“Who are your Friends?” Complexities in Multicultural Education

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the experiences of fourth and fifth grade students engaged in Beyond Today, an urban after school program, that aimed to enact a social reconstructionist multicultural curriculum. The program gathered White, Black, and Latino/a youth to explore issues of discrimination and social justice and develop leadership towards social change. This paper focuses on the complex nature of students’ responses to a multicultural curriculum that foregrounded conversations about race and inequity. Students were seen to build ties of friendship across racial lines and develop activist skills of social critique. On other occasions, they maintained borders, distancing themselves from students of different races. After an overall review of the students’ varied reactions to the Beyond Today curriculum, I highlight specific vignettes that show how these tensions can simultaneously emerge within particular incidents. This research can be of use to teachers and teacher educators when envisioning and planning for student responses to multicultural curriculum.