Chapter 6 Culture and Diversity Part 1

Chapter 6: Culture and Diversity Multiple Choice Questions 1) The rules and traditions that guide the behaviour of a group comprise its A) culture. B) ethnic heritage. C) racial identity. D) social status. Answer: A Explanation: A) Culture is defined as the knowledge, rules, traditions, attitudes and values that guide the behaviour of a group of people and allow them to solve the problems of living in their environment. Page Ref: 196 Skill: Knowledge 2) Ayo’s parents are from Nigeria, but emigrated to Canada before Ayo was born. Ayo’s dad is a medical doctor in a Calgary suburb, and his mom has an art gallery in the city. Ayo attends an elite private high school and is one of the top players on his school’s basketball team. Based on this information, what is the best description of Ayo’s cultural ties A) Culturally, Ayo is Nigerian. B) Ayo’s cultural ties are African Canadian C) Culturally, Ayo’s greatest influences are Canadian and Nigerian D) Ayo’s cultural ties are Nigerian, Canadian, upper class, and basketball Answer: D Explanation: D) Culture is the knowledge, values, attitudes, and traditions that guide the behaviour of a group of people and allow them to solve the problems of living in their environment. Groups can be defined along regional, ethnic, religious, racial, gender, social class, or other lines. Each of us is a member of many groups—many different cultures. Ayo is influenced by the culture of his Nigerian parents, his Canadian surroundings, his upper-class status, and the basketball team Page Ref: 196-197 Skill: Understanding 3) A societal designation of upper, middle, working, or lower class based on income, power, background, and prestige is called A) intersectionality. B) comprehensive social status. C) socioeconomic status. D) cultural classification. 6-1 Answer: C Explanation: C) Sociologists and psychologists combine variations in income/wealth, power, background, and prestige into an index called socioeconomic status, or SES. In contrast to social class, most people are not conscious of their SES designation. SES is usually ascribed to people by researchers. Page Ref: 201 Skill: Knowledge 4) Based on data from the National Shelter Study, approximately what percentage of shelter users in Canada are under the age of 16? A) less than 1% B) 6.5% C) 22.5% D) 25% Answer: C Explanation: C) According to the National Shelter Study, the number of shelter users under the age of 16 has risen 50% since 2005. Approximately 6.5% of homeless shelter users are children. Page Ref: 202 Skill: Knowledge 5) Which student is most likely to succeed academically? A) B) C) D) Susannah, an Italian-Canadian, who lives in an elite community in West Vancouver Jill, a Caucasian, who lives in an urban low-income townhome in Sudbury Charles, an Indigenous student, who lives on a middle-class farm in Manitoba Thomas, a Greek Canadian, who lives in a middle-class suburban apartment building in Calgary Answer: A Explanation: A) In general, high-SES students of all ethnic groups show higher average levels of achievement than low-SES students. Therefore, Susannah is most likely to succeed academically, purely based on high-SES, irrespective of her ethnicity. Page Ref: 202 Skill: Understanding 6) Mark decides that he doesn't want to be like the "rich kids who sell themselves out to the system." Accordingly, he prides himself on not learning what the school is trying to teach. Which of the following concepts best characterizes his behaviour? A) Academic anti-socialization B) Learned helplessness 6-2 C) Resistance culture D) Tracking Answer: C Explanation: C) A resistance culture is represented by low-SES students' rejection of middle-class values. This behaviour is exemplified by Marko's purposeful attempt to not learn what the school is trying to teach (to "the rich kids"). Page Ref: 203 Skill: Understanding 7) Which one of the following student situations is predictive of tracking practices? A) Andy, who continue to be a low achiever throughout grade school, remains in school after reaching the age of 16. B) Marie, who was placed in the low reading group in the third grade, is counselled in the eighth grade into home economics instead of beginning algebra. C) Sylvia, who experienced considerable academic success in elementary school, is admitted to a prestigious university on an athletic scholarship. D) Vincent, who was accelerated from second to fourth grade because of his outstanding ability test score, had difficulty with social interaction in high school. Answer: B Explanation: B) Tracking is predictive of students' success and academic choices in later grades. Accordingly, Marie, who was placed in the low reading group as a third grader, becomes identified five years later as being better served by a less academic program (home economics as opposed to algebra). Page Ref: 204 Skill: Understanding 8) The best description of the use of tracking is that it occurs when A) assigning students to low-ability or high-ability classes. B) low-ability and high-ability groups are created based on socioeconomic classes. C) low-ability students are matched with high-ability partners in a homogeneous class. D) special education programs that monitor the progress of each student are developed and used. Answer: A Explanation: A) Tracking involves assignment of students to different classes and academic experiences based on achievement (e.g., college/university prep, vocational, remedial, gifted, etc.). Page Ref: 204-205 Skill: Knowledge 9) Over the past decade, an explanation offered for the growing gap between the reading of 6-3 students in poverty versus students from wealthier homes is due to A) increased television viewing among students with lower SES. B) more attention paid to wealthier students by their teachers. C) more positive role models available among students of higher SES. D) children from poorer homes losing ground over the summer. Answer: D Explanation: D) The growing gap between the reading levels of poor and wealthier students has been recently attributed to summer setbacks. Children from poorer homes lose ground over the summer. One study suggested that the four months of summer vacations between grades 2 and 6 accounted for 80 percent of the achievement differences between poor and advantaged students. Page Ref: 204 Skill: Knowledge 10) Which of the following is a recommendation to improve the effectiveness of teaching to students who come from low-income or poverty level families? A) Advise teachers to set low expectations and help students achieve success below their grade level. B) Advise teachers to show understanding of students’ home lives, avoid giving homework, and excuse incomplete work. C) Advise teachers to avoid correcting student work and focus on life skills such as interpersonal relationships. D) Advise teachers to set high expectations and maintain high standards for all students in their classes. Answer: D Explanation: D) Teachers are advised to set and maintain high expectations when they teach students who live in poverty. They should guard against feeling sorry for students, excusing poor work, and expecting less. Page Ref: 206 Skill: Knowledge 11) Which one of the following children of poverty is most likely to perform well in school? A) Amy’s teacher understands that she is embarrassed about being poor. He seldom calls on her during class, but provides scaffolding if Amy asks for help. B) Jeb’s teacher calls on him frequently and expresses high expectations of his academic performance. C) Natalie’s teacher knows how difficult it is for Natalie to do school work at home, and he accepts incomplete homework from Natalie. D) Ding’s teacher allows him to sleep during class, knowing that he helps his younger siblings at home and stays up late most nights. 6-4 Answer: B Explanation: B) Poor students are at risk of being stigmatized by their teachers and peers. The teacher may avoid calling on them, assuming they don’t know the answer, set lower standards, place them in lower-ability groups, and accept poor work. Effective teachers set and maintain high expectations for poor students. Page Ref: 206 Skill: Understanding 12) Which of the following terms relates to shared cultural characteristics such as common history, religion, traditions, and language? A) Race B) Minority group C) Socioeconomic status D) Ethnicity Answer: D Explanation: D) Ethnicity usually refers to a group’s shared common cultural characteristics such as history, homeland, language, traditions, or religion. We all have some ethnic heritage, whether our background is Italian, Ukrainian, Hmong, Chinese, Japanese, Navajo, Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Hungarian, German, African, or Irish —to name only a few Page Ref: 206 Skill: Knowledge 13) Which of the following is TRUE of the definition of race? A) Characterized by a common nationality B) Used as a label for a group that receives unequal treatment C) Used to capture a group considered a “minority” within the greater population D) Describes a group with shared biological traits. Answer: D Explanation: D) Race is defined as a group of people who share common biological traits that are seen as self-defining by the people of the group. Option A is a feature of ethnicity. Option B is more characteristic of a minority group. Note that a minority group is not necessarily numerically the minority in terms of the total population. Page Ref: 207 Skill: Knowledge 14) Researchers generally believe that differences between ethnic groups in cognitive abilities occur primarily as a result of A) biases inherent in most standardized tests. B) different experiences in and out of school. 6-5 C) different levels of motivation among the groups. D) natural abilities of the various groups. Answer: B Explanation: B) Researchers generally believe that differences between ethnic groups in cognitive abilities mainly occur as a result of different experiences in and out of school. For example, minority groups must contend with fewer resources and discriminating practices. These factors make it more difficult for them to be successful in school compared with Caucasian students. Page Ref: 207 Skill: Knowledge 15) In distinction to the term prejudice, the term discrimination refers to A) attitudes and feelings about others. B) beliefs about others. C) behaviour and actions towards others. D) feelings and impressions about others. Answer: C Explanation: C) As Woolfolk has pointed out, prejudice is based on an individual's attitudes, feelings, and beliefs concerning an entire category of people, not certain individuals. Discrimination involves behaviour --that is, treating particular categories of people unequally. Page Ref: 210 Skill: Knowledge 16) Mr. Kennedy, a middle-class Caucasian teacher, assigns lower grades when evaluating the work of two Indigenous students in his high-school physics class than he does for comparable work from other students. The most valid interpretation of Mr. Kennedy's behaviour is that he appears to A) be conforming to conventional ethnic values. B) be demonstrating a laissez-faire personality. C) negatively stereotype Indigenous students. D) mistrust people who are culturally inferior. Answer: C Explanation: C) Mr. Kennedy appears to have a negative stereotype of Indigenous people. As a result, he is discriminating against them (perhaps unknowingly) in his grading practices. Page Ref: 211 Skill: Understanding 17) Which one of the following quotations MOST clearly represents the concept of 6-6 stereotyping? A) "Boys should line up to the right and girls to the left." B) "If he's one of your friends, tell him not to apply." C) "Matthew just doesn't seem interested in spelling." D) "People from that region just aren't ambitious." Answer: D Explanation: D) Stereotyping is a schema for viewing a particular group or category. It does not necessarily invoke negative perceptions, as would be the case for prejudice. An example is thinking that people from a particular region are not ambitious. The other examples are descriptions of behaviour or rules or of a prejudicial attitude ("If he's one of those people..."). Page Ref: 211 Skill: Understanding 18) Dana is nervous about the upcoming physics exam. She is the only girl in the class and has achieved higher scores on the assignments than most of the boys in class. She knows the boys think they’re smarter and better at applying principles of physics. In this situation, Dana’s nervousness is an example of A) learned helplessness. B) a stereotype threat. C) confirmation bias. D) negative schema. Answer: B Explanation: B) A stereotype threat places an extra emotional and cognitive burden that one’s performance in an academic situation might confirm a stereotype that others hold. Dana is aware that the boys in her class stereotype girls as being less capable in applying principles of physics. She seems to feel threatened by this stereotype. Page Ref: 212 Skill: Understanding 19) A good way to inoculate students against stereotype threat is to A) instil a belief that intelligence can be improved. B) foster cultural sensitivity. C) expose students to new ways of learning. D) expose students to students of different cultures. Answer: A Explanation: A) Research has demonstrated the impact on achievement by changing beliefs on the improvability of intelligence. Therefore, instilling a belief in students that intelligence can be improved is most likely to inoculate students against stereotype threat. 6-7 Page Ref: 214 Skill: Knowledge 20) During the fourth week of school, Mrs. Brown noticed that Garrett, a student in her second-year French class, was being ostracized by the other students. She continued to observe nonverbal behaviours, making sure that she treated all students equally. Two weeks later, Garrett met with Mrs. Brown after school and told her that he felt uncomfortable in class, suspected the other students recognized his attraction to another male student, and feared being discovered. Which of the following responses from Mrs. Brown is likely to help Garrett in this situation? A) Suggest that he tell other students about his true feelings. B) Affirm Garrett and refer him to a trained counselor. C) Give Garrett advice about changing his feelings for the other male student. D) Offer to conduct a class discussion on sexual orientation. Answer: B Explanation: B) The teacher does not have to be the expert, but should listen, affirm, and refer. A referral to someone who is trained to deal with these issues is a gift the teacher is giving to that student, not a dismissal of responsibility. Page Ref: 215-216 Skill: Knowledge 21) Mrs. Kahn’s science text includes numerous references to male scientists and their contributions to scientific knowledge, but very few female scientists. For each unit of study in her curriculum, Mrs. Kahn researches and identifies female scientists to highlight in her teaching. This illustration about Mrs. Kahn’s science text most directly demonstrates A) gender bias. B) female dominance in the field of teaching. C) gender schema theory. D) gender orientation. Answer: A Explanation: A) Gender biases are different views of males and females, often favouring one gender over the other. In this illustration, the science text favours males’ role in scientific discovery over females’ role. Page Ref: 218 Skill: Understanding 22) According to research evidence, which of the following statements about gender bias in teaching is TRUE? A) Females receive more instruction than males. B) Gender differences in social and cognitive abilities are large. C) Teachers tend to interact more with boys than with girls. 6-8 D) Textbooks today tend to be free of gender stereotypes. Answer: C Explanation: C) Research on teacher behaviours shows a tendency for teachers to have more overall interactions (and more negative, but not more positive interactions) with boys than with girls. It is also the case that, although gender differences in cognition tend to be small, textbooks still reflect some gender biases, and that boys receive more attention and instruction than girls. Page Ref: 218 Skill: Knowledge 23) Which of the following teachers uses language that perpetuates gender bias? A) Mr. Kotts invites two firefighters to discuss fire. B) Ms. Arensen opens the floor for nominations for a committee chair. C) Mr. Goodeau talks to his students about the role of mail carriers. D) Mrs. Woodson asks her students if any of them know a policeman. Answer: D Explanation: D) Gender-free language is free of gender bias. Rather than speaking of policemen, gender-free language might use “law-enforcement officer.” Mail carriers and firefighters are both gender neutral descriptions. Page Ref: 219 Skill: Knowledge 24) In order to experience the positive effects of teaching in a single-sex classroom on student learning, which of the following demanding conditions must be met? A) Reinforce positive gender stereotypes of the group you are teaching. B) Realize that there are no boy- or girl-specific teaching strategies. C) Create out of class opportunities for boys and girls to interact socially. D) Bring in role models of the opposite sex as guest speakers to your class whenever possible. Answer: B Explanation: B) Supported by the work of Younger and Warrington (2006), teachers must ultimately realize that there are no boy- or girl-specific teaching strategies. Good teaching is good teaching! Regrouping students by sex does not make teaching easier and may in fact make class management more challenging. Page Ref: 219 Skill: Knowledge 25) According to James Banks, to be successful, multicultural education must include all of the following EXCEPT 6-9 A) B) C) D) support of the existing culture. creation of supportive learning environments. reduction of prejudice. content integration. Answer: A Explanation: A) Banks’ conception of multicultural education recognizes that multicultural education involves more than a change in curriculum. It includes: content integration, the knowledge construction process, prejudice reduction, equity pedagogy, and an empowering school culture and social structure. Therefore, multicultural education goes well beyond support of the existing culture. Page Ref: 220 Skill: Knowledge 26) According to the text, which of Banks’ dimensions of multicultural education are people most likely to be familiar with? A) B) C) D) prejudice reduction content integration the knowledge construction process an equity pedagogy Answer: B Explanation: Many people are familiar only with the dimension of content integration – involving using examples and content from a variety of cultures when teaching a subject. Page Ref: 213 Skill: Knowledge 27) Which of the following is NOT a proposition on which cultural relevant pedagogy rests? A) Students must interact with cultural role models. B) Students must develop/maintain their cultural competence. C) Students must develop a critical consciousness to challenge the status quo. D) Students must experience academic success. Answer: A Explanation: A) According to Ladson-Billings, culturally relevant pedagogy rests on three propositions: students must experience academic success; students must develop and maintain their cultural competence; students must develop a critical consciousness to challenge the status quo. Ladson-Billings’ conception does not include interaction with cultural role models. Page Ref: 221 Skill: Knowledge 6-10