Pluralism and educational concepts: A clarification

Abstract

Since the emergence of the ethnic revitalization movements in the 1960s, educational institutions at all levels have tried to incorporate more information about ethnic groups into the curriculum and to reflect the ethnic diversity within American society. Most of these efforts were responses to the protest movements of the sixties. Consequently, the emerging programs and practices related to pluralism vary widely in quality and scope. The goals and practices of many of these programs are confused, contradictory, and inconsistent with current learning theory and research. The wide range of educational concepts which have emerged in recent years to describe the diverse programs and practices related to pluralism reflect the widespread confusion over goals and strategies. Concepts such as multicultural education, multiculturalism, multi-ethnic education, ethnic education, ethnic studies, cultural pluralism, and ethnic pluralism are often used interchangeably or to convey different but highly ambiguous meanings. The study of ethnicity and pluralism is gaining increasing legitimization within the social science community and within the nation's schools. Established scholars such as Talcott Parsons and Daniel Bell are providing fresh perspectives on ethnicity within American society.1 Increasingly, school districts are viewing the study of ethnicity as an integral part of the curriculum. However, the major concepts within the field, and the related practices, remain confused and ambiguous. We sorely need concept clarification within this area so that we can delineate objectives more clearly and design more appropriately strategies for attaining them. Concepts are exceedingly important. They influence our questions, research methods, findings, pro