Is Mainstreaming a good idea?

 

"Multicultural education encompasses theories and practices that strive to promote equitable access and rigorous academic achievement for students from all diverse groups, so that they can work toward social change." There are five approaches to multicultural education; Teaching The Exceptional and Culturally Different, Human Relations, Single-Group Studies, Multicultural Approach, and Education That is Multicultural and Social Reconstructionist. Each of these strategies are used by teachers to make the learning environment a more positive one for all students.

When it comes to Teaching the Culturally Different mainstreaming (p.52) is “an approach that attempts to assimilate students of different races, low-income students, and special education students into a single classroom, a sort of real-world approach." With this said do people think mainstreaming is a good idea? In certain cases I feel that is it a positive idea because the kids are allowed to see that everyone is different and this gives the students a chance to be able to accept all different backgrounds. In cases where immigrants are involved, these students do not use English as their first language which can create a problem in a regular classroom. For the kids who struggle with speaking English I feel that they should do all work in a separate room so that they are getting the specific help that they need in order to succeed. During lunch and recess all kids should be mainstreamed together, to get to know each other. In the case of special needs I feel that depending on the disability or emotional issue the child is having, mainstreaming is a good thing. At the school I am observing at for my field work they have separate classes for the kids with social and emotional issues. Some of these kids have severe issues and because of their regular outbursts they have to be in a different classroom. At different points throughout the day the kids are mainstreamed into the general education class, which gives them time to be around other kids and experience a different setting. I think this is something very positive. With these few examples of different situations I think that we can see that in certain settings mainstreaming is a good thing, but in some it is not the best for the student.

 

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