Cultural Pluralism

A compilation of points from all of the reading that made me think:

• Children will become adults who cooperate and sustain one another only if the school-based culture they gain makes them feel that they belong to a larger society
• Ethnicity defines identity does not define social and temperamental determinants
• Cosmopolitanism - citizen of the world
• Everyone wants a good education for children
• Clear knowledge goals for each grade of elementary schools - core content
• 1) It encourages knowledge of and sympathy towards the diverse cultures of the world. 2) It fosters respect for every child's home culture as well as for the cosmopolitan school- based culture. 3) It gives all children competence in the current system of language and allusion that is dominant in the nation's economic and intellectual discourse.
• Remeber the #1 task - good education
• Invites all children to become active, effective members of a larger cosmopolis

When thinking about social control in school I think it is needed at the high school level to a certain extent. With curriculum, I think teachers can put their own spin on things in their classroom and some use cultural pluralism and some do not. Other things that we do to incorporate cultural pluralism is "Cultural Explosion" a day to learn about all the cultures in our school. There are policies to prevent some displays of culture; flags in certain situations, gang colors. We do not want any type of celebrations of one culture to degrade or be insensitive to another culture.