Cultural and Linguistic Differences in African and Puerto Rican Studies Essay

Academic bereavement in the united States is common among Afro-Ameri basin and Hispanic. Cultural diversity and linguistic differences be among the caexercisings. In order to solve this, teachers moldiness be knowledge sufficient ab protrude the burden of culture on the expression, learning styles, and favored instruct styles of the bookmans in a multi ethnic classroom and use the differences for growth and culture of the students. In multicultural classrooms, teachers must be awargon of the take ups of their students inside or outside of class.A teacher should non make in allow for assumptions or nous as the students may get alienated from one an opposite and to the teacher. Students who grew up in contrastive learning governing body oppose and treat teachers differently and to avoid cultural clash and miscommunication, the teacher should be well-defined to the students. Langu come on difference is also an principal(prenominal) issue that should be addressed. Teach ers must not assume all the time that a Hispanic-looking student knows Latino culture.Bringing up a Latino culture in class can also be embarrassing. It should not also be untrue that at that place atomic number 18 culture hierarchies as written in more textbooks much(prenominal) that Caucasian culture is somehow brilliant to former(a) cultures (Fish 2008). African-American students, identical the Latinos, gestate a high record of pedantic failure due to teachers differential attitudes towards African-Americans and several(a) cultural ineptness.E truly seven seconds of a naturalise day, one African-American gets hang up while in every il seconds, one African-American student drops out of school. In order to originate the teaching method of African-Americans, learning programs should improve the knowledge of teachers and administrators close to the African-American culture, its impact on behavior and learning styles of the students. It is important to avoid biases b ecause it may affect the interaction of the teacher towards the students.A teacher must be able to recognize cultural differences among students and treat it with notice intervene when a Black students culture or quarrel is being ridiculed recognize their biases and experiences do not al menial students to segregate by culture, develop students appreciation to other culture demand a adept level of excellence to all students do not judge students found on previous mistakes and accept that in that respect ar also language differences among Blacks (Keller 2005). The educational conditions of Latinos, like African-Americans, should be addressed.The number of Latinos who correct subaltern education is way behind the fresh population. In 2003, save 48. 7% of Mexicans, 51. 7% of Dominican-origin, 63. 3% Puerto Ricans, and 68. 7% of Cubans obtain finished high school among 25 geezerhood and older. Among White students, the rate of high school completion is 84%. The statistics re sults are attributed to the historical educational condition of the Latinos in the United States where there is a continuous sputter in preserving the Latino culture and the Spanish language in the face of Americanization.Their education has been attached to the word immigrant even though the majority of Latinos are innate(p) in the United States (Velez 2008). The number of Latino students has change magnitude in from 6% in 1973 to 12% in 1993. Their performance in dim-witted and secondary education is world-shakingly glare than the Anglo students. In translateing at age 13 years, Latinos are two years be upset the Anglos while in science, a 13-year-old Latino is equivalent to a 9-year-old Anglo. In 1991, the dropout rate of Latino students age 16-24 was very high with approximately 35.3% compared to 13. 6% of African-American and 8. 9% of Anglo students. The dropout rate of Latino students was 2 ? times higher than the African-American students even though they choose sam e faculty member performance and socioeconomic military position. This apparent movement was observed since the 1980s especially among Latinos born outside the country. The dropout rate however of U. S. -born Latinos (24%) was more than than twice higher than African-Americans. The major causes of low schoolmanian performance are low socioeconomic status and language.Many Latino children came from poor families whose parents are likely to have particular(a) education and have difficultness in comprehending with side language. Students with limited English proficiency perform lower than those with broad English proficiency. Among the 2. 3 million students with limited English proficiency, 75% are communicatory (Slavin and Calderon 2000). The problem of choosing the right language for learning cannot be solved through multilingual programs and English immersion programs which abruptly interruption to English-only instruction.However, Spanish-speaking students with limite d English proficiency taught to transition to English from reading Spanish become better readers than students who are taught to read in English only. The focus of multilingual programs should be the quality of instruction in Spanish. If students fail in Spanish, they wont succeed in English but, concord from research, students who are successful in Spanish will be successful in English as well (Slavin and Calderon 2000).The academic slowdown of the Latinos due to inappropriate teaching methods is not acknowledged by many educators. They believed that the educational methods they are employing are adequacy and the problem relies on the students, students who do not go to school regularly and students who have special needs. The advanced academic strategies are not efficient if the educators will play along to perceive that students from different race with different language are disadvantaged and culturally inferior.The model social pathology or cultural deprivation is used to localise the academic failure of the Latinos, but it is unable and deficient- ground. The same model has branded Latino students as mentally retarded, lingually handicapped, culturally and linguistically deprived, semi-lingual, and at risk. Unfortunately, this model has influenced the educators and multilingual teachers to prefer Anglo students and lighter-skinned Latino students, and perceived parturiency parents negatively than middle-class parents (Trueba and Bartolome 1997).There are researches which offer alternative models to explain the academic failure of the Latinos and other minority students tranquilize classify these students as in need of specialized modes of instruction. However, these alternative models are sedate inefficient for the Latinos. The teachers mastery of promising instructional programs for culturally and linguistically different students is not a solution. Educators must consider a critical assessment of learning environments in political contexts a nd not rely on invalid assumptions (Trueba and Bartolome 1997).Puerto Ricans, just like the other Latinos, have experienced many problems in U. S. schools but these problems are identified based from their backgrounds, culture family, language, and social class. In 1935, Puerto Rican students were assort as slow learners according from the composing from the New York City Chamber of Commerce. The results were based from the intelligences tests administered to 240 Puerto Rican children. Latino communities including Vito Marcantonio, an Italian-American politician, were dismayed by the subtle result.Marcantonio argued that the tests did not recognized other appreciable factors such as social, economic, linguistic, and environmental factors go about by the Puerto Rican children. The movement towards promoting the Puerto Ricans was continuous and slow-paced. some(prenominal) researches were made addressing the educational issues of Puerto Ricans such as The Puerto Rican Study, Th e First Citywide Conference of the Puerto Rican, and The Losers. The status of Puerto Rican students was given more emphasis. It was found that there was a high rate of dropout. low gear attendance rates, and poor academic achievement.The teachers and administrators were observe to be uniformed unsympathetic to the station of Puerto Rican students (Nieto 2000). Although there is continuous struggle in changing the curriculum for the Puerto Ricans, the educational system and teaching methods have not adjusted. In an ethnographic research by Eugene Bucchioni, there were still assimilationist pressures in the teaching methods and curriculum content. There was a continuous disparity to Spanish-speaking students and to a definition of alimental diet where there were no Puerto Rican foods include (Nieto 2000).In the research The Puerto Rican Study, significant recommendations were listed in order to meet the needs of Puerto Rican children such as formulation of policy for the asses sment of non-English speaking students recognize English as a second language only invest on improving instructional programs for non-English speaking pupils and others. One of the scoop out solutions for academic failure of Latino students (Cordasco 1978). On of the best programs for Latino students and other minority students is by chance to reform the entire school, including the curriculum, instruction, and evaluation.A curriculum by Slavin and Calderon (2000), Success for All, integrates innovative curricula and instructional methods in reading, writing, and language arts for primary education. There is one-to-one tutoring for students with reading difficulties, family survive services, assessment program for students progress, instructional strategies appropriate for Spanish language and Latino culture, use of Spanish novels, cooperative learning activities to inspection and repair transition from English to Spanish reading, and others (Slavin and Calderon 2000).Nowadays, maintaining a multicultural classroom is an increasing precession for educators which involves restructuring the classroom evaluation and punishment techniques and orifice up for cultural differences (Fish 2008). The population of Latinos in the United States is increasing and their needs should be addresses. The educational success of Latinos together with African-Americans is significant on the countrys rescue and technological future because of the large population. The strengths of these populations can be the strength of the country as well (Trueba and Bartolome 1997). Works Cited Cordasco, F.(1978). Bilingual preparation in New York City A Compendium of Reports, Ayer Publishing. Retrieved 13 may, 2008, from http//books. google. com/books? id=cyJxZ76vxM4C&hl=tl Fish, L. (2008). Building Blocks The First go of Creating a Multicultural Classroom. Retrieved 13 may, 2008, from http//www. edchange. org/multicultural/papers/buildingblocks. hypertext mark-up language. Kelle r, E. (2005). Strategies for Teaching Science to African American Students. Retrieved 13 May, 2008, from http//www. as. wvu. edu/equity/african. htmlsect1. Nieto, S. (2000). Puerto Rican Students in U. S. trails, Lawrence Erlabaum Associates.Retrieved 13 may, 2008, from http//books. google. com. ph/books? id=ZoSpQQ-sevAC Slavin, R. E. and M. Calderon (2000). efficient Programs for Latino Students, Lawrence Erlabum Associates. Retrieved 13 may, 2008, http//books. google. com/books? id=tEnSx4o_NXsC&hl=tl Trueba, E. T. and L. I. Bartolome. (1997). The Education of Latino Students Is School Reform Enough? Retrieved 13 May, 2008, from http//www. ericdigests. org/1998 1/latino. htm. Velez, W. (2008). The Educational Experiences of Latinos in the United States. Retrieved 13 May, 2008, from http//www. springerlink. com/content/h8632636146060t3/.