The class activity was simple: draw a self-portrait. When Ms. Caldera began examining her students' work, she noticed one. The drawing depicted a young girl with light skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but in this case it was. The girl she had drawn was actually just the opposite: rich dark skin, brown hair, and brown eyes (Caldera). Considering that the United States is a large melting pot of cultures, it is normal for children to have difficulty balancing two cultures. Culture is really important for a child's development because it ultimately influences his or her morals and values. While it is difficult for children to balance the traditions and likes of two cultures, they are rewarded with increased knowledge of the world and understanding of people. Culture is very important when it comes to shaping a person's beliefs and what they stand for, it will fundamentally determine many of their decisions. In particular, children shape their behaviors according to their culture, which leads to different customs and beliefs due to the variety of cultures. Different cultures express different character traits in a person; this can lead to the development and prevalence of a child (Culture). Although the United States is made up of a shared core culture, it is also made up of many other smaller cultures; for this reason there are many different characteristics, values ​​and norms that might be interpreted differently by other cultures. As a result, this can cause cultural misunderstandings, conflicts and discrimination which also leads to an imbalance for children because they do not know what is acceptable in certain cultures. Banks acknowledges that “Multicultural education… at the heart of the paper… Banks, James and Cherry Banks. Multicultural education. John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2004. StampaCaldera, Araceli. Personal interview. Facilitator of the English language program. 14 June 2015. “Building the Race”. Signs of life in the United States. 2009 ed. Print.“Culture”. Encyclopedia of early childhood development. 2012 ed. Network. June 10, 2015. Davidman, Leonard and Patricia T. Davidman. Teaching with a multicultural perspective. New York: Longman, 1997. Print.Grosjean, Francois. “The benefits of being bicultural.” Psychology today. April 19, 2013. Print.McCarthy, Steve. “Understanding Bilingualism: What It Means to Be Bicultural.” Childreasearch.net. January 2, 2010. Web. June 8, 2015. Parrish, Patrick, and Jennifer A. Linder-VanBerschot. “Meeting the challenges of multicultural education.” Cultural dimensions of learning 11.2 (2010): 10 pages. Network. 8 June 2015.