Language and Cultural Diversity in U. S. Schools : Democratic Principles in Action

by Osborn, Terry A.

• ISBN13: 9780275982027
• ISBN10: 0275982025
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-08-30
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

Diversity is at the heart of today's education debates. Often, school policies and programs designed to encourage and embrace diversity are met with public ire and a deep misunderstanding of how diversity serves learning. This work explains how diversity is an essential element in classroom settings. As children from around the world continue to pour into U.S. classrooms, an understanding of cultural and linguistic diversity in its broadest sense moves to the foreground. In a post 9/11 world, the benefits of understanding diversity take on urgent meaning. The introdutory chapter, "Participating in Democracy Means Participating in Schools," sets the tone for the discussion to follow. As the geographic backgrounds of immigrants becomes increasingly diverse, religion must be added to previous discussions of race, ethnicity, and language. Thus, the need for the public to understand how shifts in population affect schools, makes this work a vital resource for anyone concerned with education today.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction: Participating in Democracy Means Participating in Schools	1	(4)
Terry A. Osborn and Dina C. Osborn
1 Emergent Possibilities for Diversity in Reading and the Language Arts	5	(20)
Cara Mulcahy
2 Bilingual Education: Good for U.S.?	25	(14)
Mileidis Gort
3 Accents and Dialects: Ebonics and Beyond	39	(14)
Timothy Reagan
4 A Case Study in Cultural and Linguistic Difference: The DEAF-WORLD	53	(12)
Timothy Reagan
5 Foreign Language Education: It's Not Just for Conjugation Anymore	65	(12)
Terry A. Osborn
6 Multicultural Education Is Good for the United States Beyond Sensitivity Training	77	(18)
Wanda DeLeón and Xaé Alicia Reyes
7 Policies for a Pluralistic Society	95	(10)
Casey Cobb and Sharon F. Rallis
8 What September if Also Teaches Us	105	(12)
David Gerwin and Terry A. Osborn
Appendix	117	(106)
Index	223	(4)
About the Contributors	227

Excerpts

"In a post-9/11 world, the benefits of understanding diversity take on urgent meaning. As children from around the world continue to pour into U.S. classrooms, an understanding of cultural and linguistic diversity in its broadest sense moves to the foreground. However, diversity is at the heart of today's education debates, and school policies and programs designed to encourage and embrace diversity are often met with public ire and a deep misunderstanding of how diversity serves learning. This work explains how diversity is an essential element in classroom settings."--BOOK JACKET.