This Idea-Sparker was submitted by Hani Morgan, Assistant Professor of Education, The University of Southern Mississippi. Schools in the United States are more culturally diverse than ever before, and this trend is expected to continue (Gollnick & Chinn, 2006). Students of color constitute more than one-third of the school population today. By 2020, it is estimated that they will represent almost half the population. The racial, ethnic, and religious diversity in U.S. society sometimes creates challenges and conflicts for educators. Eck (2001) states that nations characterized by religious diversity, such as the United States, have a history of hostility and mistrust between people of different backgrounds. One of the reasons that problems relating to cultural, ethnic, racial, and religious diversity exist in schools involves the social and cultural distance between students and teachers (Hernandez, 2001). Schools have not hired enough teachers whose backgrounds represent these diverse students. A report from the U.S. Department of Education (2003) shows that 84 percent of teachers are white and 75 percent are female. As a result, many teachers have different frames of reference than their students do.
