Multicultural Education & the 21st Century

________________________________________

This chapter surveys the intellectual evolution of multicultural education and analyzes it within a naturalistic framework for understanding the cultural differences and the dynamics of culture contact in an increasingly diverse society. It covers the intellectual terrain, historical roots, and societal contexts and gives special attention to applications in teacher education.

SCHOLARLY DIRECTION AND
POLITICAL CONTROVERSY

Multicultural education, with its foundation in pluralism and diversity, Is grounded in the principles of democracy, equity, and justice. It demands a holistic grasp of the interactive politics involved in the creation and understanding of knowledge, learning, and the dynamics of education (Banks, 1991 1993a, 1993b, 1993c; Banks & Banks, 1993; Gollnick, 1992; Grant, 1992; Nieto, 1992, 1994). Nieto (1994) suggests that criticism originates from across the ideological and political landscape. Cummins (1992) addresses the controversy along an ideological Spectrum from right to left. Western traditionalists believe that the multicultural movement undermines the canon (i.e., established truth (Bloom, 1987; D’Souza, 1992; Hirsch, 1987; Ravitch, 1990; Schlesinger, 19921). These Western traditionalists defend the established curriculum that is dominated by Euro-American male writers (Banks, 1993b). Their critique originates from an epistemological framework that negates multiplicity and difference. In their paradigm, truth is sought through the positivist approach. Critical theorists, however, argue that the movement is anemic for restructuring education and society.

The controversy centers on how multicultural education will be defined. Nieto (1994) asserts that teaching and learning must challenge racism, sexism, and other forms of social domination and intolerance. Thus, curriculum making should incorporate the sociocultural contexts of subject matter. This leads to the realization that multiple

References: Aboud, F. E. (1987). The development of ethnic self-identification and attitudes. In J. S. Phinney & M. J. Rotheram (Eds.), Children’s ethnic socialization: Pluralism and development (pp. 29—51). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Allington, R. L. (1991). Effective literacy instruction for at-risk children. In M. S. Knapp & P. M. Shields (Eds.), Better schooling for the children of poverty (pp. 9—30). Berkeley, CA: McCutchan. Apple, M. W. (1986). Teachers & texts: A political economy of class & gender relations in education. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Apple, M. W. (1990). Ideology and curriculum. (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. Arvizu, S. F., & Saravia-Shore, M. (1990, August). Cross-cultural literacy: An anthropological approach to dealing with diversity. Education and Urban Society, 22(4), 364—376. Asante, M. K. (1990). Kemet, Afrocentricity, and knowledge. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. Asante, M. K., & Ravitch, D. (1991). Multiculturalism: An exchange. The American Scholar, 267—275. Ayers, W. (1988). Young children and the problem of the color line. Democracy and Education. 3(1), 20—26. Banks, J. A. (1991). Multicultural literacy and curriculum reform. Educational Horizons, 69(3), 136—140. Banks, J. A. (1993a). The canon debate, knowledge construction and multicultural education. Educational Researcher, 22(5), 4—14. Banks, J. A. (1993b). The culture wars, race and education. National Forum, 73(4), 39-41. Banks, J. A. (1993c). Multicultural education: Historical development, dimensions, and practice. In L. Darling-Hammond (Ed.), Review of research in education (Vol. 19, pp. 3—50). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association. Banks, J. A. (1994). An introduction to multicultural education. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Banks, J. A., & Banks, C. A. (1989). Multicultural education: Issues and perspective. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Banks, J. A., & Banks, C. A. (1993). Multicultural education: Issues and perspective (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Bennett, C. I. (1990). Comprehensive multicultural education: Theory and practice. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Berger, B. L., & Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. New York: Anchor. Bloom, A. (1987). The closing of the American mind: How higher education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of today’s students. New York: Simon & Schuster. Bogdan, R., & Taylor, S. J. (1975). Introduction to qualitative research methods. New York: Wiley. Broudy, H. S. (1975). Cultural pluralism: New wine in old bottles. Educational Leadership, 33, 173—175. Brown, C. E. (1992). Restructuring for a new America. In M. E. Dilworth (Ed.), Diversity in teacher education (pp. 1—22). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Bull, B. L., Fruehling, R. T., & Chattergy, V. (1992). The ethics of multicultural and bilingual education. New York: Teachers College Press. Bullard, S. (1991—1992). Sorting through the multicultural rhetoric. Educational Leadership, 49(4), 4—7. California Department of Public Instruction. (1988). History-social science curriculum framework. History-Social Science Curriculum Framework and Criteria Committee. Cárdenas, J. A., & First, J. M. (1985). Children at risk. Educational Leadership, 43(1), 5—8. Code, L. (1991). What can she know? Feminist theory and the const ruc tion of knowledge. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Colangelo, N., Dustin, D. L., & Foxley, C. H. (1985). Multicultural nonsexist education: A human relations approach. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt. Comer, J. P. (1989). Racism and the education of young children. Teach ers College Record, 90, 352—361. Cornbleth, C. (1990). Curriculum in context. New York: Falmer Press. Cornbleth, C., & Waugh, D. (1993, October). The great speckled bird: Education policy-in-the-making. Educational Researcher, 22(7), 31—37. Cummins, J. (1992). Language proficiency bilingualism and academic achievement. In P. A. Richard-Amato & M. A. Snow (Eds.), The multicultural classroom: Reading for content area teachers. White Plains, NY: Longman. Davidman, L., & Davidman, P. T. (1994). Teaching with a multicultural perspective: A practical guide. White Plains, NY: Longman. Dewey, J. (1966). Democracy and education. New York: Free Press. D’Souza, D. (1992). Illiberal education: The politics of race and sex on campus. New York: Vintage. Erickson, F. (1987). Transformation and school success: The politics and culture of educational achievement. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 18(4), 335—356. Estrada, K., & McLaren, P. L. (1993). A dialogue on niulticulturalism and democratic culture. Educational Researcher, 22(3), 27—33. Fine, M. (1991). Framing dropouts: Notes on the politics of an urban public high school. Albany: State University of New York Press. Foucault, M. (1979). Power and knowledge: Selected interviews and other writing, 1972—1977. In C. Gordon (Ed.), Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan [ New York: Pantheon. Gamoran, A. (1990). Instructional organizational practices that affect equity. In H. P. Baptiste. H. C. Waxman, 3. Walker de Felix, & J. E. Anderson (Eds.), Leadership, equity, and school effectiveness. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Gamoran, A., & Berends, M. (1987). The effects of stratification in secondary schools: Synthesis of survey and ethnographic research. Review of Educational Research, 57, 415—435. Gardner, H. (1991). The unschooled mind: How children think and bow schools should teach. New York: Basic Books. Garibaldi, A. M. (1992). Diversity in teacher education: New expectations. In M. E. Dilworth (Ed.), Preparing teachers for culturally diverse classrooms. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Gay, G. (1994). A synthesis of scholarship in multicultural education. (Urban Monograph Series). Oakbrook, IL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Giroux, H. A. (1983). Theory and resistance in education: A pedagogy for the opposition. New York: Bergin & Garvey. Giroux, H. A. (Ed.). (1991). Postmodernism. feminism, and cultural politics: Redrawing educational boundaries. Albany: State University of New York Press. Giroux, H. A. (Ed.). (1992). Border crossings: Cultural workers and the politics of education. New York: Routledge. Gollnick, D. M. (1992). Multicultural education: Policies and practices in teacher education. In C. A. Grant (Ed.), Research and multicultural education: From the margins to the mainstream. Washington, DC: Falmer. Gollnick, D. M., & Chinn, P. C. (1986). Multicultural education in a pluralistic society (2nd ed.). Columbus: Merrill. Gollnick, D. M., & Chinn, P. C. (1994). Multicultural education in a pluralistic society (4th ed). Columbus: Merrill. Gould, S. 3. (1981). The mismeasure of man. New York: Norton. Grant, C. A. (1992). Research and multicultural education: From the margins to the mainstream. Washington, DC: Falmer Press. Grant, C. A., & Secada, W. G. (1990). Preparing teachers for diversity. In W. R. Houston (Ed.), Handbook of research on teacher education (pp. 403—422). New York: Macmillan. Grant, C. A., & Sleeter, C. E. (1988a). Making choices for multicultural education: Five approaches to race, class, and gender. New York: Macmillan. Grant, C. A., & Sleeter, C. E. (1988b). Race, class, and gender and abandoned dreams. Teachers College Record, 90, 19—40. Guba, E. G. (1990). The paradigm dialogue. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Guba, E. G. (1992). Relativism. Curriculum Inquiry, 22(1), 17—23. Harding, S. (1991). Whose science? Whose knowledge? Thinking from women’s lives. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Hilliard, A. G., III. (1990). Misunderstanding and testing intelligence. In J. I. Goodlad & P. Keating (Eds.), Access to knowledge (pp. 145—158). New York: College Entrance Examination Board. Hilliard, A. G., III. (1991—1992). Why we must pluralize the curriculum. Educational Leadership, 49(4), 12—16. Hirsch, E. D. (1987). Cultural literacy: What every American needs to know. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. hooks, B., & West, C. (1991). Breaking bread: Insurgent black intellectual l Boston: South End Press. Kincheloe, J. L., & Steinberg, S. it (1993). A tentative description of post- formal thinking: The critical confrontation with cognitive theory. Harvard Educational Review, 63(3), 296—320. King, J. E., & Mitchell, C. A. (1990). Black mothers to sons: Juxtaposing African American literature with social practice. New York: Lang. Kohl, H. (1993). The myth of “Rosa Parks, the tired.” Multicultural Education, 1(2), 6—10. Kozol, J. (1991). Savage inequalities: Children in American schools. New York: Crown. Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions (2nd ed). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Ladson-Bihings, G. (1992). Culturally relevant teaching: The key to making multicultural education work. In C. A. Grant (Ed.), Research and multicultural education (pp. 106—121). London: Falmer Press. Lightfoot, S. L. (1983). The good high school: Portraits of character and culture. New York: Basic Books. Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Lynch, J. (1986). Multicultural education: Principles and practice. Lon don: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Lynch, J. (1989). Multicultural education in a global society. New York: Falmer Press. Macedo, D P. (1993). Literacy for stupidification: The pedagogy of big lies. Harvard Educational Review 63(2). 183—206. Maxcy, S. J. (1992). Educational leadership: A critical pragmatic perspective. New York: Bergin & Garvey. MacCarthy. C., & Apple. M. W. (1988). Race, class, and gender in American educational research: Toward a nonsynchronous parallelism position In L. Weis (Ed.), Class, race, and gender in American education. Albany: State University of New York Press. McIntosh, p. (1991). Interactive phases of curricular and personal revision with regard to race. In J. Butler &J. Walter (Eds.), Transforming the curriculum Ethnic studies and women’s studies. Albany: State University of New York Press. McLaren, P. (1989). Life in schools. New York: Longman. Meier, D. (1987). Central park east: An alternative story. Phi Delta Kappan, 88(10), 753—757. Minnich, E. K. (1990). Transforming knowledge. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). (1982). Standards for accreditation of teacher education. Washing ton, DC: Author. York State Department of Education. (1991, June). One nation, many peoples: A declaration of cultural interdependence. Albany: Author. Nieto, S. (1992). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multi cultural education. White Plains. NY: Longman. Oakes, J. (1985). Keeping track: How schools structure inequality (4th ed). Boston: Yale University Press. Oakes, J. (1986a). Tracking and ability grouping: A structural barrier to access and achievement. In J. I. Goodlad & P. Keeting (Eds.), Access to knowledge (pp. 187—204). New York: College Board. Oakes, J. (1986b). Tracking, inequality, and the rhetoric of reform: Why schools don’t change. Journal of Education, 168(1), 60—80. Oakes, J. (1990). Multiplying inequalities: The effects of race, social class, and tracking on opportunities to learn mathematics and science. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation. Oakes, J., & Lipton, M. (1990). Tracking and ability grouping: A structural barrier to access and achievement. In J. I. Goodlad & P. Keeting (Eds.), Access to knowledge (pp. 187—204). New York: College Board. Ogbu, J. U. (1987). Variability in minority school performance: A problem in search of an explanation. Anthropology and Education Quar terly, 18, 312—334. Oghu. J. U. (1990, August). Understanding diversity: Summary comments. Education and Urban Society. 22(4), 425—429. Perry, T., & Fraser, J. W. (1993). Freedom’s plow. New York: Routledge. Popkewitz, T. S. (1990). Whose future? Whose past? : Notes on critical theory and methodology. In E. G. Guba (Ed.), The paradigm dialogue. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Ramsey, P. G., Void, E. B., & Wiffiarns, L. R. (1989). Multicultural education: A source book. New York: Garland. Ravitch, D. (1990, September). The troubled road to California’s history textbooks. Los Angeles Times, M5.