Acculturation, Pluralism and Cross-Cultural Awareness in the Classroom Essays

Acculturation, Pluralism and Cross-Cultural Awareness in the Classroom Essays Acculturation, Pluralism and Cross-Cultural Awareness in the Classroom Essay Acculturation, Pluralism and Cross-Cultural Awareness in the Classroom Essay Acculturation, Pluralism and Cross-Cultural Awareness in the Classroom First, acculturation is the process of adopting the dominant group’s cultural patterns; some groups prefer to keep, or maintain the original culture. Consequently that group will not have become highly cultured to American culture. Second, Pluralism ideology believes that they should keep their identity and culture. Such ideas have advantages and disadvantages, because most of the case the dominant groups are not willing to share powers, and Third, cross-cultural awareness in the classroom is critical for nation that is form by diversity groups. The main purpose of this search is to evaluate he advantages and the disadvantages of acculturation, pluralism and cross-cultural awareness in the classroom from different perspectives. The supporters the acculturation usually are the groups from the first generation of immigrants. They keep their identity and cultures. One of the issues of this group is that they never become fully form part of the main stream society. By definition acculturation â€Å"refers to changes to that take place as a result of continuous firsthand contact between individuals of different cultures. Such contact not only produces changes in people’s attitude, values, and behavior, but may also significantly affect their cultural identity. â€Å"It is important to note that acculturation is determined, in part by the individuals or family; that us, they can decide how much they want to dress, speak, and behave like members of the dominant group. According to Rambaut and Portes (2001) â€Å"There are three acculturation patterns among immigrants: consonant, dissonant, and selective. Example of consonant acculturation, parent and children learn the language and culture of the community in which they live. In dissonant acculturation, children learn English and the new culture while parents retain their native language and culture, often leading to conflict within the family and decreasing parenting authority, and fluent bilingualism in the second generation is an outcome of selective acculturation in which the children of immigrants learn the dominant culture and language, but retain significant elements of their native culture. †Donna M. Gollnick, Philip C. Chinn (2006) Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society Pg. 29 Newcomers, for example, may have come from relatively homogeneous countries such as Japan, where cultural identity is rarely challenged, and may have had no experiences with the new host culture. † Kenneth Cushner Averil McClelland (2006) Human Diversity In Education Pag. 115. People also differ in the degree to which they wish to retain or are willing to change their cultural identity. Second, pluralism ideology â€Å"allows two or more distinct groups to function separately and equally without requiring any assimilation of one into the other† Donna M. Gollnick , Philip. Chinn (2006 Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society) It is the point of view of conservative. Pluralism recognized many ethnic and/or religious groups that could coexist. It has advantage and disadvantages. There are not equitably between the dominant group and the groups who identify themselves with the pluralism. For the two groups to function, it will be necessary that power and resources be shared across those groups. Through the long of the history of this nation those power and resources have been controlled by the dominant group. They will be not very willingly share power and Wealth with others. To attain social and economic mobility, minorities are requiring functioning in the dominant culture rules. For example â€Å"some critics of the system believe that the dominant group uses a strategy of divide and conquer to keep ethnic groups segregated and fighting among themselves for the few resources available â€Å"Donna M. Gollnick, Philip C. Chinn (2006 Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society Pg. 32) Other believes in the integration of cultural group and promotion of more equality across groups. It is good intention of those groups, but the reality is totally different. The ideology of the dominant group is why we have to share power and resources if we were the first to establish this nation. This position is not directly open, but it subjective by the attitude that the dominant group have toward minority group. We had experienced the feeling of living in a culture where small groups want to dom inate by force, and elite groups have control over power and the few resources. The advantages of the pluralism call for free choice for individuals as well as groups. The practice of cultural choices allows individuals the right to choose statuses such as gender, ethnicity, and age in determining who they are. Even though, of this supposedly advantages in the United States neither assimilation nor pluralism adequately addresses the diversity that exists. The school should also help all students to develop ethnic literacy, since most American are very ignorant about cultures in the United States others than their own. As educators have to close this gap and teach the students to have more understanding of other different. Third, Cushers and Brislin stated â€Å"that for years researchers from cross- culture psychology have searched for methods that could be used to analyze, understand, improve intercultural interaction. †Knneth Cushner, (2009) Human Diversity in Education Pg. 119. As many analytics suggest, that cross-culture have to be with the recognition that people have similar reactions to their cross-cultural encounters regardless of the setting or the person their own cultural background. I believe that everybody have the same feeling when we have to encounter with unfamiliar situation, or new culture. It is just in the universal approach, but in the school setting Cross-Cultural Awareness have a specific meaning; that we must have to think about if we want to become an efficient educator. We have to become as model for students. Students can learn to understand and appreciate culture groups if the adults and teachers set the right attitude about differences. Another example is many educators are in disadvantage, because they do not live, or have never lived, in the community in which their students live. In my understanding it is not a valid excuse. When we take a teaching position in an area that we are not familiar with; we have to do our researcher about that particular neighborhood. There are various resources useful to acquire knowledge about our diversity in the classroom. For example,† we can learn about the perspective of others by reading articles and books written by men women from different ethnics, racial, social-economic, and religious groups. † Donna, M. Gollinick (2006 education that is multicultural) I think that we as educators, we have to open the windows for more understanding between different cultures that take place in the classroom. It is very important that we are familiar with our students demographic, and social economic backgrounds. Create curriculum having in mind all diversity present in the classroom. Cross-culture awareness is a priority not a choice. It is not only for an individual who wants to become an educator. It is something that helpful in the kind of world that we live. Many people have to leave the country for different motives. When we are willing to accept other and understand others cultures it make our life my easy in unfamiliar environment. Finally, as teachers we need to have understanding of diversity and culture differences. I think that it is easy for educators to say that she /he does not see colors, or ethnic in the classroom. It is just because the person wants to denial cultural differences. These teachers do not share experience with the community where their students lives. It is normal that some people want to maintain they own norms and values. Since other prefer the acculturation because they see more opportunities of with the world of the dominant group. The reality is that if an individual does not want to interact with the others ethnic groups then these persons become insolate. A teacher with understand of the real reality of this nation will celebrate culture differences. I believe that each student I unique entity with her/his talents and difficulty. References If you need to type anything after the reference list then start it on this page

Post Cold War Africa Inter State Conflict Research Paper

Post Cold War Africa Inter State Conflict - Research Paper Example The African continent has witnessed great disparities between the rich and the poor. Unemployment and social insecurities make it easy for any powerful individual to breed hatred and start intrastate wars. Despite this, there has been a progressive global decline in political violence since the end of the cold war probably due to the increased emphasis on peacekeeping and peace building activities3. Africa is a potentially volatile continent with a couple of unstable governments. The Berlin conference opened up the continent for division amongst major western powers who created artificial boundaries without considering the existent traditional modes of government. To consolidate their power, the colonialists destroyed the cultural and traditional symbols of power, but the large expanse of the African continent became ungovernable because of limited human and capital resources4. The divide and rule policy employed to control Africans sowed seeds of bitterness and discontent, which con tinue to cause major intrastate conflicts. Despite imposing the western culture and way of life on Africans, western colonialists did not empower Africans with the right quality of education, culture, and economic infrastructure for effective governance and stability5. After independence, most African countries lacked effective systems of governance, economic independence, and were left without direction. Africans lacked self-direction because they had been equipped with useless skills. They could not rebuild the traditional power structures nor institute economic and social development essential for stability. Artificial boundaries crammed diverse ethnic people with different traditional values, practices, and cultures together. The social strife experiences and lack of national economic opportunities deprived majority of Africans the bond of nationalism present in developed countries of the world6. A glaring example is countries colonized by the British who have failed to develop strong national identities, cultural integrity, and social cohesion essential for national stability and progress7. Majority of the African leaders who ascended to power after Africa got independence were unequipped and unsuitable for leadership. This has continued to date with majority of them being overly ambitious and corrupt. The absence of effective independent social and political institutions of governance has made political leaders too powerful, often exploiting their authority to amass assets for their own financial gain. Because of their past crimes, these leaders go to great lengths to remain in power at the expense of their people. In the past, they used single party leadership oppressing many citizens. Corrupt and inefficient regimes contributed to development of intrastate wars with many unnecessary deaths, pain, and suffering8. After independence, most African states created strong state police departments and military forces. Corrupt leaders and regimes illegally use these forces to consolidate their power through ruthless crackdown of any opposition9. Sustained oppression, lack of civil freedoms, and poor economic growth lead to instability due to gross violations of basic human rights10. Many African state police and military police do not uphold basic human rights for their people

Wall Street Journal Section Review Research Paper

Wall Street Journal Section Review - Research Paper Example A subheading on Columns present news articles written by WSJ columnists such as Brett Arends, Karen Blumenthal, Kelly Greene, Laura Saunders, and Jason Zweig, to name just a few. Other relevant and captivating sections appear as subtopics ranging from Real Estate, Autos, Fitness & Health, and Careers. Finally, at the bottom portion are Offers that promote products and services at discounts and good bargains for interested customers. There is a portion for sponsored links and all the comprehensive information on WSJ in a separate highlighted portion to include data such as WSJ.com Account, About, WSJ.com, Tools & Formats, Create an Account, and Help & Information Center. The right side column gives additional details regarding WSJ Digital Network with Foreign Language Editions. Appendix A: Specific Observations Personal Finance Observation 1: Ensign, Rachel Louise. 15 May 2011. â€Å"Maybe We'll Charge an Extra Fee to Read This.† Wall Street Journal, Top Stories in Personal Fin ance: Money.

Research and Development of Anti-Retroviral Drugs Essay Example for Free

Research and Development of Anti-Retroviral Drugs Essay ‘Discuss the reasons why the research and development of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) has impacted differently on people suffering from HIV/AIDS in developed and developing world’ HIV/AIDS still does not have a know cure, but has a treatment that slows down the affects of HIV/AIDS which is called ARV (anti-retroviral drug) The ARV drug is a very â€Å"exclusive† drug because as it is very expensive, around $400 a month if not more depending on which stage you are in, and that is a huge dilemma because many people cannot afford to pay that amount of money so they are not able to receive the treatment. If people in the first world countries cannot receive the drug, how do people in the third world receive the drug? In third world countries the drugs are given to them for free, but on the 47% gets the full treatment. The drugs are given to them by of the drug company itself of other companies that buy the ARVs from the company and send it to the place where it is needed, for example Africa. Africa is the location where the most HIV/AIDS cases are, and is also the one getting the least amount of treatment. The reason for this is because the ARV drug company wants to get their money back for all the research they put in, so giving the ARVs for free would become a great loss economically for them. The first aspect of this issue is the social part. Infrastructure is a big problem because as buildings coast a lot to construct they are not able to put up many, and you must also have trained people able to work there, which are hard to find in Africa. There are very few amount of places where you can go get tested but they have a limited amount of treatments and supplies. This is a huge problem because if people go to get better they have to wait or not get better at all due to the lack of resources. I would solve this issue by having not many small structures but several big structures so the supplies have a greater chance to arrive and more money is used wiser and more efficiently. Another social aspect of this problem is the education. In Africa the education is something that not everyon e gets, so they are not aware about how they get the disease, how they can prevent it or what are  the affects. A reason for why in Africa they do not receive the education is because there are a very few amount of teachers, and the teachers that they have may also be contaminated and are not able to execute their job correctly. HIV/AIDS affects everyone in their community because the disease spreads fast in their case (the people in Africa). This is due to their sexual behavior. Their culture does not have monogamy or a custom of only one sexual partner, but they have many different sexual partners, and that is why HIV/AIDS spreads so quickly in Africa. They also do not use protection because it is not available to most people and so chances are higher to get HIV/AIDS. Another cultural aspect is that there is a lot of prejudice against testing. Many people do not want to get tested for HIV/AIDS because one, they are scared the test might come back positive, second if it does result positive how will they tell their family/friends and thirdly how will they get the treatment they need to get. If the people get tested and do want to not tell anyone, because of various reasons, and as a result the problem amplifies and does not get solved. Another problem for the cultural aspect is get the people to take responsibility and try to change. Of coarse it is easier to ignore the problem and pretend it is not there, but that would not be helping the matter, it would be making it worse. How to solve these problems would be, in my opinion, have protection available to them, encourage testing, reassure the people that there will be a treatment for them, make them understand the severity of this issue and that if we do not take action it may get a lot worse, have session/groups for them to talk about their worries, experience ect. However before doing this we must solve the bigger problem, how do we give them the treatment for free. Another aspect of the issue is the ethical/moral part. The richer countries to some extent have an obligation to help the poorer countries, but the third world countries should not relay or take advantage because also the richer countries have their own problems to solve. For insists America is going though a very tough crisis but at the same time they are helping the less fortunate get better. The poorer countries should also take action and do something to help themselves, because they should be putting the money where it really needs to go to, the people. This leads us to another aspect of the issue, the political portion. Politics have caused a lot of mayhems in the world because they sometimes do not have they  priorities sorted out. For example in Africa instead of investing their money in this issue of HIV/AIDS and the treatments, they have decided to invest their money on weapons and in their natural recourses such as oil. It is very hard to run a third world country but it should not be an excuse. To solve these concerns although it is a difficult task but one way to solve them, in my opinion, is to have people from the first world talk and discuss about what they can do together (with the people of the third world) instead of just have the first world do everything on their own. The last aspect of this issue is the economic part. Africa is already a poor continent, having a poor economy is not helping either. They do not have enough money to circulate and this stops Africa growing, having sick people also stops the economy from growing because it is another matter they have to face. Child labor increases due to the fact that the adults are sick and are unable to work and the poor people have no way in getting better because there aren’t enough doctors. In conclusion a way to resolve the problem in the distribution of the ARVs is to have several multi-national pharmaceutical companies sponsor the ARVs, so other independent companies do not have to buy the drug and then distribute them, but by sponsoring the drug, the ARV drug company directly gives the drug to the third world countries without loosing it’s money. The multi-national pharmaceutical companies get advertisement and so they also gaining not loosing their money. As you can see this is a win, win situation. The main issue here is that the ARV drug company does not want to loose the money that they put in research so they make the drug excessively high-priced because to produce the drug is a coast next to nothing. Once the people receive the treatment, they should help educate not only the affected people but also the people that haven’t been affected yet. I believe by doing this, the transmission of the HIV/AIDS with decrease significantly and things will start to get better. I do believe that this problem is solvable.

The Importance of Trotsky, Lenin and Stalin to the Communist Dictatorsh

Trotsky, Lenin and Stalin were all important in bringing the Communist Dictatorship in Russia from 1917 - 1939. All three of them wouldn't be able to make progresses without each other. The basement or a trigger to communism in Russia was Lenin as he was the organizer. He has been studying Marxism and Socialism for many years and in the result he has brought the October Revolution in 1917 to Russia. In addition Lenin has written many books in order to spread the idea of communism. As he was the organizer of this revolution and the person who led the Bolshevik take over of Russia in 1917 he became the first leader of Russia in communist regime. Later on he introduced 'Cheka' and other forms of oppression to maintain his control. Then introducing War Communism, he ensured everyone worked for a Bolshevik victory in a Civil War. After the victory of communism in the Russian Revolution (1917), a Third, or Communist, International was created (1919). Under the leadership of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, this Communist International, or Comintern, hoped to foster world revolution in order to promote Communism around the world and to get more allies. Lenin was thinking wisely as he has introduced NEP in order to improve production and life in the USSR, restoring the order and increasing prosperity after the chaos of Revolution, Civil War and War Communism. NEP simply allowed economic recovery and by 1928 industrial and food production levels were about the same as in 1914, and some people grew. However even to realize to all of the stated achievements Lenin made, he needed Trotsky's help. Trotsky was Lenin's right-hand-man and it can be sai... ...nist regime, because he didn't even think of any plans how to improve industry or production, increase prosperity. Lenin was only bothered with people's psychology, he only made people to support communism. However communism couldn't have been supported if famine didn't stop, so the Communism could fall quickly. It isn't wise as well to say that Lenin and Stalin were more important that Trotsky just for the reason that they were the leaders of the Soviet Union and Trotsky wasn't. Trotsky has played an important part as well. If he didn't organize Red Army, the Reds wouldn't be able to win even Civil war and the Communism could fall. All three of them were important in bringing about the communism in Russia in 1917 - 1939. All three of them were dependant on each other and wouldn't be able to survive without each other.

Production of Brazilian Coffee

A hundred million people in the United States wake up every day to the smell of coffee, a third of which is produced in Brazil, making Brazil by far the world's largest producer of coffee, a position the country has held for the last 150 years. With 80% of the production of Brazilian coffee being the delightfully tasting Arabica coffee, it's the largest producer of low grade Arabica coffee in the world, along with being a large producer of Conilon robusta too. There has been a remarkable increase in the production of Brazilian coffee over the past few years, in order to meet the demand for cheap coffee the world over. Just over the last 12 months, Brazil exported over 46 million bags, a sharp increase from the 18 million bags it exported in 1994. The history of production of Brazilian coffee goes back to 1727 when the first coffee bush was planted in Brazil, supported by curious rumours about the first samples of seeds being smuggled into Brazil by the military Francisco de Melo Palheta who charmed a Lady in French Guiana to part with them. Brazilian economy, then based on the production of sugar, gradually shifted to coffee, helping it become a monopoly in the international coffee market by the first decades of the 20th century, with the economy completely dependent upon coffee. Around the middle of the 19th century, following the decline of slave labour, Brazil pushed for greater influx of immigrants to work in the coffee farms. The success of the State of Sao Paulo as the economic and political centre in the country is often attributed to it being the first and main producer of coffee. Currently, coffee production in Brazil provides income for over 10 million people involved in the coffee trade, fuelling a significant part of the US$60 billion a year industry. Such figures, however, have often led to the misunderstanding that Brazil is heavily dependent on coffee for its economy. Coffee is responsible for only 0. 3% of Brazilian GDP, falling well behind industries such as automotive, aerospace and high tech that make up a massive chunk of the GDP. To encourage coffee farming among this extremely competitive sector, the Brazilian government has recently deregulated the coffee industry, allowing large farms to market their coffees directly to consuming countries without regard to government-mandated grading structures. The industry is not without its problems. Grown in elevations ranging between 2,000 feet to 4,000 feet, the rapid climate change is predicted to hurt the production of beans available for an estimated four years, leading to an increase in price. There have also been concerns about the quality of beans produced, currently being tackled by Brazilian coffee growing associations as they try re-creating the image of Brazilian as exquisite and distinctive Specialty-level coffee. It is the Brazilians’ hard work that gets much of the world its favorite beverage. So next time you sip your coffee, offer a toast to the country that gave us Samba to groove to.

Illegal Immigration The United States - 2375 Words

Illegal Immigration To be the enemy or not to be the enemy: that is the real question. How are we, the U.S., supposed to send helpless immigrants back to a cruel daunting place, who have come to us on hands and knees begging for a better way of life and deny them the right to citizenship? If so then how can we call ourselves the land of the free where everyone has a chance at equality, when we will not even acknowledge a single immigrant who needs our help as we do everything we can to push them away. Illegal immigration is one of the world s most controversial topic seen in today’s society. According to J. Hirbyand and Checked by The Law Dictionary Staff, some people believe that illegal immigration hurts the U.S. economy†¦show more content†¦billions of dollars,† As that money could be put towards much needed causes, such as education or programs that could help resolve some of the issues that surround illegal immigration today, especially considering the fac t that most immigrants are often being overlooked and being denied the right to citizenship based on the actions of previous immigrants. As a matter of fact, â€Å"they do most of the jobs that Americans would hate to do as immigrants serve an important role to the US economy, and with new laws set forth and a guaranteed citizenship, immigrants should be treated the same.† No matter how one may feel about illegal immigrants, all opinions aside they simply cannot deny the fact that immigrants help benefit the economy in multiple ways as it is seen everywhere around the US. The questions of how many illegal immigrants should be admitted to the United States, and what level of skills these immigrants should have, are among the most divisive issues in the current U.S. domestic policy. Much of the controversy that they spark can be traced to a single issue: do immigrants help or harm the economy? â€Å"Immigration benefits America in at least two ways. First, increased immigration expands the American workforce and encourages more business start-ups. Second, immigrants increase economic efficiency by raising the supply of low- and high-skilled immigrants. In many cases immigrants educational backgrounds complement, rather than displace, the