CURRICULUM DESIGN FOR THE STUDY OF ETHNIC SURVIVALS

The problem examined by this study is that there is no conceptual design for teachers and students in the social sciences for (1) organizing ethnic content and (2) comparing and analyzing ethnic group experiences. The following research questions were addressed: (1) What factors about the experiences of ethnic groups inhibit or promote the retention of original cultural characteristics? (2) Which of the original cultural characteristics of an ethnic group were lost voluntarily and which were lost as the price for inclusion into the larger society? (3) What factors account for the different rates of retention of original cultural characteristics among various ethnic groups? (4) What is the significance of presenting material in the social sciences from a monoethnic perspective? (5) Among the original cultural characteristics that ethnic groups have, which are most susceptible to extinction or modification? (6) What is the effect of the length of stay of an ethnic group in the host society on the retention of original cultural characteristics? and (7) What is the difference in the retention of original cultural characteristics, if any, among ethnic group members who settled in rural or urban areas? The study reviewed the literature in two categories: literature on the topic of ethnicity and works on incorporating ethnic content to create a multiethnic curriculum. The literature on ethnicity produced a series of characteristics which help to define the parameters of ethnic identity. This literature also gives steps which facilitate or retard the integration of an ethnic group in the host society. The literature on teaching ethnic content revealed some very useful approaches, models and typologies. Host materials in this field were found to have been published in the last decade. This literature did not produce a detailed design that could be used in the classroom to analyze the factors which affect the retention or loss of an ethnic group's original cultural characteristics. The theme developed in this study begins with an analysis of selected characteristics of an ethnic group's original culture. Experiences of an ethnic group which modified one or more of the characteristics of original culture were identified. The final phase is the determination of what characteristics selected survived until the present and in what form. The design then documents the characteristics at the point of origin, passing through the modifying experiences and the extent to which the characteristics chosen survived. The initial design was sent to a panel of experts in multiethnic education. Their reactions were then incorporated into a revised design. The revised design was then applied to three ethnic groups: Black, Cuban and Jewish-Americans. These groups were chosen because they represent ethnicity along racial, national and religious lines. The application of the design revealed that the design contained the flexibility to accommodate the analysis of different types of ethnic groups. The design was of significant assistance in examining and classifying information on each of the three ethnic groups as well as providing a framework from which a summary about each group could be compiled. Several recommendations for future research were made as a result of this study. The recommendations are: (1) Future research could focus on a cross-national comparison of an ethnic group's adaptation in two or more societies. (2) An analysis of stages of ethnic identification and the factors that affect this spectrum of identity is recommended. (3) More study needs to be done on cultural characteristics developed by an ethnic group which are neither derived from its original culture nor similar to patterns found elsewhere in the host society.