According to the news report about the ethnic studies pilot program in San Francisco, culturally relevant teaching has great benefits for at-risk students’ attendance and academic achievement. “Culturally relevant teaching” was implemented in a supportive, high-fidelity context, covering the experiences and identities of minority groups and employing cultural references with the goal to increase social and political awareness among the students. It reminds me of the journal article of last semester called “Representation in education: entering silenced voices, bodies and knowledges” in the book Removing the margins: The challenges and possibilities of inclusive schooling (Dei, James, Wilson & Zine, 2000). To achieve education without margins, it is essential to negotiate a presence for minoritized students. Three sub-domains should be identified as visual representation, knowledge representation and staff diversity. Here knowledge representation takes a critical role in interrogating how knowledge are produced. Questions like “How do educators integrate diverse knowledges, histories, cultures and experiences as part of everyday pedagogy and practice? And, how do we challenge conventional forms of knowledge and create spaces for alternate ways of knowing” (P. 181) are of great concern. This pilot program in San Francisco may set up a model for schools in other states or immigrant countries to follow. Just like the author said the program should not merely stop with at-risk students, all students need this type of learning. Especially in today’s diverse global situation, more and more refugees and immigrants enter another country with their own original cultural and language background. If this cultural diversity is neglected or erased because of a colonial system of education, then the students would be excluded and marginalized.
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