teacher Education, v46 n5 p334-39 Nov-Dec. Examines why there are so few Native American teachers in this country, specifically in the upper Midwest. Describes how one institution has increased the number of native teachers and notes student reactions to assimilation at a traditional, largely white university. Proposes an eight-hour workshop on diversity training for faculty. (SM)…
(1996). The Ursuline College Experience: Promoting Ethnic Diversity and Social Justice. Interdisciplinary Humanities, v13 n1 p35-39 Win. Highlights the interdisciplinary, multicultural courses at Ursuline College (Ohio) that fulfill their commitment to promoting ethnic diversity and social justice. The courses include "Those Fabulous (?) 60's"; "Women, Doers of Justice"; and an examination of key cities during historical periods. Discusses the courses' integration into the general curriculum. (MJP)…
(2001). Futures Thinking: Consideration of the Impact of Educational Change on Black and Minority Ethnic Achievement. MCT, v19 n3 p12-14,18 Sum. Discusses the potential of information and communications technology (ICT) and the World Wide Web to offer positive alternatives in contemporary British schools that are failing their black and minority group students. Describes the advantages of ICT and looks at future changes in the teaching profession and changes in the curriculum that will require knowledge of ICT. (SM)…
(2004). Ralph Bunche and the Responsibilities of the Public Intellectual. Journal of Negro Education, v73 n2 p125-136 Spr. Drawing from the authoritative sources on Ralph Bunche's early years in the academy, his personal papers, and his publications from the 1930s, this essay discusses Bunche's political philosophies and how they were informed by the social realities of the world in which he and other Black scholars lived. This essay urges readers to look beyond his important international work in the second half of his career to his earlier years when he repeatedly challenged public and private orthodoxies in service of a larger ideal of a broad and universal humanity…. [PDF]
(1992). Public Education in Idaho: Does It Meet the Needs of All Students? A Summary Report. This report is based on a community forum convened on May 15, 1991, in Twin Falls, Idaho, to obtain information and views on public education in Idaho; its impact on minorities; and, specifically, the high dropout rate of Hispanics, its causes, and possible solutions. Chapter 1 gives the background of a 1979 lawsuit filed by the Idaho Migrant Council against the Idaho State Board of Education. The lawsuit was settled in 1983 when the defendant agreed to implement plans to meet the needs of students with limited English proficiency. However, the state advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights continued to receive complaints alleging a lack of such educational programs. Demographics show that Hispanics are the largest non-White group in Idaho. Chapter 2 consists of summaries of forum presentations by the state superintendent of instruction, local superintendents, principals, teachers, university staff, corporate education and training experts, the director of education… [PDF]
(1998). Culturally Relevant Teacher Education: A Saskatchewan First Nations Case. This paper examines culturally relevant teacher education for First Nations undergraduate students, offered by the Department of Indian Education at the University of Regina-affiliated Saskatchewan Indian Federated College. As graduates may want to challenge dominant epistemologies of the schools in which they teach, the program responds to students' needs for connection to traditional cultural knowledge in order to overcome personal and cultural dislocation and racism. All students take classes in Indian languages, studies, and art. In a class affirming cultural identity, Elders are used as teachers in an outdoor education setting that includes ceremonies, traditional activities, and storytelling. Tools to deconstruct racist ideology and practices are given in a third-year class in human justice that focuses on institutional racism, particularly on an analysis of curriculum. The concepts of race, text, identity, stereotyping, bias, and ethnocentrism are used to analyze the impact… [PDF]
(1992). Teachers and Parents: The Milwaukee Experience. This booklet tells of the 1987 struggle teachers and parents of a racially-integrated, working-class neighborhood of Milwaukee faced when the central administration of the Milwaukee Public Schools announced the closing of the neighborhood school. Parents and teachers dreamed of a decent school that children would want to attend, in an integrated neighborhood, teaching children to be bilingual in Spanish and English, using cooperative and innovative methods, governed by a council of parents and teachers. La Escuela Fratney grew from the tradition of a long history of progressivism in Wisconsin. The struggles for Fratney School are recounted with both its successes and challenges that lie ahead. (EH)…
(1997). Hearing the Voices of Hispanic Preservice Teachers: An Inside-Out Reform of Teacher Education. This study of cultural self-identity is based on stories of mentorship drawn from a 6-month study of 11 female Hispanic preservice teachers enrolled in degree programs at Texas A&M University. These students were interviewed about mentoring influences that contributed to their decision to become teachers, about sponsorship and assistance personally available on campus, and about the various mentoring contexts they encountered, organizations to which they belonged, and the nature of their own work. Notably, participants stressed professional development in the context of parental and family support. They articulated needs in the following areas of professional development: interaction among diverse cultures within campus communities; an official bilingual education program at the undergraduate level; opportunity to talk about issues related to teaching within Hispanic and non-Hispanic (culturally-mixed) organizations; leadership training within Hispanic mentoring organizations; a… [PDF]
(1994). Mexican Education: An Analysis. Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar Abroad Project. This study addresses the basic question: What are the factors that influence the academic experience of Mexican children, and, to what extent do these factors result in deficits in student learning and achievement? The study was conducted over the course of 5 weeks throughout Mexico in the regions of Juarez, Chihuahua, Michoacan, Mexico, D.F., Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Merida. Data were collected by means of personal observations, visitations, interviews, and lectures by and with sociologists, economists, social workers, public administrators, educators, curriculum specialists, and other knowledgeable professionals. Findings include: (1) Mexico has a high illiteracy rate, despite the free, compulsory nature of education in Mexico; (2) socioeconomic issues influence the availability and quality of education received; (3) cultural and social isolation of indigenous people is another component that significantly impacts the schooling of Mexican children; and (4) the economic and political… [PDF]
(1983). Developing International Understanding in Teacher Education. Major social science concepts that have an impact on a study of teacher education in developing nations are discussed. The relationship between national progress and teacher education is considered, and economic, political, and social realities facing these nations are pointed out. Among those discussed are: (1) economic problems of high population gains; (2) increasing demands for child labor; (3) the problem of school-age populations outstripping teacher education resources; (4) school involvement in training for rural development and improvement of production and the environment; (5) development of universal literacy and numeracy; (6) education as a social good; (7) social class values and attitudes; (8) social differences between the educated and the illiterate; and (9) national attitudes toward educating teachers. It is argued that American colleges and universities have a responsibility to produce teachers who are aware of the people and problems of the developing world, as… [PDF]
(1977). Academic Achievement of Mexican American Students: The Edgewood School Plan. A five-year bilingual, bicultural program, part of the Experimental Schools Program, employed by the Edgewood Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas, was designed to enhance the affective characteristics of the predominantly Mexican American student population, to train teachers to avoid socioeconomic and cultural biases, and to improve the academic achievement of the students. Measurement of the program impact was conducted yearly in language, mathematics, science, social studies, reading, and study skills through a quasi-experimental research design, wherein the treatment schools were matched with comparison schools where students had similar socioeconomic status, affective characteristics, and standardized test achievement scores. Annual comparison scores were collected from both groups over a four-year period, with some significantly higher scores in the treatment groups attributed to particular subjects and grades where treatments were employed. However, the general…