When you look empirically at the characteristics of the children in classrooms, children are extraordinarily diverse in all sorts of ways, if you group them on one characteristic, there will still be a huge amount of diversity and variation on other characteristics. This theory then leads to the understanding of when we target these particular groups, we are only limiting their learning (Ability grouping, tracking and grouping alternatives 2010). It is only the higher-level groups that seem to benefit from this idea.  

The unfortunate situation for me is understanding that whether I like it or not, If I'm teaching in a school, I have to follow their system. Some teachers agree with the idea of streaming classes, but some don't. As long as the students get the proper attention and are helped with the best interests from their teachers, who understand their different characteristics, streamed classes can be somewhat effective.  

An example taken from a personal experience, is in my workplace (Liquor Shop), where many older white men have told me I speak well or have really good english. I just say I was born here, So I'm Australian. They are not being racist, but in this instance I speak well, just like them. If I didn’t speak well, would that make it harder for me to adapt in that workplace? Yes, because the communication standard would be hard for a foreigner working in a bottle shop in that area (predominantly white) with many customers speaking in slang which would be difficult to understand. That is were privilege makes a connection, looking at two people who have the same amount of experience, the person with a name that sounds foreign would not get a job interview, where as a person who sounds white will get one, because they simply would fit in better. This can be unintentionally done. I have been on both ends of it, and In my opinion, it all has to do with privilege.     

Unfortunately it will take part in the classroom. Some students may have it better than some, but at the end of the day, from my point of view, they are all equally treated and looked at. Being a teacher that has a Fijian Indian background, helps me connect with many students of different cultures. It is always the boys who ask, and some actually get excited and mention another student who is the same or know someone with the same background. A connection is made which makes the students feel safer and more comfortable in my classroom. Not saying that I won’t connect with the white students, but another similarity could be made whether it be in sports, music or anything else. This way I make a connection to every student, regardless of how privileged they are.  

 

Personally, I feel like I have grown up with a good understanding of cultural knowledge. I was born in Australia and raised a Hindu with a Fijian/Indian background, attended a Catholic primary and secondary school, have friends who are Indian, Anglo-Indian, Mauritian, Greek, Serbian, Italian, Sudanese and Asian. Even adding that they are Christian, Catholic, Orthodox, Buddhist and Muslim. There are many more characteristics, but initially they're are my friend, their colour, race and religion matters after. Through my cultural glasses, I see more similarities than differences, but still have the respect to learn about what those differences are.           

 

This leads to the classroom when as the teacher, I need to understand and respect every student's cultural glasses. But, these glasses can also blind us. Bourrelle speaks about how it affects the way we behave. A student in my class could make a racist comment towards a Muslim student because of what they hear and see in the media and from what they possibly hear from their family. That student sees hatred coming from their parents towards Muslims and that is how they see the world, Muslims are bad, everyone hates them. That is why it is important for me as the teacher to not just punish that student, but educate them on what they said, because it is out of ignorance, not hatred. Most importantly, keep my class educated on where I stand, so they can learn and make a positive difference, even if it is just a fragment.