Blog Post #2

For Blog #2, I read the article “Implementing Multicultural Practices in Early Childhood Education” by Quinita Ogletree and Patricia J. Larke from Texas A&M University. The ideas from this article were very symmetrical with Chapter 2 from “Affirming Diversity; The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education.” While Chapter 2 defines multicultural education for school reform, Ogletree and Larke’s article gives very realistic and direct solutions to help improve the multicultural educational status today in schools, particularly in Early Childhood Education.

This article first begins with the needs for multicultural education in Early Childhood programs. It gives the many rising statistics of the changing of the proportions of the American population. The article explains that the National Association of Education for Young Children (NAEYC) has made significant advancements of developmentally appropriate practices, including a, “commitment to respect the ‘dignity, worth, and uniqueness of each individual (child, family member, and colleague,’” (NAEYC, 1997, p.7). However, the article goes on to explain that, “the three top child developmental theories (Piaget, psychoanalysis, and learning theories) are linear, universal, and individualistic,” (2010 p.2). In other words, they do no match the ideals of a multicultural education that is needed today. This is when the article introduces “Banks Five Dimensions of Multicultural Education,” which are ways to describe how programs/schools can implement components of multicultural education. These are listed as Content Integration, Knowledge Construction, Prejudice Reduction, Equity Pedagogy, and Empowering School Culture and Social Structure.

Content Integration is essentially to create an awareness of different cultures, but it goes far beyond just the content in general. This relates to our text in the section that talks about multicultural education being pervasive, meaning multicultural approaches are “apparent in every lesson, curriculum guide, unit, etc.,” (2012 p. 50). The pervasiveness in multicultural education also relates to another one of Banks Five Dimensions of Multicultural Education, Equity Pedagogy. These are “teaching techniques and strategies that are designed to improve the academic achievement of diverse students.. understanding learning styles, teaching styles, and language,” (2010 p. 6). Again, considering multicultural to be more than a lesson, but also a way of learning.

I think promoting a school environment in all grade levels of more multicultural education can only have positive implications on more than just students, but even families, teachers, and communities as a whole.  According to the article, research has shown “that by the age of three or four, construction of gender and racial identity has already started in a child, “and also “research supports that a child’s racial attitudes can change but education must start early, (2010 p. 2). This is why by implementing a stronger dosage of multicultural education especially in Early Childhood Education will help decrease and hopefully eventually eliminate discrimination and social injustice of all people.