Issues Of Multicultural Education Research Articles

Critical Relativity: An Examination of Privileged Positions and Perspectives in the Teaching of English Language Arts

This article is the exploration of a constructed theoretical position, situated in multicultural education issues and frameworks, that provides a way to question the assumptions that underpin language arts curricula and pedagogy. The theoretical perspective, critical relativity, invites critical interrogation of assumptions and impels multiple perspectives. This theoretical lens is applied to an examination of (a) what it means to read a text; (b) the literary canon and its fixed primacy of place; (c) the idea of literary universalities; (d) the 5-paragraph essay as writing template and privileged discourse pattern; (e) the concept/pedagogy of "basic skills"; and (f) notions of ability and intelligence that perpetuate differentiated curriculum. The author suggests that this theoretical frame will facilitate fundamental educational reform when hegemonic educational positions, perspectives, and practices are situated historically, culturally, socially, and politically-and then questioned critically.

The long shadow of John Stuart Mill: Brian Barry on culture and freedom

Brian Barry's recent critique of the theory and practice of multiculturalism reflects a robust defence of a version of liberal egalitarianism which accords individuals political rights and opportunities to pursue cultural goods and to assert against cultural communities. This argument is self-consciously defended as following in the tradition of J. S. Mill's theory of liberty. However, Mill's liberalism has two distinct legacies, both libertarian and perfectionist. This article argues that Barry's discussion of the issue of multicultural education reflects a much stronger and perfectionist Millian influence than he either needs or wants to assert in the face of multicultural critics. Exploring this complex legacy exposes the possible resources that contemporary political theorists have, to deal with the issue of cultural recognition and integration.

Approaches to Multicultural Education in Preservice Teacher Education: Philosophical Frameworks and Models for Teaching

The authors in this article connect teacher education to multiple theoretical frameworks around the ongoing debate and issues of multicultural education. Connecting conservative, liberal, and radical theories of multicultural education particularly to preservice teachers, the authors argue that a more eclectic theoretical avenue must be striven and struggled for if there exists any hope in transforming schools, particularly, as they note, in urban environments. Practical avenues are discussed that promote such a multilayered interpretive/analytical approach to social change.

PROFILE: The Light in Her Eyes: An Interview with Sonia Nieto

Presents an interview with educators’ educator Sonia Nieto--an author of two important books (“The Light in Their Eyes: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities,” and “Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education”). Discusses her books, avoiding stereotypes, current issues in multicultural education, how and what is taught, exploring unconscious attitudes, and linguistic diversities.

Multicultural and disability agendas in teacher education: preparing teachers for diversity

America's schools have become increasingly diverse, both in terms of traditional multicultural markers (race, class, ethnicity) and the inclusion of students with disabilities. Preparing teachers to meet the needs of all students and to work actively to promote social justice and equity requires a careful analysis of how teachers are prepared to work with diverse learners. This paper examines multicultural education textbooks and those used in introductory special education classrooms in order to assess how each set of texts treats the others' issues. This analysis is followed by reports of conversations with teacher education leaders addressing how their teacher education programmes include issues of multicultural education and disability and the relationships and connections between those two areas. We conclude with recommendations for continuing the conversation regarding the multicultural-disability interface and urge the identification of common agendas for teacher education reform.

Issues in multicultural education

AbstractThis article examines issues that are central to the multicultural curriculum in the United States of America. It focuses on contributions to the journal Multicultural Education, and analyses them in terms of: culture, critical theory, transformative multicultural education, white privilege and racism, anti‐bias curricula, voice or cultural and historical perspectives, cultural pluralism and instructional practice.

Toward Developmental Multicultural Education: Case Study of the Issues Exchange Activity

If teacher educators are to be successful in offering alternatives to the powerful forces of racism and sexism in today's society . . . [they] must challenge student views as well as urge them to recast their view of reality into problems for critical assessment (Ahlquist, 1991, p. 159). In this article, I explore student readiness for substantive study of multicultural education and the place of role-taking experiences in making the more complex dimensions of multicultural education accessible to teacher education students. I describe Issues Exchange, an activity I use in a graduate course, and how this activity (or activities like it) may serve as a central component of developmental instructional approaches to multicultural teacher education. Challenges in Teaching About Diversity Various scholars have analyzed factors affecting students' understanding and appreciation of multicultural education's more emancipatory goals. Among the factors explored are students' knowledge of diversity in U.S. society, their perceptions of the nature of societal inequities, racist and sexist attitudes and beliefs, and students' overall readiness for the study of multicultural education. Ladson-Billings (1991) analyzed preservice teachers' knowledge about U.S. diversity in a study of their knowledge of civil rights and multicultural education issues and found students lacking knowledge of the most elementary facts of U.S. diversity, thus prompting Ladson-Billings to introduce the concept multicultural illiteracy. She described multicultural illiteracy as the inability to be conversant with basic ideas, issues, personalities, and events that reflect the perspectives and experiences of people other than White, middle-class males (p. 151). She concluded that although prospective teachers must learn more about U.S. diversity, courses based solely on the intellectual understandings of multicultural education (i.e., names, dates) are insufficient. Instead, courses must address the substantive exploration of societal inequities and the social visions multicultural education encompasses (p. 155). King (1991) proposed that liberatory teacher education must incorporate multicultural experiences allowing students to analyze their attitudes and beliefs about the nature and origin of societal inequities. She highlighted the phenomenon of dysconscious racism among teacher education students and its implications for understanding multicultural education: Dysconsciousness is an uncritical habit of mind (including perceptions, attitudes, assumptions and beliefs) that justifies inequity and exploitation by accepting the existing order of things as given (p. 135). King contends that dysconscious racism allows many teacher education students to remain oblivious to substantive issues endemic to the study of multicultural education such as origins of sociocultural inequities and effects of White norms and privileges on the perceptions of many White prospective teachers with no exposure to multicultural environments. She suggested that unchallenged dysconscious attitudes allow many beginning teachers to enter classrooms miseducated and largely unprepared to effect substantive change in a system that historically has been inequitable. King (1991) called for forms of pedagogy and counter-knowledge that challenge students' internalized ideologies and subjective identities (p. 134). Bennett, Niggle, and Stage (1989) proposed that the multifaceted nature of multicultural education may present overwhelming challenges for some teacher education students. They suggested that some students' intellectual abilities may limit their capacity to engage in the critical analyses necessary in a substantive study of multicultural education. Furthermore, because of their intellectual level, some students, without interventions, may acquire only superficial understandings of multicultural education. Bennett et al. found that students whose intellectual levels demonstrated the least dualistic orientations (i. …

Intellectual Leadership and the Influence of Early African American Scholars on Multicultural Education

Key aspects of multicultural education and early African American scholarship are selectively examined to broaden, deepen, and refine our understanding of the link between the transformative nature of multicultural education and early African American scholarship. The exploration of the roots of multicultural education provides a basis for understanding contemporary issues in multicultural education within a historical context. Intellectual leadership is one of the most significant ways in which multicultural education and early African American scholarship are linked. Intellectual leadership is characterized by knowledge that is connected to action and societal reform. Early African American scholars exercised intellectual leadership by challenging the meta-narrative, by encouraging perspective taking, and by providing an intellectual foundation for questioning the status quo and building a just society. Scholars in multicultural education are continuing those activities as they exercise intellectual leadership in a contemporary context.

Issues in Multicultural Education: Pre‐Service Teacher Education

Issues in Multicultural Education: Pre‐Service Teacher Education

Education in a Multicultural Society: What Sort of Education? What Sort of Society?

Multiculturalism is a concept whose use is characterized by currency rather than consensus. In fact, so great is the ambiguity associated with the term that it has been suggested that it is ready for the conceptual graveyard (Stent, 1973). Since education itself has rarely been free from controversy, it is hardly surprising that the issue of multicultural education is both confused and contentious. Carlson (1976), commenting on this confusion, observed: Multicultural education (MCE), as described by many of its advocates, is a of assertions and which need to be examined. To those who make the largest contributions to education- namely, individual teachers and students in specific communities - the assertions and often make little sense. (p. 26) Despite the ambiguities in terminology there appears to be little disagreement that Canada is a society characterized by ethnic and cultural diversity. However, differences arise from consideration of the appropriate responses to this diversity, by society in general and the school in particular. This paper endeavors to negotiate a path through the labyrinth of assertions and assumptions in order to clarify some of the concepts associated with multiculturalism and multicultural education. The paper argues that issues in multicultural education inevitably pose questions of purpose in the wider society and that different images of Canadian society demand different responses from the school system. Several different visions of society are outlined and the paper attempts to examine the extent to which each is relevant to the Canadian context and congruent with a particular interpretation of multicultural education.

Policy Issues in Multicultural Education in the United States

It is of particular significance that this issue of the Journal of Negro Education focus on Multicultural Education in this International Year of the Child (IYC). The focus is significant because it signifies a recognition of the fact that multicultural education can have a significant impact on the education and lives of all children. The purpose and content of this paper are directed toward supporting the specific objective of the IYC-that is, provide a framework for advocacy on behalf of children and for enhancing the awareness of the special needs of children on the part of decisionmakers and the public. In exploring the issues as they relate to the development of policy that impacts upon multicultural education, some attention will be given to clarifying the term multicultural education and to describing what it encompasses as it is addressed in this article. Further, this discussion will assess the progress multicultural education has made during the last decade and the effect that the development of this concept has had on existing policy and practice. Following the definition of the concept and the analysis of the state of the art, some attention will then be directed toward future considerations and implications for policy and legislation.