The purpose of this paper is to look at the extent and impact of various social, cultural and ethnic differences on the perceived cognitive abilities of the school-aged child. The paper looks at the beliefs that teachers and student teachers hold before they enter the classroom. It looks at the power that these beliefs have on the teacher's ability to teach children of diverse cultural, social and ethnic backgrounds. It also considers the options that are available for teaching students of varying backgrounds and how to implement them.
In 1987, the number of teachers of color decreased as the number of students of color increased (Perkins, as cited in Kailin, 1994, p. 170). This trend is expected to continue until the percentage of African American teachers drops to as low as 5 percent by the year 2000 (Perkins, as cited in Kailin, 1994, p. 170). This has brought about an increased focus on preparing teachers to teach a student body with a diversity in background (Banks, as cited in Tatto, 1996, p. 155; Zeichner, as cited in Tatto, 1996, p. 155). To further complicate the situation, Perkins (as cited in Kailin, 1994, p. 170) found that white candidates showed no desire to teach in the inner city schools, where the vast majority of the minority students are to be found. With so many teachers teaching students from cultures and backgrounds different from their own, the effect that their prior beliefs have on the students that they are teaching is important (Kailin, 1994, p. 170). The beliefs that are being passed down from the educators of student teachers are also important.
Currently, many educators are beginning to introduce multiculturalism into their school systems. They are changing their curriculum to meet the backgrounds of their students, and they want to expose teachers to the variety of cultures that they are teaching. However, the result is actually that teachers end up separating themselves more from th...