The case study discussed in this paper is about Nadia Bara, a 14-year old girl living and studying in the United States. Nadia is Arabic, and both her parents are Syrian. She is a freshman at Oaks High School. Her religion is Muslim and speaks English, Arabic, and Spanish (Nieto & Bode, 2013). She has friends from different ethnic groups. In the case study, Nadia narrates about her experience in America as an Arab and Muslim, especially after the September 11 terrorist attack in the United States. She also narrates about her experience when she visits Syria with her parents every year for two weeks to see her relatives. Four main issues emerge from Nadia's interview. These are struggles with belonging, discrimination, racism, and negative stereotyping against Arabs related to culture and religion. The case of Nadia indicates that lack of multicultural education in schools has led to discrimination and negative stereotyping and makes it challenging for students from minority groups such as Arabs in the United States to fit in schools and society at large.
Background
Arab Americans are United States citizens or permanent residents whose roots or origin is Arabic countries such as those in the Middle East and North Africa (Daraiseh, 2012). However, most Arab Americans were born in the U.S. However, the Arab population is not big in the United States, it has been increasing over the years and today, and it is among the fastest-growing group in the United States. The population increased from 850,000 individuals in 1990 to approximately 1.2 million people in 2000. According to the U.S. census in 2010, there were 1.5 million individuals of Arab descent living in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018). This represented a 76% growth in the population since 1990. The number of Arab ancestry households in the United States has also grown to 427,000 in 2000 from 268,000 in 1990 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018).
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Prejudice and discrimination towards Arabs living in America are one of the main problems that they face. The problem comes from the negative stereotyping of Arabs and Muslims. After the 2001 September 11 terrorist attack orchestrated by terrorists of Arabic and Muslim background, more than six hundred crimes of hate were presented to both the Council of American-Islamic Relations and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (Wingfield & Karaman, 2009). Arab Americans are usually linked to terrorist acts perpetrated by several extremists from their ethnic group or religion. Arabs are also presented as violent terrorists in pop culture. They are also portrayed as marauding individuals involved in kidnapping western women, while Arab women are presented as belly dancers. Approximately 65 percent of Arab Americans claim that they have experienced embarrassment as a result of terrorist attacks executed by people from Arabic countries (Wingfield & Karaman, 2009). After the September 11 attack, approximately 20% of Arabs living in America claimed they encountered discrimination as a result of their ethnic roots, while 45 percent claimed that they were aware of someone who had suffered such kind of discrimination.
Alternatives
Several alternatives or solutions are proposed to address the problem of Arab Americans' stereotypes and discrimination. Introducing bilingual programs in school is a possible solution to the problems identified in the case study. The use of Arab language and literature can help students from Arabic speaking families feel culturally comfortable and assist in both learning English language American culture (Al-Hazza et al., 2005). However, a special program is not adequate because it does not enlighten the other students on other cultures but only makes Arabic students feel comfortable in their learning alone. The strategy is not effective in eliminating stereotypes and discrimination. This solution is not also possible at the time because other minority groups are also stereotyped, and having programs, special programs for each minority group would require a lot of resources and may not be possible at all.
Another possible alternative is for teachers to rid themselves of the negative and false images related to Arabs presented in the media. Educators must learn about the cultures of their students to enable them to teach them in a culturally appropriate manner and, at the same time, become culturally competent. Cultural competence involves an awareness of an individual's cultural identity and perspectives about diversity and the ability to study and understand different cultures of different students and their families. This solution, although effective on the educator's part is, does not address students who possess negative stereotypes and discriminate against Arab Americans in school and the entire community.
Proposed Solution
The proposed solution in addressing the identified problems from Nadia's case study is multicultural education. This type of schooling incorporates five dimensions, which are the integration of content, the process of constructing knowledge, reducing prejudice, equity pedagogy, and equipping learning institution's social design and culture (Wingfield & Karaman, 2009). The content integration dimension involves dealing with the level to which the educator applies examples and other content from different cultures and ethnicities to teach major concepts in different subjects (Wingfield & Karaman, 2009). In knowledge construction, educators help learners in understanding, investigating, and determining how biases and opinions within a field determine how knowledge is developed (Wingfield & Karaman, 2009). This dimension helps students understand how to construct knowledge on their own.
Prejudice reduction involves lessons and other learning activities implemented by teachers to assist students in developing a positive attitude towards other cultures, races, and ethnic groups. Children join a school with various negative perspectives and misconceptions regarding different races, ethnic groups, and cultures. Providing lessons and learning materials that incorporate content from other cultures and groups can assist students in developing more positive attitudes. However, the content has to present the groups and cultures positively. Inequity pedagogy, educators change their teaching methods in a way that accommodates and assists the academic achievement of culturally diverse students. School culture and social structure that is empowering ensure equality for all students regardless of their cultural, racial, or ethnic background (Wingfield & Karaman, 2009). The solution was chosen because it equips students with knowledge on how to construct their knowledge and disregard stereotypes and embrace differences that come with different cultures.
Recommendations
Implementation of the proposed solution involves specific strategies. They include the incorporation of the content in different subjects/units. In history, for example, historical achievements of the Arab culture can be incorporated in lessons while the development and cultural roots of Arabic numerals can be applied while teaching mathematics. Science teachers can teach the history of astronomy from a medieval Arab civilization in science development while music classes can include Arab music during lessons (Wingfield & Karaman, 2009). Besides, the Middle East should be represented in history and geography textbooks. American textbooks are, in most cases, Eurocentric, and incorporating content related to Arabs and the Middle East would assist students in becoming aware of other cultures. Reforms in the school environment are required to achieve the strategies mentioned above. The improvements include changes in attitudes, beliefs, and the conduct of educators and administrators. Also, changes in subjects' curriculum, assessment strategies, and teaching methods and styles are needed. These strategies should be implemented by teachers, administrators, and the state department of education.
References
Al-Hazza, Tami, and Lucking, Bob. (2005). The minority of suspicion: Arab Americans. Multicultural Review, 14 (3), 32-38.
Daraiseh, I. (2012). Effects of Arab American discrimination post 9/11 in the context of the workplace and education. McNair Scholars Research Journal, 4 (1), p.1-18.
Nieto, S. & Bode, P. (2013). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education . Pearsons, Boston, Ma.
US Census Bureau. (2018). Arab Households in the United States: 2006-2010. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2013/acs/acsbr10-20.html
Wingfield, M. & Karaman, B. (2009). Arab Stereotypes and American Educators. Retrieved from https://www.adc.org/arab-stereotypes-and-american-educators/
