Canadians that live in the country's larger cities are aware of the growing cultural and ethnic diversity that is characterizing our cities. Canada has an aggressive goal of growing its population through immigrants, so this diversity is only going to increase throughout the years. This growing diversity in the country highlights the effectiveness of Canada's multiculturalism policies. How well is Canada living up to its multicultural policies? This essay will examine multiculturalism in Canada with an emphasis on multiculturalism in education. This will show that education in Canada needs to be given a new approach, one that highlights to need to build on the strengths of diversity and not on trying to achieve the unitary student.
Because of the diverse composition of schools, education and multiculturalism are very much linked, and an examination of how multiculturalism works in education can highlight how well Canada's broader policies of multiculturalism are being implemented, and if they are being implemented in the way that they are supposed to.
[...] As Canada's population has grown with the steady stream of immigrants coming to the country, the diversity in the country's urban schools has also been on the rise. It is also very visible both in their physical appearance and the way that they exhibit their culture in the Canadian public sphere. The fact that students have wide-ranging experiences is now, more than ever, important for teachers to acknowledge. School administrators and the rest of the educational staff needs to acknowledge the heterogeneity of beliefs with the schools environment. [...]
[...] past, which serve to show how education in Canada got to the point it is at today. It was not until there was a massive migration of immigrants into the country that the importance of assimilation began to be seen. (Haig-Brown, 1988). In 1971, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau understood the need to link multiculturalism with official policy, and he developed a policy of “Multiculturalism within a Bilingual Framework.” This was designed to ensure Canada would embrace the cultures of those people it was allowing to become part of the Canadian nation. [...]
[...] Multiculturalism is a great thing, but it needs to be used in the correct way or the diversity that we all face in our daily lives can work against us. If used properly, multicultural can make education a richer experience for everyone, but if used incorrectly, it runs the risk of alienating the students who rely on it to grow. As such, this essay has shown that Canada's approach to multicultural education needs to be re-evaluated as it currently is not taking the proper direction. [...]
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