diversity and teaching I recently attended a discussion about interviewing for math jobs, and apparently a question that is coming up frequently is something like this:
"We have a culturally diverse student body. How does having a diverse classroom affect your teaching?"
The advice was not to say, "It doesn't affect me," but instead offer some positive anecdote about diversity and multiculturalism or something. However, this is how I truly feel. I am a teaching assistant at a diverse school, and I feel that mathematical thought is universal and cultural differences should not affect the content of my teaching in any way. It seems that this is not viewed as a PC opinion.
So the question is, what is the appropriate answer to this question, and why?
Of course I want what you think is really the right answer about pedagogy, not just what you think people want to hear in a job interview.
 A: Culture affects the student's learning style, classroom expectations, attitude toward learning, and is even correlated with their mathematical background.  Teaching a classroom full of poor, mostly black or hispanic kids who are first-generation college students is very different from teaching a classroom full of upper-middle class, mostly suburban white kids!  If you're a good teacher, the cultures in your classroom will provide information that you can use to tailor your presentation, anecdotes, attitude, and examples to maximize the knowledge they get out of the class.  It will also affect how you treat each individual student.
Mathematical principles are timeless, raceless, classless, and culture-less.  The people who learn them are not!
A: With a completely eclectic sense of culture within a school, there's a question that can be brought up, being, "What is the purpose of this course for each and every student that walks into my classroom?" Many answers will arise, whether it is a pure fascination of the subject or because it can be seen as a small stepping stone towards a much larger goal (college, a decent job, etc.) With all of these different responses a teacher becomes much more open-minded, seeing and appreciating the different viewpoints on life each student has. A teacher should feel a sense of urgency; ultimately taking that appreciation and channeling that into the passion and determination required to make sure that every student has the opportunity to succeed in mathematics as well as life. 
You can use the different types of culture seen throughout a classroom to your advantage. Analogies between mathematics and their lifestyle is a phenomenal way to attract students into your teaching, for it is referencing something they are already comfortable with. And by constantly making connections to the material as well as their lifestyles and where they come from, you are also implicitly making the students more open minded, for they are also listening about the other cultures throughout the room.
A: Mathematics may be universal, but learning styles are not.  The relationship between teacher and student vary vastly between (and even within) cultures.  Your job is to get knowledge from your brain to theirs.  If this were a one size fits all problem, you would be replaced by a You-tube video.
