Hubert Dyasi

Hubert Dyasi, director of the City College Workshop Center in New York City, talks about the importance of teaching with a multicultural perspective to develop a child's cultural frame of reference and increase self-esteem. Excerpted from the national videoconference The New Definition of Learning: The First Step for School Reform (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1990).

"The multicultural perspective means that everyone has a culture frame of reference that matters. That frame of reference consists inside of the web of socially constructed actions, experiences, and patterns of behavior, and the web gives a person an identity as a member of a social group. It also means that by the time the child is five years old, that child already has knowledge, experience and other attributes which are of great value to that child. The multicultural perspective is important in the curriculum because it enables us to organize learning experiences to facilitate building on what the learner brings and on the strengths of that learner. When we do that, we affirm the learner's personal and group standing, we also increase the chances of that child developing very high esteem of himself or herself and also esteem of others."

This Critical Issue was written by Ginger Rodriguez, a Chicago-area writer and editor specializing in educational issues, in collaboration with Judy Caplan, coordinator of school and family partnerships at North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Additional expertise was provided by Judy Harris Helm, president of Best Practices Inc., an educational consulting firm in Brimfield, Illinois.

Date posted: 1998