Multiculturalism in Our Society Essay Example
Multiculturalism in Our Society Essay Example

Multiculturalism in Our Society Essay Example

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  • Pages: 8 (2184 words)
  • Published: August 29, 2021
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According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are currently 954 hate groups residing in America. With nearly a thousand hate groups spread throughout our 50 states, that’s a significant amount of influence of intolerance and xenophobia towards others in our society of culturally diverse individuals. Best defined by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), Xenophobia is the prejudices and demeanors that ostracize, reject and berate people, based on the perception that culturally foreign individuals are intruders to the society or dominating culture of an area.

Fortunately, the most effective solution to best combat xenophobia is through stimulating education. One way to address this is by implementing intriguing sensory technologies into American education programs. According to Dublin and Paradiso’s Extra Sensory Technologies, “When sensors and computers make it possible to virtually travel to dis

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tant environments and ‘be’ there in real time, ‘here’ and ‘now’ may begin to take on new meanings.” This implies that sensory technologies are the epitome of (multicultural) education for the future.

Although tolerance for diverse cultures in America is improving slowly, there’s still a lack of stimulating education regarding multiculturalism which results in ignorance, stereotyping, and low self esteem, which can lead to racism and xenophobia; in order to prevent such, American school systems should implement visual sensory technologies in order to best educate and impact today’s youth on multiculturalism. The prominence of hate groups in America leads to increased hate crimes, as 53.3% of hate crimes in 2015 were assault and murder (Anti-defamation league), resulting in people feeling unsafe in their own communities, which is due to a lack of proper education.

Although this claim is audacious, since it implies that peopl

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who commit hate crimes are uneducated, Jean Twenge of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill provides evidence that among a study conducted, college graduates are likely to accept outsider perspectives 83% of the time whereas highschool graduates only accept outsider views 64%. This evidence leads to the conclusion that when people are less educated, they’re less likely to be tolerant of others. This a significant issue, and comes down to our educational facilities and what our schools are doing to thwart intolerance for heterogeneity in America.

Tina Bianchi mentions a study conducted that inquired educators about what their schools do to celebrate multiculturalism; results showed that the teachers in each case suggest that multiculturalism was not a significant aspect of education and if it was focused on, it bore students. For instance, “If the class is predominantly white, he will place less of a focus on culture. ‘Culture puts them to sleep,’” If this issue regarding the lack of teaching multiculturalism in schools is that it’s considered dull for students, educators must reevaluate their teaching methods and implement new ways to teach these subjects, evoking interest and causing sensory stimulation in order for students to become more familiar with the background of their diverse peers.

When people are ignorant and prejudice against diverse cultures, they’re less likely to be as successful socially and economically. If this assertion is thoroughly considered, it is reasonable to think such as people who are less tolerant are less likely to get along with others as well as have a lower self esteem, leading to conflicts and issues in accomplishing work. This is significant to contemplate because it’s the individuals in

America that fundamentally establish the overall success of our society and economy, so it’s important to ensure that tolerance for diversity is a key aspect in our society so America can be a more efficient place in terms of working, effecting everyone economically.

For instance, in the article Multiculturalism in the schools, the author shares the statistic that when schools taught multiculturalism, “The biggest increase in the category of self-esteem was Native American males, who went from the 13th to the 50th percentile. Black females were reported to gain the most points in their sense of well-being, jumping from the 7th to the 50th percentile”.

It is vital that people allow multiculturalism in their lives as it benefits minorities along with dominant demographics as people learn about the unique history of others. When individuals feel sanctioned, this leads to the success of cities as a whole. In fact, it turns out that thirteen of the least accepting and diverse cities (in context to lifestyle choices and ethnicity) resulted in the bottom (least successful) fifteen of high-technology Metropolitan areas.

Resultantly, the least successful high tech cities were also the least diverse cities, and people of a unique culture are more likely to surround themselves with people who are more accepting of them, which reiterates the main point of tolerance in society. Whether this be for the self esteem of the people in our society or the success of our cities, acceptance for diversity and education for this diversity in America is vital. In order for people to understand foreign cultures, it’s required that people are taught about cultures, and the internet is a tool to help. This technology could

be helpful to students as it is easily accessible and people could learn about other cultures.

As the internet is used internationally, Americans could access international databases and be able to access unique perspectives and viewpoints. Consequently, according to Ludvig Foghammar, of a study conducted in Niue, a nation off the coast of New Zealand, the group of people who used the internet most frequently were 86% more likely to respond to the most tolerant answer choice in a survey, whereas those less likely to use the internet only had a 56% turnout in choosing the most tolerant answer choice; “This gives an indication, but not proof, that internet usage could have a positive effect on tolerance”. Although this was not American territory polled, it’s likely results would be similar in America as the internet is abundant in data.

However, many Americans disagree that the internet will aid in the promotion of tolerance; Among a Pew Research Study conducted, The following premise was told, Social tolerance has advanced significantly due in great part to the Internet. These were the responses. Expert Respondents’ Reactions (N=578) 32% Mostly agreed, 56% Mostly Disagreed, and 13% did not respond. Ultimately Americans and experts believed that individuals will use the internet as a tool to share intolerance with others. If Americans presume the internet will not aid in increasing tolerance, then it is unlikely for it to be a valid solution, especially since the internet is not presented in a sensory stimulating matter.

Education is a substantial facet when pertaining to tolerance for multiculturalism in society. One necessary aspect to contemplate is to consider how education is currently executed and what educators can do

to maximize a students ability to retain information, conducive to achieving such, it’s paramount that educators are cognizant of how humans obtain most of their information. According to Ghulam Shabiralyani, 83% of what is learned is learned through the sense of sight, 11% is learned through listening, and 1.5% is learned through touch.

This evidence is imperative to cogitate as educators can appeal to senses like sight and listening to achieve optimal results and use technologies stimulating our senses thus ameliorating in education. Even writers must use “generative notes to trigger imagery while sketches and jottings are a familiar way to note down thoughts a that are later expanded, showing that the condensed private thinking that individuals do must be expanded and elaborated for communicative purposes” (Bratisis).

This quote argues that it’s radically difficult to communicate concepts and ideas without appealing to the sight and must first be constructed appealing to a sense before the execution of communication. In order for people to receive a proper understanding of diverse cultures, we must incorporate more multi-sensory technologies into our workplaces and schools, so that the learning process is fulfilled. A recommendation that’s been proposed is to amalgamate more visual aids into schools. Even simple visual aids are more well received than no visual aid at all. To wit, in the Impact of Visual Aids in Enhancing the Learning Process Case Research article, it’s mentioned that of a poll conducted, 75% of students and teachers combined agree that visual aids assist in overall understanding and clarification of a subject being taught.

Since the majority of people are claiming the effectiveness of visual aids, and as people learn the most through

sight, this enhances the validity of the evidence. More specifically, technology may assist with retention of learning which is why it should be incorporated into American school systems. According to Steven Higgins of the Education Endowment Foundation, he implies that students instructed with visual technology are more apt to academically surpass fellow students educated with conventional approaches of teaching; among a 40 (+) year study, a meta-analysis study was conducted and were recorded as an increase in effect, “on higher-order thinking skills, ES = .82, motivation, ES = .17, retention-attendance rates, ES = .16, physical outcomes, no data were found, and social skills, ES = .21.”

Overall, this displays information that leads to the conclusion that visual technology overall enhances learning, however should come with the disclaimer that it was not technology alone, but the inclusion of technology along with traditional teaching methods. In order to maximize learning and education, American school systems should integrate multiculturalism in their teachings through the use of visual technology like Augmented Reality Simulations to enhance learning. Augmented reality technology, or AR for short, is enhanced virtual reality technology which includes computer generated virtual scenes and objects that is then manifested in a real time manner ultimately enhancing the perception of locations or cultures (Wen, et. al).

Augmented reality is what will provide authentic and stimulating education for students learning about multiculturalism. A study conducted exhibits that of two groups studied, one group with AR implemented in their teachings and one without, the experimental group (with AR technology implemented) has higher scores at a total overall score of improvement at 10.64 points (in regards to an an assigned quiz) whereas the control improved

8.45 points, which was declared a statistically significant difference (Stefanos, et. al). AR technology has shown an improvement in students’ ability to retain information, it creates an interesting learning environment for students to develop interest when learning about diversity.

AR technology is important to implement and has been shown that students prefer such to traditional methods. Among the article Mobile Augmented Reality Guides in Cultural Heritage, a study was orchestrated and asked students to submit responses on which methods they most enjoyed using, two of them being variations of AR technology, the third was a traditional map, where the students had to participate in an activity regarding cultural heritage; the results showed that “Which environment did you find more pleasant to use? AR (including the radar): 50%, Map: 0% , Dual (AR/map): 50%.”

These results conclude that AR technology enhances cultural education. Although technologies in schools are expensive, the overall cost is offset when pertaining to a more tolerant society that received a better education. Unfortunately, innovative technologies can be expensive. “Schools in the United States spend a lot of money on education technology—estimated soon to be $56 billion dollars—”(ASCD). It’s difficult to overlook the economic burdens of this solution, this is actually cost effective when compared to the costs of ineffective methods like lecturing and directly reading the textbook.

As mentioned from Growing leaders, an organization devoted to promoting the well being of today’s youth, classrooms with deficient teaching methods can result in a $1.4 million dollar loss among a student’s lifetime earnings. As desolate as this statistic is legitimate, this statistic makes sense, whether the methods for teaching are tedious, this results in students less likely

to be tolerant of others as they are naive to the truth, as well as less successful. With the average classroom containing approximately 24 students, that’s a significant lost; despite this, if effective teaching was focused upon, and teachers could access visually stimulating resources (AR technologies) this would prevent such a significant long term loss.

Fortunately as a whole, America has become more culturally tolerant in comparison to several decades ago; however our society is still combatting this issue regarding our cultural education in schools as we’re lacking decent programs which may result in an intolerant future generation; in order to stop these mentalities, it’s imperative that American school systems, especially my high school, recently dealing with racism and homophobia, should implement stimulating sensory technologies in order to establish an accepting society towards cultural diversity.

The article Attitudes toward Muslim Women in the West states, “Many aspects of societies around the world cannot be understood without reference to the history and influences of major religions in terms of which people live their lives.” This reiterates the importance of knowledge of other cultures in regards to tolerance. One must be knowledgeable of cultures in order to accept and understand them. By creating a more accepting society for our idiosyncratic neighbors through technology and education, we’ll improve social tolerance of American citizens by using effective teaching resources and in a few decades, our future leading generations will become the most tolerant group of people the Earth has hosted.

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