Culture, Ethnicity, and Race

Culture, Ethnicity, and Race

CULTURE, ETHNICITY AND RACE 2

Based on this week�s Required Studies (I have attached), develop material that weaves the following
concepts as well as others you have gleaned from your studies this week. Write a 2-3 page reflection
paper:

• How do the social identities (culture, ethnicity, and race) impact you, your students, and your school?
• What assumptions do we make about people from different races, ethnicities, and cultures?
• Pose your own answer to Sichel and Bacon�s (2015) question, �Why is there a dichotomy�where
  some students achieve and some students do not?� (p. 207).
• Why is it important to develop equity in your classroom?
• How will this perspective affect what you teach, and how will you teach it?
  Question 1-Impact of Social Identities

Culture- My cultural background will affect how I relate to my students in the classroom
regarding the distribution of power in the class. The balance of power between my students and
me will be from a position of either being teacher centered or student centered. Culture will
affect my students in the expectation that students will find their paths or expect the teacher to
outline the path to be taken (Wursten, & Jacobs, 2013). The students will be followers or leaders
according to the culture from which they come from. Culture will affect the school in that the
collective cultural influences will affect the unity of the school from either individualism or
collectivism.
Race- My race will affect my acceptance or rejection by students and teaching colleagues from
racial prejudices formed about my race. According to Packard (2013), the race will affect the
students from the stereotypes they are expected to fit in within the class and school settings. The
race will affect the collective interactions of the school by either being racially diverse and
tolerant or being biased and discriminatory. This will affect the collective performance of the
students and the school negatively or positively.
Ethnicity- Ethnicity will affect me in the unconscious bias to give more attention to students of
my ethnicity as well as relating to teaching colleagues from my ethnic background. It will affect

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the students by encouraging competition in the class to establish which ethnicity is academically
superior. Ethnicity will affect school interactions in extra-curriculum activities by ethnicities
which may want to compensate for poor performance in the class, by excelling in these activities.

Question 2-Assumptions about people

We make assumptions about people from a prejudiced stereotype type and pattern which we
expect to be replicated in all people we interact with. The social biases we have formed about
other races, ethnicities, and cultures are about their expected behavior when interacting with our
races, ethnicities, and cultures according to Hofstede (Wursten, & Jacobs, 2013). A good
example is the power distance he postulated where we expect people to “have” their rightful
place in society about the culture from which they come from.
Question 3- Sichel and Bacons Dichotomy

The answer to this question is the chasm that exists between equality and equity in the classroom
that results in some students achieving while some do not. Blankstein, Noguera & Kelly (2016),
posits that equality in teaching in the class does not translate to equity that is based on the needs
of each student according to their abilities. According to Blankstein, Noguera & Kelly (2016),
students with lesser abilities who need greater attention to reach the same level of the rest of the
class are candidates of non-achievement when teaching is procedure oriented and not need to be
based.

Question 4- Equity in the Classroom

Equity is achieved by giving students what they need by establishing mutual respect that
increases the motivation to learn by the student and motivation to the teacher by the tutor. Equity
goes beyond the obligations expected of both the teacher and student by understanding the needs
of the students being taught. Feedback from student helps the teacher in planning classroom

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activities and which helps in the creation of lessons and assessments. This input from students
and teachers together gives equity and ownership in the classroom leading to improved grades of
the students.

Question 5- My perspective on equity

Equity will impact what I teach in that my lessons will have input from the students in regards to
content that is meaningful and practical to the students. The assignments given will factor in the
fairness that will ensure no student is left behind due to their abilities. How I teach will be
informed from a perspective that advancement standards will be focused on the willingness to
work hard and achieve rather than ability. Miles (2014), postulates that no student will be
disenfranchised due to gender, race, ethnicity or cultural bias to achieve equity in the classroom.

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References

Blankstein, A., M, Noguera, P., & Kelly, L. (2016). Excellence Through Equity: Five Principles
of Courageous Leadership to Guide Achievement for Every Student. ASCD.
Miles, A. (2014). Addressing the Problem of Cultural Anchoring: An Identity-Based Model of
Culture in Action. Social Psychology Quarterly, 77(2), 210-227.
Packard, J. (2013). The Impact of Racial Diversity in the Classroom: Activating the Sociological
Imagination. Teaching Sociology, 41(2), 144-158.
Winders, J. (2013). Responding to Diversity: Multiculturalism, Immigration Politics, and
Southern History in the Classroom. In Nashville in the New Millennium: Immigrant
Settlement, Urban Transformation, and Social Belonging (pp. 107-137). Russell Sage
Foundation.