Effects of Cultural Diversity on the Modern Classroom

Running Header: CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Effects of Cultural Diversity on the Modern Classroom

Abstract

This paper examines the effects that increasing diversity in the American classroom has had on the teaching profession. With the massive changes in cultural and linguistic minority levels within the classroom, the field of education as a whole has been forced to evolve. This adaptation is necessary for the American education system to maintain the levels of success that it has achieved in years past.   Included within this work are personal experiences highlighting my own sensitivity to the increasingly diverse classroom, as well as explicit connections to education experts.

      The last few decades have seen a notable change to the face of education. No longer are classes predominantly comprised of the cultural or ethnic majority. Classes have grown to reflect the cultural diversity that is prevalent throughout society in the United States. Due to the great change in the face of the classroom today, schools are adapting their instructional strategies to be considerate and respectful of the massive amounts of culture within the classroom. This newly emerging cultural diversity is what is shaping the field of education today. Unlike classrooms throughout history, teachers must now consider cognition, as it is influenced by culture, to determine how to best teach their students.

      Culture in the classroom does not create nor allow a uniform teaching style anymore. Traditional means of teaching, for all intents and purposes, have gone stale. The drastic increases to the cultural and ethnic diversity in the classroom have paved the way for a new style of instruction. Within the field of educational psychology there are many people working diligently to reveal more about student learning with respect and acknowledgement of each individual student’s culture. This explosion of discovery, on the part of the psychologists, has revealed that learning and...