Diversity, Learning Style and Culture

One of major problems facing educators today, is the line between uniformity and diversity when instructing students. Something educators struggle with is not pushing students into the same mold, which has been a problem in the school system for decades. For many teachers, uniformity comes easier than diversity, but this does a disservice to almost all students, as uniformity doesn’t take into account the different beliefs, learning and thinking styles, or adversities that students might face. This can be shown in how many students who don’t learn and respond to the so called “best approach” of teachers, are often labeled as “disabled” when the reality is most them have different learning styles. However, we shouldn’t completely ignore uniformity, “We need appropriate uniform standards but not standardization.” (Guild, John Hopkins University). The main goal of us, as future educators, is to make sure that all learning styles are supported in our classroom, but that all students reach the same end goal.

There are four questions to consider when teaching different learning styles according to this article are, how do I know? (which is associated with cognition), how do I think? (which is associated with conceptualization), how do I decide (which is associated with affect) and how do I act (which is associated with behavior). We must consider these questions because “people differ in the ways they perceive, think, feel, and behave.” (Guild, John Hopkins University). It’s important to learn about your student’s culture and their learning styles, and incorporate them into each of your lessons, so that each student can be successful in every aspect of the classroom.