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First grader Ruby Bridges is the first African American to attend William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. She becomes a class of one as parents remove all Caucasian students from the school
Ruby attending school illustrated how racist the United States was just a short time ago. This helps to explain a lot about today's education systems and society. -
In response to the large number of Cuban immigrant children arriving in Miami after the Cuban Revolution, Coral Way Elementary School starts the first bilingual and bicultural public school in the United States.
There are many different languages spoken today in the United States and across all of the different cultures. It is very important that that was acknowledged early on and that students can attend a public school in a language other than English. -
Head Start, a preschool education program for children from low-income families, begins as an eight-week summer program. Part of the "War on Poverty," the program continues to this day as the longest-running anti-poverty program in the U.S.
When children do not have a preschool education, they enter kindergarten already at a disadvantage than others. Head Start gave impoverished children the opportunity to obtain a preschool education so that they could go into kindergarten level with the other students. This is important because it "leveled" the playing field between different social classes. -
PARC v. Pennsylvania ruling is extended to other students with disabilities and requires the provision of "adequate alternative educational services suited to the child's needs, which may include special education . . ."
Disabled people also have a right to an education. It is good that the government acknowledged that and this is one of the first times that the need for special education was recognized. -
The Equal Educational Opportunities Act is passed. It prohibits discrimination and requires schools to take action to overcome barriers which prevent equal protection.
This act basically meant that schools could no longer discriminate against students and that it was important that all students be treated equally. Protection was set in place to make sure that laws could not hold students back. It is also important because it works to protect rights for students who may not be native english speakers. It shaped multicultural education because now students were legally supported in obtaining an education. -
The Education of All Handicapped Children Act (PL 94-142) becomes federal law.
This law allowed all handicapped (disabled) children to obtain a free, safe public education in an environment that could support their needs. It also declared that handicapped students not be placed in a "restrictive" setting when learning, meaning that their needs would be sufficiently accommodated. This is important in shaping multicultural education because it brought the handicapped culture into the classroom. -
Apple Computers introduces the first personal computer.
This is very important for multicultural education because students can access information and be exposed to information about different cultures online. Also, it is important for multicultural education because technology is such a big part of education today and who knew how it would expand in the education field from going to playing Oregon Trail to getting degrees online. -
In the case of Plyler v. Doe, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in a 5-4 decision that Texas law denying access to public education for undocumented school-age children violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
This is one of the first pieces of legislation we see protecting rights for undocumented children and addressing that issue. So, it is important in multicultural education because the rights of those students are just as important as the rights of documented students. It also is saying that tuition cannot be charged in school districts for undocumented students. -
The Improving America's Schools Act (IASA) is signed into law by President Bill Clinton on January 25th.
This act did many things including supported technology advances in schools, increased funding for bilingual and immigrant students, and addressed drop-out prevention. This is important in shaping multicultural education because in some cultures the drop-out rate is very high, and here a president is actually taking action in addressing that. -
No Child Left Behind Act
This act helped to shape multicultural education because it gave schools incentives about doing better, which means all students were ideally held to higher standards. This act is focused on seeing schools and students both succeed.
