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Culture and Literacy through Telecommunication Discussions Michigan State University Understanding and building upon diversity in education has received national attention (AACTE, 1989; Holmes, 1986, 1990). This concern is largely in response to the increasing number of children from linguistically and culturally different backgrounds, many of whom are at risk of school failure (Trueba, 1990). The "urgency" of this situation was vividly recorded a decade ago, by the 40 and 50 percent drop-out rates among MexicanAmerican and Puerto Rican students respectively (Jusenius & Duarte, 1982). In contrast, demographic reports indicate that the racial/ethnic composition of teachers is increasingly non-minority. This striking imbalance between the student and teaching populations appears to ensure that in the near future, all teachers will be instructing students whose cultural backgrounds are different from their own (Grant and Secada, 1990). Historically, teacher education has prepared teachers to effectively instruct only one cultural group--dominant, mainstream America (Lindsey, 1985). Therefore, novices are woefully underprepared to effectively teach students from diverse backgrounds. Ironically, first year teachers are often placed in urban schools which typically serve culturally and linguistically different children (Zimpher, 1989). An especially difficult task is providing minority students with meaningful literacy instruction (Delpit, 1988; Heath, 1983; Michaels, 1981; Moll & Diaz, 1985). Although a variety of understandings about literacy and its expression have been reported (Au & Mason, 1981; Gallego & Hollingsworth, 1992; Heath, 1983; Vasquez, 1989), teachers' own culturally biased views of literacy inhibit their ability to recognize and validate alternative literacy uses and styles (Ferdman, 1990). Such discrepancies make teaching and learning difficult and position the issue of diversity as a problem rather than a resource. Diversity emerges as a paramount instructional challenge for both prospective teachers and teacher educators. For teachers, multicultural education holds promise for recognizing and reconciling divergent perspectives.
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