2. 1-2
The Reality of Social Change
• Major social changes affecting education
are taking place:
o In social institutions
o In demographics
3. 1-3
Institutions in Transition
• A social institution is a formal, recognized,
established, and stabilized way of pursuing some
important activity in society.
• Social institutions provide rules, or social norms,
that become internalized in individuals.
• When institutions change, so do the norms they
provide.
4. 1-4
Changes in Institutions
• In today’s world, all social institutions are
experiencing fundamental change:
o Economics—globalization
o Politics—new alignments of nations
o Family—new forms of family life
o Religion—rise of fundamentalism in all world religions
5. 1-5
Changes in Economics and
Politics
• Economically, there has been a shift from:
o Loyalty to a single company to loyalty to one’s own
self-interest
o A national to a global focus
• Politically, there has been a shift from:
o Political interest within our own borders to interest in
political events around the world
6. 1-6
Changes in the Family
• More women are in the workforce.
• The divorce rate is high.
• More families are in poverty.
• New family “forms” are becoming common (e.g.,
single-parent families, blended families).
• More intermarriage between ethnic and religious
groups.
7. 1-7
Changes in Religious
Organizations
• Immigrants are bringing unfamiliar religions and
religious ideas to the society.
• Various “new age” religious affiliations are
emerging.
• There is a rise in fundamentalist religious groups in
all major religions.
• Religious groups are becoming important “players”
in the political arena, both in the US and globally.
• Gaps of understanding of religion are changing
between the “net” generation and the older
generation.
8. 1-8
The Institution of Education
• Changing demographics among students
o Increasing number of children of color
o Increasing numbers of children whose first language is not
English
o Increasing attention to differential treatment of boys and girls in
classrooms
9. 1-9
Changing Demographics
• Three factors resulting in changing
demographics:
o High immigration rates
o High birthrates among some segments of the
population
o Aging population
10. 1-10
Limited English Proficiency
• Most Language English Proficient (LEP) students
speak Spanish.
• The United States is the fifth largest Spanish-
speaking country in the world.
• More than half of LEP students are in grades
K–4, and more than three-quarters are poor.
11. 1-11
Gender and Schooling
• While girls have not been thought to be
educationally different from boys, their
experiences in school are often very different.
• The focus has shifted from research on the
educational outcomes of girls to equal concerns
about the educational outcomes of boys.
12. 1-12
Students and Teachers: A Clash
of Cultures?
• Increasingly, the student population in schools is a
multicultural one, while the population of teachers
remains much as it has almost always been: white,
middle class, and predominantly female—in short,
monocultural. This can create something of a clash of
cultures between students and teachers.
• Teachers who are culture bound have little knowledge
or experience with people from different cultures. This
limits their ability to interact effectively with students who
are different from themselves.
13. 1-13
As schools move through this
transitional period, remember:
• Change is difficult.
• Human beings often react to change with
hostility.
• Human beings often react to change by
resisting it.
• New circumstances often mean new
opportunities; it’s up to you.
14. 1-14
Ideological Perspectives on
Multicultural Education
• Attention to differences among students is not
new.
• The nature of the differences to which we must
attend is broadening.
• Multicultural education is becoming less a matter
of differences within the United States and more
a global phenomenon.
• Multicultural education assures that all students
from all groups (racial, ethnic, socioeconomic,
ability, gender, etc.) experience educational
equality, success, and mobility.
15. 1-15
Goals of This Book: Helping
Teachers...
• To recognize social and cultural change
• To understand culture, learning, and the culture-
learning process; teachers must expand their
knowledge base of culture and different groups in
the US and abroad
• To be able to improve intergroup and intragroup
interactions
• To transmit intercultural understanding and skills to
students; teachers must be proactive and reflective
practitioners so students are prepared to become
reflective citizens in an interdependent world
16. 1-16
The Importance of Stories
• Stories help a person visualize and talk about
new ideas and experiences.
• Stories often “speak to” complex human
experiences.
• Stories help us to see the universality of common
experiences.
