Multicultural Education in the Early Years

Paper Summary:

This paper addresses the issue of multiculturalism and its connection to teaching students for whom English is a second language. It examines two main schools of thought. One believes that although schools should recognize the diversity of cultures in our midst, the primary goal of education should be to teach all children to speak English fluently, as soon as possible, and to make sure they are solidly grounded in mainstream American culture. An alternate view is that instructional approaches should support the development of the primary language and understanding of the primary culture rather than acculturation to mainstream culture.

From the Paper:

"Over the past few decades, the United States has become a country of markedly more diverse subcultures than ever before. At the same time, educators have grown in their understanding and appreciation of the richness that diversity can bring to the educational environment. In spite of this, little research has gone into the effects of language instruction on the cultural development and understanding of students for whom English is a second language. The value of multicultural education is recognized at all levels of education in our country. Recognition of cultural differences as an enriching fact does exist in preschool. However, some educators concerned with the needs of "second culture" children believe that culture and language cannot be separated, and that cultural diversity that eliminates the child's primary language is inherently distorting (Phillips & Crowell, 1999a)."

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