Notes:

Segregation is the practice of requiring separate housing, education

and other services for people of color. Segregation was made law
several times in 18th and 19th-century America as some believed that
Black and white people were incapable of coexisting. 

In the lead-up to the liberation of enslaved people under the Thirteenth

Amendment , abolitionists argued about what the fate of slaves should
be once they were freed. One group argued for colonization, either by
returning the formerly enslaved people to Africa or creating their own
homeland. In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln  recognized the ex-slave
countries of Haiti and Liberia, hoping to open up channels for
colonization, with Congress allocating $600,000 to help. While the
colonization plan did not pan out, the country, instead, set forth on a
path of legally mandated segregation. 
The first steps toward official segregation came in the form of “ Black
Codes .” These were laws passed throughout the South starting around
1865, that dictated most aspects of Black peoples’ lives, including
where they could work and live. The codes also ensured Black people’s
availability for cheap labor after slavery was abolished.
Segregation soon became official policy enforced by a series of
Southern laws. Through so-called Jim Crow laws  (named after a
derogatory term for Blacks), legislators segregated everything from
schools to residential areas to public parks to theaters to pools to
cemeteries, asylums, jails and residential homes. There were separate
waiting rooms for whites people and Black people in professional
offices and, in 1915, Oklahoma became the first state to even
segregate public phone booths.

Colleges were segregated and separate Black institutions like Howard

University in Washington, D.C. and Fisk University in Nashville,
Tennessee were created to compensate. Virginia’s Hampton Institute
was established in 1869 as a school for Black youth, but with white
instructors teaching skills to relegate Black people in service positions
to whites.
The origin of the phrase "Jim Crow" has often been attributed to "Jump Jim Crow", a song-and-
dance caricature of black people performed by white actor Thomas D. Rice in blackface, which first
surfaced in 1828 and was used to satirize Andrew Jackson's populist policies. As a result of Rice's
fame, "Jim Crow" by 1838 had become a pejorative expression meaning "Negro". When southern
legislatures passed laws of racial segregation directed against black people at the end of the 19th
century, these statutes became known as Jim Crow laws.

The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1865 in the

aftermath of the Civil War, abolished slavery in the United States. The
13th Amendment states: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place
subject to their jurisdiction.”
Plessy vs. Ferguson
The case entered the judiciary when in 1892 when Homer Plessy, an octoroon (person of seven-
eighths white and one-eighth black ancestry) resident of New Orleans, deliberately violated
Louisiana's Separate Car Act of 1890. This law required black passengers to be seated in separate
passenger cars on Louisiana railroads from the white travelers. Plessy was charged with boarding a
"whites-only" car, Plessy pleaded not guilty, contending that the law was unconstitutional. He was
convicted at the district level. Plessy appealed his case but the conviction was sustained by
the Louisiana Supreme Court. Plessy then appealed to the only court capable of overriding his
state's decision, the U.S. Supreme Court.

Multicultural Education

I have identified five dimensions of multicultural education. They are: content

integration, the knowledge construction process, prejudice reduction, an
equity pedagogy, and an empowering school culture and social structure
(Banks, 1995a). Content integration deals with the extent to which teachers
use examples and content from a variety of cultures and groups to illustrate
key concepts, generalizations, and issues within their subject areas or
disciplines. The knowledge construction process describes how teachers help
students to understand, investigate, and determine how the biases, frames
of reference, and perspectives within a discipline influence the ways in which
knowledge is constructed within it (Banks, 1996). Students also learn how to
build knowledge themselves in this dimension.

Prejudice reduction describes lessons and activities used by teachers to help

students to develop positive attitudes toward different racial, ethnic, and
cultural groups. Research indicates that children come to school with many
negative attitudes toward and misconceptions about different racial and
ethnic groups (Phinney & Rotheram, 1987). Research also indicates that
lessons, units, and teaching materials that include content about different
racial and ethnic groups can help students to develop more positive
intergroup attitudes if certain conditions exist in the teaching situation
(Banks, 1995b). These conditions include positive images of the ethnic groups
in the materials and the use of multiethnic materials in a consistent and
sequential way.

An equity pedagogy exists when teachers modify their teaching in ways that
will facilitate the academic achievement of students from diverse racial,
cultural, and social-class groups (Banks & Banks, 1995). Research indicates
that the academic achievement of African American and Mexican American
students is increased when cooperative teaching activities and strategies,
rather than competitive ones, are used in instruction (Aronson & Gonzalez,
1988). Cooperative learning activities also help all students, including middle-
class White students, to develop more positive racial attitudes. However, to
attain these positive outcomes, cooperative learning activities must have
several important characteristics (Allport, 1954). The students from different
racial and ethnic groups must feel that they have equal status in intergroup
interactions, teachers and administrators must value and support cross-
racial interactions, and students from different racial groups must work
together in teams to pursue common goals.

An empowering school culture and social structure is created when the

culture and organization of the school are transformed in ways that enable
students from diverse racial, ethnic, and gender groups to experience
equality and equal status. The implementation of this dimension requires
that the total environment of the school be reformed, including the attitudes,
beliefs, and action of teachers and administrators, the curriculum and course
of study, assessment and testing procedures, and the styles and strategies
used by teachers.

To implement multicultural education effectively, teachers and

administrators must attend to each of the five dimensions of multicultural
education described above. They should use content from diverse groups
when teaching concepts and skills, help students to understand how
knowledge in the various disciplines is constructed, help students to develop
positive intergroup attitudes and behaviors, and modify their teaching
strategies so that students from different racial, cultural, and social-class
groups will experience equal educational opportunities. The total
environment and culture of the school must also be transformed so that
students from diverse ethnic and cultural groups will experience equal status
in the culture and life of the school.

Although the five dimensions of multicultural education are highly

interrelated, each requires deliberate attention and focus. The reminder of
this article focuses on two of the five dimensions described above: content
integration and the knowledge construction process. Readers can see Banks
(1995a) for more information about the other dimensions.

What Are the Pros of a Bilingual Education?

1. It is easier for children to learn a second language.
Children who are exposed to a bilingual education pick up that second
language much faster than an adult. Learning is part of the brain chemistry of
a child. There are lower levels of complex information that must be absorbed.
There is less embarrassment went practicing the new language. The process
of learning a first language works with the process of learning a second, which
encourages development as well.
2. It creates an opportunity for early diversity.
Ask the average child what they care most about and it won’t be cultural
issues, same-gender marriages, or the status of religion or immigration. It will
be about making friends, having fun, and being challenged at school. Bilingual
education offers a chance to celebrate the diversity found in human cultures. It
is a chance to learn from differences instead of being scared of them.
3. It provides children with future opportunities.
Being fluent in two languages instead of one provides numerous professional
opportunities to the modern worker. Learning the second language while still
in school sets up a child to take advantage of those opportunities when they
are ready to pursue a vocational path. Depending on the local market, a
language differential can add up to 20% to a worker’s salary per year.
4. Learning one new language makes it easier to learn more.
Once a second language has been learned, it becomes easier for that
individual to learn a third language. Every additional language learned makes
it easier to learn another language fluently. Bilingual education opportunities
encourage brain growth, triggers student concentration, and reduces the
amount of time required to transition between task switches.
5. Working memory is also improved.
A bilingual education can also improve a child’s working memory. This
improvement provides for better processing capabilities when exposed to new
sounds, new concepts, and new experiences. At the same time, students in a
bilingual education program experience lower levels of anxiety, are less likely
to experience a mental health disorder, and tend to have more friends when
compared to single-language students.
6. It encourages wisdom.
Wisdom develops from personal experiences. A bilingual education provides
students with more of those personal experiences over time. Being fluent in
another language can also create overseas studying opportunities, first-hand
exposure to new cultures, and a brighter overall future. With greater wisdom,
improved decisions can be made, which can create the foundation of a better
life.
7. It can be turned into an after-school activity.
In the 1990s, the school district in New Glarus, WI offered students an extra-
curricular program that included an opportunity to begin learning German.
Numerous districts across the United States have started enrichment
programs that introduce students as young as 6 to a second language.
Although these programs are not as long or involved as full bilingual
education, it can be the start of the learning process.
 

What Are the Cons of a Bilingual Education?

1. Education in a second language can be inconsistent.
Some school districts stop their bilingual education in high school. Some
school districts don’t offer a bilingual education as an option. Because of this
inconsistency, some students may lose some of their second language
abilities simply because they aren’t using it every day. For a bilingual
education to be effective, it must continue on throughout the career of the
students who choose to participate in it.
2. Learning specific content can be extremely difficult.
For younger children, learning specific second-language content can be
someone difficult. That is because there are difficult concepts being taught at
the same time. Many districts that offer a bilingual education teach one
language for half the day and the other language for the remainder of the day.
If a student is struggling with division and is also struggling with second-
language grammatical concepts, it could be a negative impact on their
education.
3. A bilingual education is not cheap.
Foreign language programs are being cut around the world because of their
cost. Unless the course is mandated, it is often removed. A single-language
program is easier and cheaper to operate and can still provide the essential
skills that the student may require. Many schools are already cutting artistic
and creative classes already, so the cost of adding a bilingual component is
something that many schools just can’t do.
4. It prevents student involvement in local culture.
A foreign language may provide several advantages, but it also causes the
disadvantage of isolation. Many students in a bilingual educational program
find themselves making friends only with those who are in the same class.
That may expose the student to new cultures, but it also widens the culture
gap being experienced at the local level because it is created a unique culture
between two language extremes.
5. Bilingual education can shift a student’s focus.
If a bilingual education program is broken into a standard 50/50 split during
the school day, students who do struggle with the new language may find
themselves focused on the second language only. Schools provide vocational
skills, creative opportunities, athletic opportunities, and much more. If the
student falls behind on the second language and struggles to keep up with
their coursework, their only option is to try to catch up on the second language
instead of learning essential life skills.
6. There may be a lack of qualified teachers and assistants.
For a bilingual education to be effective, it must be immersive. It must have
teachers and teaching assistants who are fluent in both languages being
taught. At the same time, the bilingual teachers and assistants must have
patience, but firm expectations, for their students so that progression can be
achieved. With modern educational requirements, many teachers are
struggling to meet the minimum requirements in many subjects. There just
isn’t the time to add another language into the mix.
7. It comes with a stigma.
Bilingual educational opportunities are often associated with the topic of
immigration. Some communities see this structure as a way to cater to those
who come to their community instead of having immigrants embrace their own
way of life. In some ways, a bilingual education might cause some students to
resist becoming part of the local community, especially if they can learn what
is needed in their own primary language.
Higher administrative and planning efforts
Also the overall planning and organizational efforts regarding bilingual
education tend to be much higher compared to regular education. It is
often quite difficult to schedule and to coordinate classes so that there is a
healthy balance between teaching kids in their native and in a foreign
language.
Moreover, some teachers may not be able to teach in a foreign language
in a proper manner and due to that, it might be quite hard to figure out a
working schedule, especially in case some teachers get sick and are
therefore unavailable for teaching purposes.

The pros and cons of a bilingual education show us that it can be a foot in the
door for the next generation. There are certainly challenges which must be
met, including funding and finding experienced teachers, but these are not
impossible tasks. Learning a second language is much easier for children to
do, so it only makes sense to include it in their student curriculum whenever
possible.