Chelsea Yangirelfil

Mr. Merar
ED 282 Multicultural Education
09 April 2015
Student Interview
In the interviews that I had conducted with the three students,
multiculturalism was a word that one did not know and two that had a sense of what
it meant. When asked the definition of multiculturalism, some stated that it was an
acceptance of cultures and the diversity of the environment. The other was not so
sure. Going further into multiculturalism in the classroom after giving them the
exact definition, the student were not entirely sure how their instructors handled the
different cultures, but they guessed that allowing the freedom of voicing their
opinions was one way. This shows how unaware students are on the actions
performed in class by their instructors. Personally to these three students, they
respect the different cultures and ethnicities in the classroom, but most of them do
not promote it. They talk to new individuals, but they do not initiate the
conversation. However, one student explained that she does promote it by assisting
and conversing with the new students even if they are shy.
Furthermore, most of the students stated that they never encountered racial
slurs or discrimination. Due to the generation that we have and the ones before us,
it has morphed us into individuals that can respect others and their cultural
differences. For most of us, I believe. However, one student stated that she had
experienced being teased do to her Asian ethnicity, but handled it calmly because
there was nothing [she] could really do. She said this in a tone of acceptance, but
she did not let the racial slurs cloud her vision. The interviews with the student were

short and very straightforward. They seemed not so sure about their answers and
this may due to the fact that multiculturalism is not really talked about in a
classroom setting.
Teacher Interview
In the interview conducted with the three teachers, their answers were very
complex. It is most likely from years of experience in the field of teaching and its
touch upon multiculturalism. All three had their own definition of multiculturalism in
which they presented the idea of multiple cultures altogether. As teachers, all of
them believed that multiculturalism is important because of the different individuals
that are coming together and interacting with one another. With multiculturalism,
the teachers stated that they integrate it into their lessons. They explained that
integration not only helps the student with their needs, but it also gives an
understanding to their peers in the classroom. The students special needs In
particular, some of the teacher stated that they do research on their culture to learn
more about them than rather putting them on the spot and asking them a lot of
questions. This allows the teachers to learn more about their students without
making them feel uncomfortable.
Furthermore, pertaining to racial slurs, two of the three instructors stated that
they had no experience with racial slurs in their classroom. One of them explained
that the reason for the non-existent racial slurs is due to modern day society and
the generations that have come to accept and not mind the different cultures that
they get exposed to. As for that one teacher, he stated that he did experience a
racial problem in another place, but solved the situation my questioning and trying
to see from the students perspective instead of shutting the student off. He

emphasized the importance of learning from the student instead of closing the
discussion with an Im right and youre wrong. Lastly, the celebration of the
different cultures is usually done by doing icebreakers, explained by one of the
teachers. The others stated that they celebrated it by integrating it into the
students project.