Seth Sampson: The Importance of Multicultural Perspectives

I think. It’s very important that I think being a multiculturally competent educator in this day and age is so important. And a lot of times when we refer to multiculturalism, everybody thinks about race and ethnicity, but it’s well beyond that and having individuals that are going into the educational field, it’s important that that we instill in them that that includes gender, sexual orientation, disability, whatever it may be, it’s it’s a broader idea of what an individual can be. And knowing that that’s who they are within the classroom and you’re meeting that individual’s need is something important that we need to share with these future generations of educators so they can continue to share that and communicate that with their students. And then it continues on beyond that. And sometimes that gets lost in translation in higher ED. And one thing that the Dean and I have been really working on is changing that narrative, changing the narrative of not including, say, for instance, social emotional learning. There’s not too many courses out there in undergraduate courses or graduate courses that focus on social, emotional learning. In education, that’s something that needs to be there, and that’s something that him and I are trying to work in there and we’ve been working on this project with Resilience Texas and. We teach Texas to ensure that that’s starting to happen. Those conversations are starting to happen. Reaching out to individuals that maybe have developed a course, but it’s in a different state or how that work. And so the needs there and the means are there to build that. So now it’s bringing that to fruition. And we know that that can be a successful course that can be added into programs in educator preparation programs and not necessarily just teaching candidates, you know, well beyond that, like school administration, school counseling. That’s another thing that I’d like to include in school counseling because there’s a multicultural class. But, you know, training future school counselors to be the mental health and emotional well-being leaders on their campus comes with a lot more detailed information that can assist them to be prepared to be that when they reach out into those campuses to help kind of be that supportive entity for their administration, their teachers to help meet the needs of the school students, you know, and even the parents in the community. And, you know, in higher ed, sometimes that message gets lost because there’s a lot of other things happening, you know? And if we stay true to that, I think we can make a huge impact on future generations and not just students like the communities. So it’s it’s something that I know can happen if we’re all on board, you know, and it’s not just one educator, I think the whole system can have that change like a shock to the system. And I can see that happening. But it’s all about the buy in, you know, and willingness, the willingness to do it.

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