Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: De-emphasize Differences. I was recently assigned to the middle school in the Warren School District. The district serves a community that had once been an all-white middle-class enclave, but has recently become more diverse in its ethnic makeup. I am very interested in multicultural education. I instituted the use of dialog journals in my adviser group, telling the students that they can write anything they want. Some journal entries cause me concern. Warren Jackson, an African American, complains that my emphasis on African American culture embarrasses him. Gail Smith, a white girl, writes that her parents object strongly to her affection for Warren Jackson and that she is considering suicide. My problems come to a head in my first meeting with the principal. The principal suggests that I decrease his use of small groups, that I abandon my dialogue journals, and that I de-emphasize the multicultural aspects of my classes. He suggests that I emphasize similarities, not differences. I don't know what to do. I do think that my methods have some value but I cannot go against my principal. Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) The first step is to report to the appropriate person that Gail is considering suicide. The next step is to evaluate how you are teaching multicultural education. Perhaps video taping yourself and watching it or asking for peer observations would be a good first step. I have heard teachers who think they are teaching multicultural education really sound demeaning or divisive when they do not mean to. However, this may not be the case. It might be that there are few minority students at the school and because of your multicultural education Warren is being asked questions by the other students or feels like all eyes are on him. You also might find that you are focusing on African Americans more than other groups. The use of dialog journals sounds like they are getting good results, however, perhaps your principal could be appeased if you made them more structured with writing prompts.