2 seperate reaction papers on 2 to a multi-cultural education articles Essay

2 seperate reaction papers on 2 to a multi-cultural education articles - Essay Example The essay explains the highly contrasted difference between the history of the African nations and the literacy taught in the schools that were dominated by the Portuguese colonists since their rise as a sea and trading power. The authors point out the African backlash against an education system that had been established by the colonists and the resulting negative impact on literacy. Literacy carries with it much more than just the language. It provides the historical color and national identity of the population. The struggles of a people against oppression, invaders, or a colonizing force cannot be placed in the language of the colonizers. In the African colonies, all remnants of Portuguese history, geography, culture, and colonial ideology were purged from the literacy in an effort to create a school system with an African mentality (p.194). Still, once a language has reached dominance it can be destructive to eliminate all traces of it when there is no alternative for replacemen t. This is equivalent to an African-American that rebels against the dominance of the white culture, but is left with no adequate language, and little literacy, for self-expression. The problem of developing literacy pedagogy, measuring literacy, and developing a school curriculum, is based on the contentious and interpretive definition of literacy. The English speaking developed countries have held a traditional view that a student must be well read to be successful in academics. This often meant reading standardized texts based on English classics or the writings of Greek and Roman philosophers. These texts have little relevance to a multicultural classroom setting where history, social class, and culture play an integral part of education. In the lower grades, the educational system will set a goal of literacy and use a standard that requires the basic ability to read and write in the