CHAPTER+4+-+The+Multicultural+Society

The Multicultural Society -Ron Cliff Hinton

Where are you from?
 * //The section begins with a very intriguing story. A woman immigrant from Greece goes to open up a bank account and she is replied with the question "Where are you from?" and "You don't sound like you're from around here" with "here" being the south in this context. The more intriguing part of this story is that the bank teller is a Spanish/Mexican immigrant that came to the United States nine years ago for school. The woman from Greece then proceeds to ask the man why doesn't he consider himself American after nine years of residency and he replies with American's have NO culture.//** **//Right away in this chapter, it is shown how people in other countries view American society and culture.//**


 * //Your culture has to do with where you are from, where you were raised, and how and why people from those areas are the way they are. In turn it influences the way you are, how you act, how you speak, how you live, what you think, what you eat, basically everything about you.//**


 * //Many different people from many different areas have different cultural values. The reason America is viewed as an "Multicultural Society" is because in America, representations of different cultures can be found in our communities. Multiculturalism is quoted in the book as a "volatile force." In this chapter it is said in American society the idea is that culture is power. Multiculturalism has social, ideological, political, economic, and educational dimensions. Multiculturalism encompasses our every day lives when we educate and study, vote, socialize, and even watch television. The chapter also gets into the ideas of Assimilation ( the merging of groups and their traditions within a society that endorses a single common culture) and Pluralism (holds that ethnic and racial difference should be allowed to thrive, so long as such diversity does not threaten dominant values and norms.) It is also said that Multiculturalism, Assimilation, and Pluralism all have direct ties with race.//**

//Culture, Multiculturalism and Education//

 * //In the classroom, culture plays into full effect when trying to educate; especially in more diverse classroom settings. Methods such as Culturally __Relevant__ Teaching have been put into effect when trying to adjust to students with different cultural backgrounds. People's culture influences everything about them including the way they learn because of the way they may think, act, and even speak. Language barriers are a hard task to overcome in education. Less funded and rural areas are at an even greater challenge when trying to educate people because they have less resources to reach out to different cultural students to educate them properly thus, giving the advantage to students that are culturally homogeneous to the educator. Also the student to student relationship in the education setting plays a factor. Many students do not understand and sometimes accept other cultures in the classroom and it also makes it harder for different cultural students to succeed.//**

//Ron Cliff Hinton// = //What is your definition of culture?// =