DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Chapter 1 -13 Discussion Questions

Chapter 1 -13 Discussion Questions

Chapter 1: Why is change difficult? Think about some times when you had to make significant changes in your life. How did you go about it? Were you successful?

Change happens all the time, but it can sometimes be difficult to accept. Since most people feel more comfortable with familiar people, places, ideas and situations than we do with unfamiliar ones, change can seem foreign. But just as change itself is a process, so is the gradual movement toward accepting it. The following steps can help guide you through the process, making change easier to accept.

Anticipate change. Since change is a natural part of life, expect things to change fairly often.

View change as an opportunity for growth. Since growth can't occur without change, look at change as a positive rather than a negative thing.

Recognize that learning to accept change doesn't happen all at once. Most people go through the following four stages before finally accepting a change: Denial, Resistance, Exploration and Commitment.

Be flexible. Make the best of changes you can't prevent, rather than wasting your energy fighting them. Channeling your energy in a positive direction gives you not just a greater sense of empowerment in handling the situation.

Accept the change. Embrace the opportunity to break new ground. Welcome the chance to demonstrate your ability to face a challenge creatively.

Chapter 2: Describe the nature of the idea of multiculturalism and the ideology of pluralism.

In, 'Multiculturalism and the Common Center,' Diane Ravitch compares the pluralist views on what the curriculum in the schools should include. The pluralist would like to include the history of all cultures while the particularist want to have the different cultures taught only their own history. In order to live in multicultural world pluralism is necessary because people are more tolerant of each other if they understand where a person is coming from and what their background is. Ignorance is the cause of many conflicts between people, and education can prevent this problem.

Pluralism, on the other hand, defines democracy as a balanced system of government that is achieved by many well-organized large groups that individuals participate in the reach a compromise on issues. In elitism, no social organization can form with out elites to lead and make all the decisions for the organization. Contradictory, pluralism holds that majority will always prevail regardless of any leader's personal view.

Chapter 3: Why are women often referred to as a minority group, when they constitute more than half of the general population?

Women have been discriminated against since the beginning of time, as early as the first people, Adam and Eve. Eve was called the evil one, who ate fruit from the tree of knowledge. Once she had the knowledge to know right from wrong, she chose to do wrong and give the fruit to Adam. Examples like these can be shown all over history books, in stories, tales and legends across the entire ...