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Engel v. Vitale
Before 1962, New York public schools recited the regents prayer at the beginning of the school day. The U.S Supreme Court decided that such prayer violated the first amendment. This affects multicultural education by not pushing prayer onto students whom are not Christians. -
First Bilingual and Bicultural Public School in the United States
Due to the Cuban Revolution, the city of Miami experienced large numbers of Cuban immigrant children entering the school system. In response, the first bilingual and bicultural public school was formed. This is important because the city of Miami recognized the importance of having bilingual education to assist incoming students. -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil rights act was put into law in 1964. The law prohibited any discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion or national origin. This is important because it gives all people legal protection against prejudices. -
The Elementary and Secondary Ed Act
Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty resulted in the Elementary and Secondary Ed Act. The Act was designed to help low income students by providing Federal Education funds. In turn the Act resulted in the Title 1 and bilingual education programs that benefit multicultural education. -
Indian Education Act
The Indian Education Act acknowledged that American Indian and Alaska Native students have unique, educational needs and cultural needs. The new law was extremely helpful in providing services to them because the Bureau of Indian Affairs did not offer this comprehensive approach. This is important because the educational needs of these students should be a high priority and this law helped reassure that significant changes were to be fulfilled. -
Federal Judge Arthur Garrity Fights for Desegregation
Garrity realized the severe segregation partaking in mainly white schools. In order to change this, he ordered, in Morgan v. Hennigan, the busing of African American students to these schools to attain racial integration. I think this has impacted multicultural education in a positive way. In the realm of racism and prejudice, this helped deter segregation in public schools and aided in normalizing diversity. -
Lau v. Nichols
The court case of Lau v. Nichols involves violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from the San Francisco School District. This violation was caused by the district not providing English language assistance to Chinese-American students that knew little to no English. School districts must give equal learning opportunities to all students. This is important because school environments are diverse and students should receive help when needed. -
Plyler v. Doe
The Texas court case of Plyler v. Doe prohibits public schools from denying access to illegal, or undocumented, school children. The Supreme Court declared it would be unjust to deny students a free public education, which all minors are given, based on their immigration status. The school districts were not allowed to charge fees or tuition to these students. This is important in because it helps further diversify the school environment as well as brings equality amongst students. -
The Immigration and Nationality Act
The first improvement, since 1965, that increases annual immigration to 700,000. This is important because it adds to the diversity of the schools in our nation. Families are provided with the tools and resources to live, work and be educated in the United States. This impacted education by helping bring in more people to further flourish and help fill the school systems. -
Proposition 187
Proposition 197 prohibits illegal aliens from benefits such as public education and non-emergency health care. After California voters passed the proposition, there was a lot of backlash. Many protests were held in opposition of Prop 197. The public response in support of overturning the newly passed law, due its unconstitutional impacts on multicultural education, is important.
