Race, Culture and Education: The selected works of James A. Banks (World Library of Educationalists)

Race, Culture, and Education

In the World Library of Educationalists, international experts themselves compile career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces – extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, major theoretical and practical contributions – so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow themes and strands of their work and see their contribution to the development of a field, as well as the development of the field itself. James A. Banks is considered the “father of multicultural education” in the US and is known throughout the world as one of the field’s most important founders, theorists, and researchers. In this book, Banks has compiled a career-long collection of eighteen of his most significant articles, book chapters, and papers which show the evolution of his research and scholarship over nearly four decades as well as the evolution of the field of multicultural education. This collection shows how the growth of the field has mirrored Banks’ development as a scholar, teacher, and researcher. A specially written introduction gives an overview of the author’s career and describes the personal, professional, and social context for his selections. Banks describes how his personal journey as an African American who came of age in the American South during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s influences his research and teaching and is a significant source of his commitment to social justice research and work. Multicultural education in the US emerged out of the Black Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The focus of the field has expanded from Black studies, to ethnic studies, to multicultural education, and to diversity and citizenship education within a global context. The seven parts into which the book is divided reflects the evolution of Banks’ scholarship as well as the development of the field of multicultural education: ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Black studies, the teaching of history, and research teaching ethnic studies teaching social studies for decision-making and citizen action multiethnic education and school reform multicultural education and knowledge construction the global dimensions of multicultural education democracy, diversity, and citizenship education

The last part of the book consists of a selected bibliography of works by Banks. James A. Banks is Russell F. Stark University Professor and Director of the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. Contributors to the series include: Richard Aldrich, Stephen J. Ball, James A. Banks, Jerome S. Bruner, John Elliott, Elliot W. Eisner, Howard Gardner, John K. Gilbert, Ivor F. Goodson, David Labaree, John White, and E. C. Wragg.

World Library of Educationalists Series

Other books in the series: Lessons from History of Education The selected works of Richard Aldrich Richard Aldrich Education Policy and Social Class The selected works of Stephen J. Ball Stephen J. Ball Race, Culture, and Education The selected works of James A. Banks James A. Banks In Search of Pedagogy Volume I The selected works of Jerome Bruner, 1957–1978 Jerome S. Bruner In Search of Pedagogy Volume II The selected works of Jerome Bruner, 1979–2006 Jerome S. Bruner Reimagining Schools The selected works of Elliot W. Eisner Elliot W. Eisner Reflecting Where the Action Is The selected works of John Elliott John Elliott

Development and Education of the Mind The selected works of Howard Gardner Howard Gardner Constructing Worlds through Science Education The selected works of John K. Gilbert John K. Gilbert Learning, Curriculum and Life Politics The selected works of Ivor F. Goodson Ivor F. Goodson Education, Markets and the Public Good The selected works of David Labaree David Labaree The Curriculum and the Child The selected works of John White John White The Art and Science of Teaching and Learning The selected works of Ted Wragg E. C. Wragg

Race, Culture, and Education The selected works of James A. Banks

James A. Banks

First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2006 James A. Banks This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.

“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” All right reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Banks, James A. [Selections. 2006] Race, culture, and education : the selected works of James A. Banks / James A. Banks. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Multicultural education. I. Title. LC1099.B36 2006 370.117–dc22 ISBN10: 0–415–39819–3 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–39820–7 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–08858–1 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–39819–0 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–39820–6 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–08858–6 (ebk)

2005033743

For Cherry who has shared the journey and the dream and for Angela and Patricia who give me hope for the next generation

CONTENTS

List of figures List of tables Acknowledgments Introduction: my epistemological journey

xii xiii xiv 1

Childhood memories 1 An epistemological journey 2 Organization of this book 3 Black studies and the teaching of history 3 Research and research issues 5 Teaching ethnic studies 6 Teaching social studies for decision-making and citizen action 7 Multiethnic education and school reform 7 Multicultural education: development, paradigms, and goals 9 Knowledge construction and multicultural education 10 The global dimensions of diversity and multicultural education 11 Democracy, diversity, and citizenship education 12 Other scholarly works and projects 13

PART 1

Black studies, the teaching of history, and research

17

1 Teaching Black history with a focus on decision-making

19

The purpose of Black history instruction 20 Essential components of decision-making 21 The structure of history 21 Incorporating the Black experience into a conceptual curriculum 23 Teaching the historical method (history as process) 25 Value inquiry 26 Decision-making and social action 27 Conclusion 27 2 Inquiry: a history teaching tool

29

3 Varieties of history: Negro, Black, White

33

viii

Contents

4 Remembering Brown: silence, loss, rage, and hope

37

A conspiracy of silence 37 Education for Black uplift 38 The price they paid 38 Hope, rage, and loss 39 Assessing Brown 39 5

Black youth in predominantly White suburbs

42

The study of Black suburban youths 43 The stages of ethnicity typology 44 Characteristics of the stages of ethnicity typology 45 Stages of ethnicity of Black suburban youth 46 Some questions raised by biethnicity (biculturation) 47 Summary 48

PART 2

Teaching ethnic studies 6 Teaching for ethnic literacy: a comparative approach

53 55

Beyond the melting pot: ethnicity in American society 55 Recent trends in ethnic studies 58 An expanded definition of ethnicity 58 Ethnic minority groups 60 Ethnic studies and ethnic minorities: recent developments 60 Criteria for selecting ethnic minority content 61 Who needs ethnic studies? 62 The value of ethnic content 63 Planning instruction 64 Teaching strategies and materials 66 The challenge 66 Recommended readings 68 7 Ethnic studies as a process of curriculum reform

70

Assumptions about ethnic studies 70 Ethnic studies: a process of curriculum reform 71 Reconceptualizing American society 72 The goals of ethnic studies 75 PART 3

Teaching social studies for decision-making and citizen action

79

8 Decision-making: the heart of the social studies

81

Essential components of the decision-making process 82 Methods and ways of attaining knowledge 82

Contents ix Limitations of ways of knowing 83 The scientific method: a way of attaining knowledge 83 Inquiry and decision-making 85 The value component of decision-making 86 Decision-making and the social studies curriculum 90 Summary 91 9 The social studies, ethnic diversity, and social change

93

The ethnic revival movements 93 Educational responses to ethnic revival movements 93 Life-style versus life-chance approaches 94 The search for new perspectives 95 The ideological resistance to a pluralistic curriculum 97 Teaching for social change 100 The teacher as cultural mediator and agent of change 101 Appendix 103 PART 4

Multiethnic education and school reform

107

10 Imperatives in ethnic minority education

109

11 Pluralism, ideology, and curriculum reform

115

The cultural pluralist ideology 116 The assimilationist ideology 117 Attacks on the assimilationist ideology 119 The Third World rejects the assimilationist ideology 119 A critique of the pluralist and assimilationist ideologies 120 The pluralist-assimilationist ideology 121 Summary 124 Acknowledgment 125 PART 5

Multicultural education and knowledge construction 12 Multicultural education: development, dimensions, and challenges

127 129

Multicultural education has made progress 131 The dimensions of multicultural education 132 Content integration 133 Knowledge construction 133 The other dimensions 136 Multicultural education and the future 137 13 Approaches to multicultural curriculum reform The contributions approach 140 The additive approach 140 The transformation approach 141

140

x Contents The social action approach 143 Mixing and blending approaches 143 14 The canon debate, knowledge construction, and multicultural education

145

Valuation and knowledge construction 146 The types of knowledge 151 Transformative knowledge since the 1970s 156 Teaching implications 159 PART 6

The global dimensions of multicultural education 15 Multiethnic education across cultures: United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, and Great Britain

165 167

Introduction 167 United States: Hawaii 167 Mexico 170 Puerto Rico 172 France 174 Great Britain 177 Back to America 178 16 Multicultural education and its critics: Britain and the United States

181

The ethnic revival 181 The rise of multicultural education 181 The nature of multicultural education 182 The radical critique of multicultural education 182 The conservative critique of multicultural education 183 The tactics of the critics 184 Responding to the radical critics 185 Responding to the conservative critics 187 Multicultural education and the American democratic tradition 187 Multicultural education: a troubled future 188 PART 7

Democracy, diversity, and citizenship education 17 Multicultural citizenship education Multicultural citizenship in the new millennium 193 Multicultural education and multicultural citizenship 194 Transforming the center but maintaining the margins 195 Research in multicultural education 197 The future 197

191 193

Contents xi 18 Democracy, diversity, and social justice: educating citizens in a global age

199

Challenges to the assimilationist notion of citizenship 199 Increasing diversity in the world 200 Diversity: opportunities and challenges 201 Education and diversity 202 Goals of multicultural education 202 The dimensions of multicultural education 203 Education for national and global citizenship 207 Balancing unity and diversity 208 The development of cultural, national, and global identifications 209 Democracy and diversity 210 Selected bibliography Index

214 223

FIGURES

0.1 The total school environment 1.1 This diagram illustrates how information related to the Black experience can be organized around key concepts and taught at successive levels at an increasing degree of complexity 5.1 The stages of ethnicity: a typology 7.1 Ethnic studies as a process of curriculum change 7.2 The sociocultural environment of ethnic youth 8.1 Citizen actor’s decision-problem: what actions should I take regarding global hunger and poverty? 8.2 How a reflective citizen actor and a social scientist might approach the problem of poverty in community X 8.3 The decision-making process 9.1 The teacher as cultural mediator and agent of social change 13.1 Banks’s four levels of integration of multicultural content 13.2 A multiethnic interdisciplinary model for teaching the American revolution 14.1 The interrelationship of the types of knowledge 18.1 The dimensions of multicultural education 18.2 Cultural, national, and global identifications

8

24 44 73 75 88 89 91 102 141 142 151 204 210

TABLES

1.1 1.2 6.1 8.1 8.2 9.1 11.1 14.1 15.1

Studying the Black experience from an interdisciplinary perspective within a historical framework Key ideas and teaching startegies Organizing concepts for ethnic studies curricula Value clarification (poverty and hunger) The decision-making process (global hunger and poverty) Dominant and desirable characteristics of multiethnic studies Ideologies related to ethnicity and pluralism in the United States Types of knowledge Immigrants in Western Europe

22 25 64 86 87 98 123 150 174

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Selecting articles and book chapters from my corpus for publication in this book was a challenging task. Because I was a founder of multicultural education, I have selected pieces that were important to the development of the field and that show the evolution of my thinking over the course of my career. My intellectual journey closely parallels the evolution of the field of multicultural education. The papers in this book document my commitment to social justice and educational equality and indicate that it has been consistent through the decades, although its expression has taken different forms in various times and contexts. My first article was published thirty-seven years ago when I was a fifth grade teacher at the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. Reading my articles and book chapters to determine which ones to reprint in this book made me keenly sensitive to the enormous debts I have incurred during my career. The publication of this book gives me an opportunity to publicly thank those individuals and institutions that have given me support, inspiration, and encouragement during my journey as a teacher, researcher, and scholar. The University of Washington has been my intellectual home for more than three decades. The University’s commitment to research and scholarship and its generous sabbatical policy have provided me with a stimulating intellectual environment and periodic opportunities for renewal. I am especially grateful to my colleagues in the College of Education and the Center for Multicultural Education for their friendship, colleagueship, and respect for excellence. The Spencer Foundation has provided support for my work at several pivotal points in my career. I was awarded a National Academy of Education postdoctoral fellowship – funded by Spencer – that helped to support my work from 1973 to 1976. The Spencer Foundation provided substantial support for a conference that I organized held at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy, June 17–21, 2002. Spencer also provided indispensable support for my year as a Residential Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford during the 2005–2006 academic year. The Rockefeller Foundation awarded me a research fellowship in 1980 that enabled me to conduct a study of Black families in predominantly White suburbs. The findings on the children in that study are briefly described in Chapter 5. A grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and the use of its Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy in June 2002 provided vital support for my work on diversity and citizenship education in multicultural nation-states – the focus of my current work. I am indebted to the W. K. Kellogg Foundation for a Kellogg National Fellowship that provided essential support for my work from 1980 to 1983. I am deeply grateful to the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford for a Residential Fellowship during the 2005–2006 academic year

Acknowledgments xv which enabled me to devote full-time to scholarship and writing. My work on this book was greatly facilitated by the generosity of the Center’s staff and the rich and supportive intellectual atmosphere of the Center. I would like to extend special thanks to Claude M. Steele, the director of the Center, who has inspired me with his sterling examples of scholarship and leadership and his encouragement. I would also like to thank the University of Washington for a generously supported sabbatical which helped to make my year at the Center possible. I wish to acknowledge Patricia A. Wasley, the dean of our College of Education, for her steadfast support and visionary leadership. I would like to thank Anna Clarkson, the publisher at Routledge in the United Kingdom, for inviting me to collect a group of my papers for publication in this book. Cherry A. McGee Banks, my wife and professional colleague, has given me unwavering support for more than three decades. She has read every chapter in this book as well as given candid and insightful comments on them. Her commitment to social justice and community action is a continuing source of support and inspiration. I am grateful that my daughters, Angela and Patricia, understand and appreciate my journey and the personal rewards and costs of leadership. I would like to thank the following journals, professional organizations, and book publishers for permission to reprint the articles and book chapters described below: Excerpts from (1998). The lives and values of researchers: implication for educating citizens in a multicultural society. Educational Researcher, 27 (7), 4–17. (AERA Presidential Address). Reprinted with the permission of the American Educational Research Association. Teaching Black history with a focus on decision-making. Social Education, 1971, 35, 740–745, ff. 820–821. Reprinted with the permission of the National Council for the Social Studies. (with Ermon O. Hogan). Inquiry: a history teaching tool. Illinois Schools Journal, 1968, 48, 176–180. Reprinted with the permission of Chicago State Univeristy. Varieties of history: Negro, Black, White [Letter]. Harvard Educational Review, 1969, 39, 155–158. Copyright © 1969 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Remembering Brown: silence, loss, rage and hope. Multicultural Perspectives, 2004, 6(4), 6–8. Reprinted with the permission of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Black youth in predominantly White suburbs. In R. J. Jones (Ed.), Black Adolescents, 1989. Berkeley, CA: Cobb & Henry Publishers. pp. 65–77. Reprinted with the permission of the publisher. Teaching for ethnic literacy: a comparative approach. Social Education, 1973, 37, 738–750. Reprinted with the permission of the National Council for the Social Studies. Ethnic studies as a process of curriculum reform. Social Education, 1976, 40, 76–80. Reprinted with the permission of the National Council for the Social Studies. Decision-making: the heart of the social studies. In Teaching strategies for the social studies: inquiry, valuing, and decision-making (1st edn, 1973; 5th edn, 1999). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, pp. 3–39. Reprinted with the permission of Allyn and Bacon, a Pearson Education Company. The social studies, ethnic diversity, and social change. The Elementary School Journal, 1987, 87, 531–543. Copyright © 1987 by The University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved.

xvi Acknowledgments Imperatives in ethnic minority education. Phi Delta Kappan, 1972, 53, 266–269. Reprinted with the permission of Phi Delta Kappa. Pluralism, ideology, and curriculum reform. The Social Studies, 1976, 67, 99–106. Reprinted with the permission of Heldref Publications. Multicultural education: Development, dimensions, and challenges. Phi Delta Kappan, 1993, 75(1), 22–28. Reprinted with the permission of Phi Delta Kappa. Approaches to multicultural curriculum reform. Multicultural Leader, Winter, 1988, 1(2), 1–3. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. The canon debate, knowledge construction, and multicultural education. Educational Researcher, 1993, 22(5), 4–14. Reprinted with the permission of the American Educational Research Association. Multiethnic education across cultures: United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, and Great Britain. Social Education, 1978, 42, 177–185. Reprinted with the permission of the National Council for the Social Studies. Multicultural education and it’s critics: Britain and the United States. The New Era, 65(3), 58–64. Reprinted with the permission of the World Education Fellowship, London. Multicultural citizenship education. In B. Day (Ed.), Teaching and learning in the new millennium, 1999. West Lafayette, IN: Kappa Delta Pi, pp. 54–61. Reprinted with the permission of Kappa Delta Pi, International Honor Society in Education. Democracy, diversity, and social justice: education in a global age. The 29th Annual Faculty Lecture. Presented March 3 to the University of Washington campus community, Seattle, WA. Copyright © 2005 by James A. Banks. An unpublished paper.

INTRODUCTION My epistemological journey

A major tenet of my work for more than three decades is that the life experiences and values – as well as the historical and cultural context – influence the questions, findings, and interpretations of social scientists and educators. My research and scholarship is a case study of the influence of life story, socialization, and context on research and scholarship. I was born the year that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States officially entered the Second World War. A mantra of the United States during the war was that it was fighting to save democracy abroad. Yet the racial and socialclass apartheid into which I was socialized and into which I came on age in the 1950s and 1960s was a stark contradiction of the nation’s mantra about fighting for democracy. As Chapter 4 in this book describes, I grew up in the Arkansas delta in a community that was tightly racially segregated. Racial segregation was a salient part of every aspect of the community, including water fountains, public schools, doctors’ and dentists’ offices, and, of course, churches. Martin Luther King described Sunday morning as the most segregated part of the week in the United States. Blacks could not use the public library; its use was restricted to Whites. The community in which I grew up in Arkansas was not only tightly racially segregated, but the resources given to Black and White institutions, such as schools and colleges, were blatantly unequal. Neither Blacks nor Whites questioned this inequality in public spaces. Blacks were harshly critical of segregation in their private spaces but were silent about racial inequality in their public sites and around Whites. The grip of institutionalized segregation was so tight and historic that it was conveyed as the natural order of things in public spaces and sites.

Childhood memories 1 As a child in elementary school I wondered, often silently, what caused the inequalities that were salient within my school, town, and the other institutions within the community. I wondered, for example, why I had to walk more than five miles to and from school each day while the White students took a bus to school – which often passed us while we were walking to school each morning and splashed mud on us. The mud splashed by buses carrying White kids to school is one of my most poignant and enduring childhood memories. One of my most powerful memories of school is the images of the happy and loyal slaves in my social studies textbooks. I also remember that there were three other Blacks in my textbooks: Booker T. Washington, the educator; George Washington

2 Introduction Carver, the scientist; and Marian Anderson, the contralto (Banks, 1998). I had several persistent questions throughout my school days: why were the slaves pictured as happy? Were there other Blacks in history beside the two Washingtons and Anderson? Who created this image of slaves? Why? The image of the happy slaves was inconsistent with everything I knew about the African American descendants of enslaved people in my segregated community. We had to drink water from fountains labeled “colored,” and we could not use the city’s public library. But we were not happy about either of these legal requirements. In fact, we resisted these laws in powerful but subtle ways each day. As children, we savored the taste of “White water” when the authorities were preoccupied with more serious infractions against the racial caste system.

An epistemological journey Throughout my schooling, these questions remained cogent as I tried to reconcile the representations of African Americans in textbooks with the people I knew in my family and community. I wanted to know why these images were highly divergent. My undergraduate curriculum did not help answer my questions. I read one essay by a person of color during my four years in college: “Stranger in the Village” by James Baldwin (1953/1985). In this powerful essay, Baldwin describes how he was treated as the “Other” in a Swiss village. He was hurt and disappointed – not happy – about his treatment. When I entered graduate school at Michigan State University in 1966, I studied with professors who understood my nagging questions about the institutionalized representations of African Americans in American culture and facilitated my quest for answers. The anthropologist Charles C. Hughes taught me about the relationship between culture and knowledge production. The sociologist James B. McKee introduced me to the sociology of knowledge. Under his tutelage, I read Ideology and Utopia: An Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge by Karl Mannheim (1936/1985) and Thomas F. Kuhn’s (1962/1970) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. I read John Hope Franklin’s (1967) From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans in an independent reading with the Educational Psychologist Robert L. Green. There were no courses in African American history at Michigan State in the mid-1960s. My epistemological quest to find out why racial inequality exists in the United States and why the slaves were represented as happy became a lifelong journey that continues, and the closer I think I am to the answer, the more difficult and complex both my questions and the answers become. The question – why were the slaves represented as happy? – has taken different forms in various periods of my life. In the mid-1990s, it took the form of a series of questions: why are African Americans described as intellectually inferior in The Bell Curve, which was published in 1994 and became a best seller (Herrnstein and Murray, 1994)? It sold a half million copies in the first 18 months after publication and remained on the New York Times best-seller list for 15 weeks. Why are questions still being raised about the intelligence of African Americans in the twenty-first century? Whose questions are these? Whom do they benefit? Whose values and beliefs do they reflect? I have lived with these questions all of my professional life. I now believe that the biographical journeys of researchers greatly influence their values, their research questions, and the knowledge they construct. The knowledge they construct mirrors their life experiences and their values. The happy slaves in my school textbooks were invented by the Southern historian Ulrich B. Phillips (1918/1966). The images of enslaved people he constructed reflected his belief in the inherent inferiority of African Americans and his socialization in Georgia near the turn of the century (Smith and Inscoe, 1993).

Introduction 3

Organization of this book This book is organized around the epistemological and scholarly journey I have taken since my initial articles were published in 1967 and the quest that I have undertaken to understand, interpret, and reduce racial inequality and advance social justice in the United States and abroad. Because I was one of the founders of multicultural education, my journey closely parallels the emergence and development of the field in the United States (Banks, 2004b). My first two articles – published in 1967 – were written while I was teaching fifth grade at the Francis W. Parker School, a progressive school in Chicago. My third article was written while I was a graduate student at Michigan State University, and it was about my teaching at Parker. These articles did not deal with race but reflected the preoccupation of a young teacher eager to succeed in a prestigious independent school that was predominantly White and upper-middle class. I was one of two African American teachers at Parker and was the subject of a news story in the Chicago Sun Times when I was hired to teach at this prestigious independent school (Calhoun, 1966). The essence of the story was that an African American farm boy from the segregated South takes a great leap when he is hired to teach the sons and daughters of wealthy and powerful Chicagoans. These first three articles – which are not in this collection – were titled, “Understanding common fractions” (Banks, 1967c), “From reading to writing” (Banks, 1967b), and “Art in social studies” (Banks, 1967a). They describe successful methods I used while teaching fifth grade and exemplify a focus that has remained consistent throughout my career – a concern for practice, methods of teaching, and curriculum reform. My training in the teacher education program at Chicago Teachers College (now Chicago State University), my experiences as a classroom teacher, and my training in social studies education and in the social sciences in my doctoral program at Michigan State University resulted in a strong belief that social science knowledge could be used to improve classroom teaching and practice. The use of knowledge from history and the social sciences, as well as a deep concern for methods of teaching and curriculum reform are significant markers of my life’s work.

Black studies and the teaching of histor y My interest in Black history and Black studies emerged from my African American teachers in elementary school, from growing up Black in the segregated South, and from my socialization in a Black community, including my participation in the Black church from an early age. Although the only images in my textbooks that I remember were of happy slaves and the three famous Blacks mentioned earlier in this essay, my teachers taught us about other Blacks who had left their marks on history. I came of age during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which reinforced my emerging interest in Black history and social justice. When I became a teacher of a combined third- and fourth-grade class at the Forrest Park School in the Joliet, Illinois School District in 1965, I used stories about the lives of famous African Americans to motivate my students to learn. Most of my students were low-income ethnic minorities, although a sizeable number were low-income Whites. Most of them could not read the social studies textbook that I was assigned to use nor were they interested in reading it. The events and topics covered in the adopted social studies textbook were remote from their lives, hopes, and dreams. To motivate my students and to encourage them to read, I rewrote and duplicated biographies – along with discussion questions and exercises – from Great Negroes

4 Introduction past and present (Adams, 1964). Each day we focused on one famous African American (Banks, 1969b). As each famous African American was studied, his or her photograph was placed on the bulletin board. At the end of the unit the portraits of all of the African Americans studied were displayed. Then each child chose one famous person to portray in a pageant the class wrote and presented at the school assembly. Each child dramatized a significant event in the life of a famous African American he or she had studied. For example, Kevin, who portrayed Crispus Attucks, shouted “Don’t be afraid!” and fell on the stage dramatizing the killing of Attucks during what American historians call the Boston massacre. Attucks was the first American to die in the American war for independence from England. I remember Kevin vividly. He was a bright and active child who was intellectually disengaged and disruptive in class until his participation in these role-playing exercises. I often wondered what happened to Kevin and to many other bright and gifted young African American boys like him who often find school challenging and difficult. Malcom X (1965) was one of these kinds of boys, as he reveals in his moving autobiography. My successful experience teaching about famous African Americans led me to believe that history related to the experiences of students could help motivate them to learn. Consequently, I decided to write a Black history book for junior high school students. Titled March toward freedom: a history of Black Americans (Banks, 1970a), it was written while I was a graduate student at Michigan State and published in 1970. I wrote it while my experiences as an elementary school teacher were vivid in my memories. My second book – Teaching the Black experience: Methods and Materials (Banks, 1970b) – was designed to help teachers teach Black history more effectively. It was also written while I was a graduate student at Michigan State and published in 1970 when I was an assistant professor at the University of Washington. Chapters 1 through 4 of this book highlight the first major focus of my work – the teaching of Black history and the teaching of history more generally. The first three chapters were written early in my career. However, I have included the fourth selection, which was published in 2004, to indicate that although my work greatly expanded over the years – from teaching Black history, to ethnic studies, to multiethnic education, to multicultural education, and finally to the global dimensions of diversity and citizenship education – Black studies and the education of African American students remained an important anchor of my work as it expanded and became more inclusive. Chapter 1, “Teaching Black history with a focus on decision-making,” describes how I applied a general theory of teaching the social studies (see Chapter 8) to the teaching of Black history. I conceptualized decision-making and citizen action as the major goal of social studies teaching and learning. In this chapter, I illustrate ways in which Black history can be an integral part of the social studies curriculum and taught in ways that are consistent with the methods used to teach the history and culture of other racial and ethnic groups. Consequently, Black history is conceptualized as an integral part of the social studies curriculum. Chapter 2, “Inquiry: a history teaching tool” – written with Ermon O. Hogan, a fellow graduate student at Michigan State – argues that a major goal of history teaching should be to teach students that history consists of past events, a method of inquiry, as well as statements about the past. Students must be able to understand the nature of history in order to be thoughtful and critical readers of history. Chapter 3 was published in the Harvard Educational Review when I was a graduate student at Michigan State University. It is a critical response to two book reviews related to Black history that appeared in the Review. I have included Chapter 3 in this book because it reveals views on the teaching and writing of history that foreshadows my work on knowledge construction described in Part V of this book. The major point

Introduction 5 I make in Chapter 3 is that because history reflects the times in which it was written, and the perspectives and personal biographies of historians, students should be taught many different versions of history and encouraged to construct their own versions of the past. They should also become critical consumers of history. Chapter 4 is a personal reflection on the Brown vs. Education of Topeka Supreme Court decision of 1954. During the 50th anniversary commemoration of Brown, the editor of Multicultural Perspectives – the official journal of the National Association of Multicultural Education (NAME) – invited me to write a personal reflection on the Brown decision and to discuss its implications for education today. This personal essay is not consistent with the scholarly style and tone of most of my published work. However, I have included it in this book because it will help readers to understand that my quest for educational equality and social justice has deep roots in my childhood socialization.

Research and research issues The empirical studies that I have conducted during my career – as well as the research reviews that I have undertaken – have focused on the central questions related to educational equality and social justice that I have pursued throughout my career. My doctoral thesis (Banks, 1969a) – completed at Michigan State University in 1969 and published as “A Content Analysis of the Black American in Textbooks” – reports the findings of a study of the image of African Americans in textbooks. This study pursues questions that have been central throughout my career: who creates the images of African Americans in textbooks and in teaching materials? Why are these images created? A scientific content analysis was used in my thesis research, which reflected the strong shadow that quantitative inquiry cast on educational research during the 1960s and 1970s. Qualitative approaches to educational research had not gained legitimacy when I conducted my thesis research. I was greatly encouraged when I submitted the manuscript to the research editor of Social Education, Professor James Shaver of Utah State University and it was accepted – with revisions – for publication. Shaver was one of the most respected names in social studies education and was known to have very high standards and to be tough. My thesis research article was the first paper published in the newly established research section of Social Education that Shaver edited. When I become a professor at the University of Washington in 1969 after completing my doctorate at Michigan State, Cherry and I moved to a predominantly White suburban community. We moved to the suburbs primarily because houses were less expensive in the suburbs than they were in the city, traffic was not a problem in the Seattle area at the time, and I had an assistant professor’s salary. By the time that our two daughters were born in 1973 and in 1976, we were fairly settled in a predominantly White Seattle suburban community. Because we wanted our children to have links to the Black community, we took them to our African American church each Sunday – where they attended Sunday school – and we joined Jack and Jill of America, Inc., an African American family organization that provides “cultural, social, civic, and recreational activities” for families ( Jack and Jill of America, 2005). Yet I was still concerned about how a predominantly White social, educational, and cultural community environment might affect my daughters. My personal concerns about the racial socialization of my daughters led me to undertake research on the socialization of Black youths in the predominantly White suburban communities near Seattle. The original study was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and published in

6 Introduction the Journal of Negro Education (Banks, 1984). Chapter 5 consists of a book chapter that summarizes the major findings of the study within the context of the stages of ethnicity (later cultural) typology I developed (Banks, 1976). This typology has been widely used and cited in the literature (Mallette et al., 1998; Tomlinson, 1996). This study was eagerly embraced by the White press, which widely publicized it. A major story about it appeared in The New York Times (Collins, 1984), The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Iritani, 1983), as well as in several other mainstream publications. I believe that the study was widely embraced by the mainstream press because it contained mainly good news. I found that the African American students in the study had positive attitudes toward themselves as well as toward Whites. There were some more nuanced and complex findings in the study that were ignored by the mass media, in part because it was difficult for me to convey them in popular language.

Teaching ethnic studies As Part I of this books indicates, my initial major articles and books focused on teaching Black studies and on issues related to Black education. In 1971 Superintendent of Public Instruction Wilson Riles invited me to become a member of a Task Force to Reevaluate Social Science Textbooks in California (1971). I had an experience on the Task Force that was life- and career- changing. For the first time in my life I met and interacted with scholars from other racial and ethnic groups who were as committed to racial equality and social justice as I was. These scholars included Carlos E. Cortés (Mexican American), Lowell K. Y. Chun-Hoon (Chinese American), Jack Forbes (Native American), and Eleanor Blumenberg ( Jewish American). Before meeting and interacting with Carlos, Lowell, Jack, and Eleanor I had viewed the struggle for racial justice in the United States as primarily a Black–White issue. After meeting and learning from them, I began to see the fates of all marginalized racial and ethnic groups as tightly interconnected. After the California Textbook Task Force experience, I broadened my conceptualization of teaching the social studies and of curriculum reform to include a range of ethnic groups. Importantly, I continued to view the experiences of African Americans as an essential part of this broader conceptualization. Black studies and Black education remained an important anchor and deep commitment for me as my work expanded to include other racial, ethnic, and language groups. In the early 1970s I published several significant and influential works in ethnic studies. The Publications Board of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) – chaired by Professor Anna S. Ochoa of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee – invited me to edit one of its annual yearbooks. Anna wanted the book to undertake a comprehensive examination of issues related to teaching about various racial and ethnic groups, as well as women, in the United States. I invited several of the scholars I met on the California Textbook Task Force to contribute to the book, including Carlos E. Cortés, Jack Forbes, and Lowell K. Y. Chun-Hoon. The book – titled Teaching Ethnic Studies: Concepts and Strategies and published in 1971 as the forty-third yearbook of NCSS (Banks, 1973a) – was a landmark and influential publication. Allyn and Bacon published the book that I authored on teaching ethnic studies four years after the publication of the NCSS yearbook (Banks, 1975). Titled Teaching Strategies for Ethnic Studies, it was the first textbook written that included a theory for teaching ethnic studies, historical and sociological summaries of the major ethnic groups, and strategies for teaching key concepts with content from the various ethnic groups. This book was a best-selling textbook for many years and has sold more than 100,000 copies during its 30 year history in seven editions. The seventh edition was

Introduction 7 published in 2003; this book is still being used in college and university classes throughout the United States. Chapter 6 in Part II is adapted from the first edition of Teaching Strategies for Ethnic Studies (Banks, 1975). Chapter 7 – which is also adapted from this book – describes ethnic studies as a process of curriculum reform and presents four models that comprise this process.

Teaching social studies for decision-making and citizen action When I was hired at the University of Washington in 1969, my position was in social studies education. My teaching assignment was two courses in social studies methods each quarter. Area Chair John Jarolimek, who was well known and highly respected in the social studies field, said that it would be a good idea if I would give my sections of the course an “urban focus.” As a basic text, I used John’s book, Social Studies in Elementary Education ( Jarolimek, 1967) and The Negro in the Making of America by Benjamin Quarles (1964) as a supplementary text. During my first year teaching the course, several White female students went to John and told him that my course focused too much on Black history and not enough on teaching the social studies. John and I had a difficult conversation about the students’ concerns. However, in the end he supported the curriculum changes I was making in the class and became an important mentor and friend. John also recruited me to the University of Washington. I was the first African American on the College of Education faculty at Washington. The problems that the students who visited John perceived may have been related to them experiencing their first Black teacher and authority figure. As I taught the social studies methods course, I began to develop my own theoretical framework for teaching it. I conceptualized my theory of teaching the social studies at a time of great social change and civil unrest in the United States. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s was in full wing. The theory of social studies education that I developed – which is described in a chapter in my methods book (Banks, 1973b) – is the first chapter in Part III (Chapter 8). I maintain that the social studies should help students develop the knowledge, values, and skills needed to take personal and social action that will create a more democratic and just society. In other words, social studies education should help students to take action that will enable the United States to actualize the democratic values stated in its founding documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. I argue in Chapter 9 that social studies teaching in the past did not educate students to be active citizens. However, the social studies should teach students social criticism and help them to “acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to help close the gap between our democratic ideals and social realities.”

Multiethnic education and school reform When the Civil Rights Movement emerged in the mid-1960s, African Americans and other ethnic groups demanded that the schools and other institutions establish ethnic studies courses that focused on their specific ethnic groups and hire more teachers of color. Consequently, the first phase of the school response to the ethnic revitalization movement of the 1960s and 1970s consisted of courses and units that focused on the histories and cultures of specific ethnic groups. I have called this first phase of the movement that gave rise to multicultural education the Mono-ethnic courses phase (Banks, 2006). As ethnic studies units and courses were added to the curriculum and substantial progress was not made in the academic achievement of students of color, it became

8 Introduction increasingly clear to ethnic scholars and educators that adding ethnic content to the curriculum was a necessary but not a sufficient condition for school reform and change. After observing and discussing teaching ethnic content with many teachers, I began to realize that it might be harmful for ethnic content to be taught by teachers who had negative racial and ethnic attitudes. I constructed a concept of multiethnic education that included not only curriculum reform but also the attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs of the school staff, school policy and politics, teaching styles and strategies, assessment and testing procedures, and the languages and dialects sanctioned in the school. These variables of the school are summarized in Figure 0.1. When I was an assistant professor at the University of Washington in 1971, Stanley Elam, the editor of the highly respected and most widely circulated education journal at the time – the Phi Delta Kappan – invited me to edit a special issue of the journal that would focus on the education of ethnic minorities. The invitation provided me with an opportunity to disseminate my ideas and those of other scholars of color to a wide audience. Among the African American scholars that I invited to contribute to the special issue were Barbara A. Sizemore, Kenneth Johnson, and Donald Smith. The theme of the issue was “The Imperatives of Ethnic Education.” Chapter 10 is an adapted version of my opening piece for the special issue of the Kappan. You should read this piece with the historical context in which it was written in mind. I wrote the article in 1971 during turbulent times in the United States. Race riots – in which many African Americans were killed – had taken place in many of the nation’s major inner-cities; the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968) had issued its report on the causes of the riots and concluded that White racism was a major cause; and both Malcolm X (1965) and Martin Luther King, Jr (1968) had been assassinated. My deep commitment and sense of urgency about the education of students of color are evident in this article. William Shockley (1972), who was a Stanford University Nobel laureate physicist and neither a psychologist nor a geneticist, had written a controversial manuscript on the genetic inferiority of African Americans. Elam decided to publish the Shockley

School policy and politics The school staff: attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, and actions

The school culture and hidden curriculum

The instructional materials

Teaching styles and strategies The total school environment

Assessment and testing procedures

The languages and dialects of the school

The formalized curriculum and course of study

Community participation and input The counseling program

Figure 0.1 The total school environment.

Introduction 9 article as a special supplement in the issue of the Kappan which I edited on “The Imperatives of Ethnic Education.” In his introduction to the Shockley article, Elam wrote: At our request, William Shockley wrote the first article presented in this supplement to the theme issued assembled by James A. Banks. Mr. Shockley’s views on the heritability of intelligence are very similar to those of Mr. Jensen. When he tries to express them publicly he is sometimes subjected to the same kind of harassment that has been Mr. Jensen’s burden since the Harvard Review [sic] article was so widely publicized. On November 22, for example, Mr. Shockley was forcibly prevented from speaking on the campus of Sacramento State College at the invitation of the student association. (1972, p. 297) I can only speculate why Elam decided to publish Shockley’s manuscript as a supplement in the issue of the Kappan I edited. Elam felt that my article was hardhitting. Shortly before the publication of the issue he called me to say that he was running the Shockley article in the same issue of the Kappan that contained the special section I edited. During our conversation he stated that my piece was very hard-hitting but he would publish it. The supplement that contained the Shockley feature article was followed by a response by N. L. Gage – the Stanford educator and psychologist – who contested Shockley’s claims. It is possible that Elam included the Shockley piece in the issue I edited to “balance” the positions taken by me and the other African American authors who wrote articles for the special section, which included Barbara A. Sizemore, Robert L. Green, Kenneth R. Johnson, and Donald H. Smith. Transformative scholars from other racial and ethnic groups also contributed to the issue, including Eduardo Seda Bonilla, Manuel H. Guerra, and Seymour Fersh (Banks, 1972). In November 1975 the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith held an important conference at the prestigious Plaza hotel in New York City that focused on “Pluralism in a Democracy Society.” Among the eminent professors who presented papers in the conference were David Apter (Yale University), Nathan Glazer (Harvard University), and James Comer (Yale University) (Tumin and Plotch, 1977). Chapter 11 is a revised version of the paper I presented at the conference, which was published in The Social Studies. I examine two major ideologies that were being used to guide policy related to the education of minority students and conclude that neither ideology was sufficient. I argue that a new ideology that reflected elements from both was needed to guide educational policy related to ethnic groups. I called this ideology the pluralist-assimilationist ideology in the article but renamed it the multiethnic ideology in later publications.

Multicultural education: development, paradigms, and goals The ethnic revitalization movements stimulated other groups that felt marginalized within society to begin their quests for social, economic, and political rights. The women rights movement, the movement for the rights of people with disabilities, and, later, the movement for gay rights adapted some of the goals, strategies, and language of the Black Civil Rights Movement. These groups, like ethnic groups of color, also demanded that schools, colleges, and universities respond to their cultural needs, hopes, and dreams. To accommodate the needs of these groups, along with the needs of ethnic groups of color, schools, colleges, and universities began to embrace a notion of diversity that was inclusive of these groups. Consequently, multicultural

10 Introduction education began to replace multiethnic education in the field to reflect the concerns and needs of a broader range of groups. Multicultural education became the preferred term in the field. However, some scholars became concerned that the new lexicon might divert needed attention from students of color such as African Americans and Mexican Americans (Gay, 1983). What actually happened in the field is that many writers and scholars continued to focus on students of color but changed their language to reflect the new lexicon (Bennet, 2003; Tiedt and Tiedt, 2002). Consequently, multicultural education became a loosely used term for a wide range of foci. I edited three issues or sections of the Phi Delta Kappan between 1972 and 1993. The first, discussed earlier, focused on “The Imperatives of Ethnic Education”; the second, in 1983, was titled “Multiethnic at the Crossroads”; the third, in 1993, on “Multicultural Education: Progress and Prospects.” Chapter 12 is reprinted from the section of the Phi Delta Kappan I edited in 1993. In this article, I uncover and criticize some of the major misconceptions of multicultural education and present a brief overview of the dimensions of multicultural education, one of the most influential and widely cited conceptualizations that I have developed. The dimensions are discussed more extensively in Chapter 18, the final chapter in this book. They are described comprehensively in the Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education (Banks, 2004b). The dimensions are content integration, the knowledge construction process, prejudice reduction, an equity pedagogy, and an empowering school culture and social structure. To implement multicultural education effectively, teachers and administrators must attend to each of the five dimensions of multicultural education. They should use content from diverse groups when teaching concepts and skills, help students to understand how knowledge in the various disciplines is constructed, help students to develop positive intergroup attitudes and behaviors, and modify their teaching strategies so that students from different racial, cultural, language, and social-class groups will experience equal educational opportunities. The total environment and culture of the school must also be transformed so that students from diverse groups will experience equal status in the culture and life of the school. Although the five dimensions of multicultural education are highly interrelated, each requires deliberate attention and focus. A version of Chapter 13 was first published in Multicultural Leader, the quarterly newsletter published by the Educational Materials and Service Center, a non-profit educational organization that Cherry A. McGee Banks founded in late 1987. Cherry and I have been intellectual collaborators since shortly after we met. We met at Michigan State University in 1968 where we were both graduate students and married in February 1969. While it was published, Cherry invited me to contribute several articles to Multicultural Leader. Chapter 13 appeared in the first volume and the second issue of Multicultural Leader (Winter, 1988). This article contains the approaches to multicultural curriculum reform that I conceptualized, which have been widely cited and reprinted in scores of articles and textbooks. The four approaches are contributions, additive, transformative, and social action.

Knowledge construction and multicultural education In 1992 I founded the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington (Seattle) and became its first director. When the Center was established I initiated Studies in the Historical Foundations of Multicultural Education. A major goal of this project is to document the ways in which the current multicultural education

Introduction 11 movement is both connected to and a continuation of earlier scholarly and activist movements designed to promote empowerment, knowledge transformation, liberation, and freedom in society. Another important goal is to mentor graduate students. This Series was initiated with five papers presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 1993. The Center also presented symposia on this project at the 1994 and 1995 annual meetings of AERA. Multicultural Education, Transformative Knowledge, and Action (Banks, 1996) was the first booklength publication of this project. This book contains most of the papers presented in the AREA symposium series. It documents persistent themes in the struggle for human freedom in the United States since the late nineteenth century as exemplified in the scholarship and actions of people of color and their White supporters. The second book-length publication published in the Studies in the Historical Foundations of Multicultural Education Series is Improving Multicultural Education: Lessons from the Intergroup Education movement by Cherry A. McGee Banks (C. A. M. Banks, 2005). It is an extension of the work on intergroup education that Cherry describes in her chapter in the first book in the Series, Multicultural Education, Transformative Knowledge, and Action (Banks, 1996). In my AERA presidential address, I stated some of the major assumptions of the work in the Historical Series and of my work in knowledge construction (Banks, 1998, p. 5): ●

●

●

●

The cultural communities in which individuals are socialized are also epistemological communities that have shared beliefs, perspectives, and knowledge. Social science and historical research are influenced in complex ways by the life experiences, values, personal biographies, and epistemological communities of researchers. Knowledge created by social scientists, historians, and public intellectuals reflects and perpetuates their epistemological communities, experiences, goals, and interests. How individual social scientists interpret their cultural experiences is mediated by the interaction of a complex set of status variables such as gender, social class, age, political affiliation, religion, and region.

Chapter 14 is an example of historical work that I have done on multicultural education and knowledge construction in the Studies in the Historical Foundations of Multicultural Education Series (Banks, 1996, 1998). This work describes the ways in which knowledge reflects the social, political, and economic contexts as well as the personal biographies of historians, social scientists, and educators. In this chapter, I review the debate over multicultural education in the United States, state that all knowledge reflects the values and interests of its creators, and illustrate how the debate between the multiculturalists and the Western traditionalists is rooted in their conflicting conceptions about the nature of knowledge and their divergent political and social interests. I present a typology that describes five types of knowledge: (1) personal/ cultural, (2) popular, (3) mainstream academic, (4) transformative academic, and (5) school. I maintain that each type should be a part of the school, college, and university curriculum.

The global dimensions of diversity and multicultural education Although the focus of most of my earliest work was on Black studies and Black education, I have had an interest in the global dimensions of diversity and multicultural

12 Introduction education since the early 1970s. On my first sabbatical from the University of Washington in 1976, I studied multiethnic education in Hawaii, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, and Great Britain. Chapter 15 reports the findings from the study I conducted during that sabbatical year. I accepted an invitation from the British Academy in 1983 to give a series of lectures at British universities on multicultural education. My lecture tour was supported by the British Academy and hosted by Sunderland Polytechnic, where James Lynch was dean of the faculty of education. When I arrived in the United Kingdom there was an acid debate between multicultural educators and anti-racist educators. The antiracists maintained that the multiculturalists were focusing too much on cultural variables related to the low academic achievement of minority students and were giving insufficient attention to institutional racism, which they viewed as the major cause of the educational problems of minority students. In Chapter 16 – which was given as a lecture at the University of Nottingham and published in London in The New Era – I respond to the critics of multicultural education in both Britain and the United States and suggest strategies for compromise and change.

Democracy, diversity, and citizenship education Because of my background and training in the social sciences and social studies education, I have had a longstanding interest in citizenship education. In 1999, Professor Barbara Day, the past president of Kappa Delta Pi, invited me to write a paper for a book she was editing on Teaching and Learning in the New Millennium. I wrote Chapter 17 for this publication. In it, I argue that citizenship education, which has been dominated by assimilation in the United States as well as in most other nation-states, must be transformed in the twenty-first century because of the deepening ethnic texture in the United States and other Western nations. Citizens in multicultural nation-states should be able to maintain attachments to their community cultures as well as participate in the shared civic culture. Multicultural nation-states should have a delicate balance of diversity and unity. My most recent work focuses on citizenship education and diversity within a global context, which is an extension of work I began on citizenship education in the United States in the early 1980s (Banks, 1983). Its goal is to reform citizenship education so that it will advance democracy as well as be responsive to the needs of cultural, ethnic, and immigrant groups within multicultural nation-states. The first publication from my global citizenship education work is a book that consists of chapters that were originally presented as papers at the conference, “Ethnic Diversity and Citizenship Education in Multicultural Nation-States,” held at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy, June 17–21, 2002 (Banks, 2004a). Participants were from twelve nations: Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Israel, Palestine, Japan, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A major purpose of the Bellagio conference was to provide a forum in which a group of multicultural and citizenship educators from different nations could identify the problems and issues related to designing civic education that promotes participation by all groups within the nation-state while respecting their cultural differences. The conference concluded that effective citizenship education programs promote national unity as well as incorporate important cultural components of diverse groups into the national civic culture, that is, they balance unity and diversity. The chapters in the book that resulted from the conference – Diversity and Citizenship Education: Global Perspectives (Banks, 2004a) – contain the significant theories, insights, and findings from the Bellagio Conference. A follow-up publication, Democracy and Diversity: Principles and

Introduction 13 Concepts for Educating Citizens in a Global Age (Banks et al., 2005), provides guidelines for practicing educators. Chapter 18 incorporates some of my work that grew out of the Bellagio project. In addition, it provides a comprehensive overview of my work for the last three decades. I first introduced the idea that students should develop a balance of cultural, national, and global identifications in my NCSS Presidential Address in Boston in November, 1982 (Banks, 1983). I would return to and further develop this idea when my work began to focus on the global dimensions of diversity and citizenship education in the 2000s, as is evident in Chapter 18. Chapter 18 was presented as the 29th Annual Faculty Lecture at the University of Washington on March 3, 2005. The Annual Faculty Lecture is awarded to only one University of Washington faculty member each year and is considered the highest honor a faculty member can receive from his or her peers. Recipients are judged to have made a substantial contribution to their profession, to the research or performance of others, and to society. Receiving this honor from my university faculty was a highlight of my career.

Other scholarly works and projects In this section, I will briefly discuss some of my influential papers and significant projects that are not discussed earlier in this Introduction. I served as president of the NCSS in 1982 (Banks, 1983) and of the AERA in 1997–1998 (Banks, 1998). I was able to include neither of my presidential addresses in this book. My work on knowledge construction began when I was a graduate student at Michigan State University. My first two papers in that genre are Chapters 2 and 3 in this book. My work on knowledge construction became increasingly more complex and nuanced over the year, as is evident in a series of articles that I published beginning in the early 1990s (Banks, 1993, 2000, 2002). I was able to include only one paper in this book that exemplifies my work on knowledge construction (Chapter 14) The development and publication of the Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education was a significant event for me professionally and for the field of multicultural education (Banks and Banks, 1995). I was the editor and Cherry A. McGee Banks was the associate editor for the Handbook project, which took three years from its conception to publication. Macmillan published the first edition of the Handbook in 1995; the second edition was published in 2004 by Jossey-Bass (Banks and Banks, 2004). The Handbook was highly praised and positively reviewed in a number of respected journals in education, including Teachers College Record, the Journal of Teacher Education, and the Journal of Negro Education. After the publication of the Handbook, Brian Ellerbeck at Teachers College Press invited me to edit a series of books on multicultural education that would parallel the series the Press publishes on other topics. I accepted Brian’s invitation because I viewed it as an opportunity to extend the work that Cherry and I had initiated with the Handbook project. Several of the scholars who wrote chapters for the Handbook accepted my invitation to write book-length manuscripts for the Multicultural Education Series. I used the dimensions of multicultural education to conceptualize the Series. I now use the dimensions to guide the specific books that I solicit for the Series. Twenty-six books are currently published in the Series; others are in various phases of development. Author of books in the Multicultural Education Series include Sonia Nieto, Geneva Gay, Linda Darling-Hammond, Guadalupe Valdés, Pedro Noguera, Christine Sleeter, and Gloria Ladson-Billings. The Multicultural Education Series is highly respected and is one of the best-selling series at Teachers College Press. I take great

14 Introduction pride in the Series and work on it diligently. The editorship of the Series consumes a great of my time. However, it is a labor of love. My work continues to develop, expand, and hopefully becomes more complex and richly textured as I explore new scholarly paths, horizons, and possibilites. In my current work on citizenship education and diversity in multicultural nation-states (Banks, 2004a; Banks et al., 2005), my goal is to develop conceptual, theoretical, and practical insights that will help schools and nations to create societies in which individuals from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, language, and religious groups can experience cultural freedom and empowerment as well as attain the commitment, attitudes, and skills to act to make their nations and the world more just and humane.

Note 1

This section of this essay is from my AERA Presidential Address: The lives and values of researchers: Implications for educating citizens in a multicultural society. Educational Researcher, 27 (7), 4–17. Reprinted with the permission of the American Educational Research Association.

References Adam, R. L. (1964). Great Negroes past and present. Chicago, IL: Afro-Am Publishing Co. Baldwin, J. (1985). Stranger in the village. In J. Baldwin (Ed.), The price of the ticket: collected nonfiction 1948–1985. New York: St Martin’s, pp. 79–90 (Original work published in 1953.) Banks, C. A. M. (2005). Improving multicultural education: lessons from the intergroup Education movement. New York: Teachers College Press. Banks, J. A. (1967a, Fall). Art in social studies. Illinois Schools Journal, 47, 171–174. Banks, J. A. (1967b, February). From reading to writing. Instructor, 76, 401. Banks, J. A. (1967c, January). Understanding common fractions. Instructor, 76, 58. Banks, J. A. (1969a). A content analysis of the Black American in textbooks. Social Education, 33, 954–957, 963ff. Banks, J. A. (1969b). Relevant social studies for Black pupils. Social Education, 33, 66–69. Banks, J. A. (1970a). March toward freedom: a history of Black Americans. Belmont, CA: Fearon. Banks, J. A. (1970b). Teaching the Black experience: methods and materials. Belmont, CA: Fearon. Banks, J. A. (Ed.) (1972). The imperatives of ethnic education. Phi Delta Kappan, 53 (5), 265–296, ff. 313–324 (Special issue). Banks, J. A. (1973a). Teaching ethnic studies: concepts and strategies (43rd Yearbook). Washington, DC: National Council for the Social Studies. Banks, J. A. (1973b). Teaching strategies for the social studies: inquiry, valuing, and decisionmaking (2nd edn 1977). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. (Contributions by A. A. Clegg, Jr) Banks, J. A. (1975). Teaching strategies for ethnic studies. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Banks, J. A. (1976). The emerging stages of ethnicity: implications for staff development. Educational Leadership 34, 190–193. Banks, J. A. (1983). Cultural democracy, citizenship education, and the American dream. Social Education 47, 178–179, ff. 222–232. (Presidential address, National Council for the Social Studies.) Banks, J. A. (1984). Black youths in predominantly White suburbs: an exploratory study of their attitudes and self-concepts. Journal of Negro Education, 53, 3–17. Banks, J. A. (1988). Multiethnic education: theory and practice (2nd edn). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Banks, J. A. (1993). The canon debate, knowledge construction, and multicultural education, Educational Researcher, 22 (5), 4–14. Banks, J. A. (Ed.) (1996). Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action: historical and contemporary perspectives. New York: Teachers College Press.

Introduction 15 Banks, J. A. (1998). The lives and values of researchers: implications for educating citizens in a multicultural society. Educational Researcher, 27 (7), 4–17. (AERA Presidential Address.) Banks, J. A. (2000). The social construction of difference and the quest for educational equality. In R. S. Brandt (Ed.), Education in the new century. Arlington, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD 2000 Yearbook), pp. 21–45. Banks, J. A. (2002). Race, knolwedge construction, and education in the USA: lessons from history. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 5 (1), 7–27. Banks, J. A. (Ed.) (2004a). Diversity and citizenship education: global perspectives. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Banks, J. A. (2004b). Multicultural education: historical development, dimensions, and practice. In J. A. Banks and C. A. M. Banks (Eds), Handbook of research on multicultural education (2nd edn). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, pp. 3–29. Banks, J. A. (2006). Cultural diversity and education: foundations, curriculum, and teaching (5th edn). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Banks, J. A. and Banks, C. A. M. (Eds) (1995). Handbook of research on multicultural education (1st ed.) San Francisco, CA: New York: Macmillan. Banks, J. A. and Banks, C. A. M. (Eds) (2004). Handbook of research on multicultural education (2nd ed.) San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Banks, J. A. and Lynch, Jr. (Eds) (1986). Multicultural education in Western societies. London: Holt. Banks, J. A., Banks, C. A. M., Cortés, C. E., Hahn, C. L., Merryfield, M. M., Moodley, K. A., Murphy-Shigematsu, S., Osler, A., Park, C., and Parker, W. C. (2005). Democracy and diversity: principles and concepts for educating citizens in a global age. Seattle, WA: Center for Multicultural Education, University of Washington. Bennett, C. I. (2003). Comprehensive multicultural education (5th edn). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Calhoun, L. (1966, April 27, Wednesday). Remedial student 5 years ago, now he’s top teacher. Chicago Sun Times, p. 30. Collins, G. (1984, July 30). A study of Blacks in White suburbia. The New York Times, p. 26. Elam, S. (1972). Editorial comment (untitled). Phi Delta Kappan, 52 (5), 297. Franklin, J. H. (1967). From slavery to freedom: a history of Negro Americans (3rd edn). New York: Knopf. Gay, G. (1983). Multiethnic education: historical developments and future prospects. Phi Delta Kappan, 64 (8), 560–563. Herrnstein, R. J. and Murray, C. (1994). The bell curve. New York: The Free Press. Iritani, E. (1983, September 19). How Blacks in suburbs bridge two cultures. The Seattle PostIntelligencer, pp. A3. Jack and Jill of America, Inc. Retrieved September 16, 2005 from http://jack-and-jill.or/ Jarolimek, J. (1967). Social studies in elementary education (3rd edn). New York: Macmillan. Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions (2nd edn, Rev.). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. (Original work published in 1962.) Malcolm X (with the assistance of Alex Haley). (1965). The autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Grove. Mallette, M. H., Bean, T. W., and Readence, J. E. (1998). Using Banks’ typology in the discussions of young adult, multiethnic literature: a multicase study. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 31 (4), 193–204. Mannheim, K. (1985). Ideology and utopia: an introduction to the sociology of knowledge. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace. (Original work published in 1936.) National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968). Report of the National Advisory commission on Civil Disorders (2 vols). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. Parekh, B. (1986). The concept of multi-cultural education. In S. Modgil, G. K. Verman, K. Mallick and C. Modgil (Eds), Multicultural education: the interminable debate. Philadelphia, PA: The Falmer Press, pp. 19–31. Phillips, U. B. (1966). American Negro slavery. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. (Original work published in 1918.) Quarles, B. (1964). The Negro in the making of America. New York: Collier/Macmillan. Shockley, W. (1972). Dysgenics, geneticity, raceology: a challenge to the intellectual responsibility of educators. Phi Delta Kappan 53, 297–312. Smith, J. D. and Inscoe, J. C. (Eds). (1993). Ulrich Bonnell Phillips: a southern historian and his critics. Athens: The University of Georgia Press.

16 Introduction Task Force to Reevaluate Social Science Textbooks (1971). Report and recommendations. Sacramento, CA: California State Department of Education. Tiedt, P. L. and Tiedt, I. M. (2002). Multicultural teaching: a handbook of activities, information, and resources (6th edn). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Tomlinson, L. M. (1996). Teachers’ application of Banks’ typology of ethnic identity development and curriculum goals to story content and classroom discussion: phase two. Athens: University of Georgia. Tumin, M. M. and Plotch, W. (Eds). (1977). Pluralism in a democratic society. New York: Praeger, pp. 226–248.

PART 1

BLACK STUDIES, THE TEACHING OF HISTORY, AND RESEARCH

CHAPTER 1

TEACHING BLACK HISTORY WITH A FOCUS ON DECISION-MAKING Social Education, 1971, 35, 740–745, ff. 820–821

With the emergence of the Black revolt of the 1960s, Black people began to shape and perpetuate a new identity. “Black Power” and “Black is Beautiful” were rally cries of this identity search. Blacks rejected many of the components of the dominant White culture and searched for elements out of which a new identity could be formed. Such elements include intensified racial pride and cohesiveness, a search for power, and an attempt to identify cultural roots in Africa. African dashikis, tikis, Afro hairstyles, and Swahilian phases emerged as new cultural components. Written history is an important part of a people’s heritage. As the Black revolt gained momentous, Blacks demanded that history be rewritten so that the role played by them in shaping America’s destiny would be more favorably and realistically portrayed. Organized interest groups pressured school districts to ban lilywhite history books from the schools. When the pressure on school districts mounted, they encouraged publishers to include more Blacks in schoolbooks. In response to Black demands for Black history and Black studies, educational institutions at all levels made some attempts to institute Black Studies programs. Publishers, seeking quick profits, have responded to the Black history movement by producing a flood of textbooks, trade books, and multimedia “kits,” many of dubious values. Most of the “integrated” materials now on the market are little more than old wine in new bottles and contain White characters painted brown and the success of stories of “safe” Blacks such as Crispus Attucks and Booker T. Washington. The problems that powerless ethnic groups experience in America are deemphasized or ignored (Banks, 1969). Despite the recent attempts to implement Black history programs, few of them are sound because the goals of Black Studies remain confused, ambiguous, and conflicting. Many Black Studies programs have been structured without careful planning and clear rationales. Experts of many different persuasions and ideologies often voice diverse goals for Black history programs. Larry Cuban (1971), a leader in ethnic education, argues that “the only legitimate goals for ethnic content [in the public schools] . . . are to offer a balanced view of the American past and present.” (p. 318) (emphasis added). Nathan Hare (1969), another innovator in ethnic studies, believes that Black history should be taught from a Black perspective and emphasize the struggles and aspirations of Black people. Many young Black activists feel that the main goal of Black history should be to equip Black students with an ideology that is imperative for their liberation. Some Blacks who belong to the over-thirty generation, such as Martin Kilson and Bayard Ruskin, think education which is designed to develop a commitment to a fixed

20 Black studies, history teaching, and research ideology is antithetical to sound scholarship and has no place in public institutions. Writes Kilson: I don’t believe it is the proper or most useful function of a [school] to train ideological or political organizers of whatever persuasion. A [school’s] primarily function is to impart skills, techniques, and special habits of learning to its students. The student must be free to decide himself on the ideological application of his training. (1969, p. 4) The disagreement over the proper goals for Black Studies reflects the widespread racial tension and polarization within American society. Classroom teachers are puzzled about strategies to use in teaching Black history and have serious questions about who can teach Black Studies because of the disagreement over goals among curriculum experts and social scientists. Effective teaching strategies and criteria for judging materials cannot be formulated until goals are identified and explicitly stated. In the past, most social studies teachers emphasized the mastery of factual information and tired to develop a blind commitment to “democracy” as practiced in the Untied States. Unless a sound rationale for Black Studies programs can be stated, and new approaches to the teaching of Black history implemented, students will get just as sick and tired of Black history as they have become with White chauvinistic schoolbook history. Some students already feel that Black history has been “oversold.” Many teachers who teach Black history use new materials but traditional strategies because multiethnic materials, although necessary for sound social studies programs, do not in themselves solve the classroom teacher’s pedagogical problems. Without both new goals and novel strategies, Black history will become just another fleeting fad. Isolated facts about Chrispus Attucks do not stimulate the intellectual any more than isolated facts about Abraham Lincoln. In this article, I offer a rationale for Black Studies programs for the reader’s consideration, attempt to resolve the question, Black history for what? and illustrate how Black history can be taught as an integral part of a modern social studies curriculum which is spiral, conceptual, and interdisciplinary, and which emphasizes decisionmaking and social action skills.

The purpose of Black histor y instruction The goal of Black history teaching should be the same as the objective of the total social studies program: to help students develop the ability to make intelligent decisions so that they can resolve personal problems, and through social action, influence public policy, and develop a sense of political efficacy. Like all areas of ethnic studies, Black history can and should make a unique contribution to the development of students’ decision-making and social action skills. Poverty, political powerlessness, low self-esteem, consumer exploitation, racism, and alienation are personal and social problems that many Americans experience. Marginalized ethnic minorities – such as Blacks, Mexican Americans, American Indians, and Puerto Rican Americans – experience these problems in an especially acute form. The school should help all students, and especially US marginalized ethnic minorities, to develop the ability to make sound decisions so that they can resolve these kinds of problems through effective social action. It is especially important for teachers to help students to make intelligent decisions and to participate in

Teaching Black history 21 social action in these times when rhetoric is often substituted for reason and when simplistic solutions are frequently proposed as answers to complicated social problems. Wanton destruction is often the only response that many of our youth can make when archaic institutions stubbornly resist their just demands for change. I will illustrate how Black history, as an integral part of an inquiry-conceptual social studies curriculum, can help students to develop skills in decision-making and social action.

Essential components of decision-making Knowledge is one essential component of the decision-making process. Decisions can be no better than the knowledge on which they are based. To make an effective decision, students must master the most powerful and predictive forms of knowledge. We can delineate at least four categories of knowledge: facts, concepts, generalizations, and theories. Factual knowledge has the least predictive value, although facts are necessary for deriving other levels of knowledge. Concepts are words or phases which enable us to classify data and to reduce the complexity of our environment. Generalizations, empirical statements that show how concepts are related, are highly valuable for making decisions. Theory consists of a system of interrelated generations and is the highest form of knowledge. However, the study of theory is more appropriate for advanced high school and college students than for most students in the public schools. Key concepts and their related generalizations are necessary and sufficient to help students make sound decisions on social problems. Students must not only master higher levels of knowledge in order to make sound decisions, they must also learn to view human behavior from the perspectives of all of the social sciences. A social studies curriculum which focuses on decisionmaking must be interdisciplinary; it should incorporate key concepts from several disciplines. Knowledge from any one discipline is insufficient to help us make decisions on complex issues such as poverty, racism, and war. To take intelligent action on a social issue such as racism, students must view it from the perspectives of history, sociology, economics, political science, psychology, and anthropology. While higher-level interdisciplinary knowledge is necessary to make sound decisions, it is not sufficient. Students must also be able to identify, clarify, and analyze their values. Value inquiry and clarification are essential components of a sound social studies curriculum which incorporates the Black experience. Students should also be taught how to relate the concepts and generalizations which they derive to their values and thus to make decisions. Decision-making consists essentially of affirming a course of action after synthesizing knowledge and clarified values. Students should also be provided opportunities whereby they can act on some of the decisions they make. It would be neither possible nor desirable for students to act on all of the decisions which they make in social studies classes. However, “under no circumstances should the school, deliberately or by default, continue to maintain the barriers between itself and the other elements of society” (NCSS Task Force, 1979, p. 17). Social action and participation activities are necessary components of a conceptually oriented, decision-making social studies curriculum which incorporates the Black experience.

The structure of histor y Teachers must identify the key concepts within the disciplines and their related generalizations to plan a curriculum that focuses on decision-making and

22 Black studies, history teaching, and research incorporates the Black experience. Identifying the key concepts within history poses special problems. While the behavioral sciences use unique conceptual frameworks to view human behavior, history’s uniqueness stems from the fact that it views behavior which has taken place in the past, is interested in the totality of the human experience, and uses a modified mode of scientific inquiry. While the sociologist and the political scientist are primarily interested in socialization and power respectively, the historian may be and sometimes is interested in how each of these concepts is exemplified in the past behavior of humans. History, then, is an interdisciplinary field since historians, in principle, are interested in all aspects of the human past. It is difficult to speak about unique historical concepts. Every discipline makes use of historical perspectives and has historical components. When sociologists study norms and sanctions during a historical period such as slavery, and economists describe how the slaves produced goods and services, they are studying history. While history, in principle, is concerned with the totality of the human past, in practice history is largely political because most of the concepts which it uses, such as revolution, government, war, and nationalism, belong to political science. History as it is usually written focuses on great political events and leaders and largely ignores the experiences of common people, non-Western people, ethnic groups, and key concepts from most of the other social sciences, except geography. However, since history, in principle, is concerned with the totality of the human experience, it is potentially the most interdisciplinary of all of the social disciplines and for that reason can serve as an excellent framework for incorporating the Black experience into the curriculum from an interdisciplinary perspective, as illustrated in Table 1.1 Although historians have largely ignored concepts from most of the behavioral sciences, and the struggles and aspirations of common people and people of color, a modern program in historical studies should incorporate these knowledge components. In recent years, historians have become acutely aware of how limited Table 1.1 Studying the Black experience from an interdisciplinary perspective within a historical framework Discipline

Analytical concepts

Key question

Sociology

Values, norms

Political science

Power

Anthropology

Acculturation

Psychology

Self-concept

Geography

Region

Economics

Goods, services, production

History

Change

What unique values and norms have emerged within the Black community? What power relationships have existed within the Black community? What kind of culture exchange has taken place between Blacks and Whites in the United States? How has the Black experience affected the feelings and perceptions of Blacks? Where have Blacks usually lived within our cities, and why? What goods and services have been produced in the Black community? Why? How has the Black community changed in recent years?

Teaching Black history 23 and parochial written history is and have taken steps – but still inadequate ones – to include both the contributions and struggles of ethnic groups in their accounts and to use more concepts from the behavioral sciences. Stanley M. Elkins (1963), in his classic study of slavery, uses a number of psychological concepts and theories to explain the behavior of the slave and master. The trend toward more highly interdisciplinary history will undoubtedly continue as historians become more familiar with behavioral science concepts.

Incorporating the Black experience into a conceptual curriculum To illustrate how a program in historical studies can be both interdisciplinary and incorporate the experiences of Black Americans, I have identified seven key concepts from the various disciplines which can be taught within a historical framework and related organizing generalizations and sub-generalizations related to Black history. While the sub-generalizations in the examples related exclusively to the Black experience, a sound social studies program should include content samples that are related to the total human past, including the experiences of American Indians, Mexican Americans, Puerto Rican Americans, Asian Americans, and Appalachian Whites. The seven key concepts are as follows: Conflict (history) Organizing generalization: throughout history, conflict has developed among various racial and ethnic groups. Sub-generalization: Violence and conflict occurred on the slave ships, during slavery and during the riots in the early 1900s, the 1940s, and the 1960s. Culture (anthropology) Organizing generalization: Many different racial and ethnic groups have contributed to and enriched American culture. Sub-generalization: Black Americans have contributed to American art, music, literature, entertainment, and to many other areas. Discrimination (sociology) Organizing generalization: Groups are often victims of discrimination because of age, sex, race, religion, and cultural differences. Sub-generalization: Blacks have experienced discrimination in all phases of American life, including education, the administration of justice, and employment. Specialization (economics) Organizing generalization: When a society becomes highly specialized, efficiency in production is increased, but many unskilled workers are displaced. Sub-generalization: Many Blacks in large cities are unable to find steady and meaningful employment because of their lack of specialized training and skills. Power (political science) Organizing generalization: Individuals are more likely to influence public policy and to gain power when working in groups than when working alone. Sub-Generalization: The Civil Rights Movement, which emerged in the 1960s, was able to reduce discrimination in such areas as employment, law, education, and transportation. Self-concept (psychology) Organizing generalization: Self-concept highly influences an individual’s perceptions of the world and affects his or her behavior.

24 Black studies, history teaching, and research Sub-generalization: The Black protest movement which emerged during the 1960s caused many Blacks to feel more positively about their race and to protest more vigorously for their rights. Region (geography) Organizing generalization: Every region is unique in its own way. Sub-generalization: The central area of the city where most Blacks live is usually characterized by substandard housing, higher prices, and public officials who are largely unaccountable to their constituents. Once a teacher or curriculum committee has identified the key concepts and generalizations which can serve as a framework for a social studies curriculum or unit, and stated sub-generalizations that relate to the Black experience, he or she

VIII

VII

VI

V

IV

III

II

Region Self-concept Power Specialization Discrimination Culture Conflict

I

Figure 1.1 This diagram illustrates how information related to the Black experience can be organized around key concepts and taught at successive levels at an increasing degree of complexity.

Teaching Black history 25 Table 1.2 Key ideas and teaching strategies Key ideas

Activities

Key concept: discriminaton Key generalization: Groups are often the victims of discrimination because of age, race, religious, and cultural differences Sub-generalization: Blacks have experienced much discrimination in all phases of American life, including education, the administration of justice, and employment

1 Reading selections from South Town, North Town, and Whose Town? by Lorenz Graham 2 Discussing the discrimination which the Williams family experienced in this story and how they coped with it 3 Discussing the discrimination which David Williams experienced in school and how he reacted to it 4 Viewing a film on Black slavery and listing ways in which it was a form of discrimination 5 Finding copies of such documents as the Slave Codes and the Grandfather Clause and roleplaying how they affected the lives of Blacks 6 Compiling statistics on the number of Blacks who were lynched during the early years of the 1900s 7 Reading and discussing accounts of the discrimination which Blacks experience in employment, education, and in the administration of justice

(or the committee) can then identify the materials and teaching strategies that are necessary to help the students derive the concepts and their related generalizations. The seven key concepts and generalizations stated above can be taught at every level within a spiral conceptual curriculum and developed at increasing levels of complexity with different content samples. At each level, materials related to the Black experience, as well as content related to other groups, should be used to teach the key concepts and generalizations. Figure 1.1 illustrates how the seven key concepts can be spiraled within a conceptual curriculum at eight different levels. To assure that every sub-generalization identified in the initial stages of planning is adequately developed within a unity, the teacher can divide a sheet of paper in half and list the key concepts, generalizations, and sub-generalizations on one side of it and the strategies and materials needed to teach the ideas on the other half as illustrated in Table 1.2.

Teaching the historical method (histor y as process) Because the historian’s method is much more unique than historical substantive concepts and generalizations, it is important to teach students the historical method (process), as well as concepts related to historical conclusions (products). History is a process as well as a body of knowledge. A historian’s view of the past is influenced by the availability of evidence, his or her personal biases, purposes for writing, and the society and times in which the historian lives and writes. Although history reflects the biases of the writer, it is often taught in school as a body of truth not to be questioned, criticized, or modified. Such a parochial approach to the teaching of history stems largely from classroom teachers’ confusion about the nature of history and from the widely held belief that history contributes to the development of patriotism.

26 Black studies, history teaching, and research Much confusion about the nature of history would be eliminated if teachers distinguish historical statements from past events. The historical statement, often referred to as the historical fact, is quite different from the actual event. The event itself has disappeared, never to occur again. An infinite number of statements can be made about any past event. Historical data related to the Black experience constitute a goldmine of information that can be used to teach students about the nature and writing of history (Banks, 1970). This kind of knowledge will not only help students to become more adept decision-makers but also more intelligent consumers of history. Conflicting accounts of slavery, the Civil War, and the riots that took place in American cities in the 1960s can be used to teach the concept of historical bias. To help students see the regional influences on written history, the teacher can have them compare the treatment of slavery in their textbooks with accounts from state history books, such as the selection from which this excerpt was taken: Slave treatment: While there were some incidents involving the abusing of slaves, public opinion and state law generally assured the slaves of good treatment. Plantation owners usually cautioned their overseers against using brutal practices. Naturally, there were some abuses on large plantations . . . Most people, however, favored kind treatment of slaves. (Bettersworth, 1964, p. 143)

Value inquir y A study of Black history provides an excellent opportunity to help students develop skills in value inquiry. The goal of value inquiry should be to help students identify, analyze, and clarify their values that are related to racial problems. Teachers should not be crusaders for either racism or social justice. Rather, teachers should allow students to derive their own values and help them to become aware of the possible consequences of their beliefs. We cannot expect standards to guide a person’s life unless they have been freely chosen from alternatives and after thoughtful consideration of the consequences of the alternatives (Raths et al., 1966). Individuals must also be proud of the standards that guide their behavior. When students study concepts related to the Black experience, they can read case studies about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The teacher can ask such questions as: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

What was the problem in this case? What does the behavior of the persons involved tell us about what was important to them? How do you think that the values of the demonstrators differed from those who were in power? What are the other values that the persons in the case could have endorsed? What were the possible consequences of the values held by the demonstrators? What would you have done if your life experience had been similar to the experiences of the persons who protested? What might have been the consequences of your beliefs? Could you have lived with those consequences?

Scientific inquiry (discussed above) cannot tell us what to believe, but it can help us to identify the possible consequences of different values and beliefs and make us aware of value alternatives.

Teaching Black history 27

Decision-making and social action Problems related to race relations exist in every American community. When they study concepts related to the Black experience, students should be given opportunities to make some decisions about racial problems that they can implement through social action projects. After they have mastered higher-level knowledge related to Black–White relations and analyzed and clarified their values, the teacher can ask the students to list all of the possible actions which they can take regarding race relations in their community and to predict the possible consequences of each alternative course of action. Alternatives and consequences which the students state should be realistic and based on the knowledge which they have mastered during the earlier phase of the unit. They should be intelligent, predictive statements and not ignorant guesses or wishful thinking. Students should state data and reasons to support the alternatives and consequences which they identify. Students will be unable to solve the racial problems in their communities. However, they may be able to take some effective actions, which can improve the racial attitudes of the students in their classroom and school, or contribute to the resolution of racial problems in the wider community through some types of meaningful and effective social action or participation projects. Students should participate in social action projects only after they have studied the related issues from the perspectives of the social sciences (which can be done within a historical framework), analyzed and clarified their values regarding them, identified the possible consequences of their actions, and expressed a willingness to accept them. Since the school is an institution with racial problems that mirror those of the larger society, students can be provided practice in shaping public policy by working to eliminate racism in their classroom, school, or school system.

Conclusion I have argued that effective Black Studies programs must be based on a sound and clearly articulated rationale in order to result in effective student learning. A rationale has been suggested for the reader’s consideration. I stated that the main goal of Black history should be the same as the goal of the social studies program: to help students develop the ability to make sound decisions so that they can resolve personal problems and shape public policy by participating in intelligent social action. Higher-level interdisciplinary knowledge, social science inquiry, and value inquiry are necessary for sound decision-making. History can be used both as a framework to help students master decision-making skills and to become familiar with the Black experience because it is concerned with the totality of the human past. Historical data can also evoke many value questions. Since the present is intimately related to the past, history can provide students with insights that are essential for making decisions related to the urgent racial problems within our society. The most important variable for the successful implementation of the kind of Black Studies program proposed in this essay is the classroom teacher. To help students derive higher levels of knowledge using the Black experience, and to make sound decisions about race relations, teachers must accept the scientific method as the most valuable way to attain knowledge. They must be willing to allow students to examine and derive their own beliefs. Teachers cannot be demagogues who try to force their beliefs on students. We can help students to attain humanistic values only within a classroom atmosphere that tolerates differences and where students

28 Black studies, history teaching, and research are free to express their feelings. Beliefs that are unexpressed cannot be rationally examined. While we must eliminate racism in American society in order to survive the challenges of the twenty-first century, students must be able to analyze racism rationally before they can develop a commitment to eliminate it. No school can truly educate its students unless it teaches about the aspirations and struggles of people of color. Their experiences is part of the human drama, and education should deal with the total human experience. The White race, and not the colored races, is the minority in the world. To base a curriculum only on the experiences of part of humankind will not only inculcate a sense of false superiority in White students and make them think they are separate and apart from the rest of humankind, but also it will cause them to believe – as many do today – that they are the only humans on earth. The modern world cannot afford this kind of insidious ethnocentrism.

References Banks, J. A. (1969). A content analysis of the Black American in textbooks. Social Education, 33, 954–957, 963. Banks, J. A. (1970). Teaching the Black experience. Belmont, CA: Fearon Publishers. Bettersworth, J. K. (1964). Mississippi yesterday and today. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn. Cuban, L. (1971). Black history, Negro history, and White folk. In J. A. Banks and W. W. Joyce (Eds), Teaching social studies to culturally different children Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, pp. 317–320. Elkins, S. M. (1963). Slavery: a problem in American institutional and intellectual life. New York: Grosset and Dunlap. Hare, N. (1969). The teaching of Black history and culture in the secondary schools. Social Education, 33 (4), 385–388. Kilson, M. (1969, October). Black studies: a plea for perspective. The Crisis, 76, 327–332. NCSS Task Force (1979) (G. Manson, G. Marker, A. Ochoa, and J. Tucker). Social studies guidelines, Social education, 43 (4), 261–278. Raths, L. E., Harmin, M., and Simon, S. B. (1966). Values and teaching: working with values in the classroom. Columbus, OH: Merrill.

CHAPTER 2

INQUIRY A history teaching tool with Ermon O. Hogan Illinois Schools Journals, 1968, 48, 176–180

“Jean, which interest group was most responsible for causing the Civil War?” “The slaveowners!” “Not really, Jean, but you are close. Joe?” “I am not really sure which group was most responsible, Mr. Smith, but I can name several groups whose actions helped lead to the war.” Joe, with candid insight, had singled out one of the most critical problems in the study and nature of history – historical interpretation and the tenuous position of the historical fact. Although the teacher was trying to solicit the “textbook” answer, Joe had actually given the teacher a more accurate answer than either realized. The answer was one which the teacher was totally unprepared to appreciate or accept, for he had learned history as a body of truth not to be questioned, criticized, or modified. Many teachers such as Mr Smith perceive history as certain and assured knowledge and are reluctant to utilize an inquiry approach to history. They contend that exposing students to diverse historical interpretations unnecessarily perplexes them and makes them unduly skeptical of all historical knowledge. Such skepticism, they argue, makes students cynics and lessens the impact of history on the development of patriotism. However, we suggest that a great deal of this reluctance emanates from anxiety experienced by teachers when lessons vary greatly from the text and from the intellectual challenge which results when inquiry and critical thinking occur in the classroom. There are definite disadvantages to teaching history as assured knowledge. If students learn a historical fact as an objective truth, they are likely to become disillusioned when they later discover that the fact is historical interpretation. If the interpretation is later changed when additional artifacts and documents are discovered, students may experience further disenchantment or refuse to accept the new data because it conflicts with their previous knowledge. Unlearning and relearning are often intellectually devastating for students as they progress in their educational experiences. A parochial approach to history also deprives students of excellent opportunities to develop important inquiry and problem-solving skills. The treatment of history as a body of unquestionable truths results largely from a failure to distinguish historical facts from the past events. The historical fact is quite different from the actual event. The event itself has disappeared never to occur again. Historical facts are products of the human mind, since the historian must utilize source materials and artifacts to reconstruct past events.1 Since

30 Black studies, history teaching, and research historians can never discover all of the information about any single event or present all of the information which they uncover, they must use some criterion for selection. Their selection is influenced by their personal bias, purposes for writing, and by the society and times in which they live and work.2 Current needs and purposes profoundly affect historians’ interpretations of history. Becker, the noted historian, writes, “The past is a kind of screen upon which we project our vision of the future; and it is . . . a moving picture, borrowing much of its form and color from our fears and aspirations.”3 Thus many accounts can be written about a single event. Helping students to understand and utilize the methods of the historian should be important objectives of the social studies program since we cannot teach what actually happened but must teach perspectivistic historical accounts. By utilizing this approach to history, teachers will help students to discover that written history is at best accounts of events from particular points of view. Studying the methods of the historian will also help students to realize that there are alternative ways of looking at identical events and situations; consequently their reasoning and critical powers will be strengthened. If students are taught to treat history as assured knowledge, they are likely to develop the belief that seeing information in print is sufficient evidence of its credibility. Learning the methods of the historian is also valuable because history is not only an account of the past but a method of inquiry. It is a process whereby we ask questions and attempt to find answers. In addition, it involves evaluating the importance and authenticity of artifacts and documents and using them skillfully to comprehend the past. Just as baseball players cannot become skillful by watching baseball games, students cannot really understand history by simply reading accounts of history as written by historians. They must become involved in the act itself. The rationale underlying student involvement in this method is not to make them professional historians. We involve students in this process so that they will learn to appreciate the difficulties involved in reconstructing past events. Hopefully their powers of reasoning and discrimination will be developed and consequently they will read history more critically. Involvement in the historical method will also increase the students’ problem-solving skills. For example, they will pose hypotheses, collect data, determine the authenticity of sources, and draw conclusions and generalizations from the data collected. The community offers an excellent laboratory for students to use in their search for answers to historical queries. One effective and interesting approach is to have students formulate hypotheses about the first residents of their community. The class then divides into groups to test their assumptions. One group visits the director of the museum to obtain data for the study; another group interviews the local newspaper editor. The editor may refer the students to early copies of the newspaper and other documents in his possession. This research can lead to interviews with senior citizens about the legendary beginning of the community. Additional artifacts may be discovered in their homes. A third group visits the historical society and other public and private civic agencies. Such inquiries are welcome, and the students may obtain additional information. After all possible community resources have been surveyed and available artifacts examined, the data should be compared and the validity of the hypotheses tested. In weighing the authenticity of the various sources utilized, the students determine which sources of evidence are most credible. Determining the credibility of the various sources will be most important when sources of information conflict. When the data has been carefully evaluated, the students may have to reject

Inquiry: a history teaching tool 31 many of their hypotheses. The conclusions reached by the class should be compared with the community’s history as written by a local historian. If discrepancies exist between the accounts, the students should attempt to determine whether the author’s account is more reliable. This may be done by checking the background of the author, the sources that she used in writing her account, and, if possible, by interviewing persons in the community. Students may be exposed to the notion of bias in history by comparing the treatment of the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the First World War in British, Canadian, and American textbooks. Researchers have found that these events have evoked considerable national bias in textbooks.4 Another cogent technique is to have students review the treatment of Black Americans in textbooks written over a fifty-year period or in books written for students of different regions. Students should be encouraged to look for contrasting views and to discuss why the authors did not perceive identical incidents in the same manner. The students will soon discover that these events are written from nationalistic or regional points of view and that nationalistic views change with the times. In helping to increase student understanding of the historian’s method, the teacher could assist students in rewriting documents to make them more readable. From these documents pupils could be asked to reach conclusions and make generalizations. When the class is studying the Middle Ages, such documents as a papal bull, a serf’s loyalty oath, an excommunication decree, and the Magna Carta could be rewritten. After perusing such documents, examples of medieval paintings and architecture might be viewed and examples of medieval literature and poetry read. Paragraphs could be written about the general mood of the Middle Ages as exemplified in the documents, the art works, and the literature. The students will undoubtedly discover the saliency of religious ideals during the Middle Ages and will perceive evidence of papal–monarchical conflicts during this period of history. However, students should be asked to note the limitations of any generalizations which they derive from the materials. Students could also read historical accounts to determine the congruence or divergence of their conclusions with the conclusions derived by professional historians. The objective of these exercises is not to make students debunkers of historians or historical knowledge, but to help them to understand that a historian’s selection of facts in writing history is greatly influenced by his or her personal bias, cultural surroundings, and purposes for writing. Students should be helped to understand that not only do historians from different countries choose to write about different aspects of a particular event, but that this is a natural phenomenon of ethnocentrism. Our background and interests color our perception profoundly. To extend this concept, the teacher can ask the students to write a paragraph about a recent class activity, such as a field trip. The paragraphs can then be compared. The students can discuss how different individuals noted different aspects of the activity. The teacher may also write a paragraph about the activity and compare it with the students’ accounts. The teacher’s perception of the activity may be quite different from those of the students. In order to prepare our students for an increasingly interdependent world, we must expose them to a broad rather than a parochial conception of history. We should teach students to critically examine historical writings and expose them to the methods of the historian. Only by utilizing this approach to the teaching of history can we be more assured of developing critically minded citizens for a world in which the ability to think and solve problems will be essential for the survival of our great democratic heritage.

32 Black studies, history teaching, and research

Notes 1

2 3 4

Carl Becker, Detachment and the Writing of History (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1958), pp. 43–61. This highly readable book provides a thorough description of the historian’s craft. Becker’s distinction of historical facts from past events is thoughtprovoking and illuminating. Henry S. Commager, The Nature and Study of History. (Columbus, OH: Merril, 1958). Becker, Detachment and the Writing of History, p. 20. Ray Allen Billington, The Historian’s Contribution to Anglo-American Misunderstanding (New York: Hobbs, Dorman and Company, 1965). This book describes the results of a study of national bias in junior and senior high school textbooks conducted by a team of English and American historians. A more succinct summary of this study appears in his article, “History Is a Dangerous Subject,” Saturday Review, 49 (January 15, 1966), 499–502. For two scathing and yet perceptive critiques of this study, see Edmund S. Morgan, “An Anglo-American Contribution to Historical Misunderstanding,” Social Education, 30 (November 1966), 499–502. Robert M. Fitch and James S. Van Ness, “The Historian’s Contribution?” Social Education, 30 (November 1966), 502–506.

CHAPTER 3

VARIETIES OF HISTORY Negro, Black, White Harvard Educational Review, 1969, 39, 155–158

In a provocative review of Katz, Eyewitness: the Negro in American History,1 Larry Cuban makes a distinction between “Black History” and “Negro History.” In Black History, “Heroes are all black and struggle for freedom. Villains are all white and oppress for profit. . . . Ignored facts are dusted off and celebrated, while previously scorned items are converted into virtues and extolled” (p. 612). Booker T. Washington is portrayed as an Uncle Tom; Abraham Lincoln as a White supremacist. Black History “bursts with righteousness, pride and outrage” (p. 612). While Black History distorts, Negro History “corrects distortions and fills in the enormous gaps of information about people of color . . . Restraint and balance mark this approach” (p. 612). Ethnic content, Cuban argues, should offer a balanced view that “correct errors of fact . . . and accurately describe the Negro’s role in the American past” (p. 616). (All italics are mine.) In the same issue Jean D. Grambs reviews a recent biography of Crispus Attucks and raises issues similar to those discussed by Cuban. Like a growing number of White “liberal” educators, these authors are alarmed by what they perceive as attempts by Black militants to “distort” history by glorifying the Black past in order to imbue pride in Black students. Grambs accuses Millender, the Black author of Attucks’ biography, of telling “historical lies to repair the damage” done by previous distortions of Black History (p. 606). Grambs maintains that “appropriate data” should be reported “accurately” and that textbooks should reflect “balanced versions” of Black History. She writes, “it is one thing to present authentic historic material, but it is quite another matter to twist or invent material” (p. 605). The author posits her own canons of historical objectivity and uses her standards to ascertain the “accuracy” of the treatments of Attucks given by two Black historians. She argues that Benjamin Quarles accurately portrays Attucks because he depicts him as a shadowy historical figure. “Quarles,” writes Grambs, “unlike some of his colleagues, does not let being Negro distort his historical appraisal” (p. 607). The author vehemently attacks John Hope Franklin, an eminent historian, for falling into the “chauvinistic trap” and portraying Attucks as a significant historical personality. Cuban and Grambs err when they assume that there is such a phenomenon as unbiased, objective, and balanced written history. Both believe that the historian, by carefully gathering data, can derive historical statements which are balanced, factual, and without distortions. This assumption emanates from a confusion of historical facts with past events. These two authors imply that historical facts are hard and stable, waiting to be uncovered by the studious, objective historian.

34 Black studies, history teaching, and research Grambs argues that Quarles portrays Attucks as he really was, while Franklin distorts the real Attucks. The Boston Massacre is a past event. It has taken place and will never occur again; neither Quarles nor Franklin will ever be able to observe Attucks’ participation in that historic battle; neither can go back in time. Even if they could they would probably perceive Attucks’ role in that battle differently. Thus, the historian can never deal with actual past events but must deal with statements about events written by biased individuals with divergent points of view. Moreover, the historian necessarily and inevitably reflects his own biases in his attempts to reconstruct the past. Using various sources to find out about past events, the historian must select from the statements which he uncovers those which he wishes to report and to regard as factual. The historian can never discover all of the “facts” about a past event; his selection and interpretation are greatly influenced by his personal bias, cultural environment, and his reasons for writing. His statements are actually symbols for past events, and it is difficult to argue that symbols are true or false. As Becker notes, “The safest thing to say about a symbol is that it is more or less appropriate.”2 We cannot, like Cuban and Grambs, contend that any versions of history are “balanced” and without distortions, because historical facts are products of the human mind and are not identical with past events. The most we can say about any version of history is that its statements are regarded as factual by a greater number of historians than other statements which comprise other varieties of history. The versions of history accepted as most factual by historians vary greatly with the times, the culture, and the discovery of artifacts and documents. The present heavily influences how historians view the past. Becker, the noted historian, writes: “The past is a kind of screen upon which we project our vision of the future; and it is . . . a moving picture, borrowing much of its form and color from our fears and aspirations.” Commager, like Becker, argues that we look at the past through our own eyes, “judging it by our own standards, recreating it by our own words or reading back into the language of the past our own meaning.”3 Implicit in Cuban’s argument is the belief that statements which constitute Negro History are more widely regarded as factual by White, liberal historians than the statements which constitute Black History. He assumes that because these statements are more widely accepted by “established” White historians, they more accurately describe past events than statements which constitute Black History. Similarly, Grambs believes that Attucks is a shadowy historical figure because he is described as such by most established, White historians. We cannot accept consensus within the community of White, established historians as adequate evidence for historical accuracy. This is true not only because there is rarely agreement among historians on controversial issues but because historians in different countries and in different times regard highly conflicting statements as factual. Grambs reveals her cultural and personal biases when she accepts Quarles’ interpretation of Attucks and rejects Franklin’s. Which historian’s portrayal of Attucks is more congruent with the actual past is a moot question. Provided that she diligently searched all available data, carefully considered all points of view, and reached her conclusion through critical reflection, Grambs is justified in regarding Attucks as an insignificant figure; but she is not justified in contending that her conclusion is the “right” conclusion and that Quarles’ view of Attucks is more accurate than Franklin’s. She can only argue that she believes that Quarles’ portrayal is more accurate. We must grant Cuban the right to prefer Negro History to Black History, but he cannot claim that the statements which make up Negro History more accurately reflect past events than statements which comprise Black

Varieties of history 35 History. Both histories are products of the human mind; both reflect the historians’ personal biases, cultural backgrounds, and purposes for writing. The writers of Negro History attempt to construct history which reflects the opinions of established historians (most of whom are White); writers of Black History write history primarily to imbue pride in Black students; writers of White Schoolbook History write to glorify the United States and to develop patriotism in White children. Because of the tenuous nature of history, we are more justified in questioning the aims of these different varieties of history than we are in challenging the accuracy of the statements which they promulgate. Since Black people are vehemently complaining about the treatment of Blacks in schoolbooks, which were written by White, established historians and educators, we cannot assume that the professional White historian has fewer biases than the Black, militant historian. Cuban and Grambs, and other educators who are alarmed over recent attempts to create a Black version of history, grossly misinterpret the proper role of history in the public school. These educators assume that there is an “accurate” version of history and that it is the role of the teacher to help youngsters become effective consumers of this authentic and balanced history. Actually, the role of the school, as Bolster says, is to help students “create their own accounts of the past and to pit their conclusions against those of other writers of history.”4 As I have argued elsewhere, by approaching the study of history in this way, students will realize that there are alternative ways of looking at identical events and situations; consequently, their reasoning and critical powers will be strengthened.5 In writing their own accounts of history, students should determine for themselves which versions of history are more accurate and balanced. To do this, they must be exposed to all types and varieties of history, including Negro History, Black History, and White Schoolbook History. Students should also be exposed to different versions of history because thinking occurs when students are forced to consider conflicting interpretations and points of view. To ban any version of history from the public school is to deny the student academic freedom. Students should not have to go to the storefront school to encounter versions of history which conflict with the version endorsed by established institutions. By reading historical documents, examining historical artifacts, reading accounts of history written by others, and writing their own versions of history, students will discover that written history is at best accounts of events from particular points of view. The conclusions which students derive about the accuracy of historical statements and the versions of history which they construct will be greatly influenced by their own personal biases and cultural environment. We cannot confiscate the right of students to reach their own conclusions regarding the accuracy of historical statements and to construct their own accounts of history. Rather, we should encourage students to carefully consider all points of view and to responsibly defend their own judgments. If a student concludes that Crispus Attucks is a significant historical figure, we cannot accuse him of falling into a “chauvinistic trap.” If we disagree with his conclusions the most we can do is to encourage him to begin inquiry anew, for the ultimate goal of social education is to help students develop a commitment to inquiry and not to make them unthinking consumers of any version of history.

Notes 1

Larry Cuban, “Eyewitness: the Negro in American History,” Harvard Educational Review, 38 (Summer, 1968), pp. 611–617.

36 Black studies, history teaching, and research 2 3 4 5

Carl Becker, Detachment and Writing of History (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1958), p. 58. See Henry S. Commager, The Nature and Study of History (Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Books, Inc., 1965), pp. 53–60. Arthur S. Bolster, Jr, review of “History and the Social Sciences: New Approaches to the Teaching of Social Studies” by Mark M. Krug, Harvard Educational Review, 38 (Summer, 1968), p. 599. See James A. Banks and Ermon O. Hogan, “Inquiry: A History Teaching Tool,” Illinois Schools Journal, 48 (Fall, 1968), pp. 176–180.

CHAPTER 4

REMEMBERING BROWN Silence, loss, rage, and hope Multicultural Perspectives, 2004, 6(4), 6–8

I was in the seventh grade at the Newsome Training School in Aubrey, Arkansas when the Supreme Court handed down Brown vs. Board of Education on May 17, 1954. My most powerful memory of the Brown decision is that I have no memory of it being rendered or mentioned by my parents, teachers, or preachers. In my rural southern Black community, there was a conspiracy of silence about Brown. It was completely invisible.

A conspiracy of silence I can only speculate about the meaning of the silence about Brown in the Arkansas delta in which racial segregation was codified in both law and custom in every aspect of our lives. The only public library in Lee County was 9 miles from our family farm in Marianna, the county seat that had a population of 4,550. Although I was an avid reader, I could not use the public library. It was for Whites only. The only time I saw the inside of the public library was when the choir from my all-Black high school entertained a White civic group in the library. We had to see second-run movies at the all-Black Blue Haven Theatre. To see first-run movies, we had to go to the White Imperial Theatre and enter the “Colored entrance,” which led upstairs where the projection room was also located. We could hear the rattle of the movie projector as we tried to concentrate on the movie. Marianna and Lee County, Arkansas epitomized the institutionalized discrimination and racism that existed throughout the Deep South in the mid-1950s. The conspiracy of silence about Brown in Lee County among Whites was probably caused by fear that news of Brown might disrupt the institutionalized racist system of segregation that had been established in Lee Country in the years after Reconstruction. That system was never publicly challenged or questioned by Whites or Blacks. Black resistance to racism was deep but covert. Blacks wore a mask as they feigned contentment around Whites as their anger seethed below the surface – ready to explode. The statue of Robert E. Lee that towered above the park in the Town Square symbolized the racial oppression that gripped the community in which I – and many other southern Blacks – came of age in the 1950s and 1960s. My teachers and preachers surely knew about the Brown decision and must have been quietly joyous about it. However, it must have also evoked fear in them as well – about losing their jobs and their schools. They must have quietly discussed Brown among themselves, out of the earshot of the children and certainly

38 Black studies, history teaching, and research out of the earshot of Whites. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) took the five cases that constituted the Brown decision to the Supreme Court. The White establishment throughout the Deep South regarded the NAACP as a subversive and dangerous organization. It was viewed with as much suspicion and animosity as was the Communist Party in the North. Black teachers were often fired by school boards in the South when it was learned that they were members of the NAACP. The White school boards controlled both Black and White schools. Consequently, for Black teachers to spread the word about the Brown decision, especially among students, it would probably have been considered a subversive and dangerous act.

Education for Black uplift The silence about Brown that haunted Lee Country and the lack of actions related to it continued throughout my elementary school years (Grades 1 through 8) and high school years (9 to 12). I attended Newsome Training School until I graduated and then entered all-Black Robert Russa Moton High School in Marianna. Moton was a protégé of Booker T. Washington who became principal of Tuskegee Institute when Washington died. Many Black schools throughout the Deep South were named for Moton. I graduated from Moton in 1960. Throughout my elementary and high school years and without any focus on Brown or school desegregation, our Black teachers taught us to be citizens of both the Black community and of American society. Each day in morning exercise, we said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang both the Negro national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and the American national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.” The lives and triumphs of Black leaders – Booker T. Washington, Mary McLeod Bethune, Robert Russa Moton, George Washington Carver, and Marian Anderson – were interspersed throughout our curriculum. Our teachers tried hard to make us productive citizens of US society as well as to instill in us a commitment to the uplift of the Black community. Yet, I can remember no explicit efforts to prepare us to function within a desegregated society – a society whose possibility my teachers had not fully imagined or grasped.

The price they paid Brown had no real or specific meaning in isolated rural communities in the South until a group of Blacks organized and took on the White power structure. This was a difficult fight to take on, and those Blacks who did paid a high price. When a group of Blacks in Little Rock decided to push for the desegregation of Central High School in 1957, Governor Oral Faubus used all the power of the state to resist desegregating the school. The Black civil rights activists who led the movement to desegregate Central High School, such as Daisy Bates (1987), were steadfast in their fight to end racial segregation at Central High. After a long and bitter struggle, they were successful. However, the nine Black students who desegregated Central High paid a dear price as did Mrs Bates. The ugly racial incidents to which these students were victims left deep scars that endured. As the students walked to school each day, White mobs – which included White fathers and mothers – hurled racial epithets and rocks at them. The newspaper owned by Mrs Bates and her husband was destroyed because the White merchants withdrew their advertising to retaliate for her actions on behalf of the students.

Remembering Brown 39

Hope, rage, and loss Brown engendered great hope and possibilities for Southern Blacks but evoked rage and hostility among Whites. When teaching about Brown and its historical context, teachers should help students to understand the complex emotions, behaviors, and consequences of the Brown decision. It is often described in brief textbook accounts in a way that can lead students to conclude that shortly after the Brown decision was handed down, schools throughout the South were desegregated with “all deliberate speed.” The battle to desegregate Southern schools took place one at a time – from town to town and county to county. Students need to understand that in each Southern community, there was a struggle to desegregate the schools and that the cost African Americans paid for desegregation was enormous. Blacks experienced both hope and loss with the Brown decision. Many African Americans were damaged – psychologically and physically – when they first entered all-White southern schools. Melba Pattillo Beals (1994), one of the Little Rock nine, wrote, “I had long dreamed of entering Central High. I could not have imagined what that privilege could cost me” (p. i). Many Black teachers who took active roles to desegregate schools or joined the NAACP lost their jobs. Other Black teachers lost their jobs when schools were desegregated and White teachers were chosen to replace them. Rather than desegregate its schools, the school board in Prince Edward County, Virginia closed its public schools and gave tuition grants to White students to attend Prince Edward Academy, a private school. There were no schools for Black children in Prince Edward County between 1959 and 1964 (Irons, 2002). There was another kind of loss experienced when desegregation took place in the South. The Black school, like the Black church, was an important source of ethnic pride and a center of important activities in Black communities. Many of these schools, despite meager physical resources, had dedicated teachers who provided nurturing and positive educational environments for Black students who would have not experienced educational success without them. My own teachers – such as Mrs Sadie Mae Jones, Mrs Mary Wilson, Mrs Verna Mae Clay, and Miss Curry – epitomized caring and were committed Southern Black teachers. Teachers were important and respected people within the Black community. The loss of Black schools, as Venessa Siddle Walker (1996) pointed out in her pioneering study, Their Highest Potential: An African American School Community in the South, left a tremendous void in African American communities throughout the South.

Assessing Brown W. E. B. Du Bois said (as cited in Kaplan, 1992), “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line” (p. 604). Brown, as well as the events that preceded and followed it, are manifestations of both the problems and the hope for improving race relations in America. Martin Luther King (1991) said, “[t]he American people are infected with racism – that is the peril. Paradoxically, they are also infected with democratic ideals – that is the hope” (p. 71). Brown was an expression of those aspects of American civic culture that articulate democratic values such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. By ruling that de jure segregation was illegal because it damaged the hearts and minds of Black students, the Supreme Court gave credence to the values stated in the nation’s founding documents and consequently gave Blacks hope.

40 Black studies, history teaching, and research There has always been – and there remains – a wide gap between America’s democratic ideals and its practices. Although the spirit of Brown reflected the democratic values in the nation’s founding documents, the efforts that were made to implement it and the White rage that it evoked were deeply American. Even the ruling itself reflected the ambivalence of the court. Chief Justice Warren had a difficult time getting the court to make a unanimous decision on Brown (Irons, 2002; Kluger, 1975). Rather than setting a definite timetable for Southern schools to desegregate, the court set forth the ambiguous phase, “with all deliberate speed,” which gave Southern school districts the license to stall and procrastinate. The rage that Brown evoked among White Southern lawmakers in Congress and among their White constituencies was also deeply American. Racial progress in the United States throughout its history has always been attained through struggle. As Douglass stated: If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one; and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be struggle. (1857, as cited in Mullane, 1995, pp. 118–119) It took struggles to end slavery and lynching. It was through struggle that Blacks obtained access to public schools. Through the historical struggles to improve race relations in America, both Blacks and Whites have been changed, and we have come closer to the dream of attaining a nation with liberty and justice for all. For all of its shortcomings – and there were many both in the decision and its consequences – Brown brought the United States closer to its ideals. In declaring that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954, p. 495), the Supreme Court enabled Blacks in tightly segregated communities such as Aubrey and Marianna to challenge a system of institutionalized racism that had been entrenched since the post-Reconstruction period. Echoes of Brown finally reached Marianna years after 1960, the year that I graduated from high school and left the South to go to college in Chicago. The White rage that was unleashed when Blacks demanded an end to the entrenched system of segregation nearly destroyed the town. However, Marianna was reborn. When I visited Marianna in 1998 to give the keynote address at my high school reunion, it had a Black mayor, but the schools were segregated. Most Whites had fled to the suburbs or sent their children to private schools that were established to escape desegregated schools. Battles to desegregate schools similar to those that took place in Southern cities occurred in Northern cities such as Boston, Chicago, Detroit, and New York years later in the 1960s. The silence, loss, rage, and hope that Brown evoked still simmer, in Black and White communities throughout the United States. Schools throughout the nation are now resegregated (Orfield, Eaton, and the Harvard Project on School Desegregation, 1996). Blacks and Whites often remain silent to maintain the peace. Blacks feel that much of their culture has been lost and eradicated from the schools in their communities. There is White rage about affirmative action and massive immigration and Black rage about their plight in America. Brown gave us hope that America might one day overcome its deep and entrenched racial legacy and indicated how difficult this journey was and still is.

Remembering Brown 41

References Bates, D. (1987). The long shadow of Little Rock. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press. Beals, M. P. (1994). Warriors don’t cry: a searing memoir of the battle to integrate Little Rock’s Central High. New York: Pocket Books. Brown vs. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954). Irons, P. (2002). Jim Crow’s children: the broken promise of the Brown decision. New York: Penguin. Kaplan, J. (Ed.). (1992). Barlett’s familiar quotations (16th edn). Boston, MA: Little, Brown. King, M. L., Jr (1991). Showdown for nonviolence. In J. W. Washington (Ed.), A testament of hope: the essential writings and speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr (pp. 64–72). San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins. Kluger, R. (1975). Simple justice: the history of the Brown v. Board of Education and Black America’s struggle for equality. New York: Vintage. Mullane, D. (Ed.). (1995). Words to make my dream children live: a book of African American quotations. New York: Doubleday. Orfield, G., Eaton, S. E. (1996). The Harvard Project on School Desegregation. Dismantling desegregation: the quiet reversal of Brown v. Board of Education. New York: The New Press. Siddle Walker, V. (1996). Their highest potential: an African American school community in the segregated South. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.

CHAPTER 5

BLACK YOUTH IN PREDOMINANTLY WHITE SUBURBS 1 R. J. Jones (Ed.). Black Adolescents, 1989, Berkeley, CA: Cobb & Henry Publishers, pp. 65–77

The number of middle-class Blacks has increased significantly since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. When Blacks become middle class, they frequently move from the central area of the city to the suburbs. Between 1960 and 1977, the number of Black suburban residents increased 71.8 percent. In 1977, 18.8 percent of Blacks were suburban residents (Lake, 1981). In 1981, 1 out of every 5 Blacks lived in the suburbs (Carlson, 1981). Black suburban residents are highly diversified. Many Black suburban residents live in predominantly Black working-class spillover communities. Others live in predominantly Black middle-class spillover communities. Still others live in predominantly Black middle-class suburbs. However, a significant number of Black suburban residents live in predominantly White middle-class suburban communities. They are a small but increasingly significant minority within their communities. Blacks who live in the nation’s predominantly White suburban communities have been largely neglected by social science theorists and researchers. Most of the existing studies focus on lower-status Blacks who are residents of central cities (Ladner, 1973). This is the case, in part, because lower-class Blacks make up the largest subgroup of Blacks. Yet, the Black community is becoming more and more diversified in terms of values, behaviors, and attitudes because of increasing socialclass variation within the group (Willie, 1974; Wilson, 1978). One of the most important characteristics of Blacks today is their intragroup variation. Unless more research is done that contributes to a description of the intragroup variation within the Black population, we run the risk of perpetuating the inaccurate notion that Blacks are a monolithic, lower-class ethnic group. Since the 1960s, a number of important studies have been done on Black suburban residents. However, most have described migration and dispersal patterns and not the social and psychological world of the Black suburbanite. None of the studies reviewed was exclusively concerned with the lives of Black families who were residents of predominantly White suburbs. Among the studies that focus on migration patterns and the qualities and characteristics of the suburbs in which Blacks live are those by Blumberg and Lalli (1966), Farley (1970), Downs (1973), Rabinovitz (1975), Rose (1976), Frey (1978), Clark (1979), Connolly (1979), Marshall and Stahura (1979), and Lake (1981). Pettigrew (1973) is one of the few researchers to examine psychological factors related to Black suburbanization. He studied the attitudes of Whites, income levels, and the willingness of Blacks to move to the suburbs. In an earlier investigation, Northwood and Barth (1965)

Black youth in White suburbs 43 studied the attitudes of Black and White families who lived in selected predominantly White neighborhoods of a large city in the Northwest.

The study of Black suburban youths There is a dearth of research that describes and interprets the social, psychological, and educational experiences of Black suburban youth. Indeed, a comprehensive search of seven computerized databases (Psychological Abstracts, ERIC, Dissertation Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, Family Resources/Family Relations Population Bibliography, and Mental Health Abstracts) for the period 1970–1987 yielded only four entries, three (Cloud, 1980; Katzman, 1983; and Randolph, 1970) of which were related to the impact of Black suburbanization on the schools and one (Zschock, 1971) that looked at low socioeconomic status Black youth in predominantly White suburbs. Of the four studies, only Zschock actually interviewed the youth, and his concern was problems of employment and community needs. A study of factors influencing the psychosocial development of Black youth in predominantly White suburbs, then, is timely and needed. The present chapter is written to help fill this void. It draws upon and interprets data from a larger study of Black families who lived in selected, predominantly White suburban communities of a large metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest, the population of which exceeds 1 million. The major purpose of the larger study was to describe family socialization practices related to the acquisition of racial attitudes and ethnic behavior. The work presented herein describes the self-concepts of ability, general self-concepts, level of externality, and attitudes toward physical characteristics, neighborhoods, and schools of the children in the larger study and integrates the findings into an ethnicity typology the author developed (Banks, 1976, 1981) (see Figure 5.1). The subjects were 98 youths who were members of the 57 families who participated in the larger study. Fifty (78 percent) of the 64 families participating in the larger investigation (64 families, of whom 57 are included in results reported herein) were headed by two parents; 14 (22 percent) were single-parent families. All but one of the single-parent families were headed by a female. The parents had high incomes and high levels of educational attainment. Fifty-one percent of the families had 1982 incomes of $40,000 or above. Fifty-five percent of the parents had either some graduate or professional school training or had finished graduate or professional school. The participants ranged in age from 8 to 18, with a mean age of 12.8. The participants were administered the following scales: the Brookover SelfConcept of Ability Scale (Brookover et al., 1962), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), the Stephan–Rosenfield Racial Attitude Scales (Stephan and Rosenfield, 1979), the Nowicki–Strickland Locus of Control Scale (Nowicki and Strickland, 1973), and a forty-five-item questionnaire developed by the author with subscales that measure attitudes toward school, physical self-concept, attitudes toward Blacks, attitudes toward Whites, and attitudes toward neighborhood. Two measures of ethnocentrism (pro-Blackness) were derived from the differences between the subjects’ attitudes toward Whites mean scores and their attitudes toward Blacks mean scores on the Banks racial attitudes subscales and the Stephan–Rosenfield subscales. In sections following, a stages of ethnicity typology will be presented and the results of the present investigation will be discussed in the context of the typology. The findings will then be summarized and discussed in the light of larger issues

44 Black studies, history teaching, and research Globalism and global competency

Multiethnicity and reflective nationalism

Ethnic ethnocentrism

Stage 6

Ethnonational identity

Stage 5

Biethnicity

Stage 4

Ethnic identity clarification

Stage 3

Ethnic encapsulation

New discovery of ethnicity

Ethnic psychological captivity

Stage 2

Stage 1

Figure 5.1 The stages of ethnicity: a typology.

surrounding the socialization of Black youth who live in predominantly White suburbs.

The stages of ethnicity typology Stage 1: Psychological captivity. During this stage the individual inculcates the negative ideologies and beliefs about his/her ethnic group that are institutionalized within the society. Consequently, he/she exemplifies ethnic self-rejection and low self-esteem. The individual is ashamed of his/her ethnic identity during this stage and may respond in a number of ways, including avoiding situations that bring him/her into contact with other ethnic groups, or striving aggressively to become highly culturally assimilated. Stage 2: Ethnic encapsulation. Stage 2 is characterized by ethnic encapsulation and exclusiveness, including voluntary separatism. The individual participates primarily within his/her own ethnic community and believes that his/her ethnic group

Black youth in White suburbs 45 is superior to that of others. Many individuals within Stage 2, such as many Anglo-Americans, have internalized the dominant societal myths about the superiority of their ethnic or racial group and the innate inferiority of other ethnic groups and races. Stage 3: Ethnic identify clarification. At this stage the individual is able to clarify his/her attitudes and ethnic identity, to reduce intrapsychic conflict, and to develop clarified positive attitudes toward his/her ethnic group. The individual learns to accept self, thus developing the characteristics needed to accept and respond more positively to outside ethnic groups. During this stage, ethnic pride is genuine rather than contrived. Stage 4: Biethnicity. During this stage individuals have both a healthy sense of ethnic identity and the psychological characteristics and skills needed to participate successfully in their own ethnic culture as well as in another ethnic culture. The individual also has a strong desire to function effectively in two ethnic cultures. We may describe individuals within this stage as biethnic or bicultural. Stage 5: Multiethnicity and reflective nationalism. The Stage 5 individual has clarified, reflective, and positive personal, ethnic, and national identifications, has positive attitudes toward other ethnic and racial groups, and is self-actualized. The individual is able to function, at least beyond superficial levels, within several ethnic cultures within his or her nation and to understand, appreciate, and share the values, symbols, and institutions of several ethnic cultures within his or her nation. Individuals within this stage have a commitment to their ethnic groups, an empathy and concern for other ethnic groups, and a strong but reflective commitment and allegiance to the nation-state and its idealized values, such as human dignity and justice. Stage 6: Globalism and global competency. The individual within Stage 6 has clarified, reflective, and positive ethnic, national, and global identifications and the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and abilities needed to function within ethnic cultures within his/her own nation as well as within cultures outside his/her nation in other parts of the world. The Stage 6 individual has the ideal delicate balance of ethnic, national, and global identifications, commitments, literacy, and behaviors.

Characteristics of the stages of ethnicity typology This typology is an ideal type construct and should be viewed as dynamic and multidimensional rather than as static and linear (see Taylor (1998), and Cross et al. (1991) for a discussion of related typologies). The characteristics within the stages exist on a continuum. Thus, within Stage 1, individuals are more or less ethnically psychologically captive; some individuals are more ethnically psychologically captive than others. The division between the stages is blurred rather than sharp. Thus a continuum also exists between as well as within the stages. The ethnically encapsulated individual (Stage 3) does not suddenly attain clarification and acceptance of his/her ethnic identity (Stage 4). This is a gradual and developmental process. Also, the stages should not be viewed as strictly sequential and linear. I am hypothesizing that some individuals may never experience a particular stage. However, I hypothesize that once an individual experiences a particular stage, he/she is likely to experience the stages above it sequentially and developmentally. I believe, however, that individuals may experience the stages upward, downward, or in a zigzag pattern. Under certain conditions, for example, the biethnic (Stage 4) individual may become multiethnic (Stage 5); under new conditions the same individual may

46 Black studies, history teaching, and research become again biethnic (Stage 4), ethnically identified (Stage 3), and ethnically encapsulated (Stage 2).

Stages of ethnicity of Black suburban youth Stage 1 individuals have negative beliefs and attitudes toward their own ethnic group and have internalized the negative images of themselves that are perpetuated by the larger society. Black children who are socialized within a predominantly White suburban community and who attend predominantly White schools, such as the children in this study, may run the risk of internalizing the negative images of Blacks and the White standards of beauty that are institutionalized within most predominantly White communities. Previous research on children’s racial attitudes suggests that this may be the case (Williams and Morland, 1976). However, there is little evidence in this study that these children have internalized negative images toward Blackness, White standards of physical beauty, or negative racial attitudes toward Blacks as a group. The ten-item Physical Self-Concept subscale in this study was designed to measure how Black youths evaluated their physical characteristics and race and to determine how physical self-evaluation was related to other variables. These children evaluated their physical characteristics and Blackness positively. The mean physical self-score was 33.14 out of a possible score of 40. Over 90 percent of the children agreed with this statement: “I like the way I look”; 98 percent agreed with the statement, “I like the color of my skin.” Only 8.2 percent of the children agreed with the statement “My looks bother me.” Most of the children in this study had positive attitudes toward Blacks as a group. On the Stephan–Rosenfield Scale (the lower the score on this scale, the more positive the attitudes), the mean score on the Attitudes Toward Blacks subscale obtained by the children in this study was 22.86. In an earlier study conducted by Stephan and Rosenfield (1979), White students had a mean score on the Attitudes Toward Whites subscale of 23.1. The Black students in the present study were slightly more positive toward their racial group than the White students in the Stephan–Rosenfield study. Stage 2 is characterized by ethnic encapsulation and ethnic exclusiveness, including voluntary separatism. Individuals within this stage also tend to evaluate their ethnic group much more positively than outside ethnic groups. Given the sociocultural environment in which the children in this study were being socialized, it is not surprising that the results of this study indicate that they had few Stage 2 characteristics. Most respondents had highly positive attitudes toward Blacks as well as toward Whites. They had very low ethnocentrism scores, when ethnocentrism was determined both by using means from the Banks and Stephan–Rosenfield subscales (Banks subscale: ethnocentrism mean ⫽ 4.1; highest possible score ⫽ 32) (Stephan–Rosenfield subscale: ethnocentrism mean ⫽ 3.32, highest possible score ⫽ 40). At Stage 3, the individual is able to clarify his/her ethnic identity and to develop positive and clear attitudes toward his/her ethnic group. At Stage 4, the individual has a healthy sense of ethnic identity and positive attitudes toward another ethnic group and is able to participate successfully in his/her ethnic culture as well as in another ethnic culture. Individuals within this stage also have a strong desire to function effectively within two ethnic cultures. The data indicate that most of the children in this study have clarified ethnic identities (Stage 3) and are biethnic in their racial attitudes, perceptions, and behavior (Stage 4). Responses to a number of items in the questionnaire indicate

Black youth in White suburbs 47 that the children have positive racial attitudes toward both Blacks and Whites, that they enjoy interacting with both their Black and White friends, and wish that more Black children and teachers were in their social environments. On the Stephan–Rosenfield subscales, the mean score for attitudes toward Whites was 25.8; the mean score for attitudes toward Blacks was 22.86. On the Banks racial attitudes subscales, the mean scores for attitudes toward Whites was 22.20; the mean score for attitudes toward Blacks was 26.15. The findings from both sets of subscales indicate that the children were biracial in their racial attitudes; that is, they had positive attitudes toward both Blacks and Whites, although they had slightly more positive attitudes toward Blacks than toward Whites on both sets of scales. Virtually all (98 percent) of the children agreed with the statement: “I am proud to be Black.” Most (88.8 percent) agreed with the statement, “I wish more Black students were at my school”; 87.8 percent agreed with the statement “I wish more Black people lived in my neighborhood.” A majority (88.8 percent) of the children agreed with the statement: “I like to spend a lot of time with my Black friends”; 86.9 percent agreed with the statement, “I wish I had more Black friends.” The fact that most of the children in this study had highly positive attitudes toward Blacks did not cause them to have negative attitudes toward Whites. They also had highly positive attitudes toward Whites and indicated that they enjoyed their White friends. Most of the children (84.7 percent) disagreed with the statement “I spend as little time with Whites as possible.” A large majority (87.8 percent) agreed with the statement “I get along well with other kids in my neighborhood.” Most of the subjects not only had highly positive attitudes toward Whites and their White friends but believed that their White friends and neighbors had positive attitudes toward them. Most agreed with these statements: “The kids in my neighborhood like to do things with me” (81.6 percent); and “The kids in my neighborhood think I am important” (63.3 percent). Most (74.5 percent) disagreed with the statement, “The kids in my neighborhood leave me out of things.” Almost 89 percent of the subjects disagreed with the statement, “The students at school leave me out of things”; 74.5 percent disagreed with the statement, “The teachers at school make me feel different.” However, it is interesting to note that 25.5 percent of the students agreed with the statement that teachers make them feel different. This finding suggests that the students may feel slightly more accepted by their peers than their teachers. Most of the children in this study not only had highly positive attitudes toward Whites but felt that their White peers and teachers treated them in a nondiscriminatory way. However, while these statements accurately describe the responses of most of the children in this study, the reader should keep in mind that on each of the items discussed above, a percentage of the children responded differently from most of the others. Because researchers should remain sensitive to intraethnic differences, it is important that we study closely the responses and profiles of those who respond differently from most other subjects. At some future time, there should be careful study of the responses of divergent responders, for example, of the 25.5 percent of students who agreed with the statement, “The teachers at school make me feel different.”

Some questions raised by biethnicity (biculturation) While most of the findings in this study give us reason to be optimistic about the experiences of Black children socialized within a predominantly White suburban

48 Black studies, history teaching, and research community, several of our results raise questions about individuals who function biculturally, especially when they are part of a small minority within a dominant or mainstream culture. As previously stated, the children in this study had positive attitudes toward Blacks. However, age correlated negatively with attitudes toward Blacks when racial attitudes were measured with the Stephan–Rosenfield scale. This indicates that, for this population, older children had slightly more negative attitudes toward Blacks than younger children. There was a moderate but significant negative relationship between attitudes toward school and attitudes toward Blacks, when attitudes toward Blacks were measured with the Banks subscale. (This finding may be an artifact of the Banks scale which included several questions related to attitudes toward Blacks in the school setting.) There was also a moderate but significant negative relationship between attitudes toward Blacks (Banks scale) and attitudes toward neighborhood. This indicates that the more the children liked their neighborhoods the more negatively they felt toward Blacks. Stage 5 individuals have positive attitudes toward more than two ethnic groups and the skills and desire to function within them. Stage 6 individuals not only have positive attitudes toward a range of ethnic groups within the United States but also the kind of identity, attitudes, skills, and abilities needed to function successfully within cultures outside of the United States. The present study does not provide data which shed light on these two stages since it was a study of Black children and their attitudes toward only one other ethnic cultural group: Anglo and/or Mainstream White Americans.

Summar y In this brief chapter. I have presented a stages of ethnicity typology and interpreted findings from a study of Black suburban youths within the context of the typology. The research findings suggest that few individuals who participated in the study can be characterized as Stage 1 (ethnic psychological captives) individuals since most of them had highly positive attitudes toward Blacks. Few may be described as Stage 2 individuals (ethnically encapsulated) since they had positive attitudes toward both Blacks and Whites and enjoyed social contacts with both Black and White peers. The data suggest that most of the students in the suburban study can be characterized both as Stage 3 (Ethnically clarified) and Stage 4 (Bicultural) individuals. While these two stages are conceptually distinct, in reality individuals are likely to retain their Stage 3 (Ethnic clarification) characteristics as they function biculturally (Stage 4). Individuals are also likely to remain ethnically clarified (Stage 3), bicultural (Stage 4), and multiethnic (Stage 5) as they function at Stage 6 (globalism). The results further suggest that individuals who function at Stages 3 through 6 will usually retain the characteristics obtained in each of the earlier stages as they acquire the characteristics of the next higher stage. While this is true of Stages 3 through 6, as individuals move from Stages 1 and 2 to Stage 3, they are likely to retain few of the characteristics of the first two stages. This is because Stages 1 and 2 differ substantially from Stages 3 through 6. Some of the intercorrelations of the variables in the study (such as the relationship between age and attitudes toward Blacks, attitudes toward Blacks and attitudes toward school, and attitudes toward Blacks and attitudes toward neighborhood) suggest that bicultural functioning may have complex effects on the attitudes of individuals toward their own racial group, especially if they are part of a small minority

Black youth in White suburbs 49 group in the bicultural environment. These intercorrelations indicate that bicultural functioning is a complex phenomenon that merits further study and analysis. The predominantly White suburban communities in which the children in this study were being socialized have not prevented them from developing positive attitudes toward themselves, their communities, and their schools. These children were biracial in their attitudes – they had positive attitudes toward both Blacks and Whites – although they were slightly more positive toward Blacks (mean ⫽ 26.15) than toward Whites (mean ⫽ 22.20). The findings suggest that Black children socialized within predominantly White suburban communities are likely to become highly attitudinally assimilated into White society and that this kind of assimilation may have complex effects on their racial attitudes toward Blacks and their levels of ethnocentrism. As attitudinal assimilation increased, these children became increasingly more positive toward their schools and neighborhoods and more positive toward Whites but less positive toward Blacks. The findings of this study suggest, however, that attitudinal assimilation may have some desirable educational consequences: the children in this study who had highly positive attitudes toward Whites and toward their schools and neighborhoods were also more internal. Internality is positively related to academic achievement and to other success-related behavior. Internality was negatively related to positive attitudes toward Blacks and to ethnocentrism. This latter finding raises a question about whether Black children can remain ethnic in their racial attitudes and attain high levels of internality. This question warrants study within a wide range of populations in which Black youths are socialized. (A summary of studies of internality and Black youth can be found in Banks et al., 1991). Several findings in this study suggest that the experiences of Black females in predominantly White suburban communities may be slightly more difficult than those of Black males. Girls not only liked their neighborhoods less than boys did but had slightly more negative attitudes toward Blacks. This study also suggests that life in White suburbia may be a bit more difficult for children as they grow older. The older children (adolescents) in this study had significantly more negative attitudes toward their neighborhoods and toward Blacks. These two findings, which must be interpreted cautiously because of the limitations of this study, merit further study and investigation. Many of the findings of this exploratory study are consistent with those of other researchers. However, the findings must be interpreted with caution because of the sample size (N ⫽ 98), the nonrandom selection of the subjects, and because the study was conducted in only one geographic region. However, the design enabled us to study a population that is extremely difficult to identify and convince to participate in social research. While this study has limitations, it raises important questions about the relationship between race, social-class, and socio-cultural environment and provides fruitful hypotheses that merit further study by researchers.

Note 1

This chapter describes findings from a larger study of Black families in predominantly White suburbs. I wish to thank the Rockefeller Foundation for supporting the research study described in this chapter through its Research Fellowship Program, the families who participated, Cherry McGee Banks for help with the procedures, and Percy D. Peckham for help with the data analysis. Additional details of the methods, procedures, instruments, and findings of this study can be found in Banks (1982, 1984a, 1984b).

50 Black studies, history teaching, and research

References Banks, J. A. (1976). The Emerging stages of ethnicity: implications for staff development. Educational leadership, 34, 190–193. Banks, J. A. (1981). Multiethnic education: Theory and practice. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Banks, J. A. (1982). A study of Black suburban youths: implications of the major findings for the stages of ethnicity typology. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, March 19–23. ERIC Document Number: ED 226–095. Banks, J. A. (1984a). Black youths in predominantly White suburbs: an exploratory study of their attitudes and self-concepts. Journal of Negro Education, 53, 3–17. Banks, J. A. (1984b). An exploratory study of assimilation, pluralism, and marginality: Black families in predominantly White suburbs. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, April 23–27. ERIC Document Number: ED 247–157. Banks, W. C., Ward, W. E., McQuater, G. V., and DeBritto, A. M. (1991). Are Blacks external: on the status of locus of control in Black populations. In R. L. Jones (Ed.). Black psychology (Third Edition). Richmond, CA: Cobb & Henry. Blumberg, L., and Lalli, M. (1966). Little ghettos: a study of Negroes in the suburbs. Phylon, 27, 117–131. Brookover, W. B., Paterson, A. and Thomas, S. (1962). Self-concept of ability and school achievement (USOE Cooperative Research Report, Project No. 845). East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University. Carlson, E. (October 20, 1981). Blacks increasingly head to suburbs. The Wall Street Journal, Section 2, 25. Clark, T. A. (1979). Blacks in suburbs: a national perspective. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Center for Urban Policy Research. Cloud, O. M. (1980). Blacks moving to suburban apartments: changes in formerly all-White areas aid school desegregation. Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, Staff Report 80–6. 32 pp. Connolly, H. X. (1979). Black movement in the suburbs: suburbs doubling their Black populations during the 1960’s. Urban Affairs Quarterly, 14, 91–111. Cross, W., Parham, T., and Helms, J. (1991). Nigrescence: a literature review. In R. L. Jones (Ed.). Black psychology (Third Edition). Richmond, CA: Cobb & Henry. Downs, A. (1973). Opening up the suburbs: an urban strategy for America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Farley, R. (1970). The changing distribution of Negroes within metropolitan areas: the emergence of Black suburbs. American Journal of Sociology, 75, 512–529. Ford, M. (1979). The development of an instrument for assessing levels of ethnicity in public school teachers. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Houston, 1979. Frey, W. H. (1978). Black movement to the suburbs: potentials and prospects. In F. D. Bean and W. P. Frisbie (Eds), The demography of racial and ethnic groups. New York, Academic Press, pp. 78–117. Jones, L. N. (1982). The Black churches in historical perspectives. The crisis: a Record of the Darker Races, 89, 6–10. Katzman, M. T. (1983). The flight of Blacks from central-city public schools. Urban Education, 18, 259–283. Ladner, J. A. (Ed.), (1973). The death of White sociology. New York: Vintage. Lake, R. W. (1981). The new suburbanites: race and housing in the suburbs. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Center for Urban Policy Research. Marshall, H. H. and Stahura, J. M. (1979). Determinants of Black suburbanization: regional and suburban size category patterns. The Sociological Quarterly, 20, 237–253 Northwood, L. K. and Barth, E. A. T. (1965). Urban desegregation: Negro pioneers and their White neighbors. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. Nowicki, S., Jr and Strickland, B. R. (1973). A locus of control scale for children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 40, 148–154. Pettigrew, T. F. (1973). Attitudes on race and housing: a socio-psychological view. In H. Hawley and V. P. Rock, (Eds), Segregation in residential areas. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, pp. 21–84.

Black youth in White suburbs 51 Rabinovitz, F. F. (1975) Minorities in suburbs: the Los Angeles experience. Joint Center of Urban Studies of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Working paper No. 31. Randolph, H. (1970). The Black suburbanite and his schools. An interim report on a study of the impact of Black suburbanization on the school system. New York: Center for Urban Education, 93 pp. Rose, H. M. (1976). Black suburbanization: access to improved quality of life or maintenance of the status quo? Cambridge: Ballinger Publishing Co. Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Stephen, W. G. and Rosenfield, D. (1979). Black self-rejection: another look. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 708–816. Taylor, J. (1998). Cultural conversion experiences: implications for mental health research and treatment. In R. L. Jones (Editor). African American identity Development: Advances in Black psychology. Richmond, CA: Cobb & Henry, pp. 85–95. Williams, J. E. and Morland, K. (1976). Race, color and the young child. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Willie, C. V. (1974). The Black family and social class. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 44, 50–60. Wilson, W. J. (1978). The declining significance of race: Blacks and changing American institutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Zschock, D. K. (1971). Black youth in suburbia. Urban Affairs Quarterly, 7, 61–74.

PART 2

TEACHING ETHNIC STUDIES

CHAPTER 6

TEACHING FOR ETHNIC LITERACY A comparative approach Social Education, 1973, 37, 738–750

Beyond the melting pot: ethnicity in American society When The Melting Pot, a play written by the English Jewish author Israel Zangwill, was staged in New York City in 1908, it became an overwhelming success. The great ambition of the play’s composer-protagonist, David Quixano, was to create an American symphony that would personify his deep conviction that his adopted land was a nation in which all ethnic differences would amalgamate and a novel person would emerge from this new ethnic synthesis. The play, considered an inferior one by drama critics, was eagerly embraced by Americans because it embodied an ideology that was pervasive in the United States at the turn of the century. However, even when the play was first performed there were salient indications, even if Americans preferred to ignore them, that ethnic communities and cultures were deeply interwoven into the American social fabric, and that the theme portrayed in Zangwill’s play did not accurately reflect the status of ethnicity in America. The protagonist completes his symphony by the play’s end. “Individuals, in very considerable numbers to be sure, broke out of their mold, but the groups remained. The experience of Zangwill’s hero and heroine was not general. The point about the melting pot is that it did not happen.”1 Despite the blatant inconsistencies between the play’s theme and American social reality, Americans held tenaciously to the idea that ethnic cultures would vanish in the United States. However, as reality boldly confronted the melting pot ideology, many Americans began to embrace it less enthusiastically. It was an idea close to the heart of the American self-image. But as a century passed, and the number of individuals and nations involved grew, the confidence that they could be fused waned, and also the conviction that it would be a good thing if they were to be.2 It is significant that later in his life, Zangwill was very much the antithesis of the melting pot prototype. “He was a Zionist. He gave more and more of his energy to this cause as time passed, and retreated from his earlier position on racial and religious mixture.”3 Despite the facts that the architect of the melting pot concept later reversed his earlier position, and that ethnic cultures are endemic in the American social order,

56 Teaching ethnic studies today many Americans still believe that ethnic groups should and will eventually abandon their unique cultural components and acquire those of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Contemporary melting pot advocates, unlike David Quixano, rarely envision a true cultural synthesis but rather a domination of Anglo-Saxon culture traits in America. A classical example in the 1960’s were the educators who formulated compensatory education programs. One of the major goals of these programs was to acculturate Afro-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and other lower-class ethnic minority groups so that they would be colored AngloSaxons. That these programs were largely a failure is due in no small part to the lack of respect and recognition which their architects gave to the importance of ethnicity in their formulation of programs for minority groups. Social science specialists in ethnic relations have abundantly documented the fact that ethnicity and ethnic cultures are integral parts of our social system and that these aspects of American life are exceedingly resistant to change or eradication.4 As Glazer and Moynihan have perceptively stated “[ethnicity] is fixed deep in American life generally; the specific pattern of ethnic differentiation, however, in every generation is created by specific events.”5 (Emphasis added.) In recent years, we witnessed a number of events which reinforced and intensified ethnic identification and allegiance. During the Ocean Hill–Brownsville controversy in the New York Public Schools in 1968, Blacks and Jews formed antagonistic coalitions. Most members of these two ethnic groups interpreted the event in ethnic terms because the majority of teachers in the city schools were Jewish and most of the students involved in the controversy were Afro-American. Ethnicity also strongly influences American politics. When John F. Kennedy was a presidential candidate in 1960, Catholics throughout America went to the polls and supported him overwhelmingly partly because he was Catholic. A large percentage of the public officials in Chicago are Irish-Catholic because of the number of IrishCatholics in that city who vote or sanction political appointments. Politicians take advantage of their ethnic names when they are campaigning for political office in predominantly ethnic neighborhoods. When Edmund S. Muskie made an aborted attempt to become the Democratic presidential candidate in 1972, he emphasized his feelings of ethnic kinship when soliciting support in Polish-American communities. The overwhelming Black vote was largely responsible for the election of Black mayors in Gary, Indiana; Cleveland, Ohio; and Newark, New Jersey in the 1960s. Politics is only one significant area in American life in which ethnicity looms large. While many upwardly mobile members of other ethnic groups acquire Anglo-Saxon culture traits, they tend to confine their primary social relationships to their ethnic communities.6 The reasons why this is the case are highly complex. Institutional racism and discrimination have been major factors, especially in the cases of ethnic minorities. However, some ethnic group members prefer to socialize with members of their own groups even when they have other options. Historically, this has been to some extent true of European immigrants. However, prejudice and discrimination often have also limited their social options. Nevertheless, especially in recent years with the emergence of ethnic pride among minorities, many of their most vocal spokesmen frequently express a desire to limit many of their primary social contacts to members of their ethnic groups. This is true for many of the more militant spokesmen among Afro-Americans, Chicanos, Asian-Americans, Puerto Rican-Americans, and Native Americans. Participation in close social relationships and marriage are two areas in which ethnic divisions and cleavages are steep in American society. Jewish-Americans usually many other Jews.7 Blacks most often marry Blacks, and Catholics usually

Teaching for ethnic literacy 57 marry Catholics. To some extent a kind of pan-Catholicism has developed in America since the various ethnic groups which are predominantly Catholic, such as Italian-Americans, Polish-Americans, and Slovak-Americans, often intermarry. However, Spanish-speaking Americans, who are also predominantly Catholic, rarely intermarry or participate in the primary social groups with Catholics of European descent. Thus, Catholic society, too, has extreme ethnic divisions, despite the fact that some degree of pan-Catholicism has emerged.8 Since the Black Revolt of the 1960s, we have witnessed an intensified movement among ethnic minority groups to glorify their ancient pasts and to develop ethnic pride within group members. Especially among the intellectuals and social activists within these groups, there has emerged a tremendous interest in ethnic foods, history, values, and other unique cultural components. A greater sense of what Gordon calls a sense of peoplehood has also developed within these groups.9 The small Black middle class, pejoratively dubbed the “Black bourgeoisie” by the late sociologist E. Franklin Frazier, partly because he felt that they despised the Black lower classes,10 has developed a great deal of interest in their more humble Kin in recent years. These groups are now undergoing a process which Sizemore has conceptualized as Nationalism.11 Whenever an ethnic group intensifies its search for identity and tries to build group cohesion and solidarity, some degree of ethnocentrism and rejection of “out groups” emerges. In a perceptive and seminal historical and sociological analysis, Sizemore documents how European ethnic groups also experienced this stage at various points in American history. [This] stage is the nationalist stage, in which the excluded group intensifies its cohesion by building a religio-cultural community of beliefs around its creation, history and development. The history, religion, and philosophy of the nation from which the group comes dictate the rites, rituals and ceremonies utilized in the proselytization of the old nationalism. Because of rejection by White Anglo-Saxon Protestants and the ensuing exclusion from full participation in the social order, the excluded group embraces its former or future nation. For the Irish-Catholics, it becomes Ireland; for the Polish Catholics it is Poland; and for the Jews it is Zion-Israel. The intense nationalistic involvement increases separatism.12 During this stage, ethnic groups also reject “out-groups,” and “projects its negative identities toward other groups.”13 Ethnicity, then, is an integral and salient part of the American social order. A sophisticated understanding of our society cannot be grasped unless the separate ethnic communities (which exist regionally as well as socially) that constitute American society are seriously analyzed from the perspectives of the various social sciences and the humanities. To treat ethnicity in America like the “Invisible Man,” or to contend that ethnic groups in the United States have “melted” into one, is both intellectually indefensible and will result in a gross misinterpretation of the nature of American life. It is also insufficient to conceptualize ethnicity in America only in terms of ethnic minority groups. While these groups, because of institutional racism and discrimination, are the most socially and regionally isolated, and physically identifiable groups in America, ethnic divisions also exist among Americans of European origin. Irish-Catholics rarely marry Jewish-Americans, and many first generation Greek-Americans would find it difficult to accept their daughter’s marriage to

58 Teaching ethnic studies a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. It is true, especially among later generation White ethnic groups, that intermarriage and social mixture often occur. However, Polish-Americans, Greek-Americans, Italian-Americans, and White Anglo-Saxons culture groups still confine many of their intimate social relations to their own ethnic group and have a strong sense of ethnic identification. The prophecy that these ethnic cleavages would disappear has been made throughout American history. However, ethnic enclaves continue to exist partly because events evoke them anew in each generation. Because ethnicity is a salient part of our social system, it is essential that students master the facts, concepts, generalizations, and theories which they need to understand and interpret events which are related to intergroup and intragroup interactions and tensions. We need to help students to become more ethnically literate and consequently more tolerant of cultural differences.

Recent trends in ethnic studies In recent years, educators have begun to realize the importance of ethnicity in American society and the need to help students to develop more sophisticated understandings of the diverse ethnic groups which make up America, and a greater tolerance and acceptance of cultural differences. Responding largely to student demands and community pressure groups, educational institutions at all levels have made some attempts to put more information about ethnic groups into the social studies, language arts, and humanities curricula. The pressure to implement ethnic studies programs has come largely from America’s oppressed ethnic minority groups, such as Afro-Americans, MexicanAmericans, Native Americans (Indians), and Puerto Rican-Americans. Because these groups have taken the lead in pushing for ethnic studies programs (White ethnics are increasingly making similar demands), educators have created ethnic studies programs largely in response to their demands and needs as they perceived them. Consequently, ethnic studies has been conceptualized rather narrowly. Most of the programs which have been devised and implemented are parochial in scope, fragmented, and were structured without careful planning and clear rationales. Typically, school ethnic studies programs focus on one specific ethnic group, such as Afro-Americans, Native Americans, or Mexican-Americans. The ethnic group upon which the program focuses is either present or dominant in the local school population. A school district which has a large Puerto Rican population is likely to have a program in Puerto Rican Studies but not one which teaches about the problems and sociological characteristics of other ethnic groups. The results of these kinds of narrowly conceptualized programs, even though the information which they teach students is essential, are that they rarely help students to develop scientific generalizations and concepts about the characteristics which ethnic groups have in common, the unique status of each ethnic group, and to understand why ethnicity is an integral part of our social system. Ethnic studies must be conceptualized more broadly, and ethnic studies programs should include information about all of America’s diverse ethnic groups to enable students to develop valid comparative generalizations and to fully grasp the complexity of ethnicity in American society.

An expanded definition of ethnicity The fragmentation in ethnic studies programs has resulted largely from the ways in which ethnicity and ethnic groups in America have been defined by curriculum

Teaching for ethnic literacy 59 specialists. Usually when a curriculum committee is formed to create an ethnic studies guide, the group does not deal with ethnicity in a broad sociological sense, but rather limits its conceptualization of an ethnic group to an ethnic minority group and often to one specific group. We need to formulate a more meaningful and inclusive definition of an ethnic group in order to create more intellectually defensible ethnic studies programs. What is an ethnic group? Individuals who constitute an ethnic group share a sense of group identification, a common set of values, behavior patterns, and other culture elements which differ from those of other groups within a society. Writes Rose: Groups whose members share a unique social and cultural heritage passed on from one generation to the next are known as ethnic groups. Ethnic groups are frequently identified by distinctive patterns of family life, language, recreation, religion, and other customs which cause them to be differentiated from others. Above all else, members of such groups feel a sense of identity and an “interdependence of fate” with those who share the customs of the ethnic tradition.14 [Emphasis added.] If we accept these definitions of an ethnic group, as do sociologists who specialize in ethnic relations, then all Americans are members of an ethnic group, since each of us belongs to a group which shares a sense of peoplehood, behavior patterns, and culture traits which differ from those of other groups. Not only are Greek-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Italian-Americans, and Polish-Americans members of ethnic groups, but those individuals who are descendants of the earliest European immigrants to America also belong to an ethnic group. Members of this group make up our largest ethnic group: White AngloSaxon Protestants. We often do not think of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants as members of an ethnic group because they constitute our largest ethnic group. However, because a group which shares a common culture and a sense of group identification is a majority within a society does not mean that it is not an ethnic group. Writes Anderson, “white Protestants, like other Americans, are as much members of an ethnic group as anyone else, however privileged the majority of them might be.”15 In my most recent work I conceptualize ethnic studies more generically than is often the case and identify information, materials, and strategies for teaching about White ethnic groups (such as White Anglo-Saxon Protestants and JewishAmericans), as well as the experiences of ethnic minority groups, such as MexicanAmericans, Asian-Americans, and Native Americans. To conceptualize ethnic studies more narrowly will result in curricula programs which are too narrow in scope and which will fail to help students to fully understand both the important similarities and differences in the experiences of the groups which constitute America. An ethnic studies program which omits treatment of the great migrations from Southern and Eastern Europe, that took place an the early 1800s, will not provide students with the perspective needed to grasp the complexity of the Chinese immigrations which began in the late 1800s. There were many similarities in the experiences of these two groups of immigrants, as well as significant differences. Both groups were uprooted, physically and psychologically, and were seeking opportunities in a nation which, in myth if not in fact, offered unlimited social mobility. Both groups experienced shock and alienation in their new country. However, while the Southern and Eastern European immigrants were often the victims of racist ideologies, these never reached the alarming proportions as on the West Coast with the coming of the Chinese sojourners. Also, the

60 Teaching ethnic studies Europeans came to America intending to stay; the Chinese came hoping to earn their fortunes in the promised land and to return to China. The Europeans brought their wives and families, while the Chinese did not. This latter fact profoundly shaped the social development of the Chinese-American community. A vital ethnic studies program should enable students to derive valid generalizations about the characteristics of all of America’s ethnic groups and to learn how they are alike and different, in both their past and present experiences.

Ethnic minority groups While an ethnic group shares a common set of values, behavior patterns and culture traits, and a sense of peoplehood, an ethnic minority group can be distinguished from an ethnic group because it is characterized by several unique attributes. Although an ethnic minority group shares a common culture and a sense of peoplehood, it also has unique physical or cultural characteristics which enable persons who belong to dominant ethnic groups to easily identify its members and thus to treat them in a discriminatory way. This type of group is also a numerical minority and makes up only a small proportion of the population.16 As in most societies, ethnic minority groups in America are victims of racism, stereotypes, and are disproportionately represented in the lower socioeconomic classes and are heavily concentrated in the blighted sections of rural and urban areas. The color of most American ethnic minorities is one of their salient characteristics and is a significant factor which has decisively shaped their experiences in the United States. Any comparisons of European immigrants and America’s nonWhite ethnic minorities which do not deal realistically and seriously with this exceedingly important variable are invidious and misleading. These kinds of comparisons are often found in social science literature. While a Polish-American immigrant can Anglicize his surname, acquire Anglo-Saxon culture traits, and move into almost any White neighborhood without evoking much animosity, no matter how culturally assimilated an Afro-American becomes, his or her skin color remains a social stigma of immense importance to all white ethnic groups. A special comment about color is warranted here. Color attains most of its significance from the perceptions which people have of it rather than from biological realities. Most Puerto Rican-Americans, for example, are Caucasians. However, since about 10 percent of them have Negroid physical characteristics,17 most White Americans consider all Puerto Ricans “non-White,” and consequently treat them just as they treat other colored Americans, such as Chinese-Americans, Samoan-Americans, Filipino-Americans, and Korean-Americans. Thus, to be socially defined as colored does not necessarily mean that an individual’s skin color is “non-White.” Individuals acquire their color status in the United States from their group identification and not necessarily from the color of their skin (although some light-skinned ethnic minorities “pass” as White). Many AfroAmericans are genetically and in physical appearance quite Caucasoid. However, any persons with any degree of known African descent, regardless of their physical appearance or genotype, is socially defined as Black.

Ethnic studies and ethnic minorities: recent developments In the 1950s, a vigorous protest movement, known as the “Black Revolt,” emerged within Black communities and culminated in the late 1960s. Black

Teaching for ethnic literacy 61 Americans fought an unprecedented battle to achieve social and economic equality during this period. By using such tactics as sit-ins, freedom rides, and boycotts, they succeeded in eliminating legal discrimination in interstate transportation, voting, and in public accommodation facilities. As the Black Revolt progressed, Black people tried to shape a new identity and to shatter old and pervasive stereotypes about their culture and the contributions which Afro-Americans have made to American life. Written history is an important factor which influences both how a group sees itself and how others view it. Keenly aware of this fact, Afro-Americans demanded that school history books be rewritten so that their role in shaping our nation’s destiny would be more favorably and realistically portrayed. Civil rights groups, such as the National Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, pressured educators to ban schoolbooks which they considered racist and to buy books which accurately depicted the experience of African people in the United States. As the pressure on school districts mounted, they encouraged publishers to include more information about Afro-Americans in schoolbooks. As the ruckus created by the demand for Afro-American studies intensified and spread, other ethnic minority groups initiated protest movements which had as one of their main goals the implementation of ethnic studies school programs which reflected their cultures. Mexican-Americans, Native Americans, AsianAmericans, and Puerto Rican-Americans argued that their histories had been written primarily from a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant point of view, which often described them insensitively, perpetuated stereotypes, or completely omitted discussion of them. A number of special publications, some of which were sponsored by civil rights organizations and others by state departments of education, documented the validity of the claims made by these groups.18 The response to the demands for new instructional materials and programs by ethnic minorities, other than Afro-Americans, has varied widely. Factors influencing the kinds of responses which school districts and publishers have made to their demands include their proportion within a local school population, the intensity with which the demands have been made, and the ethnic sensitivity of local educators. The responses by publishers have been determined primarily by economic factors; that is, whether they felt that including more information about a particular minority group would increase book sales. School districts and publishers have responded more to the demands for Black Studies programs and materials than to demands by other ethnic minority groups. This is primarily because Black demands have been more intensive and consistent, and Blacks constitute our largest ethnic minority. However, in some regions and school districts, such as in the Southwest and parts of the West, other ethnic minorities, such as Chicanos and Asian-Americans, exceed the number of AfroAmericans in the school population. In these districts educators have been more sensitive to the need for programs which deal with other minorities.

Criteria for selecting ethnic minority content The dominant trend, however, is for educators to implement ethnic studies programs in schools and districts which have a high proportion of ethnic minority students, and for the ethnic studies programs within a school or district to focus only or primarily on the minority group which is either dominant or present within the school or district. Most ethnic studies programs have been formulated on the

62 Teaching ethnic studies tenuous assumptions that ethnic content is needed primarily by ethnic minorities and that a particular ethnic studies program should focus on the problems and contributions of the particular minority group found in the local school or district. These assumptions, while widespread, are myopic and intellectually indefensible, and relegate ethnic minority studies to an inferior status in the school curriculum. When the author often asks educators in various regions of the nation about the kinds of ethnic studies programs which they have implemented, they often respond by saying that there are no Blacks in their schools and thus no need for an ethnic studies program. When other teachers are asked whether they include content about Puerto Rican-Americans or Asian-Americans in their ethnic studies programs, they often say, “No, because we have no Puerto Ricans or Asian students in our schools.” However, they often hastily add that they have Black studies units in the fifth and eighth grades because there are a large number of Black students in their schools. Perhaps unknowingly, educators who feel that ethnic minority content should only be studied by ethnic minorities, and that minorities only need to study content about their own cultures, have a condescending attitude toward ethnic minority studies and do not consider the ethnic minority experiences to be a significant part of American life. At several points in their schooling, all American students learn something about classical Rome and Greece, Medieval Europe, and the Italian Renaissance. Information about these cultures is included in the curriculum because most teachers believe that they have profoundly influenced Western culture and that a sophisticated understanding of them is necessary to interpret American society. The criterion used to determine whether these cultures should be taught is not whether there are students in the class who are descendants of ancient Rome and Greece, of Italy or Medieval Europe. Such a criterion would not be intellectually sound. For the same reasons, it should not be used to select content about other cultures, such as the minority cultures in America. The criterion used to identify content for inclusion into the curriculum should be the same for all topics, cultures, and groups; that is, whether the content will enable students to develop valid generalizations and concepts about their social world and the skills and abilities to influence public policy. To use one criterion to select content about European cultures and another to select ethnic minority content is discriminatory and intellectually indefensible.

Who needs ethnic studies? Afro-American students, whether they live in New York City or in the Watts district of Los Angeles, as well as White students, regardless of their ethnicity or geographical region, need to seriously study all ethnic minority cultures because they are an integral part of American life. They should study about the Puerto Rican cultures found primarily in New York City but also in Chicago and other regions of the United States. To fully understand American society, Jewish students in the suburbs of New York City should be exposed to information about Japanese-Americans and the dehumanizing and shocking experience which they endured in the so-called “relocation” camps during the Second World War and about the 75,000 Mexicans who suddenly became a minority in the United States when this nation annexed a large chunk of Mexico’s land in 1848 in the fateful Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Indian students should study their history in this nation from a Native American perspective. However, if they learn that during the 1800s many White

Teaching for ethnic literacy 63 Southern and Eastern European immigrants in America also inhabited ghettos which contemporary social scientists said resulted from their inferior genetic nature (similar arguments are made about ethnic minorities today by such social scientists as Banfield, Jensen, and Shockley),19 they will understand that their present situation in America does bear some similarities to the histories of other American groups. This kind of knowledge will help students to gain needed perspective and to better understand, but not necessarily accept, their own social situations. By arguing that students need to study both their own and other cultures in order to fully comprehend American society, I am not suggesting that students who are members of specific minority groups should never study their cultures in specialized courses or that such specialized knowledge is not vitally important, especially for oppressed minority students who have been denied the opportunity to learn about the problems and contributions of their peoples. I am not suggesting, for example, that Indian children, who often know little about their cultures, except myths invented and perpetuated by White social scientists, should not gain knowledge about their groups prior to studying other peoples and cultures. However, I am strongly arguing that knowledge only about one’s own ethnic group is insufficient to help students to attain a liberating education and fully grasp the complexity of the experience of their own ethnic group or the total human experience. A Chinese-American student who only studies the sociology of the American-Chinese ghetto may conclude that the urban ghetto is a ChineseAmerican invention. However, he will be better able to make valid generalizations about the formation of ghettos if he or she studies White immigrants in the 1800s and the contemporary urban experiences of Afro-Americans, Puerto RicanAmericans, Indians, and lower-class Whites, many of whom still live their entire lives within ethnic enclaves in cities such as New York and Chicago.

The value of ethnic content Ethnic content is needed by all students to help them to understand themselves and the social world in which they live. When studied from an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective, it can help students to broaden their understanding and concept of what it means to be human and enable them to better understand their own cultures and lifestyles. Students should be helped to discover that while an individual is born with the physical capacities to become human, an individual becomes human only by learning the culture of a specific ethnic group. During their study of ethnic cultures, students can learn that while human beings have many of the same basic needs, such as love, protection, and security, different cultures within our society have devised a great variety of means to satisfy them. The religious ceremonies of the Orthodox Jew, Black soul food and spirituals, and Mexican-American literature can illustrate the wide range of culture elements within our society. When students study ethnic content, they will be more likely to consider ethnic minority persons humans and develop a more sophisticated understanding of their own lifestyles. As Kluckhohn, the perceptive anthropologist, wrote, “Studying [other cultures] enables us to see ourselves better. Ordinarily we are unaware of the specialized lens through which we look at life . . . Anthropology holds up a great mirror to man and lets him look at himself in his infinite variety.”20 To help students develop what I call ethnic literacy, and to grasp the significance of ethnicity within American life, ethnic studies must focus on higher-level concepts and generalizations, and not on discrete facts about isolated heroes and

64 Teaching ethnic studies contributions. While facts are necessary to help students to acquire higher levels of knowledge, their mastery should not be the ultimate goal of instruction. Rather, facts should be used only as a means to teach major concepts and generalizations.

Planning instruction When planning ethnic studies curricula and units which have a comparative approach and focus, the teacher or curriculum committee should start by identifying key concepts within the social science disciplines which are related to ethnic content. These concepts should be higher-level ones which can encompass numerous facts and lower-level concepts and generalizations. They should have the power to organize a great deal of information and the potential to explain significant aspects of the ethnic experience. Each social science discipline contains concepts with these characteristics. Table 6.1 contains a list of these types of concepts and their related disciplines which a teacher or curriculum committee can use to

Table 6.1. Organizing concepts for ethnic studies curricula Discipline

Key concepts

Discipline

Key concepts

Anthropology

Culture Culture diversity Acculturation Forced acculturation Cultural assimilation Race Racial mixture Sub-culture Syncretism Melting pot Cultural genocide Ethnocentrism Scarcity Poverty Production Consumption Capitalism Economic exploitation Ethnic enclave Region Ghetto Inner-city Location Immigration Migration Change

Political science

Power Powerless Separatism Oppression Social protest Interest group Legitimacy Authority Power elite Colony Colonized Rebellion

Psychology

Identity Aggression Repression Displacement

Economics

Geography

Historya

Sociology

Discrimination Ethnic group Ethnic minority group Prejudice Racism Socialization Status Values

Note a Identifying organizing historical concepts is especially difficult because history does not possess unique concepts but uses concepts from all social science disciplines to study human behavior in the past. For a further discussion of this point see James A. Banks. “Teaching Black History with a Focus on Decision-Making,” Social Education, vol. 35 (November 1971), pp. 740–745, 820–821.

Teaching for ethnic literacy 65 organize ethnic studies units or to incorporate ethnic content into the regular social studies program. In studying this list of concepts, the reader will note that some of them, such as separatism and forced acculturation, are clearly interdisciplinary concepts since the perspectives of several disciplines are needed to fully understand them. I have categorized the concepts according to which discipline has made maximum use of them. While the concept of separatism is sociological as well as political, political scientists have contributed most to our understanding of this major idea. However, all social scientists use concepts from other disciplines. Rather than being a disadvantage to the teacher, the fact that many concepts which will help students to understand ethnic studies are interdisciplinary is a plus factor because the teacher should always try to help students to view human events from the perspectives of several disciplines. After a teacher or a curriculum committee has selected key concepts from each of the disciplines, at least one organizing generalization related to each of the concepts chosen should be identified. Each organizing generalization should be a highorder statement which can help to explain human behavior in all cultures, times, and places. It should not contain references to any particular culture or group and should be a universal-type statement which is capable of empirical verification. A curriculum committee might select immigration–migration as an organizing or key concept (these two concepts are combined here because they are highly related) and choose this statement as the related key generalization: In all cultures individuals and groups have moved to different regions and within various regions in order to seek better economic, political, and social opportunities. Movement of individuals and groups has been both voluntary and forced. [Universal Type Generalization]. After a universal-type generalization is identified, an intermediate-level generalization which relates to the higher-order statement should be formulated. In our example, this statement might be: Most individuals and groups who have immigrated to the United States and who have migrated within it were seeking better economic, political, and social opportunities. Movement of individuals and groups to and within the United States has been both voluntary and forced. [Intermediate-Level Generalization]. When intermediate-level generalizations have been identified for each major concept, a lower-level generalization related to each of America’s major ethnic groups should be stated. Identifying a lower-level generalization for each major ethnic group will assure that all groups will be included in the teaching units which will later be structured. These ethnic groups should be included in comparative ethnic studies units: Native Americans (Indians) Mexican-Americans (Chicanos) White Ethnic Groups (including White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) Afro-Americans Asian-Americans (including Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, FilipinoAmericans, Korean-Americans, and Samoan-Americans) Puerto-Rican Americans

66 Teaching ethnic studies Below are lower-level generalizations related to the key concept in our example for each of the major ethnic groups: Native Americans: Most movement of Native Americans within the United States was caused by forced migration and genocide. Mexican-Americans: Mexicans who immigrated to the United States came primarily to improve their economic condition by working as migrant laborers in the West and Southwest. White Ethnic Groups: Southern and Eastern Europeans who immigrated to the United States came to avoid religious and political repression and to improve their economic conditions. Afro-Americans: Blacks migrated to Northern and Western cities in the early 1900s to escape lynchings and economic and political oppression in the South. Asian-Americans: Many Asian-Americans who came to the United States expected to improve their economic conditions and to return to Asia. During the Second World War, Japanese-Americans were forced to move to federal concentration camps. Puerto Rican-Americans: Puerto Ricans usually come to the United States Mainland seeking better jobs; they often return to the Island of Puerto Rico because of American racism and personal disillusionment experienced in the Mainland.

Teaching strategies and materials When lower-level generalizations are identified for each ethnic group, the curriculum planner has solved the major conceptual problems in structuring an interdisciplinary program in comparative ethnic studies. However, several important steps remain. Teaching strategies and materials must be identified to teach each of the lower-level generalizations. A wide variety of teaching strategies, content, and materials can be used to teach the experiences of America’s ethnic groups. The generalization about Native Americans can be effectively taught by using content related to the forced westward migration of the Cherokee which occurred during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson. This poignant migration is often called “The Trail of Tears.” When teaching about Puerto Rican migrants, the only group currently migrating to the United States in significant numbers, the teacher can use such excellent books as Elena Padilla’s Up From Puerto Rico, and Juan Angel Silen’s We, the Puerto Rican People. Oscar Handlin’s compassionate and sensitive book, The Uprooted, will give students a useful overview of the frustrations and problems encountered by the Southern and Eastern European immigrants to the United States. It is beyond the scope of this chapter to delineate strategies and materials for teaching comparative ethnic studies units. I have presented my ideas regarding these aspects of a conceptual social studies curriculum elsewhere.21 The short bibliography at the end of this chapter will help the teacher to identify the necessary content for teaching ethnic studies using the approach set forth in this chapter.

The challenge It is imperative that we take decisive steps to help students to develop ethnic literacy and a better understanding of ethnicity within America in these racially troubled times. Intergroup conflict poses a serious threat to our nation and the

Teaching for ethnic literacy 67 ideals of American democracy. Blatant racism, which was harshly condemned by influential commission reports in the 1960s, raised its ugly head unabashedly in the 1970s, and became a powerful political weapon that was used advantageously by both political demagogues and America’s most esteemed political leaders. Implementing sound, comparative ethnic studies programs will be an exceedingly difficult task. Such programs will be vehemently resisted by diverse pressure groups which are staunch enemies of those who advocate a culturally pluralistic curriculum and society. These types of groups are vigorously escalating their activities and attacks on teachers throughout the nation. Their growth has been greatly facilitated by the ominous political climate which now pervades the United States. However, these groups must be adamantly resisted by teachers with vision, courage, and commitment. The challenge is herculean. The odds are against us. The hour is late. However, what is at stake is priceless: the liberation of the hearts and minds of all American youth. Thus, we must, like Don Quixote, dream the impossible dream, reach for the unreachable star, and act decisively to right the unrightable wrong.

Notes 1 Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan, Beyond The Melting Pot: The Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians and Irish of New York City (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1970), p. 290. 2 Ibid., pp. 288–289. 3 Ibid., p. 290. 4 This proposition is thoroughly documented in Milton M. Gordon, Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964), and in Glazer and Moynihan, Beyond the Melting Pot. 5 Glazer and Moynihan, Beyond the Melting Pot, p. 291. 6 Gordon, Assimilation in American Life, pp. 51–59. 7 The recent National Jewish Population Study conducted by the Council of Jewish Federation and Welfare Funds indicates that 69 percent of the Jews who married between 1966 and 1971 married other Jews. Thirty-one percent married gentiles. These figures show that while Jews now marry out of their ethnic group more often than in the past, the majority still marry other Jews. See Dorothy Rabinowitz, “The Trouble with Jewish-Gentile Marriages,” New York, vol. 6, no. 34 (August 20, 1973), p. 26. 8 Ibid., pp. 201–202. 9 Ibid., pp. 28–29. 10 E. Franklin Frazier, Black Bourgeoisie (Glencoe, IL: The Free Press, 1957). 11 Barbara A. Sizemore, “Is There a Case for Separate Schools?” Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 53 (January 1972), p. 282. 12 Ibid., p. 282. 13 Ibid. 14 Peter L. Rose, They and We: Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States (New York: Random House, 1964), p. 11. 15 Charles H. Anderson, White Protestant Americans: From National Origins to Religious Group (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1970), p. xiii. 16 Out of a total of 204 million people in the United States in 1970, there were approximately 22 million Blacks, 5 million Mexican-Americans, 1.5 million Asian-Americans, 900,000 Puerto Rican-Americans, and 792,000 American Indians. The Official Associated Press Almanac 1973 (Chicago, IL: Quadrangle Books, Inc., 1972), pp. 142–143. 17 Glazer and Moynihan, Beyond the Melting Pot, p. xxv. 18 Examples are Michael B. Kane, Minorities in Textbooks: A Study of Their Treatment in Social Studies Textbooks (Chicago, IL: Quadrangle Books, 1970); L. P. Carpenter and Dinah Rank, The Treatment of Minorities: A Survey of Textbooks Used in Missouri High Schools (Jefferson City, NJ: Missouri Commission on Human Rights, 1968); Task

68 Teaching ethnic studies Force To Reëvaluate Social Science Textbooks Grades Five Through Eight, Report and Recommendations (Sacramento, CA: California State Department of Education, 1971). 19 Edward C. Banfield, The Unheavenly City (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1970); Arthur R. Jensen, “How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement,” Harvard Educational Review, vol. 39 (Winter 1969), pp. 1–123; William Shockley, “Dysgenics, Geneticity, Raceology: Challenges to the Intellectual Responsibility of Educators,” Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 53 (January 1972), pp. 297–307. 20 Clyde Kluckhohn, Mirror for Man (Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1965), p. 19. 21 See James A. Banks, Teaching the Black Experience: Methods and Materials (Belmont, CA: Fearon Publishers, 1970); and James A. Banks (with Ambrose A. Clegg, Jr), Teaching Strategies for the Social Studies: Inquiry, Valuing and Decision-Making (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1973).

Recommended readings Afro-Americans James A. Banks, March Toward Freedom: A History of Black Americans (Belmont, CA: Fearon Publishers, 1970). John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans (New York: Vintage Books, 1969). August Meier and Elliot M. Rudwick, From Plantation to Ghetto: An Interpretive History of American Negroes (New York: Hill and Wang, 1966). Benjamin Quarles, The Negro in the Making of America (New York: Collier Books, 1964).

Asian-Americans Harry H. L. Kitano, Japanese-Americans: The Evolution of a Subculture (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969). Bruno Lasker, Filipino Immigration to Continental United States and Hawaii (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1931). H. Brett Melendy, The Oriental Americans (New York: Hippocrene Books, 1972). William Petersen, Japanese Americans (New York: Random House, 1971). Betty L. Sung, The Story of the Chinese in America (New York: Collier Books, 1967).

Chicanos (Mexican-Americans) Rudy Acuña, Occupied America: The Chicano’s Struggle Toward Liberation (San Francisco, CA: Canfield Press, 1972). Rudy Acuña, A Mexican-American Chronicle (New York: American Book Company, 1967). Carey McWilliams, North from Mexico: The Spanish-Speaking People of the United States (New York: Greenwood Press, 1968). Matt S. Meier and Feliciano Rivera, The Chicanos: A History of Mexican Americans (New York: Hill and Wang, 1972). Joan W. Moore (with Alfredo Cuellar), Mexican-Americans (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall, 1970).

Native Americans (Indians) Jack D. Forbes (ed.), The Indian in America’s Past (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1964). Wilbur R. Jacobs, Dispossessing the American Indian (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972). Stan Steiner, The New Indians (New York: Delta, 1968). Olivia Vlahos, New World Beginnings: Indian Cultures in the Americas (New York: Fawcett, 1970).

Teaching for ethnic literacy 69

Puerto Rican-Americans Joseph P. Fitzpatrick, Puerto Rican Americans: The Meaning of Migration to the Mainland (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1971). C. Wright Mills, Clarence Senior, and Rose Goldsen, Puerto Rican Journey (New York: Harper and Row, 1950). Elena Padilla, Up from Puerto Rico (New York: Columbia University Press, 1958). Juan Angel Silen, We, the Puerto Rican People (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1971).

White ethnic groups Charles H. Anderson, White Protestant Americans (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1970). Murray Friedman (ed.), Overcoming Middle Class Rage (New York: Westminster Press, 1962). Sidney Goldstein and Calvin Goldscheider, Jewish Americans: Three Generations in a Jewish Community (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969). John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism 1860–1925 (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1955). Michael Novak, The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics (New York: Macmillan, 1972).

CHAPTER 7

ETHNIC STUDIES AS A PROCESS OF CURRICULUM REFORM* Social Education, 1976, 40, 76–80

There are several widespread assumptions about ethnic studies which have adversely affected the development of ethnic studies programs in the schools. We need to examine and challenge these assumptions and related school practices and to formulate new assumptions and goals for ethnic studies if the ethnic studies movement is going to serve as a catalyst for curriculum reform. The greatest promise of ethnic studies is that it will serve as a vehicle for general curriculum reform. If we merely add ethnic content to the traditional curriculum, which is highly dysfunctional, our efforts to modify the curriculum with ethnic content are likely to lead to a dead end. We must radically change the total school curriculum.

Assumptions about ethnic studies One pervasive assumption embraced by many educators is that ethnic studies deals exclusively with non-White minority groups, such as Asian-Americans, Native Americans, and Afro-Americans. This assumption is widespread within the schools, and school programs often reflect it. In many school ethnic studies programs little or no attention is devoted to the experiences of European-American ethnic groups, such as Jewish-Americans, Polish-Americans, and Italian-Americans. This narrow conceptualization of ethnic studies emerged out of the social forces which gave rise to the ethnic studies movement in the 1960s. To conceptualize ethnic studies exclusively as the study of ethnic minorities is inconsistent with the ways in which ethnicity is defined by sociologists1 and prevents the development of broadly conceptualized comparative approaches to ethnic studies. Comparative approaches to ethnic studies are needed to help students to understand fully the complex role of ethnicity in American life and culture. Conceptualizing ethnic studies exclusively as the study of non-White ethnic groups also promotes a kind of “we–they” attitude among many White students and teachers. Many students think that ethnic studies is the study of “them,” while American studies is the study of “us.” A large number of teachers believe that ethnic studies has no place within an all-White classroom. A related assumption which school people often make about ethnic studies is that only students who are members of a particular ethnic minority group should study that group’s history and culture. School ethnic studies programs frequently focus on one specific ethnic group, such as Puerto Rican-Americans, AfroAmericans, or Native Americans. The ethnic group upon which the program focuses is usually either present or dominant in the local school population.

Ethnic studies as a process of curriculum reform 71 Significantly, specialized ethnic studies courses are almost never found in predominantly White schools and are almost always electives in schools with large non-White populations. The popularity of these courses has waned tremendously within the last several years. In some schools, few Black students are now taking Black Studies courses. Ethnic studies should not be limited to specialized courses such as Black Studies or Mexican-American Studies, but should be an integral part of the entire school curriculum. Ethnic modification of the total school curriculum should be a major goal of curriculum reform and not the creation or addition of courses such as Black Studies or Asian-American Studies. However, these courses should remain as electives as long as ethnic minorities have unique intellectual, psychological, and political needs. All students, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or social class, should study about the cogent role which ethnicity and ethnic conflict have played in shaping the American experience. Most Americans are socialized within ethnic enclaves and are ethnically illiterate. Within their ethnic enclaves people learn primarily about their own cultures and assume that their lifestyles are the legitimate ones and that other cultures are invalid, strange, and different. The school should help students to break out of their ethnic enclaves and to broaden their culture and ethnic perspectives. Students need to learn that there are cultural and ethnic alternatives within our society which they can freely embrace. This should be one of the major goals of multiethnic and multicultural education. Many school people assume that ethnic studies is essentially additive in nature and that we can create valid ethnic studies programs by leaving the present curriculum intact and adding ethnic heroes, such as Martin Luther King, Jr and Geronimo, to the list of Anglo-American heroes who are already studied in most schools. Conceptualizing ethnic studies as essentially additive in nature is problematical for several reasons. While such curriculum reform took place in the turbulent 1960s, in too many classrooms throughout the nation teachers still emphasize the mastery of low-level facts and do not help students to master higher levels of knowledge. Modifying the school curriculum to include ethnic content provides a tremendous opportunity to reexamine the assumptions, purposes, and nature of the curriculum and to formulate a curriculum with new assumptions and goals. Merely adding low-level facts about ethnic content to a curriculum which is already bulging with discrete and isolated facts about White heroes will result in an overkill. Isolated facts about Crispus Attucks do not stimulate the intellect any more than isolated facts about George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. To meaningfully integrate content about ethnic groups into the total school curriculum, we must undertake more drastic and innovative curriculum reform. Adding facts about ethnic heroes and events of questionable historical significance is not sufficient.

Ethnic studies: a process of curriculum reform Ethnic studies should not be an addition to the curriculum, limited to specialized courses, or studied only by ethnic minorities. Rather, ethnic studies should be viewed as a process of curriculum reform that will result in the creation of a new curriculum that is based on new assumptions and new perspectives, and which will help students to gain novel views of the American experience and a new conception of what it means to be American. Since the English immigrants gained control over most economic, social, and political institutions early in our national history, to

72 Teaching ethnic studies Americanize has been interpreted to mean to Anglicize. Especially during the height of nativism in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the English-Americans defined Americanization as Anglicization.2 This notion of Americanization is still widespread within our society and schools today. Thus when we think of American history and American literature, we tend to think of Anglo-American history and literature written by Anglo-American authors.

Reconceptualizing American society Since the assumption that only that which is Anglo-American is American is so deeply ingrained in curriculum materials and in the hearts and minds of many students and teachers, we cannot significantly change the curriculum by merely adding a unit or a lesson here and there about Afro-American, Jewish-American, or Italian-American history. Rather, we need to seriously examine the conception of American that is perpetuated in the curriculum and the basic purposes and assumptions of the curriculum. It is imperative that we totally reconceptualize the ways in which we view American society and history in the school curriculum. We should teach American history from diverse ethnic perspectives rather than primarily or exclusively from the points of view of Anglo-American historians and writers. Most American history courses are currently taught primarily from an Anglo-American perspective. These types of courses and experiences are based on what I call the AngloAmerican Centric Model or Model A (Figure 7.1). Ethnic studies, as a process of curriculum reform, can and often does proceed from Model A to Model B, the Ethnic Additive Model. In courses and experiences based on Model B, ethnic content is an additive to the major curriculum thrust, which remains Anglo-American dominated. Many school districts that have attempted ethnic modification of the curriculum have implemented Model B types of curriculum changes. Black Studies courses, Chicano Studies courses, and special units on ethnic groups in the elementary grades are examples of Model B types of curricular experiences. However, I am suggesting that curriculum reform proceed directly from Model A to Model C, the Multiethnic Model. In courses and experiences based on Model C, the students study historical and social events from several ethnic points of view. Anglo-American perspectives are only one group of several and are in no way superior or inferior to other ethnic perspectives. I view Model D (the Multinational Model) types of courses and programs as the ultimate goal of curriculum reform. In this curriculum model, students study historical and social events from multinational perspectives and points of view. Since we live in a global society, students need to learn how to become effective citizens of the world community. This is unlikely to happen if they study historical and contemporary social events only or primarily from the perspectives of ethnic cultures within this nation.

Teaching multiethnic perspectives When studying a historical period, such as the Colonial period, in a course organized on the Multiethnic Model (Model C), the inquiry would not end when the students viewed the period from the perspectives of Anglo-American historians and writers. Rather, they would ponder these kinds of questions: why did AngloAmerican historians name the English immigrants “Colonists” and other nationality groups “immigrants”? How do Native American historians view the Colonial period? Do their views of the period differ in any substantial ways from the views

Puerto Rican American

Native American

Model C

Puerto Rican American

Multiethnic model

Anglo-American

Asian American

Afro-American

Jewish American

Native American

Social or historical event

Mexican American

Model D

Asian nations

European nations

African nations

North American nations

Multinational model

Australia

Social or Historical Event

South American nations

Notes Ethnic studies is conceptualized as a process of curriculum reform which can lead from a total Anglo-American perspective on our history and culture (Model A) to multiethnic perspectives as additives to the major curriculum thrust (Model B), to a completely multiethnic curriculum in which every historical and social event is viewed from the perspectives of different ethnic groups (Model C). In Model C the Anglo-American perspective is only one of several and is in no way superior or inferior to other ethnic perspectives. Model D, which is multinational, is the ultimate curriculum goal. In this curriculum model, students study historical and social events from multinational perspectives and points of view. Many schools that have attempted ethnic modification of the curriculum have implemented Model B types of programs. It is suggested here that curriculum reform move directly from Model A to Model C and ultimately to Model D. However, in those districts which have Model B types of programs, it is suggested that they move from Model B to Model C and eventually to Model D types of curricular organizations.

Figure 7.1 Ethnic studies as a process of curriculum change.

Model B

Ethnic additive model

Mexican American

AngloAmerican perspective

Model A

Asian American

Anglo-American centric model

AngloAmerican perspective

Jewish American

Afro-American

74 Teaching ethnic studies of Anglo-American historians? Why or why not? What was life like for Jews, Blacks, and other ethnic groups in America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries? How do we know? In other words, in courses and programs organized on Model C, students would view historical and contemporary events from the perspectives of different ethnic and racial groups. I am not suggesting that we eliminate or denigrate Anglo-American history or Anglo-American perspectives on historical events. I am merely suggesting that Anglo-American perspectives should be among many different ethnic perspectives taught in the social studies and in American history. Only by approaching the study of American history in this way will students get a global rather than an ethnocentric view of our nation’s history and culture. A historian’s experience and culture, including his or her ethnic culture, cogently influence his or her views of the past and present.3 However, it would be simplistic to argue that there is one Anglo-American view of history and contemporary events or one Black view. Wide differences in experiences and perceptions exist both within and across ethnic groups. However, those who have experienced a historical event or a social phenomenon, such as racial bigotry or internment, often view the event differently than those who have watched it from a distance. There is no one Anglo-American perspective on the internment as there is no one Japanese-American view of it. However, accounts written by those who were interned, such as Takashima’s powerful Child in Prison Camp,4 often provide insights and perspectives on the internment which cannot be provided by people who were not interned. Individuals who viewed the internment from the outside can also provide us with unique and important perspectives and points of views. Both perspectives should be studied in a sound social studies curriculum. Only by looking at events, such as the internment, from many different perspectives can we fully understand the complex dimensions of American history and culture. Various ethnic groups within our society are often influenced by events differently and respond to and perceive them differently. One of the goals of ethnic studies should be to change the basic assumptions about what American means and to present students with new ways of viewing and interpreting American history and culture. Any goals which are less ambitious, while important, will not result in the substantial and radical curricular reform which I consider imperative.

Ethnic studies and ethnic conflict Those of us in ethnic studies write and talk most frequently about the positive effects which cultural diversity can have on American society. However, we rarely speak candidly about the conflict inherent within a society which is made up of diverse ethnic groups with conflicting goals, ideologies, and strong feelings of ethnocentrism. Some educators are deeply concerned that ethnic studies, by fostering ethnic pride, might lead to extreme ethnic conflict and the Balkanization of American society. In designing ethnic studies programs and experiences, we must give serious and thoughtful consideration to this complex question. Otherwise, this legitimate concern may become a rationalization for inaction and a justification for the status quo. Whether ethnic studies content and programs contribute to the development of dysfunctional ethnic polarization and social conflict or help to bring about democratic social change depends to some extent on the ways in which ethnic studies programs are conceptualized and taught. Ethnic studies programs which focus exclusively on the sins of Anglo-Americans and the virtues of oppressed minorities are not likely to help students to develop the kinds of skills and attitudes which

Ethnic studies as a process of curriculum reform 75 they need to function successfully within our pluralistic society. Ethnic studies should focus on helping students to develop humanistic attitudes and the skills to engage in reflective social action that will influence public policy. An ethnic studies program that fosters humanism and reflective social action will enable students to participate more effectively in the reformation of our society and in the elimination of ethnic conflict and polarization.

The goals of ethnic studies To foster democratic social change and yet reduce dysfunctional ethnic and racial polarization, ethnic studies must have several major goals. One of these goals should be to help individuals to clarify their ethnic identities and to function effectively within their own ethnic communities. An individual must clarify his or her own sense of ethnic and personal identity before he or she can positively relate to individuals who belong to other ethnic and racial groups. We need to foster the development of self-acceptance but discourage ethnic ethnocentrism. Although individuals within a pluralistic society must learn to accept their own ethnic identity and to become comfortable with it, they must also learn to function effectively within other ethnic cultures and to respond positively to individuals who belong to other ethnic groups (see Figure 7.2). They also need to learn how to interact with members of outside groups and how to resolve conflicts with them.

D

E

C

G

F

B

A

Figure 7.2 The sociocultural environment of ethnic youths. Notes The ethnic minority youth functions within two socio-ethnic environments, that of his or her ethnic subsociety and that of the dominant ethnic group, Anglo-Americans. The circles labeled A through F represent ethnic minority subsocieties. The circle labeled G represents the dominant ethnic society. The school should help ethnic minority children to learn to function successfully within their own ethnic subsociety, other ethnic subsocieties, and the dominant ethnic society. It should help Anglo-Americans to learn to function in all of these ethnic subsocieties and present them with cultural and ethnic alternatives.

76 Teaching ethnic studies There is no inherent contradiction in teaching students how to understand and to function effectively within their own ethnic cultures and to understand and to function successfully within other ethnic cultures and communities, including the mainstream culture. Both of these goals are equally significant within a pluralistic nation. The attainment of one is not likely to occur unless both are realized and fostered. It is extremely difficult for a Mexican-American child to accept his cultural heritage if it is demeaned by “significant others” in institutions like the school. It is also very difficult for Anglo-Americans to learn to respond to nonWhites positively and sensitively if they are unaware of the perceptions of their culture that are held by other ethnic groups and of the ways in which the dominant culture evolved and attained the power to shape the United States in its image. We have never fully realized the positive effects which can occur from the diverse nature of our society because the major goal of most social institutions, historically, has been to Anglicize ethnic groups, to disregard their ethnic cultures, and to foster a monocultural societal ideal. The result has been that almost every ethnic group has struggled to become culturally like Anglo-Americans. Those groups which have been the most successful have attained the highest levels of social and economic mobility. The ethnic groups in our society that are the most “ethnic” tend to be heavily concentrated in the lower and working classes. Because most of the institutions within our society tend to foster and to idealize AngloSaxon cultural characteristics and do not encourage Anglo-Americans to function in other ethnic cultures, Anglo-Americans are rarely required to function within other ethnic communities. Members of other ethnic groups tend to reject their ethnic cultures and to strive to attain Anglo-American cultural traits. However, this is less true today than in the past. Ethnic diversity and cultural pluralism will not become ideals in our society until members of the dominant ethnic group and of other ethnic groups better understand their own cultures and learn to function within and across cultures. With these goals, ethnic studies is more likely to foster constructive social change and to reduce, rather than to enhance, ethnic tension and conflict. Ethnic studies should also help students to develop the ability to make reflective decisions so that they can resolve personal problems and through social action, influence public policy and develop a sense of political efficacy.5 In many ethnic studies units and lessons, emphasis is on the memorization and testing of isolated historical facts about shadowy ethnic heroes and events of questionable historical significance. In these types of programs ethnic studies is merely an extension of the regular history or social studies program. Ethnic studies should have goals which are more consistent with the needs of a global society. Events within the last decade have dramatically indicated that we live in a world society that is beset with momentous social and human problems, many of which are related to ethnic hostility and conflict. Effective solutions to these tremendous problems can be found only by an active, compassionate, and informed citizenry capable of making sound public decisions that will benefit the world community. It is imperative that the school, and the social studies in particular, play a decisive role in educating citizens who have both the vision and the courage to make our world more humane.

Notes *

This article is based on a longer paper that was presented at a conference, “Pluralism in a Democratic Society,” held in New York City, April 4–6, 1975, and sponsored by the

Ethnic studies as a process of curriculum reform 77

1 2 3 4 5

Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith with a grant from the United States Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, under authority of Title IX of the ESEA Act (Ethnic Heritage Studies Program). Wsevolod W. Isajiw, “Definitions of Ethnicity,” Ethnicity, Vol. 1 (July, 1974), pp. 111–124. John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism 1860–1925 (New York: Atheneum, 1972). Henry S. Commager, The Nature and the Study of History (Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill, 1966). Shizuye Takashima, A Child in Prison Camp (Montreal, Canada: Tundra Books, 1971). James A. Banks, Teaching Strategies for Ethnic Studies (Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1975).

PART 3

TEACHING SOCIAL STUDIES FOR DECISION-MAKING AND CITIZEN ACTION

CHAPTER 8

DECISION-MAKING The heart of the social studies Adapted from teaching strategies for the social studies: inquiry, valuing, and decision-making (1st ed., 1973; 5th ed., 1999), Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, pp. 3–39

The social studies should help students attain the skills needed to recognize and solve human problems, analyze and clarify values, and make sound, reflective decisions that will contribute to the perpetuation and improvement of their communities, nation, and world. My perception of the proper goal for the social studies resulted largely from a realization that citizens – students, homemakers, factory workers, businesspersons, labor leaders, politicians, welfare recipients, and all others – must each day make personal and public decisions that will affect their lives and their community, nation, and world. These are the kinds of nagging decision-problems with which citizens must often deal: Should I take the job at Tony’s or at Bell’s? Should we buy a house, a condominium, or continue to rent? Should we stop fertilizing our lawn so that more fertilizer will be available for crops? Would Taylor be a better member of Congress than Kitano? Should I vote for or against the school bond issue? Should I become active in the Anti-Nuclear Weapons League? Individuals are not born with the capacity to make reflective decisions. Decision-making is a skill that must be developed and practiced. When individuals develop the ability to make reflective decisions, they can act intelligently. I believe that the most important goal of the social studies should be to develop reflective citizen actors. I am using citizen to mean a member of a democratic state or nation. Citizen actor refers to an individual who makes a deliberate effort to influence his or her political environment, including its laws, public policies, values, and the distribution of wealth. The activities in which he or she participates are citizen action. Citizen action may, of course, be effective or ineffective. I am assuming that decision-making skills can be developed, that humans can be trained to reflect before acting on problems, and that individuals can learn to act on their freely made decisions. We cannot expect individuals to act on decisions they have been forced to make. In the decision-making model introduced later in this chapter, the individual must be able to choose freely from many alternative courses of action, consistent with human dignity, before we can characterize his or her behavior as decision-making.

82 Teaching social studies

Essential components of the decision-making process Knowledge Reflective decisions cannot be made in a vacuum. Social knowledge is one necessary component for sound decision-making. If two people (a couple) try to decide whether to join and be active in the Anti-Nuclear Weapons League, they can make a better decision if they know the extent of the nuclear buildup in each nation, how successful past negotiations among the leading powers have been in reducing nuclear proliferation, and what steps other than a nuclear buildup might be successful in preventing conflict and war. By studying historical and political information on the nuclear arms race, the couple would be able to make some informed predictions about the possible consequences of an escalating nuclear race among nations. They could consequently make a more reflective decision about whether to join and become active in the Anti-Nuclear Weapons League.

Methods and ways of attaining knowledge Knowledge is needed to make reflective decisions. There are many ways of knowing or attaining knowledge. Kerlinger (1984) has summarized four methods of knowing described by Charles Peirce, a philosopher. When people use the method of tenacity, they hold firmly to what they know to be true – it is true because they hold firmly to it and have always believed it. Individuals seek out established belief when they use the method of authority. When individuals argue that they know something to be true because it is “agreeable to reason” and self-evident they are using the a priori method. Peirce argues that we need a method to attain knowledge “by which our beliefs may be determined by nothing human . . . . The method must be such that the ultimate conclusion of every man shall be the same. Such is the method of science” (Kerlinger, 1984, p. 6). A further discussion of the hypothetical couple mentioned in the previous section will clarify the four methods of knowing. When trying to decide whether they should join the Anti-Nuclear Weapons League, the couple may derive knowledge related to their decision-problem by the method of tenacity. The couple may conclude that an escalating nuclear race will help to prevent war and maintain peace among nations. The couple reaches this conclusion because they have always believed that nations tend to be aggressive and that only the threat of force can maintain peace. The couple may have no firm beliefs about the nuclear buildup and little information. They may seek out an authority to get information about nuclear weapons and the nuclear buildup. The couple may hear a professor of sociology talk about nuclear weapons on a television talk show. The professor, who is a strong advocate of a nuclear buildup by his own nation, argues that this is the only way to maintain peace. He also argues that the Western nations have experienced their longest period of peace since nuclear weapons were invented and produced. The couple may use still a different method for obtaining knowledge about nuclear weapons and the nuclear buildup. They may, without seeking an authority or sources of information about nuclear weapons, discuss them and conclude that it is self-evident that nuclear weapons are needed to keep peace in the world.

Decision-making 83

Limitations of ways of knowing It is not difficult to state the limitations of the ways of knowing just discussed and illustrated. Some of the methods have more serious limitations than others. The method of tenacity is not an effective way of gaining knowledge because humans are capable of believing and holding firmly to almost anything imaginable. A brief study of history and anthropology will reveal that humans, throughout history, have held beliefs that they later considered outdated and bizarre. Beliefs in ancestor gods, shamans, witch doctors, and water witching indicate the tremendous range of human beliefs that have existed in many times and places. People’s capacity to create beliefs today is as great as in any previous time in history. Some people refuse to live on the thirteenth floor of an apartment building. Others carry charms, such as a rabbit’s foot, for good luck. Humankind’s ability to create and imagine is one of the most important characteristics which distinguish humans from other primates. The method of authority is perhaps the most valuable of the three methods discussed in the previous section. We could not live organized and productive lives without relying a great deal on authorities because we live in a highly specialized world. When a doctor prescribes medicine, we assume that it will help heal our illness. We depend on authority when we plan trips using a road map, look up words in a dictionary, have our income tax completed by an expert, or act on the advice of a counselor. While authorities are necessary in our highly specialized world society, a reliance on authority is unwise under certain conditions and in some situations. A sociology professor may state publicly that nuclear arms are needed to keep peace in the world when he does not know the key facts about nuclear weapons. The professor may be a specialist in small organizations, and may base his opinions about nuclear war primarily on his personal values. Individuals are often perceived as authorities when they lack specific training in a given area, or they may be assumed to have conclusive information about problems when the knowledge in the field is scant and sparse. Citizens tend to put too much faith in and to expect too much from “experts.’’ Persons with complicated medical or learning problems often expect doctors or educational experts to give them rapid cures or quick solutions. They are often disappointed and angry when they discover that experts frequently disagree about cures and solutions. Historians, for example, often present conflicting interpretations of the same past events. As Kerlinger (1984) points out, the a priori method of knowing is very limited in deriving knowledge because what is self-evident to one person may not be selfevident to another. People can hold opposite beliefs about the same things. Each will argue that his or her knowledge is self-evident. One person may argue that it is self-evident that rapid nuclear buildups by the major nations are needed to keep them at peace. Another may argue just as strongly that it is obvious that the rapid growth of nuclear buildup will lead to a nuclear holocaust.

The scientific method: a way of attaining knowledge The limitations of the tenacity, authority, and a priori methods suggest that we need a more reliable way of attaining valid knowledge. We should not be bound either by traditional belief systems or the opinions of authorities. A person should be able to repeat the procedures of the method and derive similar conclusions.

84 Teaching social studies Different people who use the method should derive similar, if not identical, conclusions. In other words, the method should be public rather than private. It should be largely independent of the values and biases of the individual using the method. The method that comes closest to meeting these requirements is the scientific method. This is the method used by social scientists to derive knowledge – facts, concepts, generalizations, and theories. I will refer to this method as social science inquiry or social inquiry. If our hypothetical couple (trying to decide whether or not to join the AntiNuclear Weapons League) were to use the scientific method to gain the knowledge needed to make a reflective decision, they would do several specific things. First, they would state clear and researchable questions related to the decision-problem, such as: How many nuclear weapons are held by the major powers? How successful have nuclear weapons been in deterring wars? How successful have treaties designed to limit nuclear weapons been? What ways can be used to maintain peace among nations other than a nuclear buildup? What are the possibilities of a nuclear war starting accidentally? What are the possibilities for the survival of humans after a nuclear war and a nuclear winter? After stating the major questions related to their decision-problem, the couple would then try to define the major concepts in their questions, such as nuclear weapons, nuclear war, treaties, and peace. Our hypothetical couple would then state some of their own hunches about nuclear weapons and their consequences. They would gather data to answer questions and to test hypotheses from a wide variety of sources, including books, magazines, and primary documents. The couple would then evaluate, compare, and analyze the data they had gathered. Even though the couple would use the knowledge in making their decision, they would realize that the knowledge is tentative and must be constantly compared with new findings and discoveries. My preference for the scientific method is by now clear. While it is not a perfect method, I believe that it is the most effective and efficient means of obtaining knowledge. Peirce (cited in Kerlinger, 1984) overstates the value of the scientific method when he suggests that “our beliefs are determined by nothing human . . .” The scientific method is based on human values and assumptions. Bernice Goldmark (1968) has insightfully pointed out some of the assumptions on which this method is based: The scientific method is based on the assumption that truth is neither absolute nor unchanging. Rather, truth is a judgment that, by the agreement of an informed community, produces desirable results . . . It is on this assumption that we argue that all judgments should be held as hypotheses to be tested, evaluated, and reconstructed. (p. 215) The scientific method also assumes that people can obtain consensus regarding generalizations and statements by using a method that is public, systematic, and repeatable. Persons who accept this method and reject the others value public over private and idiosyncratic knowledge. The a priori method, unlike the scientific

Decision-making 85 method, is a private or “internal’’ method of knowing. An individual using this method derives conclusions on the basis of what is self-evident to him or her. What’s self-evident to one person may not be self-evident to another. The scientific method attempts to derive knowledge that can be independently obtained by persons using the method at different times and places. However, personal values and assumptions do affect the products of this method. The problems we select and the questions we formulate are determined by our values, purposes, and social environment. These factors influence the outcome of scientific inquiry. However, these factors are less important in social inquiry than they are in other methods of attaining knowledge. As indicated above, knowledge is one essential component of the decision-making process. I prefer the scientific method for attaining knowledge because it is systematic, self-correcting, open-ended, and public. Knowledge used to make reflective decisions must be derived by an inquiry process. Decisions made on the basis of knowledge derived by intuition or tradition will not satisfy our reflective criteria. Before students can make reflective decisions, they must learn to use methods of social science inquiry to derive knowledge in the form of facts, concepts, generalizations, and theories. Reflective citizen actors need not independently derive every bit of knowledge they use in making decisions and solving problems. This would be impractical. Not much human progress would be made; few reflective decisions would be possible. However, citizen actors cannot intelligently apply or judge knowledge unless they are aware of the processes used to derive it and are able to use the methods of the social scientists to derive knowledge when it is necessary and appropriate (e.g. when authorities conflict). In a democratic nation, the scientific method should not be the exclusive property of a scientific elite. It should be shared by all members of the society who make decisions that affect the governing of the community, nation, and world.

Inquir y and decision-making Social knowledge, derived by a scientific process, is only one of the essential components of the decision-making process. Before I discuss other elements of the process, it is appropriate (1) to indicate how social science inquiry differs from decision-making and (2) to point out why social science inquiry is necessary but not sufficient for making reflective decisions. In this discussion I will also suggest how the ends of social science inquiry and decision-making differ. The basic aim of social science inquiry is to derive knowledge in the form of facts, concepts, generalizations, and theories. The goal is to accumulate as much knowledge as possible. While the social scientist is primarily interested in producing knowledge, the decision-maker or citizen actor is mainly interested in how the knowledge derived by the social scientist can be used to help him or her solve problems and make decisions. Social science inquiry produces knowledge; in decision-making, knowledge is selected, synthesized, and applied. However, as previously stated, the reflective consumer of knowledge must be familiar with the methods used by the professional social scientist to derive knowledge and must be able to use the method. Knowledge in social science inquiry tends to be specialized. Each group of social scientists studies only those aspects of reality they feel are the appropriate concerns of their disciplines. They may ignore many important social problems and issues or study them from a limited perspective. The social scientist fragments reality in order to study it from a unique perspective. Reflective decision-makers

86 Teaching social studies and citizen actors must use the knowledge from all the various social science disciplines to solve personal and public problems. In decision-making we select, synthesize, and apply knowledge from diverse sources. No one discipline can adequately help citizen actors to make decisions about the complex problems that confront humankind. Knowledge alone is insufficient for reflective decision-making. Reflective citizen actors must learn how to synthesize the information they obtain from many sources and apply it to complex social problems. Tables 8.1 and 8.2 indicate how a citizen actor may attempt to decide what actions he or she should take regarding global hunger and poverty. Figure 8.1 illustrates how various social scientists may view the problem. Note how each of the social scientists views the problem from a very restricted perspective, while the citizen actor attempts to synthesize knowledge from various disciplines and sources (including his or her own inquiries) and use it in making a decision that can guide his or her action regarding the problem of global hunger and poverty. Table 8.1 shows how the decision-maker tries to clarify his or her conflicting values about global hunger and poverty. The value dimension is an important component of the decision-making process. Table 8.2 illustrates how the citizen actor determines a course of action. Figure 8.2 illustrates how a reflective citizen actor and a social scientist might show concern about poverty in a hypothetical community. Note that their purposes – and therefore the main problems they formulate – are essentially different. The social scientist is interested primarily in building theory. As Redfield points out, the social scientist’s, “ main objective is accurate description. Social scientists are scientific in that they are concerned with . . . what is, not what ought to be” (Redfield, 1947, pp. 1–2). However, citizen actors are interested in both what is and what ought to be.

The value component of decision-making After they have derived higher level knowledge from their own and others’ inquiries, reflective citizen actors must try to relate the facts, concepts, generalizations, and theories to their own values before deciding to act. What people do with their

Order of Priority

Table 8.1 Value clarification (poverty and hunger) Struggle for self-preservation Willingness to pilfer and steal Compassion for those in need Work through established social agencies (organized) Civic programs that give priority to human needs and social improvement (food stamps, aid to dependent children, surplus food distribution, welfare to the old, disabled, and unemployed)

Resignation Refusal to “rip off” Contempt for the “shiftless” Give help directly to needy individuals (personalized) Civic programs that give high priority to economic and other goals (highway construction, public buildings, environmental or pollution control)

Notes In this example, values are conceptualized as existing on a continuum. An individual’s value preferences may vary in intensity periodically, but are generally committed toward one end of a continuum. To act intelligently, the individual must arrange his or her values into a hierarchy of preference. The level of commitment to a particular value will greatly determine its place in the hierarchy.

Table 8.2 The decision-making process (global hunger and poverty) A If I donate money to a world relief organization, THEN I . . . 1 will be helping an organization that is already set up to help solve the problem of global hunger and poverty 2 may help save a starving child’s life. 3 will feel I am doing something to help eliminate world hunger and poverty BUT I . . . 4 will make only a small effort in behalf of my concern 5 will have to do without some goods I wanted to buy with the money 6 may be doing little to help starving people because some relief organizations use most of the money they collect to pay overhead costs

B If I give up eating meat, THEN I . . . 1 will be making a strong statement about my concern for global hunger and poverty 2 will be increasing the amount of meat available on the world’s market 3 will be disassociating myself from “overconsuming” Americans 4 will be able to eat more cheaply BUT I . . . 5 will be doing nothing to assure that the meat that I do not eat will get to the world’s starving people 6 will have to give up a group of foods that I enjoy eating very much 7 will have to find other foods to substitute for meat 8 will experience difficulties when I am eating out or eating with others

C If I form an organization to help solve the problem of global hunger and poverty, THEN I . . . 1 will be organizing my efforts in a concerted public way 2 may involve a substantial number of people who feel much as I do 3 may be able to get food to many starving children and adults BUT I . . . 4 will have to make a heavy investment of time and energy in the organization 5 may find it difficult to interest enough people to work for and contribute to the organization 6 may be criticized by existing relief organizations for “duplicating efforts” 7 may not succeed in raising needed funds

D If I run for election to a local political office, THEN I . . . 1 may be able to help reduce hunger and poverty within my own community 2 could express my views publicly at city council meetings to be reported in the media 3 could influence or advocate the effective distribution of more food to the poor through changes in local and national law 4 could see that such laws were enforced if my views were sustained and the laws were enacted BUT I . . . 5 may not succeed in getting elected to the city council 6 might find myself a lone voice without support on the city council. 7 could lose my political effectiveness if I could not engage in tradeoffs on other issues 8 may risk compromising my views or watering them down to achieve any action related to poverty BUT I . . . 4 will not be justified in criticizing others for their inaction on problems related to global hunger and poverty 5 will have to live with the fact that thousands of people are starving to death each year while I am living in relative affluence

E If I choose to do nothing (inaction), THEN I . . . 1 do not really have a strong concern about global hunger and poverty 2 may not have the courage of my own conviction 3 will not risk taking actions that may not succeed

88 Teaching social studies Historian Analyzes events that culminated in global hunger and poverty; illuminates similarities between hunger and poverty today and in previous historical periods.

Economist Studies the economic factors that contributed to the development of global hunger and poverty. Suggests that the standards of living in the world's affluent nations will have to be reduced if the problems of global hunger and poverty are to be solved.

Political scientist Studies the political consequences of a world community that is made up of "have" and "have not" nations. Suggests that power struggles and war might result if the world's scarce resources are not more equally distributed among the rich and poor nations.

Sociologist Analyzes the effects of hunger and poverty on the norms, values and socialization practices among the victims of hunger and poverty. Suggests that severe hunger and poverty has a cogent impact on socialization practices.

Psychologist Analyzes the nature and extent of aggression and frustration that develop among people who are victims of severe hunger and poverty.

Anthropologist Studies how the responses to severe poverty and hunger are alike and different in various cultures. Concludes that responses to hunger and poverty are influenced by both cultural and biological factors.

Geographer Studies how hunger and poverty influence people's perceptions of their physical environment and their interactions with it.

Citizen actor

Independent inquiry into global hunger and poverty Value clarification (See Table 8.1 for detailed illustration) Knowledge Selected-evaluated

Reflective decision-making Involves using knowledge acquired to identify alternative courses of action and to predict their possible consequences. An attempt is made by the citizen actor to choose a course of action that is most consistent with his or her values. (See Table 8.2 for a detailed illustration of this process.

Reflective citizen action Acting in a way to promote or realize the ends valued. Reflective citizen actors synthesize and apply knowledge from many disciplines to help them make decisions about the action they will take regarding global hunger and poverty. They may also apply knowledge that they have derived from their own inquiries. The synthesis of knowledge (in the form of facts, concepts, generalizations, and theories) and values results in a decision which involves selecting a course of action from many possible alternatives, including inaction.

Figure 8.1 Citizen actor’s decision-problem: what actions should I take regarding global hunger and poverty?

knowledge depends largely on the values they hold in regard to the decision-problem components. Thus value inquiry is a very important part of the decision-making process. Value inquiry should help decision-makers identify the sources of their values,

Decision-making 89 Poverty in community X

Citizen actor (Resident of community X)

Social scientist

To act in a way consistent with values

Problem: What actions should I take regarding poverty in my community?

Uses scientific methods to gather information on poverty in community X

Identify and clarify values

Purpose

To build a theory

Problem: What are the causes of poverty in community X?

Hypothesize Collect and evaluate data Test hypotheses Derive generalizations and build theories regarding the causes of poverty

Make decisions This involves predicting consequences of alternative course of action. Example: “If I participate in a demonstration to protest poverty, I might be ignored by policy makers because mass demonstrations have been ineffective in recent months.”

Citizen action Example: The actor helps to set up an organization that will create jobs for the unemployed in his or her community.

Figure 8.2 How a reflective citizen actor and a social scientist might approach the problem of poverty in community X.

determine how they conflict, identify value alternatives, and choose freely from them. However, students should be required to justify their moral choices within the context of societal values such as human dignity, justice, and equality (Oliver and Shaver, 1966). As Ochoa (1981) points out, the student must be explicitly encouraged to “establish a linkage between his or her goals and higher values. . . .” (pp. 100–112). If students are not required to justify their moral choices in terms of higher societal values, value teaching will run the risk of becoming relativistic and ethically neutral. Students must be given the opportunity to freely make value choices. However, individual choice must be defended and made within a framework of democratic values such as civic equality, justice, and cosmopolitanism (Gutmann, 2004; Oliver and Shaver, 1966). The student should be encouraged to predict and to consider the possible consequences of alternative values, and be helped to clarify conflicting and confused values. Not only are conflicting values widespread in the larger society, but within individuals there are many divergent beliefs, attitudes, and values. Many individuals who are active in religions that preach brotherhood are intolerant of other cultural, racial, and religious groups.

90 Teaching social studies Before individuals can make sound decisions and act reflectively, they must be helped to clarify their conflicting and confused values. Value inquiry and clarification is one of the most important phases of the decision-making process. Value issues are perhaps the most baffling problems that face both individuals and society. While we probably have the sophistication and means to solve many of our pressing human problems, we have neither clarified our value positions on them nor developed a commitment to solve them. Let us return to the couple that was trying to decide whether they should join the Anti-Nuclear Weapons League. I will illustrate how values played an important role in their final decision. The couple gathered data about many different aspects of the nuclear buildup and of previous treaties by the leading nations to control the arms race. They read books, magazine articles, and listened to authorities who had conflicting opinions about nuclear proliferation. The couple concluded that both those authorities who argue for the need to maintain nuclear strength and those who warn about the possibility of a nuclear holocaust make compelling points. They believe that the information is far too complex and contradictory to accurately predict the effects of the escalating nuclear buildup. The couple values maintaining world peace as well as protecting human life from a nuclear holocaust. However, they decide to base their decision primarily on their value commitments. The couple decides that they value preventing a nuclear war far more than preventing other kinds of conflicts among nations. They will join and become active in the Anti-Nuclear Weapons League. The couple’s attitudes and values, more than the knowledge they acquired, determined their decision and consequent action. However, knowledge enabled them to clarify their values and to know what values they considered most important. While knowledge is necessary for sound decision-making, it is not sufficient. The attitudes, beliefs, and values of citizen actors are often the most important determinants of their behavior.

Decision-making and the social studies curriculum The main goal of the social studies should be to help students develop the ability to make reflective decisions and to take successful action to solve personal and public problems. Knowledge, derived by an inquiry process, and values, analyzed and clarified by value inquiry, are essential components of the decision-making process. The relationship between these components is illustrated in Figure 8.3. Decision-makers must select, synthesize, and apply knowledge from various social science disciplines and clarify their values before they can act reflectively on the perplexing problems in our global world society. The social studies curriculum should help students gain proficiency in inquiry, valuing, and decision-making skills. Inquiry, valuing, and decision-making each consist of a cluster of interrelated skills. Each cluster of skills contains highly interrelated elements. I separate them to facilitate discussion and to emphasize the need for systematic instruction in each. Lessons should also be planned to give the student practice in relating each set of skills to the others, since the ultimate goal of social studies education is to help students make sound decisions and act reflectively. Historical content illustrating great decisions that people in the past had to make can be used to teach students decision–making skills. Decision-making skills can be taught within the context of the dominant curriculum framework found in most school districts and discussed earlier in this chapter.

Decision-making 91 Decision-problem What action should we take regarding the nuclear race?

Social inquiry 1 Doubt-concern 2 Problem formulation 3 Formulation of hypotheses 4 Definition of terms (conceptualization) 5 Collection of data 6 Evaluation and analysis of data 7 Testing hypotheses: deriving generalizations and theories 8 Beginning inquiry anew

Knowledge necessary for naming alternatives and making predictions

Value inquiry 1 Recognizing value problems 2 Describing value-relevant behavior 3 Naming values 4 Determining value conflicts 5 Hypothesizing about value sources 6 Naming value alternatives 7 Hypothesizing about consequences 8 Choosing 9 Stating reasons, sources, and consequences of choice

Value clarification

Making a decision 1 Identifying alternatives (Using generalizations related to key concepts to identify alternatives) 2 Predicting consequences of each alternative (Using generalizations related to key concepts to predict consequences) 3 Ordering alternatives Which is most consistent with value position identified above?

Acting (In a way consistent with values: willingness to accept possible consequences of action chosen)

Figure 8.3 The decision-making process.

Summar y The major goal of the social studies should be to help students attain the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values needed to become reflective decision-makers and citizen actors. The social studies program should have goals in four major categories: (1) knowledge, (2) skills, (3) attitudes and values, and (4) citizen action. A modern social studies curriculum should also help students deal reflectively with the major social issues and problems that face their communities, nation, and world. Teachers who wish to implement innovations in the social studies must do so within the context of the expanding communities of humans scheme which predominates in most US schools. Developing decision-making skills should be a major goal of the social studies. One of the essential components of decision-making is knowledge. Reflective decisions can be made only when knowledge is scientific, higher level, and interdisciplinary. Reflective decision-makers must not only be able to use and to recognize scientific knowledge, but to derive it themselves when necessary and appropriate. The knowledge on which reflective decisions are based must also be powerful and widely applicable so that it will enable the decision-maker to make the most accurate predictions possible. Higher-level concepts and their related

92 Teaching social studies generalizations are necessary for making accurate predictions. Thus the decisionmaker must be able to derive these forms of knowledge. Knowledge that serves as a foundation for reflective decisions must also be interdisciplinary. Knowledge from any one discipline is insufficient to help us make reflective decisions on complex social issues such as war, pollution, gender inequality, and global warming. While scientific, higher-level interdisciplinary knowledge is necessary for sound decision-making, it is not sufficient. Reflective decision-makers must also be able to identify and clarify their values, justify their value choices within the context of societal values (such as human dignity), and relate the concepts and generalizations they formulate to their values. The synthesis of knowledge and values constitutes the process of decision-making. During this process, citizen actors use social science concepts, generalizations, and theories to identify alternative courses of action and to predict their possible consequences. They order their values into a hierarchy, and choose a course of action most consistent with their value position and with human dignity. Finally, they take action based on their decisions to resolve personal problems or to influence public policy.

References Goldmark, B. (1968). Social studies: A method of inquiry. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Gutmann, A. (2004). Unity and diversity in democratic multicultural education: Creative and destructive tensions. In J. A. Banks (Ed.), Diversity and citizenship education: Global perspectives (pp. 71–96). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Kerlinger, F. N. (1984). Foundations of behavioral research, 3rd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Ochoa, A. S. (1981). Now, more than ever . . . Decision-making and related skills. In J. Allen (Ed.), Education in the 80s: Social studies (pp. 100–112). Washington, DC: National Education Association.(pp. 100–12). Oliver, D. W., and Shaver, J. P. (1966). Teaching public issues in the high school. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Redfield, R. (1947). The social uses of social science, No. 8013. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill. Reprinted from University of Colorado Bulletin, Vol. 47 (May 24, 1947).

CHAPTER 9

THE SOCIAL STUDIES, ETHNIC DIVERSITY, AND SOCIAL CHANGE The Elementary School Journal, 1987, 87, 531–534

The ethnic revival movements The Black civil rights movement that emerged in the 1960s stimulated the rise of ethnic revival movements throughout the United States as well as in other parts of the world (Banton, 1983). A major goal of these ethnic movements was to change the social, economic, and political systems so that structurally excluded and powerless ethnic groups would attain social and economic mobility and educational equality. The demand for changes in the educational system was a major goal of the ethnic revival movements throughout the Western world (Banks and Lynch, 1986). Ethnic groups demanded changes in the educational system because they believed that the school could be an important instrument in their empowerment and liberation. Most ethnic groups have a tenacious faith in the school to help them attain social mobility and structural inclusion (Clark, 1973; Edmonds et al., 1973), despite the arguments by revisionists such as Bowles and Gintis (1976) and Jencks et al. (1972) that the school merely reproduces the social structure and depoliticizes powerless ethnic groups.

Educational responses to ethnic revival movements In the various Western societies in which ethnic revival movements have taken place, such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, educators have responded with a wide range of programs, projects, and curricular innovations to silence ethnic protest, to increase the achievement of ethnic groups, and to close the gap between their expressed democratic ideals and practices (Banks and Lynch, 1986). The social studies, and history in particular, were among the first curricular areas to be scrutinized and criticized by ethnic reformers (Banks, 1973; Fitzgerald, 1979). A major goal of the ethnic revival movements was to shape new identities of ethnic groups and to highlight the roles that various ethnic groups had played in the development of their nations. History was seen by ethnic reformers as an important part of the curriculum that perpetuated old images and stereotypes and was therefore in need of radical revision and reconstruction (Blassingame, 1971). Over two decades have passed since the ethnic protest and revival movements first emerged in the United States. This period has been characterized by intense ethnic polarization and debate, rapid and often superficial curriculum changes and innovations, the birth and death of promising ideas, progress and retrenchment,

94 Teaching social studies hope and disillusionment, and a flurry of activity related to ethnic and immigrant groups (Banks, 1984a). The current period is characterized by conservatism and a back-to-the-basics ideology ushered in partly by the movement for academic excellence, which devoted scant attention to equality and the needs of victimized ethnic groups (Johnston, 1985; National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983). In this chapter I will describe the visions and goals that ethnic reformers had for multiethnic studies when the ethnic revival movements emerged more than two decades ago and the limited extent to which these goals have been realized. I will also identify the factors that have restrained significant curriculum reform. Finally, I will propose a reform strategy that views the teacher as an agent of change and a cultural mediator. Such a teacher interprets ethnic and majority cultures for mainstream and minority students and helps them to see why social change is essential if we are to close the gap between our nation’s democratic ideals and its social, economic, and political realities.

Life-style versus life-chance approaches During the early phases of ethnic revitalization movements in the United States as well as in other Western nations, ethnic leaders demanded that ethnic heroes and cultures become a part of the school curriculum. Educators often responded to these demands quickly and without careful planning and sufficient in-service training for teachers. As a result, ethnic heroes such as Crispus Attucks and Martin Luther King, Jr were inserted into the curriculum along with bits and pieces of content about ethnic cultures and traditions (Cuban, 1968). This additive approach to the study of ethnic content emanates from several assumptions that have precluded substantial curriculum reform, perpetuated stereotypes and misconceptions of ethnic cultures and life-styles, and prevented teachers from dealing effectively and comprehensively with concepts such as racism, class stratification, powerlessness, and the reforms needed to empower ethnic groups. When educators add ethnic heroes and fragmented ethnic content to the curriculum, the assumption is made that ethnic heroes and content are not integral parts of the mainstream US experience. Consequently it is assumed that it is sufficient to add special units and festivals to teach about ethnic groups and their cultures. Particularly in elementary social studies, ethnic content is taught primarily with special lessons and pageants on holidays and birthdays. Blacks often dominate lessons during Black History Week or on Martin Luther King’s birthday, but they are largely invisible in the curriculum during the rest of the year. Although Blacks and other ethnic minority groups are now a more integral part of textbooks than they were prior to the 1960s, their presence is neither comprehensive nor sufficiently integrated into the total curriculum (Garcia and Goebel, 1985). The infusion of fragmented ethnic content into the curriculum not only reinforces the idea that ethnic minority groups are not integral parts of US society but also results in the trivialization of ethnic cultures. The study of the foods eaten by Mexican Americans or of Indian tepees will not help students to develop a sophisticated understanding of Mexican American culture and of the tremendous cultural diversity among American Indians. This kind of teaching about ethnic cultures often perpetuates misconceptions and stereotypes about ethnic cultures and leads well-meaning but misinformed teachers to believe that they have integrated their curricula with ethnic content and helped their students to understand ethnic groups better. Superficial teaching about ethnic groups and ethnic cultures may do more harm than good. Excluding a study of ethnic cultures in the elementary social studies

Ethnic diversity and social change 95 curriculum might be preferable to the trivialization and marginalization of ethnic cultures and life-styles. The distortion of ethnic cultures that has taken place in the schools has led some critics of multicultural education to argue that teaching about ethnic groups in the schools should focus on their life chances rather than on their life-styles (Bullivant, 1986b; Mullard, 1980). A curriculum that focuses on life chances describes the ways that structurally excluded ethnic groups are victimized by social, economic, and political variables such as institutionalized racism, class stratification, and political powerlessness. Critics of multicultural education who make this argument are concerned that a focus on cultures and life-styles not only trivializes the cultures of ethnic groups but also diverts attention from the real causes of ethnic group victimization and poverty. They believe that a focus on life-styles might cause majority groups to “blame the victims” for their victimization and help to entrench institutionalized stereotypes. Moodley writes: Given the complexity of cultures, they are frequently trivialized in presentation in the elementary curriculum. Werner et al. refer to the common isolated use of artifacts and other aspects of the material culture, without a holistic interpretation, as the “museum approach.” It reinforces the “us”–“them” differences and highlights a “hierarchy of cultures” based on the way the outsider perceives the minority. (1986, p. 620) Social studies teachers do not need to decide whether they will approach the teaching of ethnic content from a life-style or life-chance perspective. Both cultural knowledge and knowledge about why many ethnic groups are victimized by institutionalized racism and class stratification are needed in a sound social studies curriculum that accurately and sensitively reflects the experience of ethnic groups. Both perspectives are needed to help students gain a comprehensive and sophisticated understanding of the experiences of ethnic groups in the United States and in other nations. However, teaching accurately about the cultures of ethnic groups is a complex and difficult task. To teach about ethnic cultures accurately, teachers must help students to understand that ethnic cultures, especially within a modernized society such as the United States, are dynamic, complex, and changing processes (Beals et al., 1967; Geertz, 1973). Students also need to understand that a culture consists of many aspects or variables, such as symbols, language, and behavior, and that an individual member of a culture may exemplify the characteristics of a group completely or hardly at all (Banks, 1981). Consequently, knowing what have been called AfroAmerican cultural characteristics (White, 1984) may give an individual few clues about the behavior of a particular Black individual and reinforce stereotypes and misconceptions.

The search for new perspectives A major goal of the ethnic revival movements of the 1960s and 1970s was not only to include more information about the cultures and history of ethnic groups in the social studies curriculum but also to infuse the curriculum with new perspectives, frames of reference, and values. In textbooks and in teaching, ethnic events and heroes are often added to the curriculum, but the interpretations of and perspectives on these events and heroes remain those of mainstream historians and scholars

96 Teaching social studies (Garcia and Goebel, 1985), When concepts, events, and situations in the curriculum are viewed only or primarily from the perspectives of mainstream scholars and historians, students obtain a limited view of social reality and an incomplete understanding of the human experience. As James Baldwin points out perceptively in several trenchant essays (Baldwin, 1985), White Americans cannot fully understand their history unless they study Black history from myriad perspectives because the history of Blacks and Whites is intricately interwoven. In an important essay on the sociology of knowledge published in the midst of the civil rights movement, Merton (1972) discusses “insiders” and “outsiders” and their competing knowledge claims. Both insiders and outsiders claim that only they can obtain valid knowledge about group life. Insiders claim that only a member of their group can formulate accurate and valid knowledge about the group because of the special insights that result from being socialized within the group. Outsiders claim that valid knowledge results only when groups are studied by outsiders because of the dispassionate objectivity that outsiders bring to the study of group life. Merton concludes that both insiders and outsiders can make important contributions to the understanding of group life and that insiders and outsiders should unite in their quests for knowledge. Social and historical knowledge reflects the values, experiences, times, and social structure in which scholars are socialized and work. In an ethnically and racially stratified society such as the United States, ethnic and racial microcultures also influence the formulation of knowledge. Although social scientists and historians who are insiders in the Black community and those who are outsiders are likely to agree on many observations about Black life and behavior, they are likely to formulate some findings and interpretations that differ in significant ways. Many mainstream social scientists conducted studies of Blacks prior to the civil rights movements of the 1960s that were strongly attacked by Black social scientists in the 1970s (Ladner, 1973). Much of this controversy focused on historical interpretations of topics such as slavery and the Civil War, sociological interpretations of the Black family, and descriptions and interpretations of Black English and Black culture. Black culture and life were frequently described as disorganized, pathological, and deviant by mainstream social scientists (Ladner, 1973). Black students were often labeled “culturally deprived” (Reissman, 1962). Traditional research assumptions, methods, and conclusions of mainstream social scientists often differed sharply from those of the new Black social scientists during this period (Banks, 1984b; Ladner, 1973). Prior to the 1960s, most mainstream social scientists viewed Blacks as a “social problem” (Valentine, 1968). They developed most of their concepts and theories from studies that compared Blacks to middle-class Whites and concluded that Black life was deviant, pathological, and culturally deprived. During the 1950s and early 1960s, most of the content in social science courses that discussed Blacks dealt with slavery and social problems such as poverty, welfare, crime, and juvenile delinquency. The Black family was often used to illustrate ways in which Black life was pathological and deprived (Moynihan, 1965). Black social scientists in the 1960s and 1970s challenged the traditional conceptions of Black life and formulated concepts and theories that viewed Black life as different from middle-class White culture rather than deviant (Billingsley, 1968; Hill, 1971). They also viewed Black culture from the inside, saw it holistically, and described it as a viable and functional culture with tremendous strengths that had enabled it to survive despite great odds (Billingsley, 1968; Blassingame, 1971; Ladner, 1973).

Ethnic diversity and social change 97 Although ethnicity and race often influence the knowledge claims, research, and perspectives of social scientists and historians, these influences are complex and difficult to describe precisely. Individual White, Mexican American, or Black scholars may be influenced more by their class interests, commitment to scholarly objectivity, or other values than by race or ethnicity. The revisionist and sensitive studies of Blacks by White social scientists such as Baratz (1970), Genovese (1974), and Gutman (1970) during the 1970s are cases in point as are the more conservative analyses of the Black experience written by Black scholars such as Sowell (1984) and Wilson (1978). Although the influence of race, ethnicity, and class on social knowledge is complex and difficult to describe precisely, it is nonetheless significant and far reaching. Insider perspectives on important social and historical events such as the Holocaust, the internment of Japanese Americans, and the civil rights movements of the 1960s provide students with insights, perspectives, and feelings about these events that cannot be gained from reading accounts by individuals who have experienced these events only from a distance or from source materials (Farmer, 1985; Nakano and Nakano, 1980; Raines, 1977). Scholars who are socialized within ethnic cultures in which these events are important parts of the social and cultural history are also likely to have perspectives on them that differ from those of mainstream scholars (Blassingame, 1971; Ladner, 1973). It is important for students in the elementary grades to have a curriculum that not only presents the experiences of ethnic and cultural groups in accurate and sensitive ways but also enables them to see the experiences of both mainstream and minority groups from the perspective of different cultural, racial, and ethnic groups. A social studies curriculum that both includes the experiences of different ethnic groups and presents these experiences from diverse perspectives and points of view is needed to help students understand the complexity of the US experience and the ways that the nation’s various groups have strongly influenced each other culturally and interacted within the social structure. Table 9.1 summarizes the dominant and desirable characteristics of multiethnic studies described earlier.

The ideological resistance to a pluralistic curriculum After over two decades of debates and attempts to reform the school and the curriculum to reflect ethnic and cultural diversity in the United States, multiethnic reforms remain on the periphery of the mainstream curriculum in most US schools. Though most examples of blatant racism and stereotypes of ethnic groups have been deleted from textbooks and teaching materials, content about racial and ethnic groups is not thoroughly integrated into mainstream textbooks and teaching materials (Garcia and Goebel, 1985). Instead, materials about racial and ethnic groups are usually relegated to special units and holidays and are appendages to the main story about the development of US society. Most content about Afro-Americans is studied when topics such as slavery, reconstruction, and the civil rights movement of the 1960s are covered (Garcia and Goebel, 1985). A unilinear, Eurocentric approach is used most frequently to teach about the development of US history and society. The story of the development of America is often told by describing the sojourn of the Europeans across the Atlantic to the Americas and then from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific (Cortés, 1976). The focus of the story is on European settlers, the way they shaped America

98 Teaching social studies Table 9.1 Dominant and desirable characteristics of multiethnic studies Dominant characteristics

Desirable characteristics

Focuses on isolated aspects of the histories and cultures of ethnic groups. Trivializes the histories and cultures of ethnic groups. Presents events, issues, and concepts primarily from Anglocentric and mainstream perspectives and points of view. Is Eurocentric-shows the development of America primarily as an extension of Europe into the Americas.

Describes the history and cultures of ethnic groups holistically.

Content about ethnic groups is an appendage to the regular or core curriculum. Ethnic minority cultures are described as deprived or pathological. Concepts such as institutional racism, class stratification, powerlessness, and the victimization of ethnic and racial groups are given scant attention. The curriculum is dominated by the assimilationist ideology. Pluralist and radical ideologies are either ignored or depicted as undesirable. Focuses on lower-level knowledge, ethnic heroes, holidays, and recall of factual information. Emphasizes the mastery of knowledge and cognitive outcomes.

Encourages acceptance of existing ethnic, class, and racial stratification.

Describes the cultures of ethnic groups as dynamic wholes and processes of change. Presents events, issues, and concepts from the perspectives and points of view of diverse racial and ethnic groups. Is multidimensional and geocultural-shows how peoples and cultures came to America from many different parts of the world, including Asia and Africa, and the important roles they played in the development of US society. Content about ethnic groups is an integral part of the regular or core curriculum. Ethnic minority cultures are described as different from mainstream Anglo culture but as normal and functional. An important focus is on concepts such as institutional racism, class stratification, powerlessness, and the victimization of ethnic and racial groups. The curriculum reflects a pluralistic ideology, with some attention given to radical ideas and concepts. Focuses on higher-level knowledge, such as concepts, generalizations, and theories. Emphasizes decision making and citizen action. Knowledge formulation, value analysis, and citizen action are important components of the curriculum. Knowledge is synthesized with clarified values in order to make reflective decisions that guide action (Banks with Clegg, 1985). Focuses on social criticism and social change.

in their image, created a nation that promised freedom for all, and made the United States a world power. Ethnic minorities such as Blacks, Mexican Americans, and Indians are discussed primarily at points at which they interacted with the Europeans in North America.

Ethnic diversity and social change 99 A number of reasons have been posited to explain why the school curriculum – the social studies in particular – has remained primarily Anglo- and Eurocentric after more than two decades of attempted reform. Many teachers and principals state that they have not reformed the curriculum to reflect ethnic diversity in their schools because they do not have ethnic minorities in their school populations and consequently have no racial or ethnic problems. These educators believe that ethnic content is needed only by ethnic minority students or to help reduce ethnic conflict within schools that have racial problems. This assumption is widespread within the schools and has existed at least since the early 1950s when Hilda Taba (Taba et al., 1952) and her colleagues did their pioneering work in intergroup education. Other reasons often given for the lack of progress in substantially reforming the curriculum to reflect ethnic and cultural diversity since the 1960s include the lack of effective teaching materials, ambivalent teacher attitudes toward ethnic diversity, lack of effective in-service training, and lack of administrative support. Although each of these reasons explains in part why multicultural content has not permeated the school curriculum in the last two decades, they do not reveal the basic reason why multicultural content has not permeated, in any meaningful way, the US school curriculum. I believe that the resistance to multicultural content is basically ideological. An ideology is a system of ideas, beliefs, traditions, principles, and myths held by a social group or society that reflects, rationalizes, and defends its particular social, political, and economic interests (Theodorson and Theodorson, 1969). Dominant ethnic and cultural groups develop ideologies to defend and rationalize their attitudes, goals, and social structures. Bullivant (1986a, p. 103) writes, “In an analysis of ethnoculturally pluralistic societies the term ideology can be used to refer to the system of beliefs and values employed by a dominant ethnocultural group to legitimize its control over the life chances of subordinate ethnocultural groups.” Bullivant calls this situation a form of “ethnic hegemony.” The dominant ideology related to ethnic and racial pluralism within the United States has been described with several different concepts, including the melting pot, Anglo conformity, and cultural assimilation (Gordon, 1964). This ideology states that the diverse ethnic and racial groups within the United States not only should but also will eventually surrender their unique cultural and ethnic characteristics and acquire those of Anglo- or mainstream Americans. Robert E. Park (Coser, 1977), the eminent US sociologist who played a key role in the development of the Chicago School of Sociology, believed that race and ethnic relations were characterized by four inevitable phases: contact, conflict, accommodation, and assimilation. Park’s notion about inevitable cultural assimilation dominated US social science until the ethnic revival movements emerged in the 1960s (Glazer and Moynihan, 1975). The assimilationist envisions a society and nation-state in which ethnic characteristics die of their own weight. Group affiliations within a modernized society, argues the assimilationist, are related to social-class, occupation, education, and other voluntary and achieved statuses. The assimilationist believes that ethnic affiliations and attachments are antithetical to a modernized democratic society, because they promote primordial affiliations, groups’ rights over the rights of the individual, and particularistic concerns rather than the overarching goals of the nation-state (Patterson, 1977). The assimilationist conception is not so much wrong as it is flawed and incomplete (Apter, 1977). Ethnic minorities such as Afro-Americans, Mexican

100 Teaching social studies Americans, and Indians realized by the late 1960s that, no matter how culturally assimilated they became, they were often unable to attain structural assimilation and full participation in US society. During most of their histories in the United States, these groups had worked diligently to become culturally assimilated and full participants in US society (Glazer, 1977). In the late 1960s most non-White ethnic groups had become disillusioned with assimilation as a societal goal and with the assimilationist ideology. They began to question seriously not only its desirability but also its latent function. Many ethnic minority leaders and scholars began to view it as a tool that dominant ethnic groups used to rationalize and maintain their power and to keep victimized ethnic groups content with the status quo and yet striving to attain implausible goals (Sizemore, 1973). During the ethnic revival movements of the 1960s and 1970s, ethnic minority scholars and leaders stridently attacked the assimilationist ideology and began to exhume and shape a pluralist ideology that they saw as more consistent with their social, economic, political, and educational aspirations (Ladner, 1973; Sizemore, 1973). This ideology maintains that the assimilationist claims about individual opportunity in the United States are a myth and that US citizens are judged first as members of groups and only secondarily as individuals. The pluralists argue that individuals are rarely able to experience social and economic mobility that is beyond that of their ethnic or cultural group (Dickeman, 1973). Pluralists envision a curriculum that will strengthen family and ethnic attachments and help students to develop a commitment to the liberation of their ethnic groups (Sizemore, 1973). Assimilationists contend that they oppose a pluralist curriculum because it is un-American, will undercut American patriotism, will create ethnic Balkanization, and will prevent ethnic minority students from attaining the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to become effective participants in mainstream US society and culture (Thernstrom, 1980). Pluralists maintain that mainstream Americans are strongly opposed to a pluralistic curriculum – which reinterprets the US experience and presents diverse ethnic perspectives on the development of American society – because they fear it will undercut their dominant position in society and legitimize the quest of excluded ethnic groups for empowerment and significant social change (Dickeman, 1973; Sizemore, 1973).

Teaching for social change A major goal of social studies education has traditionally been to socialize students so that they would accept unquestionably the existing ideologies, institutions, and practices within their society and nation-state (Newmann, 1975). Political education within the United States has traditionally fostered political passivity rather than political action. Although several experimental political studies courses designed to foster political action were developed for students during the flurry of social studies curricular activity in the 1970s (Gillespie and Patrick, 1974), these projects have not substantially changed the nature of political education in the nation’s schools. Students are taught to vote and to participate in the political systems in ways that will not significantly reform US society. Newmann writes: By teaching that the constitutional system of the U.S. guarantees a benevolent government serving the needs of all, the schools have fostered massive public apathy. Whereas the protestant ethic calls for engagement (to survive economically one must earn a living), the political creed breeds passivity. One need not

Ethnic diversity and social change 101 struggle for political rights, but only maintain a vague level of vigilance, obey the laws, make careful choices in elections, perform a few duties (taxes, military service), and his political welfare is assured. (1968, p. 536) Even though the schools teach students the expressed ideals about justice and equality that are dominant within US society, rarely do we deliberately educate students for social change and help them to acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to help close the gap between our democratic ideals and societal realities. A major goal of the social studies curriculum should be to help students acquire the knowledge, values, and skills they need to participate in social change so that victimized and excluded ethnic and racial groups can become full participants in US society. To participate effectively in social change, students must be taught social criticism and be helped to understand the inconsistency between our ideals and social realities, the work that must be done to close this gap, and how they can, as individuals and groups, influence the social and political systems in US society (Newmann, 1975). When conceptualizing a social studies curriculum designed to promote civic action and social change, we need to ponder seriously the arguments by the revisionists (Katz, 1975) and the neo-Marxist scholars (Bowles and Gintis, 1976). They contend that the school is incapable of teaching students to be agents of change, because one of its major roles is to reproduce the social structure and to socialize students so that they will passively accept their position in our class and ethnically stratified society. The radical critics of the schools, especially those in the United Kingdom, have been keenly critical of multiethnic studies as a strategy to promote social change (Modgil et al., 1986). They argue that multiethnic studies are a palliative to keep excluded and oppressed groups from rebelling against a system that promotes structural inequality and institutionalized racism (Carby, 1980). The radical scholars also claim that multiethnic studies avoid any serious analysis of class, racism, power, capitalism, and other systems that keep excluded ethnic groups powerless. Multiethnic studies, they argue, divert attention from the real problems and issues. Instead, they focus on the victim as the problem. It is difficult to reject completely the argument that one of the school’s major roles is to socialize students so that they will fit into the existing social order. However, the revisionists and other radical scholars overstate the case when they argue that the schools merely socialize students into the existing social order. The school itself is contradictory since it often expounds democratic values while at the same time contradicting them. While the school socializes students into the existing social structure, it also enables some students to acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to participate effectively in social action and social change.

The teacher as cultural mediator and agent of change Whether it is a deliberate goal of the school or not, many students learn compassion and democratic ideals and develop a commitment to participate in social change from powerful and influential classroom teachers. These teachers are also cultural mediators who interpret the mainstream and ethnic cultures to students from diverse cultural groups and help students to understand the desirability and possibility of social change. Many such teachers participated in social action in the

102 Teaching social studies 1960s and 1970s to promote social justice and human rights. Today, many social studies teachers are deeply concerned about apartheid in South Africa and about the possibility of a nuclear holocaust. The school – primarily through the influence of teachers who have clarified and reflective commitments to democratic values, knowledge, pedagogical skills, and the charisma to inspire others – can play a significant role in teaching social criticism and motivating students to become involved in social change (see Figure 9.1). Some teachers have a significant influence on the values, hopes, and dreams of their students. The social studies classroom should be a forum of open inquiry where diverse points of view and perspectives are shared and analyzed reflectively. Teachers who are committed to human freedom and other overarching American ideals should feel free to express their views in the classroom, provided that students have first had an opportunity to express freely and to defend their beliefs and that teachers defend their beliefs reflectively and in ways consistent with American democratic values (Oliver and Shaver, 1966). In the democratic social studies classroom, both students and teachers should have the freedom to express their values and beliefs but should be required to defend them and to point out ways in which their moral choices are related to overarching American ideals, such as human dignity, justice, and equality (Oliver and Shaver, 1966). In a democratic society, students and teachers should express freely morally and intellectually defensible values and beliefs about human freedom (Shaver and Strong, 1982). Teaching, like social science inquiry, is not a value-neutral activity. This is especially the case in the social studies, where teachers and students must Means for change

Dominant characteristics of multiethnic studies

The teacher as cultural mediator and change agent

Desirable characteristics of multiethnic studies

Barriers to effective multicultural curriculum reform * Dominant ethnic group hegemony * Assimilationist ideology * Institutional constraints that prevent teachers from actualizing their democratic values. Kerr (1984) calls these factors “barriers to integrity” * Teachers, administrators, parents, and students who are committed to the dominant-group, assimilationist ideology

Figure 9.1 The teacher as cultural mediator and agent of social change.

Ethnic diversity and social change 103 deal with human problems, conflicts, and dilemmas toward which it is impossible to remain neutral. Both teachers and social scientists have often been admonished to strive for objectivity in their work. Although teachers should not use the classroom as a forum to promote partisan political beliefs, they should, like caring social scientists, become “involved observers,” to borrow Kenneth B. Clark’s (1965) apt phrase. They should support and defend moral and ethical positions that are consistent with American democratic values and ideals (Oliver and Shaver, 1966). Clark (1965, p. xxi) eloquently states his creed as a social scientist. It is an appropriate one for a social studies teachers: An important part of my creed as a social scientist is that on the grounds of absolute objectivity or on a posture of scientific detachment and indifference, a truly and serious social science cannot ask to be taken seriously by a society desperately in need of moral and empirical guidance in human affairs. . . . I believe that to be taken seriously, to be viable, and to be relevant social science must dare to study the real problems of men and society, must use the real community, the market place, the arena of politics and power as its laboratories, and must confront and seek to understand the dynamics of social action and social change. Teachers who support human freedom, justice, and equality can motivate students to engage in social action to improve the human condition. It is individual teachers – and not schools per se – who can and do help students to develop the ideals, knowledge, and skills needed to reform society. They do this by exemplifying a commitment to democratic values in the content they select, in their interpretations of social and historical events, and in their words and deeds. Social studies teachers, while respecting the beliefs and diversity of their students and helping them to develop social science inquiry skills, can support democracy, equality, and the empowerment of victimized racial and ethnic groups (Cummins, 1986). If teachers are to be the primary agents for change in schools, we must keep democratic values, teaching, and commitments foremost in mind when we select and train individuals for teaching. A major goal of our selection and training process must be to place in the classroom teachers who have strong and clarified democratic values and the knowledge and skills to implement a curriculum that will enable students to acquire the content, commitment, and competencies needed to participate in democratic social change. Training programs that are designed to help teachers to become effective cultural mediators and agents of change must help them to acquire (a) social science knowledge, derived using a process in which the goals, assumptions, and values of knowledge are learned; (b) clarified cultural identifications; (c) positive intergroup and racial attitudes; and (d) pedagogical skills (see the Appendix) (Banks, 1986). To select and train teachers successfully is probably the most challenging and difficult task that lies ahead for those of us who would like to see the schools – and the elementary social studies curriculum in particular – become a vehicle for social change and human betterment.

Appendix Characteristics of the effective teacher in a multicultural society Knowledge The effective teacher has (1) social science knowledge derived using a process in which the goals, assumptions, and values of knowledge are learned and (2) pedagogical knowledge of (a) the characteristics of students from diverse

104 Teaching social studies ethnic, racial, cultural, and social-class groups, (b) prejudice and prejudice-reduction theory and research, and (c) teaching strategies and techniques. Clarified cultural identification The effective teacher has a reflective and clarified understanding of his or her cultural heritage and experience and knowledge of how it relates to and interacts with the experiences of other ethnic and cultural groups. Positive intergroup and racial attitudes The effective teacher has clarified and positive attitudes toward different racial, ethnic, cultural, and social-class groups. Pedagogical skills The effective teacher has the skills to (1) make effective instructional decisions, (2) reduce prejudice and intergroup conflict, and (3) formulate and devise a range of teaching strategies and activities that will facilitate the academic achievement of students from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and social-class groups.

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Ethnic diversity and social change 105 Clark, K. B. (1973). Social policy, power, and social science research. Harvard Educational Review, 43, 113–121. Cortés, C. E. (1976). Need for a geo-cultural perspective in the bicentennial. Educational Leadership, 33, 290–292. Coser, L. A. (1977). Masters of sociological thought: ideas in historical and social context (2nd ed.). New York: Harcourt. Cuban, L. (1968, September 21). Black history, Negro history, and white folk. Saturday Review, pp. 64–65. Cummins, J. (1986). Empowering minority students: a framework for intervention. Harvard Educational Review, 56, 18–36. Dickeman, M. (1973). Teaching cultural pluralism. In J. A. Banks (Ed.), Teaching ethnic studies: concepts and strategies (Forty-third yearbook of the National Council for the Social Studies). Washington, DC: National Council for the Social Studies, pp. 5–25. Edmonds, R., Billingsley, A., Comer, J., Dyer, J., Hall, W., Hill, R., McGhee, N., Reddick, L., Taylor, H., and Wright, S. (1973). A Black response to Christopher Jenck’s Inequality and certain other issues. Harvard Educational Review, 43, 76–91. Farmer, J. (1985). Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement. New York: Arbor. Fitzgerald, F. (1979). America revisited: history textbooks in the twentieth century. New York: Vintage. Garcia, J. and Goebel, J. (1985). A comparative study of the portrayal of Black Americans in selected U.S. history textbooks. Negro Educational Review, 36, 118–127. Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic. Genovese, E. D. (1974). Roll, Jordan roll: the world the slaves made. New York: Pantheon. Gillespie, J. A. and Patrick, J. J. (1974). Comparing political experiences. Washington, DC: American Political Science Association. Glazer, N. (1977). Cultural pluralism: The social aspect. In M. M. Tumin and W. Plotch (Eds), Pluralism in a democratic society. New York: Praeger, pp. 3–24. Glazer, N. and Moynihan, D. P. (Eds). (1975). Ethnicity: theory and experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Gordon, M. M. (1964). Assimilation in American life. New York: Oxford University Press. Gutman, H. G. (1970). The Black family in slavery and freedom, 1750–1925. New York: Vintage. Hill, R. B. (1971). The strengths of Black families. New York: Emerson Hall. Jencks, C., Smith, M., Acland, H., Bane, M. J., Cohen, D., Gintis, H., Heyns, B., and Michelson, S. (1972). Inequality: a reassessment of the effect of family and schooling in America. New York: Basic. Johnston, W. J. (Ed.). (1985). Education on trial. San Francisco, CA: Institute for Contemporary Studies. Katz, M. B. (1975). Class, bureaucracy, and schools: the illusion of educational change in America (expanded ed.). New York: Praeger. Kerr, D. (1984). Barriers to integrity: modern modes of knowledge utilization. Boulder, CO: Westview. Ladner, J. (Ed.). (1973). The death of white sociology. New York: Vintage. Merton, R. K. (1972). Insiders and outsiders: a chapter in the sociology of knowledge. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 9–47. Modgil, S., Verma, G., Mallick, K., and Modgil, C. (Eds). (1986). Multicultural education: the interminable debate. London: Falmer. Moodley, K. A. (1986). Canadian multicultural education. In J. A. Banks and J. Lynch (Eds), Multicultural education in Western societies. New York: Praeger, pp. 51–75. Moynihan, D. P. (1965). The Negro family: the case for national action. Washington, DC: US Department of Labor, Office of Planning and Research. Mullard, C. (1980). Racism in society and schools: history, policy, and practice (Occasional Paper No. 1). London; University of London, Institute of Education, Centre for Multicultural Education. Nakano, T. U. and Nakano, L. (1980). Within the barbed wire fence: a Japanese man’s account of his internment. Seattle, CA: University of Washington Press. National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1983). A nation at risk. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

106 Teaching social studies Newmann, F. M. (1968). Discussion: political socialization in the schools. Harvard Educational Review, 38, 536–545. Newmann, F. M. (1975). Education for citizen action: challenge for secondary curriculum. Berkeley, CA: McCutchan. Oliver, D. W. and Shaver, J. P. (1966). Teaching public issues in the high school. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Patterson, O. (1977). Ethnic chauvinism: the reactionary impulse. New York: Stein and Day. Raines, H. (1977). My soul is rested: movement days in the deep South remembered. New York: Putnam’s. Reissman, F. (1962). The culturally deprived child. New York: Harper and Row. Shaver, J. P. and Strong, W. (1982). Facing value decisions: Rationale-building for teachers (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press. Sizemore, B. A. (1973). Shattering the melting pot myth. In J. A. Banks (Ed.), Teaching ethnic studies: concepts and strategies. Washington, DC: National Council for the Social Studies, pp. 73–101. Sowell, T. (1984). Civil rights: rhetoric or reality? New York: Morrow. Taba, H., Brady, E. H. and Robinson, J. T. (1952). Intergroup education in public schools. Washington, DC: American Council on Education. Theodorson, G. A. and Theodorson, A. G. (1969). A modern dictionary of sociology. New York: Barnes and Noble. Thernstrom, A. M. (1980). E pluribus plura – Congress and bilingual education. Public Interest, 60, 3–22. Valentine, C. A. (1968). Culture and poverty: critique and counter-proposals. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. White, J. L. (1984). The psychology of Blacks. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Wilson, W. J. (1978). The declining significance of race: Blacks and changing American institutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

PART 4

MULTIETHNIC EDUCATION AND SCHOOL REFORM

CHAPTER 10

IMPERATIVES IN ETHNIC MINORITY EDUCATION Phi Delta Kappan, 1972, 53, 266–269

As we approach the threshold of the twenty-first century, our nation is witnessing technological progress which has been unparalleled in human history, yet is plagued with social problems of such magnitude that they pose a serious threat to the ideals of American democracy and to human survival. Environmental pollution, poverty, war, deteriorating cities, and ethnic conflict are the intractable social problems which Americans must resolve if we are to survive and create a just, humane society. Our society is becoming increasingly polarized and dehumanized, largely because of institutional racism and ethnic hostility. The elimination of conflicts between the races must be our top priorities for the seventies. One of the founding principles of this nation was that oppressed peoples from other lands would find in America tolerance and acceptance, if not a utopia for the full development of their potential. People who were denied religious, economic, and political freedom flocked to America in search of a better life. Perhaps more than any other nation in human history, the United States has succeeded in culturally assimilating its immigrants and providing them with the opportunity to attain the “good life.” The elimination of differences among peoples of diverse nationalities was the essence of the “melting pot” concept. While the United States has successfully assimilated ethnic groups which shared a set of values and behavior patterns of European origin, it has blatantly denied its Black, Brown, Red, and Yellow citizens the opportunity to share fully in the American Dream because they posses physical and cultural characteristics that are non-European. Ethnic minority groups have been the victims of institutional racism in America primarily because of their unique physical characteristics and the myths which emerged extolling the intrinsic virtues of European civilization and describing non-European peoples as ruthless savages. European and White ancestry have been the primary requisites for full realization of the American Dream. For most people of color in the United States, the dream has been deferred. The shattered dream and the denial of equal opportunities to ethnic minority groups have been the sources of acute ethnic conflict within America; it has now reached crisis proportions. The flames that burned in Watts, the blood that ran in Detroit, and now the Attica prison rebellion and its tragic ending1 are alarming manifestations of our inability to resolve conflicts between the majority and ethnic minority groups in America. No sensitive and perceptive student of American society can deny the seriousness of our current racial problems. In recent years they have intensified as Blacks and other marginalized ethnic groups have taken aggressive actions to liberate

110 Multiethnic education and school reform themselves from oppression. Reactions of the White community to the new ethnic militancy have been intensive and persisting. A “law and order” response has emerged to eradicate ethnic revolts in the nation’s inner cities. To many White Americans, the plea for law and order is a call for an end to protests by ethnic groups and alienated youths. The fact that many law and order advocates demanded that Lt. Calley go free after a military jury convicted him for killing civilians in Asia indicates that many Americans do not consistently value law, order, or human life. The law and order movement is directed primarily toward the poor, the colored, and the powerless. However, few constructive actions have been taken by local and national leaders to eliminate the hopelessness, alienation, and poverty that often cause the inner-city dweller to violate laws in order to survive. As our nation becomes increasingly polarized, we are rapidly becoming two separate and unequal societies (Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, 1968). Because the public school is an integral part of our social system, it has been a partner in the denial of equal opportunities to America’s ethnic minorities; it has reinforced the status quo and social-class and racial stratification. Sensitive and perceptive writers such as Kozol (1967) and Kohl (1967), and researchers such as Pettigrew (United States Commission on Civil Rights, 1967) and Coleman et al. (1966), have extensively documented the ways in which the public schools make the ethnic child feel “invisible,” while at the same time teaching the American Dream. Such contradictory behavior on the part of educators makes the ethnic minority child, as Baldwin (1963) has insightfully stated, run “the risk of becoming schizophrenic” (p. 42). Despite the school’s reluctance to initiate social change, despite its tendency to reinforce and perpetuate the status quo, whenever our nation faces a crisis we call upon the schools to help resolve it. Obviously, this is not because schools have historically responded creatively and imaginatively to social problems. It is because many Americans retain an unshaken faith in the school’s potential for improving society. I share that faith. The school does have the potential to promote and lead constructive social change. In fact, it may be the only institution within our society which can spearhead the changes essential to prevent racial wars and chaos in America. I would now like to propose a number of changes that must take place in the school if it is going to exercise a leadership role in eliminating ethnic hostility and conflict in America. Because the teacher is the most important variable in the child’s learning environment, classroom teachers must develop more positive attitudes toward ethnic minorities and their cultures and higher academic expectations for ethnic youths. Teachers’ attitudes and expectations have a profound impact on students’ perceptions, academic behavior, self-concepts, and beliefs. Many teachers do not accept and respect the diverse cultures of ethnic youths, hence ethnic students often find the school’s culture alien. The “cultural clash” in the classroom is by now a cliché. Studies by scholars such as Becker, Gottlieb, and Clark (1965) indicate that teachers typically have negative attitudes and low academic expectations for their Black, Brown, Red, and poor students. Other research suggests that teachers, next to parents, are the most “significant others” in children’s lives, and that teachers play an important role in the formation of children’s racial attitudes and beliefs. A study by Davidson and Lang (1971) indicates that the assessments that children make of themselves are significantly related to the evaluation that “significant” people, such as teachers, make of them.

Imperatives in ethnic minority education 111 It is necessary for all teachers to view ethnic groups and their cultures more positively, whether they teach in suburbia or in the inner-city. The problems in the inner-city are deeply implicated in the larger society. Our future presidents, senators, mayors, police officers, and absentee landlords are taught in suburban classrooms. Unless teachers can succeed in helping these future leaders to develop more humane attitudes toward ethnic minorities, the inner-city will continue to thrive and destroy human lives. The research on changing teachers’ attitudes is both sparse and inconclusive. It suggests that changing the racial attitudes of adults is a Herculean task (Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968). However, the urgency of our racial problems demands that we act on the basis of current research. To maximize the chances for successful attitude intervention programs, experiences must be designed specifically for that purpose. Programs with general or global objectives are not likely to be successful. Courses that consist exclusively of lecture presentations have little impact. Diverse experiences, such as seminars, visitations, community involvement, committee work, guest speakers, movies, multimedia materials, and workshops, combined with factual lectures, are more effective than any single approach. Community involvement and contact (with the appropriate norms in the social setting) are the most productive techniques. Psychotherapy and T-grouping, if led by competent persons, are also promising strategies (Banks, 1972). Teachers must help ethnic minority students to augment their self-concepts, to feel more positively toward their own cultures, to develop a sense of political efficacy, and to master strategies that will enable them to liberate themselves from physical and psychological oppression. There is a movement among ethnic minority groups to reject their old identities, shaped largely by White society, and to create new ones, shaped by themselves. The calls for Black, Red, Brown, and Yellow power are rallying cries of these movements. However, despite the positive changes that have resulted from these identity quests, most ethnic minority youth still live in dehumanizing urban communities which tell them that Black, Brown, and Red are ugly and shameful. They have some teachers and administrators who reinforce the negative lessons they learn from their immediate environment. Ethnic youths cannot believe that they are beautiful people as long as they have social contact within the school and the larger society which contradict that belief. While current research is inconclusive and contradictory, the bulk of it indicates that recent attempts at self-determination have not significantly changed the self-concepts and self-evaluations of most ethnic minority children and youth (Goldschmid, 1970). Despite the need for ethnic studies by all students, ethnic content alone will not help minority youths to feel more positively about themselves and their cultures, nor will it help them develop a sense of control over their destinies. A school atmosphere must be created that values and accepts cultural differences, and ethnic youths must be taught how they have been victimized by institutionalized racism. They must become involved in social action projects which will teach them how to influence and change social and political institutions. One of the major goals of ethnic studies should be to help ethnic minority students become effective and reflective political activists. We must provide opportunities for them to participate in social action projects so that they can become adept in influencing public policy which affects their lives. We now educate students for political apathy. They are taught that every citizen gets equal protection under the law, that racism only exists in the South, and that if they vote regularly and obey the laws, our benign political leaders will make sure that they will get their slice of the American Dream

112 Multiethnic education and school reform pie. The powerlessness and widespread political alienation among Blacks, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, Puerto Rican Americans, and other poor peoples are deceptively evaded in such mythical lessons about our political system. We must teach ethnic youths how to obtain and exercise political power in order for them to liberate themselves from physical and psychological captivity. Their liberation might be the salvation of our confused and divided society. There is also an urgent need for ethnic studies to help White students expand their concepts of humanity. Many Whites seem to believe that they are the only humans on earth. To the extent that a people exclude other humans from their conception of humanity, they themselves are dehumanized. Racism has dehumanized many Whites and caused them to exclude ethnic minority groups from their definition of humanity. The issue of helping students become more humanized ultimately transcends race and social class. However, helping students see ethnic minorities as fellow humans is imperative if we are to eliminate our racial problems. Ethnic content can serve as an excellent vehicle to help White students expand their conceptions of humanity and to better understand their own cultures. Since cultures are human-made, there are many ways of being human. The White middle-class lifestyle is one way; the Spanish Harlem culture is another. By studying this important generalization, students will develop an appreciation for the great capacity of humans to create a diversity of lifestyles and to adapt to a variety of social and physical environments. Most groups tend to think that their culture is superior to all others. Chauvinist ethnocentrism is especially acute among dominant groups in American society. By studying other ways of being and living, students will see how bound they are by their own values, perceptions, and prejudices. The cultures of our powerless ethnic groups, and the devastating experiences of America’s oppressed Black, Brown, Red, and Yellow peoples, are shocking testimony to the criminal effects of racism on its victims. Ethnic content can serve as an excellent lens to help White America see itself clearly and hopefully to become more humanized. We must construct new conceptions of human intelligence and devise instructional programs based on these novel ideas to improve the education of ethnic minority students. Brookover and Edsel have summarized the conceptions of human intelligence on which most current educational programs are based: 1) that ability to learn is relatively fixed and unchangeable and 2) that it is predetermined by heredity . . . These beliefs assume that ability is unaffected by external social forces. Another common assumption is that fixed ability of individuals can be measured with reasonable accuracy by intelligence tests. (1969, p. 3) These pervasive and outmoded assumptions have led to unfortunate practices in our schools. Ethnic minority youth are often placed in low academic tracts, classified as mentally retarded, and exposed to an unstimulating educational environment because they perform poorly on IQ and other tests which were standardized on a White middle-class population. These practices result in the self-fulfilling prophecy: teachers assume that these students cannot learn, and they do not learn because teachers do not create the kinds of experiences which will enable them to master essential understandings and skills. The traditional conceptions of human intelligence have recently been defended and popularized by Arthur R. Jensen (1969). Jensen’s research is based on unhelpful

Imperatives in ethnic minority education 113 and faulty assumptions (he maintains, for example, that intelligence is what IQ tests measure). His argument is only a hypothesis and should never have been presented to the general public in a popular magazine such as Life (since it is only a hypothesis) in these racially troubled times. I believe that the hypothesis is immoral, misleading, and irrelevant. Since we have no reliable and valid ways to determine innate potential, a moral assumption is that all students have the ability to master the skills and understandings which educators deem necessary for them to function adequately in our highly technological society; we should search for means to facilitate their acquisition of these skills and understandings and not spend valuable time trying to discover which ethnic group is born with “more” of “something” that we have not yet clearly defined. As Robert E. L. Faris (1961), the perceptive sociologist has stated, “We essentially create our own level of human intelligence.” Teachers must obtain a more liberal education, greater familiarity with ethnic cultures, and a more acute awareness of the racist assumptions on which much social science research is based if they are to become effective change agents in minority education. Social science reflects the norms, values, and goals of the mainstream and powerful groups in society; it validates those belief systems which are functional for people in power and dysfunctional for marginalized and powerless groups. Research that is antithetical to the interest of mainstream and powerful groups is generally ignored by the scientific community and the society which supports it (Sizemore, 1972). White historians and social scientists have created numerous myths about ethnic minorities (Phillips, 1918/1966). Many teachers perpetuate the historical and social science myths which they learned in school and that are pervasive in textbooks because they are unaware of the racist assumptions on which social science research is often based. Much information in textbooks supports the status quo and reinforce the status of groups who are at the lower rungs of the social ladder. Teachers often tell students that Columbus discovered America, yet the Indians were in the American centuries before Columbus. The Columbus myth in one sense denies Native American children their past and thus their identity. Many teachers believe that Lincoln was the great emancipator of Black people; he supported a move to deport Blacks to Africa and issued the Emancipation Proclamation, in his own words, “as a military necessity” to weaken the Confederacy (Bennett, 2000). Primary grade teachers often try to convince inner-city and lowincome children that police officers are their friends. Many ethnic minority students know from experience that some police officers respond to them negatively. Only when teachers get a truly liberal education about the nature of science and American society they will be able to correct such myths and distortions and make the school experience more realistic and meaningful for all students. Both pre- and in-service training are necessary to help teachers to gain a realistic perspective of American society. The severity of our current racial problems has rarely been exceeded in human history. The decaying cities, anti-busing movements, escalating poverty, increasing racial polarization, and the Attica prison rebellion and its tragic ending in which 10 hostages and 20 prisoners were killed (Wicker, 1975) are alarming manifestations of the racial and ethnic hostility which is widespread throughout America. Our very existence may ultimately depend upon our creative abilities to solve our urgent racial problems. During the decade which recently closed, much discussion and analysis related to ethnic minority problems occurred, yet few constructive steps were taken to eliminate the basic causes of our racial crisis. Educators must

114 Multiethnic education and school reform take decisive steps to help create a culturally pluralistic society in which peoples of different colors can live in harmony. Immediate action is imperative if we are to prevent racial wars and chaos and the complete dehumanization of American society.

Notes This chapter is an adapted version of Imperatives in ethnic minority education. Phi Delta Kappan, 53 (January 1972), 266–269. 1

A prison uprising occurred between September 9–13, 1971 in the Attica State Penitentiary, which is 30 miles south of Buffalo, New York. The inmates, who were predominantly African American and Puerto Rican, were protesting the deteriorating living conditions and racial injustice at the prison. In the poorly executed responses by state authorities, including the response of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, 10 hostages and 20 inmates were killed. See Tom Wicker (1975) and http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ rockefellers/peopleevents/e_attica.html

References Banks, J. A. (1972). Racial prejudice and the Black self-concept. In J. A. Banks and J. D. Grambs (Eds), Black self-concept: implications for education and social science New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 5–35. Baldwin, J. (1963, December 21). A talk to teachers. Saturday Review, 42, 46, 42–44. Bennett, L. (2000). Forced into glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White dream. Chicago, IL: Johnson Publishing Company. Brookover, W. B. and Edsel, E. L. (1969). Society, schools, and learning. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Clark, K. B. (1965). Dark ghetto: dilemmas of social power. New York: Harper & Row. Coleman, J. S., Cambell, E. Q., Hobson, C. J., Mc Partland, J., Mood, A.M., Weinfeld, F. D. and York, R. L. (1966). Equality of educational opportunity. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. Davidson, H. H. and Lang, G. (1971). Children’s perceptions of their teachers’ feelings toward them related to self-perception, school achievement, and behavior. In J. A. Banks and W. W. Joyce (Eds), Teaching social studies to culturally different children. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, pp. 113–127. Faris, E. L. (1961). Reflections on the ability dimension in human society. American Sociological Review, December, 26 (6), 835–843. Goldschmid, M. L. (Ed.). (1970). Black Americans and White racism: theory and research. New York: Holt. Jensen, A. R. (1969). How much can we boost IQ and scholastic academic? Harvard Educational Review, 39, 1–123. Kohl, H. (1967). 36 Children. New York: New American Library. Kozol, J. (1967). Death at an early age: the destruction of the hearts and minds of Negro children in the Boston Public Schools. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968). New York: Bantam. Rosenthal, R. and Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom: teacher expectations and pupils’ intellectual development. New York: Holt. Sizemore, B. A. (1972). Social science and education for a Black identity. In J. A. Banks and J. D. Grambs (Eds), Black self-concept: implications for education and social science. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 141–170. United States Commission on Civil Rights (1967). Racial isolation in the public school. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. Wicker, T. (1975). A Time to die. New York: Quadrangle/New York Times.

CHAPTER 11

PLURALISM, IDEOLOGY, AND CURRICULUM REFORM The Social Studies, 1976, 67, 99–106

In recent years school districts throughout the United States have taken vigorous steps to incorporate more information about ethnic groups into the curriculum and to make the school environment more consistent with the pluralistic nature of American society.1 These school reform efforts emerged largely as responses to the civil rights movement of the 1960s and its aftermath. School reform efforts related to ethnicity have been encouraged by many different groups, agencies, and institutions, including private foundations and the federal government. The Bilingual Education Act (Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) and the Ethnic Heritage Act (Title IX of ESEA) are examples of federal policies which encourage schools to implement curricular reforms related to pluralism. Despite the reforms which schools have implemented and the support which they have received a number of crucial questions concerning the relationship between the school and ethnicity have not been satisfactorily clarified or resolved. These questions must be clarified and resolved before we can design effective and justifiable programs related to pluralism in America. One of these key questions relates to the proper role of public institutions like the common school in the area of ethnicity. Should the common school promote, remain neutral to, or ignore the ethnic characteristics of its students and the ethnic diversity within American life? Many educational leaders believe that the school should not ignore ethnicity and should implement curricular reforms related to pluralism. However, there is little agreement about what kinds of reforms should be initiated and how they can best be implemented. Contemporary views on ethnicity and the schools range from those of Michael Novak,2 who believes that ethnicity should be an integral and salient part of the school curriculum, to those of Nathan Glazer, who cautions that too much emphasis on ethnicity in the schools may be inimical to the common culture and promote the balkanization of American society.3 Mari-Luci Jaramillo argues that the school should promote ethnic identity and attachments but should be primarily concerned with the “visible minorities” because of their urgent needs and unique problems.4 Contemporary views on ethnicity and the schools reflect divergent ideologies and have conflicting policy implications. These ideologies and their implications for school policy merit careful examination and discussion. I will identify two major ideological positions related to ethnicity and cultural pluralism which are evident in most theoretical discussions on ethnicity and pluralism in the United States. The major assumptions and arguments of these positions will be discussed and their limitations as guides to curricular reform will

116 Multiethnic education and school reform be identified. I will then describe an eclectic ideological position which reflects both major ideologies and argue that it can best guide educational policy and curriculum reform. It is very important for the reader to realize that the ideological positions that I will identify and describe are ideal types in the Weberian sense. The views of no particular writer or theorist can be accurately described by either of the two major positions in their ideal forms. However, various views on ethnicity and pluralism can be roughly classified using a continuum which has the two ideologies, in their ideal forms, at the extreme ends. The two major positions are the cultural pluralist ideology and the assimilationist ideology. I am not the first observer to structure a typology related to ideologies and theories of pluralism in the United States. Gordon classifies theories of assimilation into three major categories: Anglo-conformity, the melting pot, and cultural pluralism.5 Higham also identifies three ideologies: integrationist, pluralist, and pluralistic integrationist.6 These typologies as well as the one which I am presenting are in some ways similar but are different conceptualizations.

The cultural pluralist ideology The cultural pluralist ideology, in varying forms, is being widely articulated by writers today. Some writers, such as Charles V. Hamilton and Stokely Carmichael,7 endorse a “strong” version of pluralism, while writers such as Michael Novak and Robert L. Williams endorse a much “weaker” form of cultural pluralism.8 The pluralist makes various assumptions about the nature of American society, the function of the ethnic group in socializing the individual, and the responsibility which the individual member of a presumed oppressed ethnic group has to the “liberation struggle” of that group. The pluralist also makes certain assumptions about research, learning, teacher training, and the proper goals of the school curriculum. The pluralist argues that ethnicity and ethnic identities are very important in American society. The United States, according to the pluralist, is made up of competing ethnic groups, each of which champions its economic and political interests. It is extremely important, argues the pluralist, for the individual to develop a commitment to his or her ethnic group, especially if that ethnic group is “oppressed” by more powerful ethnic groups within American society. The energies and skills of each member of an ethnic group are needed to help in that group’s liberation struggle. Each individual member of an ethnic group has a moral obligation to join the liberation struggle. Thus the pluralist stresses the rights of the ethnic group over the rights of the individual. The pluralist also assumes that an ethnic group can attain inclusion and full participation within a society only when it can bargain from a powerful position and when it has “closed ranks” within.9 The pluralist views the ethnic group as extremely important in the socialization of the individual within a highly modernized society. It is within their own particular ethnic groups that individuals develop their languages, life styles, and values, and experience important primary group relationships and attachments. The ethnic community also serves as a supportive environment for the individual and helps to protect him or her from the harshness and discrimination which he or she might experience in the wider society. The ethnic group thus provides the individual with a sense of identity and psychological support, both of which are extremely important within a highly modernized and technological society which

Pluralism, ideology, and curriculum reform 117 is controlled primarily by one dominant ethnic group. The pluralist views the ethnic group as exceedingly important and believes that public institutions like the school should actively promote the interests of the various ethnic groups in their policies and in the school curriculum. The pluralist makes assumptions about research which differ from those made by the assimilationist. The pluralist assumes that ethnic minority cultures in the United States are not disadvantaged, deviant, or deficient but are well ordered and highly structured but different from each other and from the dominant Anglo-American culture. Thus the pluralist uses a “culture difference” model when researching ethnic groups, while the assimilationist researcher uses a deficit model or a genetic model.10 Because of their different research assumptions, the cultural pluralist researcher and the assimilationist researcher frequently derive different and conflicting research conclusions. Researchers such as Stephan and Joan Baratz, Jane R. Mercer, and Robert L. Williams have used the cultural difference model extensively in their research studies on ethnic groups and have done a great deal to legitimize it within the social science and educational communities.11 The cultural pluralist also assumes that ethnic minorities have unique learning styles and that the school curriculim and teaching strategies should be revised so that they are more consistent with the cognitive and lifestyles of ethnic group students. Ramírez and Castañeda have written insightfully about the unique learning styles of Mexican American youths.12 A recent study by Stodolsky and Lesser also supports the notion that the cognitive styles among ethnic groups sometimes differ.13 Pluralists, because of their assumptions about the importance of the ethnic group in the lives of children, believe that the curriculum should be drastically revised so that it will reflect the cognitive styles, cultural history, and present experiences and aspirations of ethnic groups, especially the “visible” minorities. The cultural pluralist believes that, if the school curriculum was more consistent with the experiences of ethnic groups, the learning and adjustment problems which minority students experience in the schools would be greatly reduced. Thus the cultural pluralist argues that learning materials should be culture-specific and that the major goal of the curriculum should be to help the child to function more successfully within his or her own ethnic culture. The curriculum should be structured so that it stresses events from the points of view of the specific ethnic groups. The curriculum should promote ethnic attachments and allegiances and help students to acquire the skills and commitments which will enable them to help their ethnic group to gain power and to exercise it within the larger civic culture.

The assimilationist ideology The assimilationist feels that the pluralist greatly exaggerates the extent of cultural differences within American society. However, the assimilationist does not deny that ethnic differences exist within American society or that ethnicity is very important to some groups. However, the assimilationist and the pluralist interpret ethnicity in the United States quite differently. The assimilationist tends to see ethnicity and ethnic attachments as fleeting and temporary within an increasingly modernized world. Ethnicity, argues the assimilationist, wanes or disappears under the impact of modernization and industrialization. The assimilationist believes that ethnicity is more important in developing societies than in highly modernized societies and that it crumbles under the forces of modernization and democratization.

118 Multiethnic education and school reform The assimilationist sees the modernized state as being universalistic rather than characterized by strong ethnic allegiances and attachments.14 Not only do the assimilationists view ethnicity as somewhat non-characteristic of modernized societies, they believe that strong ethnic attachments are dysfunctional within a modernized state. Assimilationists believe that the ethnic group promotes group rights over the rights of the individual and that the individual must be freed of ethnic attachments in order to have choices within society. The assimilationist also views ethnicity as a force which is inimical to the goals of a democratic society. Ethnicity, argues the assimilationist, promotes divisions, exhumes ethnic conflicts, and leads to the balkanization of society. The assimilationist believes that the best way to promote the goals of American society and to develop commitments to the ideals of American democracy is to promote the full socialization of all individuals and groups into the common culture. Every society, argues the assimilationist, has values, ideologies, and norms which each member of that society must develop commitments to if the society is to function successfully and smoothly. In the United States these values are embodied in the American creed and in such documents as the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. In each society there is also a set of common skills and abilities which every successful member of society should master. In our nation these include speaking and writing the English language. The primary goal of the common school, like other publicly supported institutions, should be to socialize individuals into the common culture and enable them to function more successfully within it. At best, the school should take a position of “benign neutrality” in matters related to the ethnic attachments of its students.15 If ethnicity and ethnic attachments are to be promoted, this should be done by private institutions like the church, the community club, and the private school. Like the cultural pluralist, assimilationists make assumptions about research related to minorities. Their conclusions reflect their assumptions. Assimilationists usually assume that subcultural groups which have characteristics that cause their members to function unsuccessfully in the common culture are deficient, deprived, and pathological, and lack needed functional characteristics. Researchers who embrace an assimilationist ideology usually use the genetic or the social pathology research model when studying ethnic minorities.16 The assimilationist learning theorist assumes that learning styles are rather universal across cultures (such as the stages of cognitive development identified by Piaget) and that certain socialization practices, such as those typical of middle-class Anglo-Americans, enhance learning while other early socialization practices, such as those found within most lower-class ethnic groups, retard the child’s ability to conceptualize and to develop his or her verbal and cognitive abilities. Consequently, assimilationist learning theorists often recommend that ethnic minority youths from lower-class homes enter compensatory educational programs at an increasingly early age. Some have suggested that these youths should be placed in a middle-class educational environment shortly after birth.17 The assimilationist believes that curriculum materials and teaching styles should be related primarily to the common culture, and that emphasis should be on our common civilization since all American citizens must learn to participate in a common culture which requires universal skills and competencies. Emphasis on cultural and ethnic differences might promote the balkanization of our society and impede socialization into the common civic culture. The school’s primary mission within a democratic society should be to socialize youths into the civic culture of the United States.

Pluralism, ideology, and curriculum reform 119 The curriculum should stress the commonality of the heritage which all people share in this nation. This includes the great documents in American history such as the Declaration of Independence and events such as the American Revolution and the two great World Wars. The curriculum should also help the child to develop a commitment to the common culture and the skills to participate in social action designed to make the practices in this nation more consistent with our professed ideologies. The school should develop within youths a “critical acceptance” of the goals, assumptions, and possibilities of this nation.

Attacks on the assimilationist ideology Historically, the assimilationist ideology has dominated American intellectual and social thought, as Glazer perceptively observes.18 Social and public policy in American society has also been most heavily influenced by the assimlationist ideology. Historically, the schools and other American institutions have viewed the acculturation of the immigrants and their descendants as one of their major goals. The nativists and the Americanizers wanted to make the immigrants “good, law-abiding Americans.”19 Occasionally in American history a few voices in the wilderness have championed “cultural pluralism.” However, their cries have usually fallen on deaf ears. Around the turn of the century, when masses of Southern, Eastern, and Central Europeans were immigrating to the United States and were being attacked by the American nativists, liberal philosophers and writers, usually of immigrant descent, strongly defended the immigrants and argued that their cultures could greatly enrich American civilization and that the immigrants had a right to maintain their ethnic cultures in a democratic nation like the United States. These writers, who included Horace Kallen, Randolph Bourne, and Julius Drachsler, set forth the concept of cultural pluralism and used it to defend these immigrants and their right to have “cultural democracy” in the United States.20 Kallen argued cogently that the cultures of the various immigrant groups would greatly strengthen American civilization. He viewed a society made up of diverse ethnic cultures as “an orchestration of mankind.” Despite the passionate arguments and eloquence of philosophers like Kallen and Drachsler, their pleas largely fell on deaf ears and the assimilationist forces triumphed in the United States and were symbolized by the passage of the highly restrictive immigration act of 1924.

The Third World rejects the assimilationist ideology In the 1960s Afro-Americans began a fight for their rights that was unprecedented in their history. Other non-White ethnic groups, who were made acutely aware of their ethnic status by the Black revolt and encouraged by what they perceived as the benefits gained by Afro-Americans, also began to make unprecedented demands upon American civic and public institutions. These groups demanded more control of their communities, more ethnic teachers for their youths, and new interpretations of American history and culture which more accurately and sensitively described their experiences in the United States. Ethnic minority groups began to question seriously both the societal goals and the dominant ideology within American society. The assimilationist ideology and the practices associated with it were strongly attacked by Third World intellectuals, researchers, and social activists. The rejection of the assimilationist ideology by non-White intellectuals and leaders is historically

120 Multiethnic education and school reform very significant. This rejection represents a major break from tradition within ethnic groups, as Glazer observes.21 Traditionally, most intellectuals and social activists among American minorities have supported assimilationist policies and regarded acculturation as a requisite for full societal participation. There have been a few staunch separatists among Afro-Americans and other ethnic groups throughout American history. However, these leaders have represented a cry in the wilderness. Significant, too, is the fact that many White liberal writers and researchers also began to attack the assiimilationist ideology and the practices associated with it in the 1960s. This represented a major break from White liberal tradition. Some White liberal writers and researchers attacked the assimilationist ideology much more vigorously than did many Black intellectuals and writers. Some of the most passionate and perceptive advocates of the teaching and acceptance of Black English in the schools, for example, are liberal White researchers such as Joan Baratz, Roger Shuy, and William Labov.22 Third World writers and researchers attacked the assimilationist ideology for many reasons. They saw it as a weapon of the oppressor that was designed to destroy the cultures of ethnic groups and to make their members personally ineffective and politically powerless. These writers also saw it as a racist ideology that justified damaging school and societal practices which victimized minority group children. Many minorities also lost faith in the assimilationist ideology because they had become disillusioned with what they perceived as its unfulfilled promises. The rise of ethnic awareness and ethnic pride also contributed to the rejection of the assimilationist ideology by ethnic minorities in the 1960s. Many minority spokespersons and writers searching for an alternative ideology endorsed some version of cultural pluralism; they viewed the pluralist ideology as more consistent with the liberation of oppressed and stigmatized ethnic groups than the assimilationist ideology. In recent years “cultural pluralism” has come into vogue among curriculum specialists and is widely discussed and written about by educators. The pluralist ideology is verbally endorsed by many curriculum specialists in the schools, although many school people who verbally endorse cultural pluralism have not seriously examined all of the ramifications of the pluralist ideology and its full policy and curricular implications. The December 1975 issue of Educational Leadership, a leading curriculum journal, was devoted to the implications of cultural pluralism for the curriculum. This special issue of the journal suggests the wide popularity of the concept among school people and curriculum specialists.

A critique of the pluralist and assimilationist ideologies Although both the pluralist and assimilationist positions make some useful assumptions and set forth arguments which curriculum specialists need to ponder seriously as they attempt to revise the school curriculum, neither ideology, in its ideal form, is sufficient to guide the revision of the curriculum in the common schools. The pluralist ideology is useful because it informs us about the importance of ethnicity within our nation and the extent to which an individual’s ethnic group determines his or her life chances in American society. The assumptions which the pluralist makes about the nature of minority cultures, the learning styles of minority youths, and the importance of ethnic identity to many American children are also useful to the curriculum builder.

Pluralism, ideology, and curriculum reform 121 However, the pluralist exaggerates the extent of cultural pluralism within American society and fails to give adequate attention to the fact that gross cultural (if not structural) assimilation has taken place in American society. Gordon, who seriously questions the extent of cultural pluralism in American society, writes: “Structural pluralism . . . is the major key to the understanding of the ethnic makeup of American society, while cultural pluralism is the minor one . . . .”23 Exaggerating the extent of cultural differences between and among ethnic groups might be as detrimental for school policy as ignoring those which are real. The pluralist also fails to give adequate attention to the fact that most members of ethnic groups participate in a wider and more universalistic culture than the one in which they have their primary group attachments. Thus the pluralist appears unwilling to prepare youths to cope adequately with the “real world” beyond the ethnic community. The cultural pluralist has also not clarified, in any meaningful way, the kind of relationship that should exist between antagonistic and competing ethnic groups which have different allegiances and conflicting goals and commitments. In other words, the pluralist has not adequately conceptualized how a strongly pluralistic nation will maintain an essential degree of societal cohesion. The assimilationist argues that the school should socialize youths so that they will be effective participants within the common culture and will develop commitments to its basis values, goals, and ideologies. The assimilationist also argues that the schools should help youths to attain the skills that will enable them to become effective, contributing members of the nation-state in which they live. It is important for curriculum developers to realize that most societies expect the common schools to help socialize youths so that they will become productive members of the nation-state and develop strong commitments to idealized societal values. Curriculum developers should keep these broad societal goals in mind when they reform the curriculum for the common schools. However, the assimilationist makes a number of highly questionable assumptions and promotes educational practices which can hinder the success of youths who are socialized within ethnic communities which have cultural characteristics quite different from those of the school. The assimilationist’s assumption that learning styles are universalistic rather than, to some extent, culture-specific is questionable. The assumption that all children can learn equally well from teaching materials that only reflect the cultural experiences of the majority group is also questionable and possibly detrimental to those minority group children who have strong ethnic identities and attachments. When assimilationists talk about the “common culture,” most often they mean the Anglo-American culture and are ignoring the reality that the United States is made up of many different ethnic groups, each of which has some unique cultural characteristics that are a part of America. The curriculum builder should seriously examine the “common culture” concept and make sure that the view of the common American culture which is promoted in the school is not racist, ethnocentric, or exclusive, but is multiethnic and reflects the ethnic and cultural diversity within American society. We need to redefine what the common culture actually is and make sure that our new conceptualization reflects the social realities within this nation and that it is not a mythical and idealized view of American life and culture.

The pluralist-assimilationist ideology Since neither the cultural pluralist nor the assimilationist ideology can adequately guide curriculum reform within the common schools, we need a different ideology

122 Multiethnic education and school reform which reflects both of these positions and yet avoids their extremes. We also need an ideology which is more consistent with the realities in American society. We might call this position the pluralist-assimilationist ideology and imagine that it is found near the center of our continuum, which has the cultural pluralist and the assimilationist ideologies at the extreme ends. (See Table 11.1) The pluralist-assimilationist ideology has not historically been a dominant ideology in American society. However, the experiences of some ethnic groups in America, the Orthodox Jews being the most salient example, are highly consistent with the pluralist-assimilationist’s vision of society. Although the pluralistassimilationist ideology is less theoretically developed than the other two positions, the pluralist-assimilationist, like the other ideologists, makes a number of assumptions about the nature of American society, about what the goals of our nation should be, and about research, learning, teacher training, and the school curriculum. The pluralist-assimilationist feels that the cultural pluralist exaggerates the importance of the ethnic group in the socialization of the individual and that the assimilationist greatly understates the role of ethnic groups in American life and in the lives of individuals. Thus the pluralist-assimilationist believes that both the pluralist and the assimilationist have distorted views of the realities in American society. The pluralist-assimilationist assumes that while the ethnic group and the ethnic community are very important in the socialization of individuals, individuals are strongly influenced by the common culture during their early socialization, even if they never leave the ethnic community or enclave. The common American culture influences every member of society through such institutions as the school, the mass media, the courts, and the technology which most Americans share. Thus, concludes the pluralist-assimilationist, while ethnic groups have some unique cultural characteristics, all groups in America share many cultural traits. As more and more members of ethnic groups become upwardly mobile, ethnic group characteristics become less important but do not disappear. Many ethnic group members who are culturally quite assimilated still maintain separate ethnic institutions and symbols.24 The pluralist-assimilationist sees neither separatism (as the pluralist does) nor total integration (as the assimilationist does) as ideal societal goals but rather envisions an “open society” in which individuals from diverse ethnic, cultural, and social class groups have equal opportunities to function and participate. In an “open society,” individuals can take full advantage of the opportunities and rewards within all social, economic, and political institutions without regard to their ancestry or ethnic identity.25 They can also participate fully in the society while preserving their distinct ethnic and cultural traits and are able to “make the maximum number of voluntary contacts with others without regard to qualifications of ancestry, sex, or class.”26 In the multiethnic, open society envisioned by the pluralist-assimilationist, individuals would be free to maintain their ethnic identities. They would also be able and willing to function effectively within the common culture and within and across other ethnic cultures. Individuals would be free to act in ways consistent with the norms and values of their ethnic groups as long as they did not conflict with dominant American idealized values, such as justice, equality of opportunity, and respect for human life. All members of society would be required to conform to the American creed values. These values would be the unifying elements of the culture that would maintain and promote societal cohesion.

Table 11.1 Ideologies related to ethnicity and pluralism in the United States The cultural pluralist ideology Separatism Primordial particularistic Minority emphasis

The pluralist-assimilationist The assimilationist ideology ideology

Open society biculturalism Universalizedprimordialism Minorities and majorities have rights. Group rights Limited rights for the are primary. group and the individual. Common ancestry Ethnic attachments and and heritage ideology of common civic unifies culture compete for allegiances of individuals. Research assumption Research assumption Ethnic minority Ethnic minority cultures cultures in the United in the United States have States are well ordered, some unique cultural highly structured, but characteristics. However, different (language, minority and majority values, behavior, etc.). groups share many values and behavior styles. Culture difference Bicultural research research model model Minorities have unique Minorities have some learning styles. unique learning styles, but share many learning characteristics with other groups. Curriculum Curriculum Use materials and The curriculum should teaching styles which respect the ethnicity of are culture specific. The the child and make use of goal of the curriculum it in positive ways. The should be to help the goal of the curriculum child to function more should be to help the successfully within child to learn how to his or her own ethnic function effectively culture and help to within the common liberate his or her culture, his or her ethnic group from ethnic culture, and oppression. other ethnic cultures. Teachers Teachers Minority students need Students need skilled skilled teachers of their teachers who are very same race and ethnicity knowledgeable about for role models to learn and sensitive to their more effectively, and to ethnic cultures and develop more positive cognitive styles. self-concepts and identities.

Total integration Universalistic Majoritarian emphasis Individual rights are primary. Ideology of the common culture unifies

Research assumption Subcultural groups which have characteristics which make its members function unsuccessfully in the common culture are deprived, pathological, and lack needed functional characteristics. Social pathology research model and/or genetic research model Human learning styles and characteristics are universal

Curriculum Use materials and teaching styles which are related to the common culture. The curriculum should help the child to develop a commitment to the common civic culture and its idealized ideologies, for example, the American Creed.

Teachers A skilled teacher who is familiar with learning theories and is able to implement those theories effectively is a good teacher for any group of students, regardless class of their ethnicity, race or social class. The goal should be to train good teachers for children.

124 Multiethnic education and school reform Because of their perceptions of the nature of American society and their vision of the ideal society, pluralist-assimilationists believe that the primary goal of the curriculum should be to help children learn how to function more effectively within their own ethnic cultures, within the wider common culture, and within other ethnic communities. However, pluralist-assimilationists feel strongly that during the process of education the school should not alienate children from their ethnic attachments but should help them to clarify their ethnic identities and make them aware of other ethnic and cultural alternatives. The pluralist-assimilationist believes that the curriculum should reflect the cultures of various ethnic groups and the common culture. Students need to study all of these cultures in order to become effective participants and decision-makers in a democratic society. The school curriculum should respect the ethnicity of the child and make use of it in positive ways. However, the students should be given options regarding their political choices and the actions which they take regarding their ethnic attachments. The school should not “force” students to be and feel ethnic if they choose to free themselves of ethnic attachments and allegiances. The pluralist-assimilationist also assumes that ethnic minorities do have some unique learning styles, although they share many learning characteristics with other children. Educators should be knowledgeable about the aspects of their learning styles which are unique so that they can better help minorities to attain more success within the school and in the larger society. While the pluralist-assimilationist ideology can best guide curriculum reform and school policy, difficult questions regarding the relationship between the school and the child’s ethnic culture are inherent within this position. The pluralisticassimilationist argues, for example, that the school should reflect both the child’s ethnic culture and the common societal culture. These questions emerge: How does the individual function within two cultures which sometimes have contradictory and conflicting norms, values, and expectations? What happens when the ethnic cultures of the students seriously conflict with the goals and norms of public institutions like the school? Do the institutions change their goals? If so, what goals do they embrace? The assimilationist solves this problem by arguing that the child should change to conform to the expectations and norms of public institutions. Although I support the pluralist-assimilationist position and have presented my proposals for curriculum reform within that ideological framework,27 it is very difficult to satisfactorily resolve all of the questions inherent within this ideology. However, public institutions like the school can and should “allow” ethnic group members to practice their culture-specific behaviors as long as they do not conflict with the major goals of the school. One of the school’s major goals is to teach children how to read, to write, to compute, and to think. The school obviously cannot encourage “ethnic” behavior if it prohibits children from reading. On the other hand, some children might be able to learn to read more easily from Graciela than from Dick and Jane.

Summar y School districts throughout the nation, stimulated by social forces and supported by private and public agencies, are implementing a wide variety of curriculum reforms related to pluralism and ethnicity in American society. However, there is widespread disagreement and confusion about what these reforms should be designed to achieve and about the proper relationship which should exist between

Pluralism, ideology, and curriculum reform 125 the school and the ethnic identities and attachments of students. Educators and social scientists who embrace divergent ideologies are recommending conflicting school and curricular policies. We can think of these varying ideologies as existing on a continuum, with the cultural pluralist position at one extreme end and the assimilationist position at the other. I have argued that neither of these ideologies, in their idea forms, can effectively guide school policy and curriculum reform. Rather, school policy and curriculum reform can best be guided by an eclectic ideology which reflects both the cultural pluralist position and the assimilationist position but which avoids their extremes. I call this ideology the pluralist-assimilationist position.

Acknowledgment I would like to thank the National Academy of Education for providing financial assistance, in the form of a Spencer Fellowship, which helped to cover the expenses incurred in researching and preparing this chapter.

Notes 1 David E. Washburn, “Ethnic Studies in the United States,” Educational Leadership, Vol. 32 (March 1975), pp. 409–412. 2 Michael Novak, “Cultural Pluralism for Individuals: A Social Vision” (paper delivered at the Pluralism in A Democratic Society Conference, New York, April 4–6, 1975). 3 Nathan Glazer, “Ethnicity and the Schools,” Commentary, September 1974, p. 59. 4 Mari-Luci Jaramillo, “Cultural Pluralism: Implications for Curriculum” (paper delivered at the Pluralism in A Democratic Society Conference, New York, April 4–6, 1975). 5 Milton M. Gordon, Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964), p. 84. 6 John Higham, “Integration vs. Pluralism: Another American Dilemma,” The Center Magazine, Vol. 7 (July/August 1974), pp. 67–73. 7 Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America (New York: Vintage Books, 1967). 8 Michael Novak, “Cultural Pluralism for Individuals: A Social Vision,” Robert L. Williams, “Moderator Variables as Bias in Testing Black Children,” The Journal of Afro-American issues, Vol. 3 (Winter 1975), pp. 77–90. 9 Carmichael and Hamilton, Black Power, Barbara A. Sizemore, “Separatism: A Reality Approach to Inclusion?” in Robert L. Green, ed., Racial Crisis in American Education (Chicago: Follett Educational Corporation, 1969), pp. 249–279. 10 Stephen S. Baratz and Joan C. Baratz, “Early Childhood Intervention: The Social Science Base of Institutional Racism,” Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 40 (Winter 1970), pp. 29–50; Gary Simpkins, Robert L. Williams, and Thomas S. Gunnings, “What a Culture a Difference Makes: A Rejoinder to Valentine,” Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 41 (4), pp. 535–541. 11 Baratz and Baratz, “Early Childhood Intervension,” Jane R. Mercer, “Latent Functions of Intelligence Testing in the Public Schools,” in Lamar P. Miller, ed., The Testing of Black Students (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1974), pp. 77–94; Robert L. Williams, “Moderator Variables as Bias in Testing Black Children”. 12 Manuel Ramírez III and Alfredo Castañeda, Cultural Democracy, Bicognitive Development and Education (New York: Academic Press, 1974). 13 Susan S. Stodolsky and Gerald Lesser, “Learning Patterns in the Disadvantaged,” Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 37 (Fall 1967), pp. 546–593. 14 David Apter, “Political Life and Pluralism,” (paper delivered at at the Pluralism in A Democratic Society Conference, New York, April 4–6, 1975). 15 Nathan Glazer, “Cultural Pluralism: The Social Aspect” (paper presented at the Pluralism in a Democratic Society Conference New York, April 4–6, 1975).

126 Multiethnic education and school reform 16 Arthur R. Jensen, “How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?” Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 39 (Winter 1969), pp. 1–123; William Shockley, “Dysgenics, Geneticity, Raceology: Challenges to the Intellectual Responsibility of Educators” Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 53 (January 1972) pp. 297–307. 17 Betty Caldwell, “What is the Optimal Learning Environment for the Young Child?” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Vol. 37 (l967), pp. 9–21. 18 Nathan Glazer, “Cultural Pluralism.” 19 John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism 1860–1925 (New York: Atheneum, 1972). 20 Horace M. Kallen, Culture and Democracy in the United States (New York: Boni and Liveright, 1924); Randolph S. Bourne, “Trans-National America,” The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 118 (July 1916), p. 95; Julius Drachsler, Democracy and Assimilation (New York: Macmillan, 1920). 21 Nathan Glazer, “Cultural Pluralism.” 22 Joan C. Baratz and Roger Shuy, eds, Teaching Black Children to Read (Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1969); William Labov, “The Logic of Nonstandard English,” in Frederic Williams, ed., Language and Poverty: Perspectives on a Theme (Chicago, IL: Markham Publishing Company, 1970), pp. 153–189. 23 Gordon, Assimilation in American Life, p. 159. 24 Ibid. 25 James A. Banks, “Cuiricular Models for An Open Society,” in Delmo Della-Dora and James E. House, eds, Education for An Open Society (Washington, DC: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1974), pp. 43–63. 26 Barbara A. Sizemore, “Is There A Case for Separate Schools?” Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 53 (January, 1972), 281. 27 James A. Banks, Teaching Strategies for Ethnic Studies (Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1975).

PART 5

MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION

CHAPTER 12

MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION Development, dimensions, and challenges Phi Delta Kappan, 1993, 75(1), 22–28

The bitter debate over the literary and historical canon that has been carried on in the popular press and in several widely reviewed books has overshadowed the progress that has been made in multicultural education during the last two decades. The debate has also perpetuated harmful misconceptions about theory and practice in multicultural education. Consequently, it has heightened racial and ethnic tension and trivialized the field’s remarkable accomplishments in theory, research, and curriculum development. The truth about the development and attainments of multicultural education needs to be told for the sake of balance, scholarly integrity, and accuracy. But if I am to reveal the truth about multicultural education, I must first identify and debunk some of the widespread myths and misconceptions about it. Multicultural education is for the others. One misconception about multicultural education is that it is an entitlement program and curriculum movement for African Americans, Hispanics, the poor, women, and other victimized groups.1 The major theorists and researchers in multicultural education agree that the movement is designed to restructure educational institutions so that all students, including middle-class White males, will acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to function effectively in a culturally and ethnically diverse nation and world.2 Multicultural education, as its major architects have conceived it during the last decade, is not an ethnic- or gender-specific movement. It is a movement designed to empower all students to become knowledgeable, caring, and active citizens in a deeply troubled and ethnically polarized nation and world. The claim that multicultural education is only for people of color and for the disenfranchised is one of the most pernicious and damaging misconceptions with which the movement has had to cope. It has caused intractable problems and has haunted multicultural education since its inception. Despite all that has been written and spoken about multicultural education being for all students, the image of multicultural education as an entitlement program for the “others” remains strong and vivid in the public imagination, as well as in the hearts and minds of many teachers and administrators. Teachers who teach in predominantly White schools and districts often state that they don’t have a program or plan for multicultural education because they have few African American, Hispanic, or Asian American students. When educators view multicultural education as the study of the “others,” it is marginalized and held apart from mainstream education reform. Several critics of multicultural education, such as Arthur Schlesinger, John Leo, and Paul Gray, have

130 Multicultural education and knowledge construction perpetuated the idea that multicultural education is the study of the “other” by defining it as synonymous with Afrocentric education.3 The history of intergroup education teaches us that only when education reform related to diversity is viewed as essential for all students – and as promoting the broad public interest – will it have a reasonable chance of becoming institutionalized in the nation’s schools, colleges, and universities.4 The intergroup education movement of the 1940s and 1950s failed in large part because intergroup educators were never able to persuade mainstream educators to believe that the approach was needed by and designed for all students. To its bitter but quiet end, mainstream educators viewed intergroup education as something for schools with racial problems and as something for “them” and not for “us.” Multicultural education is opposed to the Western tradition. Another harmful misconception about multicultural education has been repeated so often by its critics that many people take it as self evident. This is the claim that multicultural education is a movement that is opposed to the West and to Western civilization. Multicultural education is not anti-West, because most writers of color – such as Rudolfo Anaya, Paula Gunn Allen, Maxine Hong Kingston, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison – are Western writers. Multicultural education itself is a thoroughly Western movement. It grew out of a civil rights movement grounded in such democratic ideals of the West as freedom, justice, and equality. Multicultural education seeks to extend to all people the ideals that were meant only for an elite few at the nation’s birth. Although multicultural education is not opposed to the West, its advocates do demand that the truth about the West be told, that its debt to people of color and women be recognized and included in the curriculum, and that the discrepancies between the ideals of freedom and equality and the realities of racism and sexism be taught to students. Reflective action by citizens is also an integral part of multicultural theory. Multicultural education views citizen action to improve society as an integral part of education in a democracy; it links knowledge, values, empowerment, and action. Multicultural education is also postmodern in its assumptions about knowledge and knowledge construction; it challenges positivist assumptions about the relationships between human values, knowledge, and action. Positivists, who are the intellectual heirs of the Enlightenment, believe that it is possible to structure knowledge that is objective and beyond the influence of human values and interests. Multicultural theorists maintain that knowledge is positional, that it relates to the knower’s values and experiences, and that knowledge implies action. Consequently, different concepts, theories, and paradigms imply different kinds of actions. Multiculturalists believe that, in order to have valid knowledge, information about the social condition and experiences of the knower are essential. A few critics of multicultural education, such as John Leo and Dinesh D’Souza, claim that multicultural education has reduced or displaced the study of Western civilization in the nation’s schools and colleges. However, as Gerald Graff points out in his welcome book Beyond the Culture Wars, this claim is simply not true. Graff cites his own research at the college level and that of Arthur Applebee at the high school level to substantiate his conclusion that European and American male authors – such as Shakespeare, Dante, Chaucer, Twain, and Hemingway – still dominate the required reading lists in the nation’s high schools and colleges.5 Graff found that, in the cases he examined, most of the books by authors of color were optional rather than required reading. Applebee found that, of the 10 book-length works most frequently required in the high school grades, only one title was by a female author (Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird), and not a single

Dimensions and challenges 131 work was by a writer of color. Works by Shakespeare, Steinbeck, and Dickens headed the list. Multicultural education will divide the nation. Many of its critics claim that multicultural education will divide the nation and undercut its unity. Schlesinger underscores this view in the title of his book, The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society. This misconception is based partly on questionable assumptions about the nature of US society and partly on a mistaken understanding of multicultural education. The claim that multicultural education will divide the nation assumes that the nation is already united. While we are one nation politically, sociologically our nation is deeply divided along lines of race, gender, and class. The current debate about admitting gays into the military underscores another deep division in our society. Multicultural education is designed to help unify a deeply divided nation rather than to divide a highly cohesive one. Multicultural education supports the notion of e pluribus unum-out of many, one. The multiculturalists and the Western traditionalists, however, often differ about how the unum can best be attained. Traditionally, the larger US society and the schools tried to create unity by assimilating students from diverse racial and ethnic groups into a mythical Anglo American culture that required them to experience a process of self-alienation. However, even when students of color became culturally assimilated, they were often structurally excluded from mainstream institutions. The multiculturalists view e pluribus unum as an appropriate national goal, but they believe that the unum must be negotiated, discussed, and restructured to reflect the nation’s ethnic and cultural diversity. The reformulation of what it means to be united must be a process that involves the participation of diverse groups within the nation, such as people of color, women, straights, gays, the powerful, the powerless, the young, and the old. The reformulation must also involve power sharing and participation by people from many different cultures who must reach beyond their cultural and ethnic borders in order to create a common civic culture that reflects and contributes to the well-being of all. This common civic culture will extend beyond the cultural borders of any single group and constitute a civic “borderland” culture. In Borderlands, Gloria Anzaldúa contrasts cultural borders and borderlands and calls for a weakening of the former in order to create a shared borderland culture in which people from many different cultures can interact, relate, and engage in civic talk and action. Anzaldúa states that “borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them. A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in a constant state of transition.”6

Multicultural education has made progress While it is still on the margins rather than in the center of the curriculum in most schools and colleges, multicultural content has made significant inroads into both the school and the college curricula within the last two decades. The truth lies somewhere between the claim that no progress has been made in infusing the school and college curricula with multiethnic content and the claim that such content has replaced the European and American classics. In the elementary and high schools, much more ethnic content appears in social studies and language arts textbooks today than was the case 20 years ago.

132 Multicultural education and knowledge construction In addition, some teachers assign works written by authors of color along with the more standard American classics. In his study of book-length works used in the high schools, Applebee concluded that his most striking finding was how similar present reading lists are to past ones and how little change has occurred. However, he did note that many teachers use anthologies as a mainstay of their literature programs and that 21 percent of the anthology selections were written by women and 14 percent by authors of color.7 More classroom teachers today have studied the concepts of multicultural education than at any previous point in our history. A significant percentage of today’s classroom teachers took a required teacher education course in multicultural education when they were in college. The multicultural education standard adopted by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education in 1977, which became effective in 1979, was a major factor that stimulated the growth of multicultural education in teacher education programs. The standard stated: “The institution gives evidence of planning for multicultural education in its teacher education curricula including both the general and professional studies components.”8 The market for teacher education textbooks dealing with multicultural education is now a substantial one. Most major publishers now have at least one text in the field. Textbooks in other required courses, such as educational psychology and the foundations of education, frequently have separate chapters or a significant number of pages devoted to examining concepts and developments in multicultural education. Some of the nation’s leading colleges and universities, such as the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, and Stanford University, have either revised their general core curriculum to include ethnic content or have established an ethnic studies course requirement. The list of universities with similar kinds of requirements grows longer each year. However, the transformation of the traditional canon on college and university campuses has often been bitter and divisive. All changes in curriculum come slowly and painfully to university campuses, but curriculum changes that are linked with issues related to race evoke primordial feelings and reflect the racial crisis in American society. For example, at the University of Washington a bitter struggle ended with the defeat of the ethnic studies requirement. Changes are also coming to elementary and high school textbooks, as Jesus Garcia points out elsewhere in this special section of the Kappan. I believe that the demographic imperative is the major factor driving the changes in school textbooks. The color of the nation’s student body is changing rapidly. Nearly half (about 45.5 percent) of the nation’s school-age youths will be young people of color by 2020.9 Black parents and brown parents are demanding that their leaders, their images, their pain, and their dreams be mirrored in the textbooks that their children study in school. Textbooks have always reflected the myths, hopes, and dreams of people with money and power. As African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and women become more influential, textbooks will increasingly reflect their hopes, dreams, and disappointments. Textbooks will have to survive in the marketplace of a browner America. Because textbooks still carry the curriculum in the nation’s public schools, they will remain an important focus for multicultural curriculum reformers.

The dimensions of multicultural education One of the problems that continues to plague the multicultural education movement, both from within and without, is the tendency of teachers, administrators, policy

Dimensions and challenges 133 makers, and the public to oversimplify the concept. Multicultural education is a complex and multidimensional concept, yet media commentators and educators alike often focus on only one of its many dimensions. Some teachers view it only as the inclusion of content about ethnic groups into the curriculum; others view it as an effort to reduce prejudice; still others view it as the celebration of ethnic holidays and events. After I made a presentation in a school in which I described the major goals of multicultural education, a math teacher told me that what I said was fine and appropriate for language arts and social studies teachers but that it had nothing to do with him. After all, he said, math was math, regardless of the color of the kids. This reaction on the part of a respected teacher caused me to think more deeply about the images of multicultural education that had been created by the key actors in the field. I wondered whether we were partly responsible for this teacher’s narrow conception of multicultural education as merely content integration. It was in response to such statements by classroom teachers that I conceptualized the dimensions of multicultural education. I will use the following five dimensions to describe the field’s major components and to highlight important developments within the last two decades: (1) content integration, (2) the knowledge construction process, (3) prejudice reduction, (4) an equity pedagogy, and (5) an empowering school culture and social structure.10 I will devote most of the rest of this chapter to the second of these dimensions.

Content integration Content integration deals with the extent to which teachers use examples, data, and information from a variety of cultures and groups to illustrate the key concepts, principles, generalizations, and theories in their subject area or discipline. In many school districts as well as in popular writing, multicultural education is viewed almost solely as content integration. This narrow conception of multicultural education is a major reason why many teachers in such subjects as biology, physics, and mathematics reject multicultural education as irrelevant to them and their students. In fact, this dimension of multicultural education probably has more relevance to social studies and language arts teachers than it does to physics and math teachers. Physics and math teachers can insert multicultural content into their subjects – for example, by using biographies of physicists and mathematicians of color and examples from different cultural groups. However, these kinds of activities are probably not the most important multicultural tasks that can be undertaken by science and math teachers. Activities related to the other dimensions of multicultural education, such as the knowledge construction process, prejudice reduction, and an equity pedagogy, are probably the most fruitful areas for the multicultural involvement of science and math teachers.

Knowledge construction The knowledge construction process encompasses the procedures by which social, behavioral, and natural scientists create knowledge in their disciplines. A multicultural focus on knowledge construction includes discussion of the ways in which the implicit cultural assumptions, frames of reference, perspectives, and biases within a discipline influence the construction of knowledge. An examination of the knowledge construction process is an important part of multicultural teaching. Teachers help students to understand how knowledge is created and how it is influenced by factors of race, ethnicity, gender, and social class.

134 Multicultural education and knowledge construction Within the last decade, landmark work related to the construction of knowledge has been done by feminist social scientists and epistemologists, as well as by scholars in ethnic studies. Working in philosophy and sociology, Sandra Harding, Lorraine Code, and Patricia Hill Collins have done some of the most important work related to knowledge construction.11 This ground-breaking work, although influential among scholars and curriculum developers, has been overshadowed in the popular media by the heated debates about the canon. These writers and researchers have seriously challenged the claims made by the positivists that knowledge can be value-free, and they have described the ways in which knowledge claims are influenced by the gender and ethnic characteristics of the knower. These scholars argue that the human interests and value assumptions of those who create knowledge should be identified, discussed, and examined. Code states that the sex of the knower is epistemologically significant because knowledge is both subjective and objective. She maintains that both aspects should be recognized and discussed. Collins, an African American sociologist, extends and enriches the works of writers such as Code and Harding by describing the ways in which race and gender interact to influence knowledge construction. Collins calls the perspective of African American women the perspective of “the outsider within.” She writes, “As outsiders within, Black women have a distinct view of the contradictions between the dominant group’s actions and ideologies.”12 Curriculum theorists and developers in multicultural education are applying to the classroom the work being done by the feminist and ethnic studies epistemologists. In Transforming Knowledge, Elizabeth Minnich, a professor of philosophy and women’s studies, has analyzed the nature of knowledge and described how the dominant tradition, through such logical errors as faulty generalization an circular reasoning, has contributed to the marginalization of women.13 I have identified five types of knowledge and described their implications for multicultural teaching.14 Teachers need to be aware of the various types of knowledge so that they can structure a curriculum that helps student to understand each type. Teachers also need to use their own cultural knowledge and that of the students to enrich teaching and learning. The types of knowledge I have identified and described are: (1) personal/cultural, (2) popular, (3) mainstream academic, (4) transformative, and (5) school. (I will not discuss school knowledge in this chapter.) Personal/cultural knowledge consists of the concepts, explanations, and interpretations that students derive from personal experiences in their homes, families, and community cultures. Cultural conflict occurs in the classroom because much of the personal/cultural knowledge that students from diverse cultural groups bring to the classroom is inconsistent with school knowledge and with the teacher’s personal and cultural knowledge. For example, research indicates that many African American and Mexican American students are more likely to experience academic success in cooperative rather than in competitive learning environments.15 Yet the typical school culture is highly competitive, and children of color may experience failure if they do not figure out the implicit rules of the school culture.16 The popular knowledge that is institutionalized by the mass media and other forces that shape the popular culture has a strong influence on the values, perceptions, and behavior of children and young people. The messages and images carried by the media, which Carlos Cortés calls the societal curriculum,17 often reinforce the stereotypes and misconceptions about racial and ethnic groups that are institutionalized within the larger society.

Dimensions and challenges 135 Of course, some films and other popular media forms do make positive contributions to racial understanding. Dances with Wolves, Glory, and Malcolm X are examples. However, there are many ways to view such films, and both positive and negative examples of popular culture need to become a part of classroom discourse and analysis. Like all human creations, even these positive films are imperfect. The multiculturally informed and sensitive teacher needs to help students view these films, as well as other media productions, from diverse cultural, ethnic, and gender perspectives. The concepts, theories, and explanations that constitute traditional Westerncentric knowledge in history and in the social and behavioral sciences constitute mainstream academic knowledge. Traditional interpretations of US history – embodied in such headings as “The European Discovery of America” and “The Westward Movement” – are central concepts in mainstream academic knowledge. Mainstream academic knowledge is established within mainstream professional associations, such as the American Historical Association and the American Psychological Association. It provides the interpretations that are taught in US colleges and universities. The literary legacy of mainstream academic knowledge includes such writers as Shakespeare, Dante, Chaucer, and Aristotle. Critics of multicultural education, such as Schlesinger, D’Souza, and Leo, believe that mainstream academic knowledge in the curriculum is being displaced by the new knowledge and interpretations that have been created by scholars working in women’s studies and in ethnic studies. However, mainstream academic knowledge is not only threatened from without but also from within. Postmodern scholars in organizations such as the American Historical Association, and the American Sociological Association, and the American Political Science Association, are challenging the dominant positivist interpretations and paradigms within their disciplines and creating alternative explanations and perspectives. Transformative academic knowledge challenges the facts, concepts, paradigms, themes, and explanations routinely accepted in mainstream academic knowledge. Those who pursure transformative academic knowledge seek to expand and substantially revise established canons, theories, explanations, and research methods. The transformative research methods and theory that have been developed in women’s studies and in ethnic studies since the 1970s constitute, in my view, the most important developments in social science theory and research in the last 20 years. It is important for teachers and students to realize, however, that transformative academic scholarship has a long history in the United States and that the current ethnic studies movement is directly linked to an earlier ethnic studies movement that emerged in the late 1800s.18 George Washington Williams published volume 1 of the first history of African Americans in 1882 and the second volume in 1883. Other important works published by African American transformative scholars in times past included works by W. E. B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, Horace Man Bond, and Charles Wesley.19 The works of these early scholars in African American studies, which formed the academic roots of the current multicultural education movement when it emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, were linked by several important characteristics. Their works were transformative because they created data, interpretations, and perspectives that challenged those that were established by White, mainstream scholarship. The work of the transformative scholarship presented positive images of African Americans and refuted stereotypes that were pervasive within the established scholarship of their time.

136 Multicultural education and knowledge construction Although they strove for objectivity in their works and wanted to be considered scientific researchers, these transformative scholars viewed knowledge and action as tightly linked and became involved in social action and administration themselves. Du Bois was active in social protest and for many years was the editor of Crisis, an official publication of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Woodson confounded the Association for the Study of Negro (now Afro-American) Life and History, founded and edited the Journal of Negro History, edited the Negro History Bulletin for classroom teachers, wrote school and college textbooks on Negro history, and founded Negro History Week (now Afro-American History Month). Transformative academic knowledge has experienced a renaissance since the 1970s. Only a few of the most important works can be mentioned here because of space. Martin Bernal, in an important two-volume work, Black Athena, has created new interpretations about the debt that Greece owes to Egypt and Phoenicia. Before Bernal, Ivan Van Sertima and Cheikh Anta Diop also created novel interpretations of the debt that Europe owes to Africa. In two books, Indian Givers and Native Roots, Jack Weatherford describes Native American contributions that have enriched the world. Ronald Takaki, in several influential books, such as Iron Cages: Race and Culture in 19th-Century America and Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans, has given us new ways to think about the ethnic experience in America. The literary contribution to transformative scholarship has also been rich, as shown by The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism, by Henry Louis Gates, Jr; Long Black Song: Essays in Black American Literature and Culture, by Houston Baker, Jr; and Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African-American Fiction, edited by Terry McMillan. A number of important works in the transformative tradition that interrelate race and gender have also been published since the 1970s. Important works in this genre include Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in US Women’s History, edited by Carol Ellen DuBois and Vicki Ruiz; Race, Gender, and Work: A Multicultural Economic History of Women in the United States, by Teresa Amott and Julie Matthaei; Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family from Slavery to the Present, by Jacqueline Jones; and The Forbidden Stitch: An Asian American Women’s Anthology, edited by Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Mayumi Tsutakawa, and Margarita Donnelly.

The other dimensions The “prejudice reduction” dimension of multicultural education focuses on the characteristics of children’s racial attitudes and on strategies that can be used to help students develop more positive racial and ethnic attitudes. Since the 1960s, social scientists have learned a great deal about how racial attitudes in children develop and about ways in which educators can design interventions to help children acquire more positive feelings toward other racial groups. I have reviewed that research in two recent publications and refer readers to them for a comprehensive discussion of this topic.20 This research tells us that by age 4 African American, White, and Mexican American children are aware of racial differences and show racial preferences favoring Whites. Students can be helped to develop more positive racial attitudes if realistic images of ethnic and racial groups are included in teaching materials in a consistent, natural, and integrated fashion. Involving students in vicarious

Dimensions and challenges 137 experiences and in cooperative learning activities with students of other racial groups will also help them to develop more positive racial attitudes and behaviors. An equity pedagogy exists when teachers use techniques and teaching methods that facilitate the academic achievement of students from diverse racial and ethnic groups and from all social classes. Using teaching techniques that cater to the learning and cultural styles of diverse groups and using the techniques of cooperative learning are some of the ways that teachers have found effective with students from diverse racial, ethnic, and language groups.21 An empowering school culture and social structure will require the restructuring of the culture and organization of the school so that students from diverse racial, ethnic, and social-class groups will experience educational equality and a sense of empowerment. This dimension of multicultural education involves conceptualizing the school as the unit of change and making structural changes within the school environment. Adopting assessment techniques that are fair to all groups, doing away with tracking, and creating the belief among the staff members that all students can learn are important goals for schools that wish to create a school culture and social structure that are empowering and enhancing for a diverse student body.

Multicultural education and the future The achievements of multicultural education since the late 1960s and early 1970s are noteworthy and should be acknowledged. Those who have shaped the movement during the intervening decades have been able to obtain wide agreement on the goals of and approaches to multicultural education. Most multiculturalists agree that the major goal of multicultural education is to restructure schools so that all students will acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to function in an ethnically and racially diverse nation and world. As is the case with other interdisciplinary areas of study, debates within the field continue. These debates are consistent with the philosophy of a field that values democracy and diversity. They are also a source of strength. Multicultural education is being implemented widely in the nation’s schools, colleges, and universities. The large number of national conferences, school district workshops, and teacher education courses in multicultural education are evidence of its success and perceived importance. Although the process of integration of content is slow and often contentious, multicultural content is increasingly becoming a part of core courses in schools and colleges. Textbook publishers are also integrating ethnic and cultural content into their books, and the pace of such integration is increasing. Despite its impressive successes, however, multicultural education faces serious challenges as we move toward the next century. One of the most serious of these challenges is the highly organized, well-financed attack by the Western traditionalist who fear that multicultural education will transform America in ways that will result in their own disempowerment. Ironically, the successes that multicultural education has experienced during the last decade have played a major role in provoking the attacks. The debate over the canon and the well-orchestrated attack on multicultural education reflect an identity crisis in American society. The American identity is being reshaped, as groups on the margin of society begin to participate in the mainstream and to demand that their visions be reflected in a transformed

138 Multicultural education and knowledge construction America. In the future, the sharing of power and the transformation of identity required to achieve lasting racial peace in America may be valued rather than feared, for only in this way will we achieve national salvation.

Notes 1 Nathan Glazer, “In Defense of Multiculturalism,” New Republic, September 2, 1991, pp. 18–22; and Dinesh D’Souza, “Illiberal Education,” Atlantic, March 1991, pp. 51–79. 2 James A. Banks, Multiethnic Education: Theory and Practice, 3rd edn (Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1994); James A. Banks and Cherry A. McGee Banks, eds., Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, 2nd edn (Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1993); and Christine E. Sleeter and Carl A. Grant, Making Choices for Multicultural Education: Five Approaches to Race, Class, and Gender (Columbus, Ohio: Merrill, 1988). 3 Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr, The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society (Knoxville, TN: Whittle Direct Books, 1991); John Leo, “A Fringe History of the World,” U.S. News & World Report, November 12, 1990, pp. 25–26; and Paul Gray, “Whose America?,” Time, July 8, 1991, pp. 13–17. 4 Hilda Taba, H. Taba, E. Brady, and J. Robinson, Intergroup Education in Public Schools (Washington, DC: American Council on Education, 1952). 5 Gerald Graff, Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education (New York: Norton, 1992); and Arthur N. Applebee, “Stability and Change in the High School Canon,” English Journal, September 1992, pp. 27–32. 6 Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands: La Frontera: The New Mestiza (San Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute, 1987), p. 3. 7 Applebee, “Stability and Change in the High School Canon,” p. 30. 8 Standards for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (Washington, DC: National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 1977), p. 4. 9 Aaron M. Pallas, Gary Natriello, and Edward L. McDill, “The Changing Nature of the Disadvantaged Population: Current Dimensions and Future Trends,” Educational Researcher, June/July 1989, pp. 16–22. 10 James A. Banks, “Multicultural Education: Historical Development, Dimensions, and Practice,” in Linda Darling-Hammond, ed., Review of Research in Education, vol. 19 (Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association, 1993), pp. 3–49. 11 Sandra Harding, Whose Science, Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women’s Lives (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991); Lorraine Code, What Can She Know? Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991); and Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (New York: Routledge, 1990). 12 Collins, p. 11. 13 Elizabeth K. Minnich, Transforming Knowledge (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990). 14 James A. Banks, “The Canon Debate, Knowledge Construction, and Multicultural Education,” Educational Researcher, June/July 1993, pp. 4–14. 15 Robert E. Slavin, Cooperative Learning (New York: Longman, 1983). 16 Lisa D.Delpit, “The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children,” Harvard Educational Review, vol. 58, 1988, pp. 280–298. 17 Carlos E. Cortés, “The Societal Curriculum: Implications for Multiethnic Education,” in James A. Banks, ed., Education in the ’80s: Multiethnic Education (Washington, DC: National Education Association, 1981), pp. 24–32. 18 James A. Banks, “African American Scholarship and the Evolution of Multicultural Education,” Journal of Negro Education, Summer 1992, pp. 273–286. 19 A bibliography that lists these and other more recent works of transformative scholarship appears at the end of this chapter. 20 James A. Banks, “Multicultural Education: Its Effects on Students’ Racial and Gender Role Attitudes,” in James P. Shaver, ed., Handbook of Research on Social Studies Teaching and Learning (New York: Macmillan, 1991), pp. 459–469; and idem,

Dimensions and challenges 139 “Multicultural Education for Young Children: Racial and Ethnic Attitudes and Their Modification,” in Bernard Spodek, ed., Handbook of Research on the Education of Young Children (New York: Macmillan, 1993), pp. 236–250. 21 Barbara J. R. Shade, ed., Culture, Style, and the Educative Process (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1989).

Bibliography Amott, Teresa L., and Julie A. Matthaei. Race, Gender, and Work: A Multicultural Economic History of Women in the United States, Boston, MA: South End Press, 1991. Baker, Houston A., Jr. Long Black Song: Essays in Black American Literature and Culture. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1990. Bernal, Martin. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. 2 vols. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987, 1991. Bond, Horace Mann. Negro Education in Alabama: A Study in Cotton and Steel. Washington, DC: Associated Publishers, 1939. DuBois, Carol Ellen, and Vicki L. Ruiz, eds. Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U. S. Women’s History. New York: Routledge, 1990. Du Bois, W. E. B. The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, 1638–1870. Millwood, NY: Kraus-Thomas, 1896. Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Geok-lin Lim, Shirley, Mayumi Tsutakawa, and Margarita Donnelly, eds. The Forbidden Stitch: An Asian American Women’s Anthology. Corvallis, OR: Calyx Books, 1989. Jones, Jacqueline. Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family from Slavery to the Present. New York: Vintage Books, 1985. McMillan, Terry, ed. Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African-American Fiction. New York: Penguin Books, 1990. Takaki, Ronald T., ed. Iron Cages: Race and Culture in 19th-Century America. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1979. Takaki, Ronald T., Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1989. Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. Great Black Leaders: Ancient and Modern. New Brunswick, NJ: African Studies Department, Rutgers University, 1988. Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. Great African Thinkers, Vol. 1: Cheikh Anta Diop. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1989. Weatherford, Jack. Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World. New York: Facet Columbine, 1988. Weatherford, Jack. Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1992. Wesley, Charles H. Richard Allen: Apostle of Freedom. Washington, DC: Associated Publishers, 1935. Williams, George Washington. History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880: Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens. 2 vols 1882, 1883. Reprint. Salem, NH: Ayer, 1989. Woodson, Carter G. The History of the Negro Church. Washington, DC: Associated Publishers, 1921.

CHAPTER 13

APPROACHES TO MULTICULTURAL CURRICULUM REFORM Multicultural Leader, 1988, 1(2), 1–3

The contributions approach I have identified four approaches to the integration of ethnic and multicultural content into the curriculum that have evolved since the 1960s (see Figure 13.1). The contributions approach to integration (level 1) is one of the most frequently used and is often used extensively during the first phase of an ethnic revival movement. It is also frequently used when a school or district first attempts to integrate ethnic and multicultural content into the mainstream curriculum. The contributions approach is characterized by the insertion of ethnic heroes/heroines and discrete cultural artifacts into the curriculum, selected using criteria similar to those used to select mainstream heroes/heroines and cultural artifacts. Thus, individuals such as Crispus Attucks, Benjamin Bannaker, Sacajawea, Booker T. Washington, and Cesar Chavez are added to the curriculum. They are discussed when mainstream American heroes/heroines such as Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Betsey Ross, and Eleanor Roosevelt are studied in the core curriculum. Discrete cultural elements such as the foods, dances, music, and artifacts of ethnic groups are studied, but little attention is given to their meanings and importance within ethnic communities. The heroes/heroines and holidays approach is a variant of the contributions approach. In this approach, ethnic content is limited primarily to special days, weeks, and months related to ethnic events and celebrations. Cinco de Mayo, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, and African American History Week are examples of ethnic days and weeks celebrated in the schools. During these celebrations, teachers involve students in lessons, experiences, and pageants related to the ethnic group being commemorated. The contributions approach often results in the trivialization of ethnic cultures, the study of their strange and exotic characteristics, and the reinforcement of stereotypes and misconceptions.

The additive approach Another important approach to the integration of ethnic content into the curriculum is the addition of content, concepts, themes, and perspectives to the curriculum without changing its basic structure, purposes, and characteristics. The additive approach (level 2 in Figure 13.1) is often accomplished by the addition of a book, a unit, or a course to the curriculum without changing it substantially. Examples of this approach include adding a book such as The Color Purple to a unit on the

Approaches to multicultural curriculum reform 141 Level 4: The social action approach Students make decisions on important social issues and take actions to help solve them. Level 3: The transformation approach The structure of the curriculum is changed to enable students to view concepts, issues,events, and themes from the perspectives of diverse ethnic and cultural groups. Level 2: The additive approach Content, concepts, themes, and perspectives are added to the curriculum without changing its structure. Level 1: The contributions approach Focuses on heroes, holidays, and discrete cultural elements.

Figure 13.1 Banks’s four levels of integration of multicultural content.

twentieth century in an English class; the use of the film Miss Jane Pittman during a unit on the 1960s; and the addition of a unit on the internment of the Japanese Americans during a study of the Second World War in a class on US history. The additive approach allows the teacher to put ethnic content into the curriculum without restructuring it, a process that would take substantial time, effort, training, and rethinking of the curriculum and its purposes, nature, and goals. The additive approach can be the first phase in a transformative curriculum reform effort designed to restructure the total curriculum and to integrate it with ethnic content, perspectives, and frames of reference. However, this approach shares several disadvantages with the contributions approach. Its most important shortcoming is that it usually results in the viewing of ethnic content from the perspectives of mainstream historians, writers, artists, and scientists because it does not involve a restructuring of the curriculum. The events, concepts, issues, and problems chosen for study are selected using mainstream-centric and Eurocentric criteria and perspectives.

The transformation approach The transformation approach differs fundamentally from the contributions and additive approaches. In both approaches, ethnic content is added to the mainstream core curriculum without changing its basic assumptions, nature, and structure. The fundamental goals, structure, and perspectives of the curriculum are changed in the transformation approach. The transformation approach (level 3 in Figure 13.1) changes the basic assumptions of the curriculum and enables students to view concepts, issues, themes, and problems from several ethnic perspectives and points of view. The mainstream-centric

142 Multicultural education and knowledge construction

glo

An sts

ali loy Political aspects

Social aspects

Military aspects British

An Re glo vo lut ion ari es

perspective is one of only several perspectives from which issues, problems, concepts, and issues are viewed. It is neither possible nor desirable to view every issue, concept, event, or problem from the point of view of every US ethnic group. Rather, the goal should be to enable students to view concepts and issues from more than one perspective and from the point of view of the cultural, ethnic, and racial groups that were the most active participants in, or were most cogently influenced by, the event, issue, or concept being studied. The key curriculum issues involved in multicultural curriculum reform is not the addition of a long list of ethnic groups, heroes, and contributions, but the infusion of various perspectives, frames of references, and content from various groups that will extend students’ understandings of the nature, development, and complexity of US society. When students are studying the revolution in the British colonies, the perspectives of the Anglo revolutionaries, the Anglo loyalists, African Americans, Indians, and the British are essential for them to attain a through understanding of this significant event in US history (see Figure 13.2). Students must study the various and sometimes divergent meanings of the revolution to these diverse groups to understand it fully (Gay and Banks, 1975). When studying US history, language, music, arts, science, and mathematics, the emphasis should not be on the ways that various ethnic and cultural groups have contributed to mainstream US society and culture. The emphasis, should be on how the common US culture and society emerged from a complex synthesis and interaction of the diverse cultural elements that originated within the various cultural, racial, ethnic, and religious groups that make up US society. I call this

Black Americans

American revolution

Philosophical/ humanitarian aspects

n ca eri Am s) tive dian (In s

Eu

Economic aspects

Na

rop ea ns Ge (Fr rm an s, e ench , tc. )

Geographical aspects

Figure 13.2 A multiethnic interdisciplinary model for teaching the American revolution.

Approaches to multicultural curriculum reform 143 process multiple acculturation and argue that even though Anglo-Saxon Protestants are the dominant group in the United States – culturally, politically, and economically – it is misleading and inaccurate to describe US culture and society as an Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture (Banks, 1994). Other US ethnic and cultural groups have deeply influenced, shaped, and participated in the development and formation of US society and culture. African Americans, for example, profoundly influenced the development of the US Southern culture, even though they had very little political and economic power (Abbott, 1986). One irony of conquest is that those who are conquered often deeply influence the cultures of the conquerors. A multiple acculturation conception of US society and culture leads to a perspective that views ethnic events, literature, music, and art as integral parts of the common, shared US culture. Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture is viewed as only a part of this larger cultural whole. Thus, to teach American literature without including significant writers of color gives a partial and incomplete view of US literature, culture, and society.

The social action approach The social action approach (level 4 in Figure 13.1) includes all the elements of the transformation approach but adds components that require students to make decisions and take actions related to the concept, issue, or problem studied in the unit. Major goals of instruction in this approach are to educate students for social criticism and social change and to teach them decision-making skills. To empower students and help them acquire political efficacy, the school must help them become reflective social critics and skilled participants in social change. The traditional goal of schooling has been to socialize students so they would accept unquestioningly the existing ideologies, institutions, and practices within society and the nation-state (Newmann, 1968). Political education in the United States has traditionally fostered political passivity rather than political action. A major goal of the social action approach is to help students acquire the knowledge, values, and skills they need to participate in social change so that victimized and excluded ethnic and racial groups can become full participants in US society and so the nation will move closer to attaining its democratic ideals. To participate effectively in democratic social change, students must be taught social criticism and must be helped to understand the inconsistency between our ideals and social realities, the work that must be done to close this gap, and how students can, as individuals and groups, influence the social and political systems in US society. In this approach, teachers are agents of social change who promote democratic values and the empowerment of students.

Mixing and blending approaches The four approaches for the integration of multicultural content into the curriculum (see Figure 13.1) are often mixed and blended in actual teaching situations. One approach, such as the contributions approach, can be used as a vehicle to move to other, more intellectually challenging approaches such as the transformation and social action approaches. It is unrealistic to expect a teacher to move directly from a highly mainstream-centric curriculum to one that focuses on decision-making and social action. Rather, the move from the first to higher levels of multicultural content integration is likely to be gradual and cumulative.

144 Multicultural education and knowledge construction

References Abbott, D. (Ed.) (1986). Mississippi Writers: Reflections on Childhood and Youth, II: Nonfiction. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Banks, J. A. (1994). Multiethnic Education: Theory and Practice, (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Gay, G. and Banks, J. A. (1975, November–December). Teaching the American Revolution: A Multiethnic Approach. Social Education, 39, 461–465. Newmann, F. N. (1968). Discussion: Political Socialization in the Schools. Harvard Educational Review, 38, 536–545.

CHAPTER 14

THE CANON DEBATE, KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION, AND MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION Educational Researcher, 1993, 22(5), 4–14

A heated and divisive national debate is taking place about what knowledge related to ethnic and cultural diversity should be taught in the school and university curriculum (Asante, 1991a; Asante and Ravitch, 1991; D’Souza, 1991; Glazer, 1991; Schlesinger, 1991; Woodward, 1991). This debate has heightened ethnic tension and confused many educators about the meaning of multicultural education. At least three different groups of scholars are participating in the canon debate: the Western traditionalists, the multiculturalists, and the Afrocentrists. Although there are a range of perspectives and views within each of these groups, all groups share a number of important assumptions and beliefs about the nature of diversity in the United States and about the role of educational institutions in a pluralistic society. The Western traditionalists have initiated a national effort to defend the dominance of Western civilization in the school and university curriculum (Gray, 1991; Howe, 1991; Woodward, 1991). These scholars believe that Western history, literature, and culture are endangered in the school and university curriculum because of the push by feminists, ethnic minority scholars, and other multiculturalists for curriculum reform and transformation. The Western traditionalists have formed an organization called the National Association of Scholars to defend the dominance of Western civilization in the curriculum. The multiculturalists believe that the school, college, and university curriculum marginalizes the experiences of people of color and of women (Butler and Walter, 1991; Gates, 1992; Grant, 1992; Sleeter, personal communication, October 26, 1991). They contend that the curriculum should be reformed so that it will more accurately reflect the histories and cultures of ethnic groups and women. Two organizations have been formed to promote issues related to ethnic and cultural diversity. Teachers for a Democratic Culture promotes ethnic studies and women studies at the university level. The National Association for Multicultural Education focuses on teacher education and multicultural education in the nation’s schools. The Afrocentrists maintain that African culture and history should be placed at the “center” of the curriculum in order to motivate African Americans students to learn and to help all students to understand the important role that Africa has played in the development of Western civilization (Asante, 1991a). Many mainstream multiculturalists are ambivalent about Afrocentrism, although few have publicly opposed it. This is in part because the Western traditionalists rarely distinguish the Afrocentrists from the multiculturalists and describe them as one

146 Multicultural education and knowledge construction group. Some multiculturalists may also perceive Afrocentric ideas as compatible with a broader concept of multicultural education. The influence of the multiculturalists within schools and universities in the last twenty years has been substantial. Many school districts, state departments of education, local school districts, and private agencies have developed and implemented multicultural staff development programs, conferences, policies, and curricula (New York City Board of Education, 1990; New York State Department of Education, 1989, 1991; Sokol, 1990). Multicultural requirements, programs, and policies have also been implemented at many of the nation’s leading research universities, including the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, The Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Wisconsin system. The success that the multiculturalists have had in implementing their ideas within schools and universities is probably a major reason that the Western traditionalists are trying to halt multicultural reforms in the nation’s schools, colleges, and universities. The debate between the Western traditionalists and the multiculturalists is consistent with the ideals of a democratic society. To date, however, it has resulted in little productive interaction between the Western traditionalists and the multiculturalists. Rather, each group has talked primarily to audiences it viewed as sympathetic to its ideologies and visions of the present and future (Franklin, 1991; Schlesinger, 1991). Because there has been little productive dialogue and exchange between the Western traditionalists and the multiculturalists, the debate has been polarized, and writers have frequently not conformed to the established rules of scholarship (D’Souza, 1991). A kind of forensic social science has developed (Rivlin, 1973), with each side stating briefs and then marshaling evidence to support its position. The debate has also taken place primarily in the popular press rather than in academic and scholarly journals.

Valuation and knowledge construction I hope to make a positive contribution to the canon debate in this chapter by providing evidence for the claim that the positions of both the Western traditionalists and the multiculturalists reflect values, ideologies, political positions, and human interests. Each position also implies a kind of knowledge that should be taught in the school and university curriculum. I will present a typology of the kinds of knowledge that exist in society and in educational institutions. This typology is designed to help practicing educators and researchers to identify types of knowledge that reflect particular values, assumptions, perspectives, and ideological positions. Teachers should help students to understand all types of knowledge. Students should be involved in the debates about knowledge construction and conflicting interpretations, such as the extent to which Egypt and Phoenicia influenced Greek civilization. Students should also be taught how to create their own interpretations of the past and present, as well as how to identify their own positions, interests, ideologies, and assumptions. Teachers should help students to become critical thinkers who the have the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and commitments needed to participate in democratic action to help the nation close the gap between its ideals and its realities. Multicultural education is an education for functioning effectively in a pluralistic democratic society. Helping students to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to participate in reflective civic action is one of its major goals (Banks, 1991).

The canon debate 147 I argue that students should study all five types of knowledge. However, my own work and philosophical position are within the transformative tradition in ethnic studies and multicultural education (Banks, 1988, 1991; Banks and Banks, 1989). This tradition links knowledge, social commitment, and action (Meier and Rudwick, 1986). A transformative, action-oriented curriculum, in my view, can best be implemented when students examine different types of knowledge in a democratic classroom where they can freely examine their perspectives and moral commitments.

The characteristics of knowledge I am using knowledge in this chapter to mean the way a person explains or interprets reality. The American Heritage Dictionary (1983) defines knowledge as “familiarity, awareness, or understandings gained through experience or study. The sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered or inferred” (p. 384). My conceptualization of knowledge is broad and is used the way in which it is usually used in the sociology of knowledge literature to include ideas, values, and interpretations (Farganis, 1986). As postmodern theorists have pointed out, knowledge is socially constructed and reflects human interests, values, and action (Code, 1991; Foucault, 1972; S. Harding, 1991; Rorty, 1989). Although many complex factors influence the knowledge that is created by an individual or group, including the actuality of what occurred, the knowledge that people create is heavily influenced by their interpretations of their experiences and their positions within particular social, economic, and political systems and structures of a society. In the Western empirical tradition, the ideal within each academic discipline is the formulation of knowledge without the influence of the researcher’s personal or cultural characteristics (Greer, 1969; Kaplan, 1964). However, as critical and postmodern theorists have pointed out, personal, cultural, and social factors influence the formulation of knowledge even when objective knowledge is the ideal within a discipline (Cherryholmes, 1988; Foucault, 1972; Habermas, 1971; Rorty, 1989; Young, 1971). Often the researchers themselves are unaware of how their personal experiences and positions within society influence the knowledge they produce. Most mainstream historians were unaware of how their regional and cultural biases influenced their interpretation of the Reconstruction period until W. E. B. DuBois published a study that challenged the accepted and established interpretations of that historical period (DuBois, 1935/1962).

Positionality and knowledge construction Positionality is an important concept that emerged out of feminist scholarship. Tetreault (1993) writes: Positionality means that important aspects of our identity, for example, our gender, our race, our class, our age . . . are markers of relational positions rather than essential qualities. Their effects and implications change according to context. Recently, feminist thinkers have seen knowledge as valid when it comes from an acknowledgment of the knower’s specific position in any context, one always defined by gender, race, class and other variables. (p. 139)

148 Multicultural education and knowledge construction Positionality reveals the importance of identifying the positions and frames of reference from which scholars and writers present their data, interpretations, analyses, and instruction (Anzaldúa, 1990; Ellsworth, 1989). The need for researchers and scholars to identify their ideological positions and normative assumptions in their works – an inherent part of feminist and ethnic studies scholarship – contrasts with the empirical paradigm that has dominated science and research in the United States (Code, 1991; Harding, 1991). The assumption within the Western empirical paradigm is that the knowledge produced within it is neutral and objective and that its principles are universal. The effects of values, frames of references, and the normative positions of researchers and scholars are infrequently discussed within the traditional empirical paradigm that has dominated scholarship and teaching in American colleges and universities since the turn of the century. However, scholars such as Mydral (1944) and Clark (1965), prior to the feminist and ethnic studies movements, wrote about the need for scholars to recognize and state their normative positions and valuations and to become, in the apt words of Kenneth B. Clark, “involved observers.” Myrdal stated that valuations are not just attached to research but permeate it. He wrote, “There is no device for excluding biases in social sciences than to face the valuations and to introduce them as explicitly stated, specific, and sufficiently concretized value premises” (p. 1043). Postmodern and critical theorists such as Habermas (1971) and Giroux (1983), and feminist postmodern theorists such as Farganis (1986), Code (1991), and S. Harding (1991), have developed important critiques of empirical knowledge. They argue that despite its claims, modern science is not value free but contains important human interests and normative assumptions that should be identified, discussed, and examined. Code (1991), a feminist epistemologist, states that academic knowledge is both subjective and objective and that both aspects should be recognized and discussed. Code states that we need to ask these kinds of questions: “Out of whose subjectivity has this ideal [of objectivity] grown? Whose standpoint, whose values does it represent?” (p. 70). She writes: The point of the questions is to discover how subjective and objective conditions together produce knowledge, values, and epistemology. It is neither to reject objectivity nor to glorify subjectivity in its stead. Knowledge is neither value-free nor value-neutral; the processes that produce it are themselves value-laden; and these values are open to evaluation. (p. 70) In her book, What Can She Know? Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge, Code (1991) raises the question, “Is the sex of the knower epistemologically significant?” (p. 7). She answers this question in the affirmative because of the ways in which gender influences how knowledge is constructed, interpreted, and institutionalized within US society. The ethnic and cultural experiences of the knower are also epistemologically significant because these factors also influence knowledge construction, use, and interpretation in US society. Empirical scholarship has been limited by the assumptions and biases that are implicit within it (Code, 1991; Gordon, 1985; S. Harding, 1991). However, these biases and assumptions have been infrequently recognized by the scholars and researchers themselves and by the consumers of their works, such as other scholars, professors, teachers, and the general reader. The lack of recognition and identification of these biases, assumptions, perspectives, and points of view

The canon debate 149 have frequently victimized people of color such as African Americans and American Indians because of the stereotypes and misconceptions that have been perpetuated about them in the historical and social science literature (Ladner, 1973; Phillips, 1918). Gordon, Miller, and Rollock (1990) call the bias that results in the negative depiction of minority groups by mainstream social scientists “communicentric bias.” They point out that mainstream social scientists have often viewed diversity as deviance and differences as deficits. An important outcome of the revisionist and transformative interpretations that have been produced by scholars working in feminist and ethnic studies is that many misconceptions and partial truths about women and ethnic groups have been viewed from different and more complete perspectives (Acuña, 1988; Blassingame, 1972; V. Harding, 1981; King and Mitchell, 1990; Merton, 1972). More complete perspectives result in a closer approximation to the actuality of what occurred. In an important and influential essay, Merton (1972) notes that the perspectives of both “insiders” and “outsiders” are needed to enable social scientists to gain a complete view of social reality. Anna Julia Cooper, the African American educator, made a point similar to Merton’s when she wrote about how the perspectives of women enlarged our vision (Cooper, 1892/ 1969, cited in Minnich, 1990, p. viii): The world has had to limp along with the wobbling gait and the one-sided hesitancy of a man with one eye. Suddenly the bandage is removed from the other eye and the whole body is filled with light. It sees a circle where before it saw a segment.

A knowledge typology A description of the major types of knowledge can help teachers and curriculum specialists to identify perspectives and content needed to make the curriculum multicultural. Each of the types of knowledge described below reflects particular purposes, perspectives, experiences, goals, and human interests. Teaching students various types of knowledge can help them to better understand the perspectives of different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups as well as to develop their own versions and interpretations of issues and events. I identify and describe five types of knowledge (see Table 14.1) (1) personal/ cultural knowledge, (2) popular knowledge, (3) mainstream academic knowledge, (4) transformative academic knowledge, and (5) school knowledge. This is an ideal-type typology in the Weberian sense. The five categories approximate, but do not describe, reality in its total complexity. The categories are useful conceptual tools for thinking about knowledge and planning multicultural teaching. For example, although the categories can be conceptually distinguished, in reality they overlap and are interrelated in a dynamic way. Since the 1960s, some of the findings and insights from transformative academic knowledge have been incorporated into mainstream academic knowledge and scholarship. Traditionally, students were taught in schools and universities that the land that became North America was a thinly populated wilderness when the Europeans arrived in the sixteenth century and that African Americans had made few contributions to the development of American civilization (mainstream academic knowledge). Some of the findings from transformative academic knowledge that challenged these conceptions have influenced mainstream academic

150 Multicultural education and knowledge construction Table 14.1 Types of knowledge Knowledge type

Definition

Examples

Personal/ Cultural

The concepts, explanations, and interpretations that students derive from personal experience in their homes, families, and community cultures.

Popular

The facts, concepts, explanations, and interpretations that are institutionalized within the mass media and other institutions that are part of the popular culture. The concepts, paradigms, theories, and explanations that constitute traditional Westerncentric knowledge in history and the behavioral and social sciences. The facts, concepts, paradigms, themes, and explanations that challenge mainstream acadamic knowledge and expand and substantially revise established canons, paradigms, theories, explanations, and research methods When transformative acadamic paradigms replace mainstream ones, a scientific revolution has occurred. What is more normal is that transformative acadamic paradigms coexist with established ones. The facts, concepts, generalizations, and interpretations that are presented in textbooks, teachers’ guides, other media forms, and lectures by teachers.

Understandings by many African Americans and Hispanic students that highly individualisitic behavior will be negatively sanctioned by many adults and peers in their cultural communites. Movies such as Birth of a Nation, How the West Was Won, and Dances with Wolves.

Mainstream academic

Transformative academic

School

Ulrich B. Philips, American Negro Slavery, Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier theory: Arthur R. Jensen’s theory about Black and White intelligence. George Washington Williams, History of the Negro Race in America; W. E. B. DuBois, Black Reconstriction; Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-education of the Negro; Gerda Learner, The Majority Finds Its Past; Rodolfo Acuña, Occupied America: A History of Chicanos; Herbert Gutman, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom 1750–1925.

Lewis Paul Todd and Merle Curti, Rise of the American Nation; Richard C. Brown, Wilhelmena S. Robinson, and John Cunningham, Let Freedom Ring: A United States History.

scholarship and have been incorporated into mainstream college and school textbooks (Hoxie, no date; Thornton, 1987). Consequently, the relationship between the five categories of knowledge is dynamic and interactive rather than static (see Figure 14.1).

The canon debate 151

Personal/ cultural knowledge

Mainstream academic knowledge

Popular knowledge

Transformative academic knowledge

School knowledge

Figure 14.1 The interrelationship of the types of knowledge. Note Although the five types of knowledge discussed in this chapter are conceptually distinct, they are highly interrelated in a complex and dynamic way.

The types of knowledge Personal and cultural knowledge The concepts, explanations, and interpretations that students derive from personal experiences in their homes, families, and community cultures constitute personal and cultural knowledge. The assumptions, perspectives, and insights that students derive from their experiences in their homes and community cultures are used as screens to view and interpret the knowledge and experiences that they encounter in the school and in other institutions within the larger society. Research and theory by Fordham and Ogbu (1986) indicate that low-income African American students often experience academic difficulties in the school because of the ways that cultural knowledge within their community conflicts with school knowledge, norms, and expectations. Fordham and Ogbu also state that the culture of many low-income African American students is oppositional to the school culture. These students believe that if they master the knowledge taught in the schools they will violate fictive kinship norms and run the risk of “acting White.” Fordham (1988, 1991) has suggested that African American students who become high academic achievers resolve the conflict caused by the interaction of their personal cultural knowledge with the knowledge and norms within the schools by becoming “raceless” or by “ad hocing a culture.” Delpit (1988) has stated that African American students are often unfamiliar with school cultural knowledge regarding power relationships. They consequently experience academic and behavioral problems because of their failure to conform to established norms, rules, and expectations. She recommends that teachers help African American students learn the rules of power in the school culture by explicitly teaching them to the students. The cultural knowledge that many African American, Latino, and American Indian students bring to school conflict with school norms and values, with school knowledge, and with the ways that teachers interpret and mediate school knowledge. Student cultural knowledge and school knowledge often conflict on variables related to the ways that the individual

152 Multicultural education and knowledge construction should relate to and interact with the group (Hale-Benson, 1982; Ramírez and Castañeda, 1974; Shade, 1989), normative communication styles and interactions (Heath, 1983; Labov, 1975; Philips, 1983; Smitherman, 1977), and perspectives on the nature of US history. Personal and cultural knowledge is problematic when it conflicts with scientific ways of validating knowledge, is oppositional to the culture of the school, or challenges the main tenets and assumptions of mainstream academic knowledge. Much of the knowledge about out-groups that students learn from their home and community cultures consists of misconceptions, stereotypes, and partial truths (Milner, 1983). Most students in the United States are socialized within communities that are segregated along racial, ethnic, and social-class lines. Consequently, most American youths have few opportunities to learn firsthand about the cultures of people from different racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, and social-class groups. The challenge that teachers face is how to make effective instructional use of the personal and cultural knowledge of students while at the same time helping them to reach beyond their own cultural boundaries. Although the school should recognize, validate, and make effective use of student personal and cultural knowledge in instruction, an important goal of education is to free students from their cultural and ethnic boundaries and enable them to cross cultural borders freely (Banks, 1988, 1991/1992). In the past, the school has paid scant attention to the personal and cultural knowledge of students and has concentrated on teaching them school knowledge (Sleeter and Grant, 1991a). This practice has had different results for most White middle-class students, for most low-income students, and for most African American and Latino students. Because school knowledge is more consistent with the cultural experiences of most White middle-class students than for most other groups of students, these students have generally found the school a more comfortable place than have low-income students and most students of color – the majority of whom are also low-income. A number of writers have described the ways in which many African American, American Indian, and Latino students find the school culture alienating and inconsistent with their cultural experiences, hopes, dreams, and struggles (Hale-Benson, 1982; Heath, 1983; Ramírez and Castaíeda, 1974; Shade, 1989). It is important for teachers to be aware of the personal and cultural knowledge of students when designing the curriculum for today’s multicultural schools. Teachers can use student personal cultural knowledge as a vehicle to motivate students and as a foundation for teaching school knowledge. When teaching a unit on the Westward Movement to Lakota Sioux students, for example, the teacher can ask the students to make a list of their views about the Westward Movement, to relate family stories about the coming of the Whites to Lakota Sioux homelands, and to interview parents and grandparents about their perceptions of what happened when the Whites first occupied Indian lands. When teachers begin a unit on the Westward Movement with student personal cultural knowledge, they can increase student motivation as well as deepen their understanding of the schoolbook version (Wiggington, 1991/1992).

Popular knowledge Popular knowledge consists of the facts, interpretations, and beliefs that are institutionalized within television, movies, videos, records, and other forms of the mass media. Many of the tenets of popular knowledge are conveyed in subtle

The canon debate 153 rather than obvious ways. Some examples of statements that constitute important themes in popular knowledge are as follow: (1) The United States is a powerful nation with unlimited opportunities for individuals who are willing to take advantage of them. (2) To succeed in the United States, an individual only has to work hard. You can realize your dreams in the United States if you are willing to work hard and pull yourself up by the bootstrap. (3) As a land of opportunity for all, the United States is a highly cohesive nation, whose ideals of equality and freedom are shared by all. Most of the major tenets of American popular culture are widely shared and are deeply entrenched in US society. However, they are rarely explicitly articulated. Rather, they are presented in the media and in other sources in the forms of stories, anecdotes, news stories, and interpretations of current events (Cortés l991a,b; Greenfield and Cortés, 1991). Commercial entertainment films both reflect and perpetuate popular knowledge (Bogle, 1989; Cortés, 1991a,b; Greenfield and Cortés, 1991). While preparing to write this chapter, I viewed an important and influential film that was directed by John Ford and released by MGM in 1962, How the West Was Won. I selected this film for review because the settlement of the West is a major theme in American culture and society about which there are many popular images, beliefs, myths, and misconceptions. In viewing the film, I was particularly interested in the images it depicted about the settlement of the West, about the people who were already in the West, and about those who went West looking for new opportunities. Ford uses the Prescotts, a White family from Missouri bound for California, to tell his story. The film tells the story of three generations of this family. It focuses on the family’s struggle to settle in the West. Indians, African Americans, and Mexicans are largely invisible in the film. Indians appear in the story when they attack the Prescott family during their long and perilous journey. The Mexicans appearing in the film are bandits who rob a train and are killed. The several African Americans in the film are in the background silently rowing a boat. At various points in the film, Indians are referred to as hostile Indians and as squaws. How the West Was Won is a masterpiece in American popular culture. It not only depicts some of the major themes in American culture about the winning of the West; it reinforces and perpetuates dominant societal attitudes about ethnic groups and gives credence to the notion that the West was won by liberty-loving, hard-working people who pursued freedom for all. The film narrator states near its end, “[The movement West] produced a people free to dream, free to act, and free to mold their own destiny.”

Mainstream academic knowledge Mainstream academic knowledge consists of the concepts, paradigms, theories, and explanations that constitute traditional and established knowledge in the behavioral and social sciences. An important tenet within the mainstream academic paradigm is that there is a set of objective truths that can be verified through rigorous and objective research procedures that are uninfluenced by human interests, values, and perspectives (Greer, 1969; Kaplan, 1964; Sleeter, 1991). This empirical knowledge, uninfluenced by human values and interests, constitute a body of objective truths that should constitute the core of the school and university curriculum. Much of this objective knowledge originated in the West, but is considered universal in nature and application.

154 Multicultural education and knowledge construction Mainstream academic knowledge is the knowledge that multicultural critics such as Ravitch and Finn (1987), Hirsch (1987), and Bloom (1987) claim is threatened by the addition of content about Women and ethnic minorities to the school and university curriculum. This knowledge reflects the established, Westernoriented canon that has historically dominated university research and teaching in the United States. Mainstream academic knowledge consists of the theories and interpretations that are internalized and accepted by most university researchers, academic societies, and organizations such as the American Historical Association, the American Sociological Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Academy of Sciences. It is important to point out, however, that an increasing number of university scholars are critical theorists and postmodernists who question the empirical paradigm that dominates Western science (Cherryholmes, 1988; Giroux, 1983; Rosenau, 1992). Many of these individuals are members of national academic organizations, such as the American Historical Association and the American Sociological Association. In most of these professional organizations, the postmodern scholars – made up of significant numbers of scholars of color and feminists – have formed caucuses and interest groups within the mainstream professional organizations. No claim is made here that there is a uniformity of beliefs among mainstream academic scholars, but rather that there are dominant canons, paradigms, and theories that are accepted by the community of mainstream academic scholars and researchers. These established canons and paradigms are occasionally challenged within the mainstream academic community itself. However, they receive their most serious challenges from academics outside the mainstream, such as scholars within the transformative academic community whom I will describe later. Mainstream academic knowledge, like the other forms of knowledge discussed in this chapter, is not static, but is dynamic, complex, and changing. Challenges to the dominant canons and paradigms within mainstream academic knowledge come from both within and without. These challenges lead to changes, reinterpretations, debates, disagreements and ultimately to paradigm shifts, new theories, and interpretations. Kuhn (1970) states that a scientific revolution takes place when a new paradigm emerges and replaces an existing one. What is more typical in education and the social sciences is that competing paradigms coexist, although particular ones might be more influential during certain times or periods. We can examine the treatment of slavery within the mainstream academic community over time, or the treatment of the American Indian, to identify ways that mainstream academic knowledge has changed in important ways since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Ulrich B. Phillips’s highly influential book, American Negro Slavery, published in 1918, dominated the way Black slavery was interpreted until his views were challenged by researchers in the 1950s (Stampp, 1956). Phillips was a respected authority on the antebellum South and on slavery. His book, which became a historical classic, is essentially an apology for Southern slaveholders. A new paradigm about slavery was developed in the 1970s that drew heavily upon the slaves’ view of their own experiences (Blassingame, 1972; Genovese, 1972; Gutman, 1976). During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the American Indian was portrayed in mainstream academic knowledge as either a noble or a hostile savage (Hoxie, 1988). Other notions that became institutionalized within mainstream academic knowledge include the idea that Columbus discovered America and that America was a thinly populated frontier when the Europeans arrived in the late fifteenth century. Frederick Jackson Turner (1894/1989) argued that the

The canon debate 155 frontier, which he regarded as a wilderness, was the main source of American democracy. Although Turner’s thesis is now being highly criticized by revisionist historians, his essay established a conception of the West that has been highly influential in American mainstream scholarship, in the popular culture, and in schoolbooks. The conception of the West he depicted is still influential today in the school curriculum and in textbooks (Sleeter and Grant, 1991b). These ideas also became institutionalized within mainstream academic knowledge: The slaves were happy and contented; most of the important ideas that became a part of American civilization came from Western Europe; and the history of the United States has been one of constantly expanding progress and increasing democracy. African slaves were needed to transform the United States from an empty wilderness into an industrial democratic civilization. The American Indians had to be Christianized and removed to reservations in order for this to occur.

Transformative academic knowledge Transformative academic knowledge consists of concepts, paradigms, themes, and explanations that challenge mainstream academic knowledge and that expand the historical and literary canon. Transformative academic knowledge challenges some of the key assumptions that mainstream scholars make about the nature of knowledge. Transformative and mainstream academic knowledge is based on different epistemological assumptions about the nature of knowledge, about the influence of human interests and values on knowledge construction, and about the purpose of knowledge. An important tenet of mainstream academic knowledge is that it is neutral, objective, and was uninfluenced by human interests and values. Transformative academic knowledge reflects postmodern assumptions and goals about the nature and goals of knowledge (Foucault, 1972; Rorty, 1989; Rosenau, 1992). Transformative academic scholars assume that knowledge is not neutral but is influenced by human interests, that all knowledge reflects the power and social relationships within society, and that an important purpose of knowledge construction is to help people improve society (Code, 1991; S. Harding, 1991; hooks and West, 1991; King and Mitchell, 1990; Minnich, 1990). Write King and Mitchell: “Like other praxis-oriented Critical approaches, the Afrocentic method seeks to enable people to understand social reality in order to change it. But its additional imperative is to transform the society’s basic ethos” (p. 95). These statements reflect some of the main ideas and concepts in transformative academic knowledge: Columbus did not discover America. The Indians had been living in this land for about 40,000 years when the Europeans arrived. Concepts such as “The European Discovery of America” and “The Westward Movement” need to be reconceptualized and viewed from the perspectives of different cultural and ethnic groups. The Lakota Sioux’s homeland was not the West to them; it was the center of the universe. It was not the West for the Alaskans; it was South. It was East for the Japanese and North for the people who lived in Mexico. The history of the United States has not been one of continuous progress toward democratic ideals. Rather, the nation’s history has been characterized by a cyclic quest for democracy and by conflict, struggle, violence, and exclusion (Acuña, 1988; Zinn, 1980). A major challenge that faces the nation is how to make its democratic ideals a reality for all. Transformative academic knowledge has a long history in the United States. In 1882 and 1883, George Washington Williams (1849–1891) published, in two

156 Multicultural education and knowledge construction volumes, the first comprehensive history of African Americans in the United States, A History of the Negro Race in America From 1619 to 1880 (Williams, 1982–1983). Williams, like other African American scholars after him, decided to research and write about the Black experience because of the neglect of African Americans by mainstream historians and social scientists and because of the stereotypes and misconceptions about African Americans that appeared in mainstream scholarship. W. E. B. DuBois (1868–1963) is probably the most prolific African American scholar in US history. His published writings constitute 38 volumes (Aptheker, 1973). DuBois devoted his long and prolific career to the formulation of new data, concepts, and paradigms that could be used to reinterpret the Black experience and reveal the role that African Americans had played in the development of American society. His seminal works include The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, 1638–1870, the first volume of the Harvard Historical Studies (DuBois, 1896/1969). Perhaps his most discussed book is Black Reconstruction in America: An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860–1880, published in 1935. In this book, DuBois (1035–1962) challenged the accepted, institutionalized interpretations of Reconstruction and emphasized the accomplishments of the Reconstruction governments and legislatures, especially the establishment of free public schools. Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950), the historian and educator who founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and the Journal of Negro History, also challenged established paradigms about the treatment of African Americans in a series of important publications, including The Mis-education of the Negro, published in 1933. Woodson and Wesley (1922) published a highly successful college textbook that described the contributions that African Americans have made to American life, The Negro in Our History. This book was issued in 10 editions.

Transformative knowledge since the 1970s Many scholars have produced significant research and theories since the early 1970s that have challenged and modified institutionalized stereotypes and misconceptions about ethnic minorities, formulated new concepts and paradigms, and forced mainstream scholars to rethink established interpretations. Much of the transformative academic knowledge that has been produced since the 1970s is becoming institutionalized within mainstream scholarship and within the school, college, and university curricula. In time, much of this scholarship will become mainstream, thus reflecting the highly interrelated nature of the types of knowledge conceptualized and described in this chapter. Only a few examples of this new, transformative scholarship will be mentioned here because of the limited scope of this chapter. Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States (1980); Red, White and Black: The Peoples of Early America by Gary B. Nash (1982); The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of AfricanAmerican Literacy Criticism by Henry Louis Gates, Jr (1988); Occupied America: A History of Chicanos by Rodolfo Acuña (1988); Iron Cages: Race and Culture in 19th-Century America by Ronald T. Takaki (1979); and The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions by Paul Gunn Allen (1986) are examples of important scholarship that has provided significant new perspectives on the experiences of ethnic groups in the United States and has

The canon debate 157 helped us to transform our conceptions about the experiences of American ethnic groups. Readers acquainted with this scholarship will note that transformative scholarship has been produced by both European American and ethnic minority scholars. I will discuss two examples of how the new scholarship in ethnic studies has questioned traditional interpretations and stimulated a search for new explanations and paradigms since the 1950s. Since the pioneering work of E. Franklin Frazier (1939), social scientists had accepted the notion that the slave experience had destroyed the Black family and that the destruction of the African American family continued in the post-Second World War period during Black migration to and settlement in northern cities. Moynihan (1965), in his controversial book, The Negro Family in America: The Case for National Action, used the broken Black family explanation in his analysis. Gutman (1976), in an important historical study of the African American family from 1750 to 1925, concluded that “despite a high rate of earlier involuntary marital breakup, large numbers of slave couples lived in long marriages, and most slaves lived in double-headed households” (p. xxii). An important group of African and African American scholars have challenged established interpretations about the origin of Greek civilization and the extent to which Greek civilization was influenced by African cultures. These scholars include Diop (1974), Williams (1987), and Van Sertima (1988, 1989). Cheikh Anta Diop is one of the most influential African scholars who has challenged established interpretations about the origin of Greek civilization. In Black Nations and Culture, published in 1955 (summarized by Van Sertima, 1989), he sets forth an important thesis that states that Africa is an important root of Western civilization. Diop argues that [Egypt] was the node and center of a vast web linking the strands of cultures and languages; that the light that crystallized at the center of this early world had been energized by the cultural electricity streaming from the heartland of Africa. (p. 8) Since the work by Diop, Williams, and Van Sertima, traditional interpretations about the formation of Greek civilization has been challenged by Bernal (1987–1991), a professor of government at Cornell University. The earlier challenges to established interpretations by African and African Americans received little attention, except within the African American community. However, Bernal’s work has received wide attention in the popular press and among classicists. Bernal (1987–1991) argues that important aspects of Greek civilization originated in ancient Egypt and Phoenicia and that the ancient civilization of Egypt was essentially African. Bernal believes that the contributions of Egypt and Phoenicia to Greek civilization have been deliberately ignored by classical scholars because of their biased attitudes toward non White peoples and Semites. Bernal has published two of four planned volumes of his study Black Athena. In Volume 2 he uses evidence from linguistics, archeology, and ancient documents to substantiate his claim that “between 2100 and 1100 BC, when Greek culture was born, the people of the Aegean borrowed, adapted or had thrust upon them deities and language, technologies and architectures, notions of justice and polis” from Egypt and Phoenicia (Begley et al., 1991, p. 50). Because transformative academic knowledge, such as that constructed by Diop, Williams, Van Sertima, and Bernal, challenges the established paradigms as well as because of the tremendous gap

158 Multicultural education and knowledge construction between academic knowledge and school knowledge, it often has little influence on school knowledge.

School knowledge School knowledge consists of the facts, concepts, and generalizations presented in textbooks, teachers’ guides, and the other forms of media designed for school use. School knowledge also consists of the teacher’s mediation and interpretation of that knowledge. The textbook is the main source of school knowledge in the United States (Apple and Christian-Smith, 1991; Goodlad, 1984; Shaver et al., 1979). Studies of textbooks indicate that these are some of the major themes in school knowledge (Anyon, 1979, 1981; Sleeter and Grant, 1991b): (1) America’s founding fathers, such as Washington and Jefferson, were highly moral, libertyloving men who championed equality and justice for all Americans; (2) the United States is a nation with justice, liberty, and freedom for all; (3) social class divisions are not significant issues in the United States; (4) there are no significant gender, class, or racial divisions within US society; and (5) ethnic groups of color and Whites interact largely in harmony in the United States. Studies of textbooks that have been conducted by researchers such as Anyon (1979, 1981) and Sleeter and Grant (1991b) indicate that textbooks present a highly selective view of social reality, give students the idea that knowledge is static rather than dynamic, and encourage students to master isolated facts rather than to develop complex under standings of social reality. These studies also indicate that textbooks reinforce the dominant social, economic, and power arrangements within society. Students are encouraged to accept rather than to question these arrangements. In their examination of the treatment of race, class, gender, and disability in textbooks, Sleeter and Grant (1991b) concluded that although textbooks had largely eliminated sexist language and had incorporated images of ethnic minorities into them, they failed to help students to develop an understanding of the complex cultures of ethnic groups, an understanding of racism, sexism, and classism in American society, and described the United States as a nation that had largely overcome its problems. Sleeter and Grant write: The vision of social relations that the textbooks we analyzed for the most part project is one of harmony and equal opportunity – anyone can do or become whatever he or she wants; problems among people are mainly individual in nature and in the end are resolved. (p. 99) A number of powerful factors influence the development and production of school textbooks (Altbach, Kelly, Petrie, and Weis, 1991; Fitzgerald, 1979). One of the most important is the publisher’s perception of statements and images that might be controversial. When textbooks become controversial, school districts often refuse to adopt and to purchase them. When developing a textbook, the publisher and the authors must also consider the developmental and reading levels of the students, state and district guidelines about what subject matter textbooks should include, and recent trends and developments in a content field that teachers and administrators will expect the textbook to reflect and incorporate. Because of the number of constraints and influences on the development of textbooks, school knowledge often does not include in-depth discussions and analyses of some

The canon debate 159 of the major problems in American society, such as racism, sexism, social-class stratification, and poverty (Anyon, 1979, 1981; Sleeter and Grant, 1991b). Consequently, school knowledge is influenced most heavily by mainstream academic knowledge and popular knowledge. Transformative academic knowledge usually has little direct influence on school knowledge. It usually affects school knowledge in a significant way only after it has become a part of mainstream and popular knowledge. Teachers must make special efforts to introduce transformative knowledge and perspectives to elementary and secondary school students.

Teaching implications Multicultural education involves changes in the total school environment in order to create equal educational opportunities for all students (Banks, 1991; Banks and Banks, 1989; Sleeter and Grant, 1987). However, in this chapter I have focused on only one of the important dimensions of multicultural education – the kinds of knowledge that should be taught in the multicultural curriculum. The five types of knowledge described earlier have important implications for planning and teaching a multicultural curriculum. An important goal of multicultural teaching is to help students to understand how knowledge is constructed. Students should be given opportunities to investigate and determine how cultural assumptions, frames of references, perspectives, and the biases within a discipline influence the ways that knowledge is constructed. Students should also be given opportunities to create knowledge themselves and identify ways in which the knowledge they construct is influenced and limited by their personal assumptions, positions, and experiences. I will use a unit on the Westward Movement to illustrate how teachers can use the knowledge categories described earlier to teach from a multicultural perspective. When beginning the unit, teachers can draw upon the students’ personal and cultural knowledge about the Westward Movement. They can ask the students to make a list of ideas that come to mind when they think of “The West.” To enable the students to determine how the popular culture depicts the West, teachers can ask the students to view and analyze the film, How the West Was Won. They can also ask them to view videos of more recently made films about the West and to make a list of its major themes and images. Teachers can summarize Turner’s frontier theory to give students an idea of how an influential mainstream historian described and interpreted the West in the late nineteenth century and how this theory influenced generations of historians. Teachers can present a transformative perspective on the West by showing the students the film How the West Was Won and Honor Lost, narrated by Marion Brando. This film describes how the European Americans who went West, with the use of broken treaties and deceptions, invaded the land of the Indians and displaced them. Teachers may also ask the students to view segments of the popular film Dances With Wolves and to discuss how the depiction of Indians in this film reflects both mainstream and transformative perspectives on Indians in US history and culture. Teachers can present the textbook account of the Westward Movement in the final part of the unit. The main goals of presenting different kinds of knowledge are to help students understand how knowledge is constructed and how it reflects the social context in which it is created and to enable them to develop the understandings and skills needed to become knowledge builders themselves. An important goal of multicultural education is to transform the school curriculum so that students not only learn the

160 Multicultural education and knowledge construction knowledge that has been constructed by others, but learn how to critically analyze the knowledge they master and how to construct their own interpretations of the past, present, and future. Several important factors related to teaching the types of knowledge have not been discussed in this chapter but need to be examined. One is the personal/ cultural knowledge of the classroom teacher. The teachers, like the students, bring understandings, concepts, explanations, and interpretations to the classroom that result from their experiences in their homes, families, and community cultures. Most teachers in the United States are European American (87 percent) and female (72 percent) (Ordovensky, 1992). However, there is enormous diversity among European Americans that is mirrored in the backgrounds of the teacher population, including diversity related to religion, social class, region, and ethnic origin. The diversity within European Americans is rarely discussed in the social science literature (Alba, 1990) or within classrooms. However, the rich diversity among the cultures of teachers is an important factor that needs to be examined and discussed in the classroom. The 13 percent of US teachers who are ethnic minorities can also enrich their classrooms by sharing their personal and cultural knowledge with their students and by helping them to understand how it mediates textbook knowledge. The multicultural classroom is a forum of multiple voices and perspectives. The voices of the teacher, of the textbook, of mainstream and transformative authors – and of the students – are important components of classroom discourse. Teachers can share their cultural experiences and interpretations of events as a way to motivate students to share theirs. However, they should examine their racial and ethnic attitudes toward diverse groups before engaging in cultural sharing. A democratic classroom atmosphere must also be created. The students must view the classroom as a forum where multiple perspectives are valued. An open and democratic classroom will enable students to acquire the skills and abilities they need to examine conflicting knowledge claims and perspectives. Students must become critical consumers of knowledge as well as knowledge producers if they are to acquire the understandings and skills needed to function in the complex and diverse world of tomorrow. Only a broad and liberal multicultural education can prepare them for that world.

Notes This chapter is adapted from a paper presented at the conference “Democracy and Education,” sponsored by the Benton Center for Curriculum and Instruction, Department of Education, The University of Chicago, November 15–16, 1991, Chicago, Illinois. I am grateful to the following colleagues for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this chapter: Cherry A. McGee Banks, Carlos E. Cortés, Geneva Gay, Donna H. Kerr, Joyce E. King, Walter C. Parker, Pamela L. Grossman, and Christine E. Sleeter.

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The canon debate 163 Kaplan, A. (1964). The conduct of inquiry: Methodology for behavioral science. San Francisco, CA: Chandler. King, J. E., & Mitchell, C. A. (1990). Black mothers to sons: Juxtaposing African American literature with social practice. New York: Lang. Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions (2nd edn). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Labov, W. (1975). The study of nonstandard English. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. Ladner, J. A. (Ed.). (1973). The death of White sociology. New York: Vintage. Meier, A., and Rudwick, E. (1986). Black history and the historical profession 1915–1980. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. Merton, R. K. (1972). Insiders and outsiders: a chapter in the sociology of knowledge. The American Journal of Sociology, 78, (1), 9–47. Milner, D. (1983). Children and race. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Minnich, E. K. (1990). Transforming knowledge. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Moynihan, D. P. (1965). The Negro family in America: A case for national action. Washington, DC: US Department of Labor. Myrdal, G. (with the assistance of R. Sterner and A. Rose). (1944). An American dilemma: The Negro problem in modern democracy. New York: Harper. Nash, G. B. (1982). Red, White and Black: The peoples of early America. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. New York City Board of Education. (1990). Grade 7, United States and New York state history: A multicultural perspective. New York: Author. New York State Department of Education. (1989, July). A curriculum of inclusion (Report of the Commissioner’s Task Force on Minorities: Equity and excellence). Albany, NY: The State Education Department. New York State Department of Education. (1991, June). One nation, many peoples: A declaration of cultural interdependence. Albany, NY: The State Education Department. Ordovensky, P. (1992, July 7). Teachers: 87% White, 72% women. USA Today, p. 1A. Philips, S. U. (1983). The invisible culture: Communication in classroom and community on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. New York: Longman. Phillips, U. B. (1918). American Negro slavery. New York: Appleton. Ramírez, M., III, and Castañeda, A. (1974). Cultural democracy, bicognitive development and education. New York: Academic Press. Ravitch, D., and Finn, C. E., Jr (1987). What do our 17-year-olds know? A report on the first national assessment of history and literature. New York: Harper & Row. Rivlin, A. M. (1973). Forensic social science. Harvard Educational Review, 43, 61–75. Rorty, R. (1989). Contingency, irony, and solidarity. New York: Cambridge University Press. Rosenau, P. M. (1992). Post-modernism and the social sciences: Insights, inroads, and intrusions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Schlesinger, A., Jr (1991). The disuniting of America: Reflections on a multicultural society. Knoxville, TN: Whittle Direct Books. Shade, B. J. R. (Ed.). (1989). Culture, style and the educative process. Springfield, IL: Thompson. Shaver, J. P., Davis, O. L., Jr, and Helburn, S. W. (1979). The status of social studies education: Impressions from three NSF studies. Social Education, 43, 150–153. Sleeter, C. E. (1991). (Ed.). Empowerment through multicultural education. Albany: State University of New York Press. Sleeter, C. E., and Grant, C. A. (1987). An analysis of multicultural education in the United States. Harvard Educational Review, 57, 421–444. Sleeter, C. E., and Grant, C. A. (1991a). Mapping terrains of power: Student cultural knowledge versus classroom knowledge. In C. E. Sleeter (Ed.), Empowerment through multicultural education (pp. 49–67). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Sleeter, C. E., and Grant, C. A. (1991b). Race, class, gender and disability in current textbooks. In M. W. Apple and L. K. Christian-Smith (Eds), The politics of textbooks (pp. 78–110). New York: Routledge. Smitherman, G. (1977). Talkin and testifyin: The language of Black America. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

164 Multicultural education and knowledge construction Sokol, E. (Ed.). (1990). A world of difference: St. Louis metropolitan region, preschool through grade 6, teachers/student resource guide. St. Louis: Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. Stampp, K. M. (1956). The peculiar institution: Slavery in the ante-bellum South. New York: Vintage. Takaki, R. T. (1979). Iron cages: Race and culture in 19th-century America. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. Tetreault, M. K. T. (1993). Classrooms for diversity: Rethinking curriculum and pedagogy. In J. A. Banks and C. A. M. Banks (Eds.), Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (2nd ed, pp. 129–148). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Thornton, R. (1987). American Indian holocaust and survival: A population history since 1492. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Turner, F. J. (1989). The significance of the frontier in American history. In C. A. Milner II (Ed.), Major problems in the history of the American West (pp. 2–21). Lexington, MA: Heath. (Original work published 1894). Van Sertima, I. V. (Ed.). (1988). Great Black leaders: Ancient and modern. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Africana Studies Department. Van Sertima, I. V. (Ed.). (1989). Great African thinkers: Vol. 1. Cheikh Anta Diop. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books. Wiggington, F. (1991/1992). Culture begins at home. Educational Leadership, 49, 60–6. Williams, C. (1987). The destruction of Black civilization: Great issues of a race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D. Chicago, IL: Third World Press. Williams, G. W. (1968). History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880: Negroes as slaves, as soldiers, and as citizens (2 Vols). New York: Arno Press. (Original work published 1892 & 1893). Woodson, C. G. (1933). The Mis-education of the Negro. Washington, DC: Associated Publishers. Woodson, C. C., and Wesley, C. H. (1922). The Negro in our history. Washington, DC: Associated Publishers. Woodward, C. V. (1991, July 18). Freedom and the universities. The New York Review of Books, 38, 32–37. Young, M. F. D. (1971). An approach to curricula as socially organized knowledge. In M. F. D. Young (Ed.), Knowledge and control (pp. 19–46). London: Collier-Macmillan. Zinn, H. (1980). A people’s history of the United States. New York: Harper & Row.

PART 6

THE GLOBAL DIMENSIONS OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

CHAPTER 15

MULTIETHNIC EDUCATION ACROSS CULTURES United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, and Great Britain Social Education, 1978, 42, 177–185

Introduction In the 1960s, Afro-Americans began an unprecedented fight for their rights and tried to shape a new identity. After the Black Revolt began, other alienated American ethnic groups began to shape new identities and to make militant demands for human and civil rights. Ethnic revitalization movements and conflicts also emerged in Great Britain and Canada, as well as in many other nations. The ethnic movements of the 1960s echoed throughout the world. The school systems in many nations were influenced by these ethnic revitalization movements. Since the 1960s, educators in various nations have structured special programs, courses, and experiences related to the unique needs of ethnic groups. During the 1976–1977 academic year, I studied the goals, nature, and extent of programs related to multiethnic education in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, and Great Britain. I tried to derive some tentative comparative statements about the nature of ethnicity and schooling in these nations. In the United States, I studied programs on the Oahu Island in Hawaii. I visited schools and other institutions in these cities: Mexico City, Mexico; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Paris, France; and London, England. My research methods were necessarily exploratory and informal, since my goals were to derive working hypotheses and gain useful insights into ethnicity and schooling in different nations and not to test or validate hypotheses and generalizations. I visited nations with a range of ethnic groups because I wanted to study ethnic groups and problems within contrasting cultural contexts. My observations and interpretations of ethnicity and schooling in these nations, which should be regarded as working hypotheses, are presented in this chapter.

United States: Hawaii Ethnic conflict in Hawaii Politically, Hawaii is part of the United States. It became the nation’s fiftieth state in 1959. Hawaii also shares many cultural, political, and economic characteristics with the United States mainland. Sociologically, however, Hawaii is in many ways distinct from the rest of he nation. Race relations on the Islands, for example, differ substantially from race relations in the other states. Hawaii has a larger proportion of non-White ethnic groups than does any other state in the Union.1

168 Global dimensions of multicultural education Social scientists have often observed less racial discrimination and conflict in Hawaii than in the continental United States.2 There is also a much higher degree of physical and cultural mixture among ethnic and racial groups in Hawaii than in the rest of the United States. Racial and ethnic differences also seem to be more readily accepted and less stigmatized on the Islands. The nation’s non-White ethnic groups have more political and economic influence in Hawaii. Japanese Americans, for example, who are a small minority with little political influence on the United States mainland, are the single largest Hawaiian ethnic group and exercise considerable power in politics and in education. Chinese Americans are some of Hawaii’s leading businesspeople. Even though Hawaii has less ethnic conflict than the mainland, it is not free of racial and ethnic problems. Many social scientists have greatly exaggerated racial tranquility on the Islands. Although there is considerable mixture across ethnic lines in Hawaii, there is a lot of subtle but intense racial hostility. Filipinos, Samoans, Koreans, and Native Hawaiians, for example, often dislike the Japanese as much or more than they dislike the haoles.3 This is probably because the Japanese are highly visible and economically successful. Hawaiian ethnic groups believe that the Japanese have power because many Japanese have jobs which symbolize power to less structurally assimilated ethnic groups, such as Native Hawaiians and Filipinos. Many Japanese are professionals whose clients include individuals who are Samoans, Filipinos, and Native Hawaiians. Interethnic relations in Hawaii suggest that, within an ethnically stratified society, ethnic groups that lack a sense of political efficacy, that are disproportionately represented in the lower classes, and that perceive themselves as economically, culturally, and politically oppressed, are likely to focus hostility on ethnic groups which are perceived as powerful and successful. This is likely to happen regardless of the racial or ethnic group memberships of the powerless groups and the groups that are perceived as powerful. Many Native Hawaiians and Filipinos blame Japanese principals and teachers for the failure of their children in school in the way that minorities on the mainland often fault White teachers and principals for the academic failure of their students. Whether the group that is perceived as powerful has power or actually “oppresses” the group which lacks a sense of control over its fate is a separate question which space prevents me from exploring in this chapter.

The school curriculum in Hawaii Because of Hawaii’s large number of visible ethnic groups, lesser degree of racial discrimination, significant number of minority educational administrators and teachers, and high levels of physical and cultural amalgamation, I expected the Hawaiian school curriculum to extensively reflect ethnic and cultural diversity. I was very surprised to find that the mainstream Hawaiian curriculum differs little from the curriculum in most schools on the mainland. The Hawaiian curriculum is largely Anglo-Centric.4 It presents events, situations, and problems primarily from the perspectives of Anglo-American historians, writers, artists, and scientists. Ethnic studies in most of the schools I visited in Hawaii was viewed primarily as compensatory. Most of the educators I talked to felt that ethnic studies should be devised and implemented only when there were ethnic problems within a school or when minority children had special needs, such as when large numbers of immigrant children from Korea or Samoa who spoke little or no English entered a school. Consequently, the school programs related to ethnic diversity in Hawaii

Multiethnic education across cultures 169 are usually compensatory and are not often part of the regular school curriculum. These programs are usually federally funded. When I asked one elementary principal what steps had been taken in his school to make the curriculum relate to the ethnic diversity of Hawaii’s children, he said “none” because his school didn’t have any racial or ethnic problems. I visited several programs related to ethnicity in Hawaii. These included teaching English as a second language (TESL) programs, projects designed to improve interpersonal and intergroup relations, and programs that were developing multiethnic materials and resources. There was some very exciting and innovative teaching being done by individual teachers in these special projects. In one classroom, a teacher was using psychological concepts to help the students to clarify their ethnic identities and to develop more positive self-concepts and better cross-ethnic relationships. Another teacher was using a data retrieval chart to teach students higher-level generalizations about ethnic families in Hawaii. A materials project was developing excellent and exciting multiethnic resources on ethnic groups in Hawaii. While these programs have many strengths, they are plagued by some of the same problems which haunt federally and specially funded projects on the United States mainland and in Puerto Rico. These include insufficient teacher training, the inability to make and implement long-range plans because of limited funding periods, goals that are inconsistent with practices, and the failure of the funded programs to stimulate basic institutional change. The lessons in some of the TESL programs seemed to be teaching the immigrant children English as quickly as possible without helping them to become bilingual and bicultural, as their goals stated. The excellent materials developed by one funded program were not being widely used in Hawaii’s schools. Effective strategies that will enable educators to use specially funded programs to stimulate basic institutional reform are needed. Until such strategies are developed, we will continue to reap limited benefits from specially funded projects and programs. While the mainstream Hawaiian curriculum tends to be Anglo-Centric, almost all schools have programs and courses in Hawaiian history and culture. These are usually found in the fourth grade in the elementary schools and in a designated high school grade. While many of these programs are innovative, others emphasize historical facts, rote memorization, and the early history of Hawaii, with little attention given to contemporary race relations on the Islands. Why does the school curriculum in Hawaii, which is embedded in such rich cultural and ethnic diversity, tend to be little different from the common school curriculum in most school districts on the mainland? I posed this question to many Hawaiian educators and gave it considerable thought. It has many possible answers related to both historical and contemporary Hawaiian society. However, I will explore only several and present them as hypotheses. Ethnic studies tend to emerge within a society when there is widespread ethnic protest and ethnic revitalization movements. Ethnic protest, however, does not arise within a society unless ethnic groups perceive themselves as oppressed, are dissatisfied, have rising expectations, and have reasons to believe that their protest will succeed and lead to social and political reform. There may be comparatively few developments in ethnic studies in Hawaii because, historically, the state has not had widespread and militant ethnic protest. It may be that because there is a lesser degree of ethnic discrimination than on the mainland, ethnic protest has never reached high levels in Hawaii. Consequently, a strong push for pluralistic education has not arisen.

170 Global dimensions of multicultural education In other words, demands for ethnic education may not be strong in Hawaii because most of the Hawaiian ethnic groups, to some extent, feel included in the structure of society. Consequently, they do not believe that they have a need for special attention and programs. There has been a push for ethnic education in Hawaii. However, it has not been strong enough to lead to widespread reform in multi ethnic education. Some of the Hawaiian educators I talked to said that, while students in Hawaii experience multi-ethnicity outside the school, the schools are Anglo-Centric largely because so many elements of the school are imported from the mainland, such as textbooks, consultants, theory, and educational hardware and software. Conceptions of the effective curriculum were developed on the mainland and imported to Hawaii almost intact, they said. This is not an unusual development, as Carnoy points out,5 when a nation such as the United States occupies a weaker nation, such as occurred when it occupied Hawaii in the 1800s. Carnoy notes, for example, that the curriculum in colonial French Africa was not African, but French – it was imported from without and imposed on the Africans because they had been colonized by the French. This explanation raises a further question: Why does the educational system continue to be Anglo-Centric long after indigenous Hawaiian groups have had a major influence on it? It is possible that many of the indigenous Hawaiian educational leaders have internalized Anglo conceptions of education and perpetuate these ideas with a highly centralized and bureaucratic school system.

Mexico Ethnicity in Mexico When a student tries to understand ethnicity in Mexico, he or she is faced with a basic problem: the idealized conception of ethnic relations in Mexico that is articulated by most of the mestizos who hold important positions in education and government. These individuals become the investigator’s major source of information. This conception states that Mexico has no racial or ethnic problems, that all people are treated equally, and that the problems of the oppressed and excluded Indians are social and cultural rather than racial. To what extent does this idealized notion of race relations in Mexico reflect reality? It partially explains the actual racial situation in this modernizing nation. The dominant group in Mexico are the mestizos.6 The nation also contains over fifty different Indian groups and more than 200 Indian linguistic groups. These Indian groups constitute the nation’s largest group of ethnic minorities. They make up more than 6 percent of the Mexican population. Smaller Mexican ethnic groups include Mexican Asians, Mexican Jews, and Mexican Europeans. The Indians, however, are by far the nation’s most numerous and excluded ethnic group. Unlike Indian groups in the United States, which are to some extent integrated into the structure of American life and society, the Mexican Indians are largely non-participants in the fabric of the dominant mestizo society and nation. Most Mexican Indians are illiterate, and are geographically, culturally, and economically isolated from the rest of the nation. Most are also poverty-stricken, speak Native Indian languages rather than Spanish, and live in remote rural villages. Many lack a national consciousness and have only tribal identities.

Multiethnic education across cultures 171 In Mexico, much more so than in the United States, ethnic group categories are social and cultural rather than biological. This gives the ethnic individual more options and opportunities to become a part of the dominant society. A Mexican Indian, unlike an Indian in the United States, can become a part of the dominant group (i.e. become a mestizo) by moving from his or her rural village, learning to speak Spanish, and acquiring other cultural and behavioral characteristics of the mestizo. Learning to speak Spanish and moving from the rural Indian village are two of the most important behavioral changes which the Indian must make in order to “become” a mestizo. Once an Indian has moved to the city and become acculturated, he or she is basically accepted and treated like other mestizos. The idealized conception of race relations in Mexico is accurate to the extent that an acculturated Indian is responded to and viewed as a mestizo. Most evidence suggests that the acculturated Indian in the city is largely treated like any other mestizo. However, acculturated Indians whom I talked to said that, even when Indians become highly assimilated, they are occasionally reminded that they are still “Indians.” Other observations I made while in Mexico suggest that mestizos have rather ambivalent feelings toward contemporary Indians, even highly acculturated ones. Thus, while the idealized conception of race relations in Mexico has a high degree of validity, it does not fully explain the complexity and nuances of ethnic relations in Mexico.

The Mexican school curriculum There were strong indications throughout Mexico City that the Mexican people idealize the ancient Indians, such as the Aztecs and the Maya, and identify strongly with them. However, there was also widespread evidence that the mestizos have mixed feelings toward contemporary Mexican Indians and disdain for the Spanish conquistadors. In the famous and impressive National Museum of Anthropology, the cultures and civilizations of the ancient Mexican Indians are praised and celebrated, while the Spaniards and conquistadors are criticized and condemned. There is only one exhibit in the museum on the conquistadors. It is near the end of the museum and can be easily missed by a serious visitor. It shows how the conquistadors ruthlessly conquered and oppressed the Mexican Indians. In the Mexican curriculum, considerable attention is devoted to the cultures of the ancient Mexican Indians, but almost none to the problems and plight of the contemporary Indians. The Mexican curriculum, which is highly centralized and bureaucratic, emphasizes nationalism, patriotism, and national identity, and it devotes little attention to ethnic diversity. In one patriotic exercise which the students performed (especially for me) at a primary school I visited, they proudly sang, “We are all Mexicans – rich or poor!” This line is very meaningful to the listener who realizes that there is a wide and depressing gap between the rich and the poor in Mexico. It emphasizes docility and acceptance of the status quo, and nationalism over the needs of powerless and excluded groups. The Mexicans openly and unabashedly demonstrate strong patriotism and respect for authority in the curriculum and in the school setting. When I visited classrooms with inspectors and principals, the students stood when we entered and when we left classrooms to show their reverence and respect for authority. The emphasis in all of the classes I visited was on patriotism, rote memorization, respect for authority, and Mexican nationalism.

172 Global dimensions of multicultural education Although the Mexicans show little interest in teaching about ethnicity and a strong interest in promoting nationalism, there are special programs designed to hasten the assimilation of the rural Indians and to make them a more integral part of the nation. These educational programs are directed by the National Indian Institute, which is, in some ways, similar to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the United States. The programs sponsored by the Institute try to lessen some of the tremendous educational, social, and economic problems which Indians face, especially when they migrate to the city. The Institute’s official position is that it wants to make the Indians bilingual and bicultural. It has implemented educational programs which are reaching an increasing number of Indians in remote and isolated rural villages. The first three years of instruction is in the students’ native languages. Spanish is then phased in gradualy. Indian teachers are recruited and trained in the villages. Indian cultures are taught during the first three years. The Institute staff openly recognizes the problems which Indian individuals face when they are formally educated and begin the process of acculturation. They are alienated from family and friends, and usually leave the village to search for opportunities in the city. They will never be able to “go home again.” Often Indians are deeply disappointed when they arrive in the city and find few job opportunities, shockingly poor housing, mad traffic, and congested living conditions. Thus, while formal education is designed to make Indians a more integral part of Mexican society, it also creates new problems for them and makes them marginal persons, caught between cultures. Why do the mestizos focus on the civilizations of the ancient Mexican Indians and so little on the plight of contemporary Indians? The answer may lie partly in the fact that the ancient cultures which the mestizos celebrate, such as the Maya and the Aztecs, were grand and glorious and are sources of great national pride. However, contemporary Indian cultures are poverty-stricken and isolated from the rest of the nation. These different characteristics of the ancient and contemporary Indian cultures might cause the mestizos to cherish one and to largely ignore the other. It may be less painful and politically safer to ignore, rather than to confront, the harsh realities of the Indians’ oppressed condition in modern Mexico.

Puerto Rico Color and race in Puerto Rico Race and ethnicity are very complex in Puerto Rico. Like Mexico, Puerto Rico has an idealized conception which denies that racial prejudice exists. Using the model of race relations in the United States to look at Puerto Rico is very misleading because of the complexity of race relations on that island. Race in Puerto Rico must be seen within the context of island society. Racial categories in Puerto Rico are very different from racial categories on the United States mainland. An individual’s social status, economic position, hair texture, and physical traits are all important variables which usually contribute to a Pierto Rican’s racial identification.7 Skin color is not necessarily the most important variable which determines an individual’s racial identity. Many White individuals in Puerto Rico would be considered “Black” in the United States. This is largely because Puerto Rico has much more flexible racial categories than does the United States. The Puerto Rican individual is given more options in defining his or

Multiethnic education across cultures 173 her racial identity than are individuals in the United States. This is true for almost all Puerto Rican individuals, although the minority of Puerto Ricans who have extreme color and physical characteristics have fewer options in choosing their racial identifications. Individuals who are members of the same family may belong to different racial groups, since the racial categories in Puerto Rico are highly flexible. The racial identification of an individual is influenced primarily by his or her particular physical, social, and cultural characteristics. Puerto Rico has never had a racial caste system such as existed in the United States’ South and which now exists in South Africa.8 Consequently, rigid forms of institutionalized racism do not exist. However, there is a definite preference for “White” in Puerto Rican society and subtle discrimination against those who have Negroid physical characteristics and dark skin.9 The discrimination is subtle and complex, rather than overt and hostile. As many individuals as is possible “choose” to be White rather than other colors. Blacks are highly concentrated in the lower socioeconomic classes, while most members of the middle and upper classes are lighter in skin color. Even though Blacks experience subtle discrimination in Puerto Rican society, Blacks and Whites who are members of the same social class share many behavioral characteristics and often mix socially. Both groups regard themselves first as Puerto Ricans. Thus, there seem to be few, if any, separate Black institutions in Puerto Rican society and very little of a separate Black identity or sense of peoplehood. Consequently, Blacks do not constitute an ethnic group in Puerto Rican society as they do in the United States. Puerto Rican Blacks see themselves primarily as Puerto Ricans and are an integral part of Puerto Rican society, although they are heavily concentrated at the lower socioeconomic stratum of society. Other “color” groups also see themselves mainly as Puerto Rican and consequently do not have separate senses of peoplehood as do many ethnic groups in the United States, especially Blacks, Mexican Americans, and American Indians. Since the different “racial” groups in Puerto Rico see themselves as integral parts of Puerto Rican society and participate in the society fully (within their social class), Puerto Rico does not have clearly defined ethnic groups,10 although the nation has sharp social-class groups which correlate highly with skin color.

The school curriculum in Puerto Rico Because there are few recognizable ethnic groups in Puerto Rico, ethnic studies do not exist there. However, problems related to bilingualism exist in Puerto Rico and are reflected in the school curriculum. Since Puerto Ricans started migrating to the United States in significant numbers between the two World Wars, there has been a large return migration to the island.11 This return migration continues. As more Puerto Ricans migrate to the United States, others return to the island. Considerable conflict exists between Puerto Ricans who have never lived in the United States and the return migrants. The islanders pejoratively call these individuals “New-yorican” or “Neo-Rican,” a majority of whom have lived in New York City before returning to the island. Puerto Ricans returning to the island face a number of problems. Often the children are unable to speak either Spanish or English fluently. They often feel alienated from both American society and the island culture. The islanders argue that “Newyoricans” feel that they are superior to the native islander and boast about their superior cultural characteristics. It is possible that many return migrants feel superior to the native islanders because they have lived on the mainland.

174 Global dimensions of multicultural education Return migrants, at the same time, may also feel inferior because they are unable to function effectively in island culture. Thus, the appearance of superiority may in part be an attempt to conceal feelings of inferiority and rejection. The only programs related to cultural and ethnic diversity that I found in Puerto Rican schools were bilingual education programs. The bilingual programs are designed to enable the return migrant children to learn both English and Spanish more effectively and to help the native island children to speak and write English more successfully.

France Immigrant groups in France Many immigrant groups have settled in Western European nations such as France, Great Britain, Germany, and Switzerland since the Second World War (see Table 15.1). A large number of these immigrants come from non-European nations that were former European colonies, such as Algeria, Tunisia, and India. However, many emigrate from other parts of Europe, especially Southern and Eastern Europe. Immigrants from Portugal, Spain, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Poland came to France seeking work. The largest number of immigrants in France from a single nation are Algerians. However, in 1972, the number of Algerian immigrants in France (798, 690) only slightly exceeded the number of Portuguese (742, 646).12 Culturally, immigrants from Arab nations in North Africa, such as Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, constitute the largest group of immigrants in France. The Arabs differ strikingly from the native French in both cultural and religious characteristics. However, they resemble the native French more in skin color than Table 15.1 Immigrants in Western Europe Countries

Immigrants (foreign population) in thousands

Immigrants as percentage of total population

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

177 696 3,776 3,966 3,400 63 282 107 1,032

2.4 7.2 7.3 6.4 6.1 18.4 2.1 5.0 16.1

Austria Belgium France Germany (FRG) Great Britain Luxembourg Netherlands Sweden Switzerland

Sources: Reprinted from Les Travailleurs Étrangers en Europe Occidentale, sous Is direction de Philippe J. Bernard. Paris: Mouton, 1976, p. 66. 1 Population census 1971. 2 Population census 1970. 3 Figures of the Ministry of the Interior, January 1973. 4 Central Register for Foreigners, September 1973. 5 Estimation based on economically active persons born outside UK Population census 1971. 6 Population census 1970. 7 Figures of the Ministry of Justice, January 1973 (excluding West Indies). 8 Population Register, December 1972. 9 Population Register for Foreigners, December 1972.

Multiethnic education across cultures 175 do the significant number of Black immigrants from French West Africa and from the French areas of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Réunion.13 Culturally and linguistically, however, the Blacks are more akin to the native French than the Arabs. Immigrants in France settle primarily in metropolitan areas. They are primarily workers who come to France seeking jobs, many of which were created by the Second World War and others by subsequent industrial growth in Western Europe. In 1977, immigrants made up about 7 percent of France’s population. Many of these immigrants are sojourners who hope one day to return to their native lands. However, like many immigrants who came to America in the 1800s hoping to return home, many immigrants in France never return home and often send for other members of their families after they are settled. The immigrants in France face some of the problems experienced by all immigrants who have to adapt to and function within an alien, industrialized culture. The Arabs are culturally more unlike the native French than most of the other immigrants, including the Black French. There is also more conflict between the native French and the Arabs than between the Blacks and the native French. The Arabs, because of their very different and strong religious and cultural orientations, are the least assimilated of the immigrant groups in France.14 The French often perceive them as resisting French culture and “civilization.” The French usually see the Arabs, and the Arabs often see themselves, as sojourners, hoping one day to return to North Africa. There are also significant numbers of Asian immigrants in France. They come from such nations as Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The Asians tend to assimilate into French society more quickly than other non-White immigrant groups and to experience fewer adjustment problems than do either the Blacks or Arabs. The Jews from North Africa are another French ethnic group that usually has fewer problems than other ethnic groups. Non-European peoples, such as Arabs and Black Africans, have a difficult time establishing a European identity. Even after these groups have been in Europe for several generations, they are still called “immigrants.” The children and grandchildren of North Africans, who were born and reared in France, are called “immigrants.” A similar situation exists in Britain. West Indian children who were born and socialized in London are called “immigrants” by school officials and public authorities. Thus, no matter how culturally and economically assimilated they become, the colored immigrants in Western Europe have great difficulty structurally assimilating into the host societies because of their different physical characteristics. No matter how acculturated they become, they are regarded as “immigrants.” This situation is similar to the situation for some non-White ethnic groups in the United States, but contrasts strikingly with the situations in Mexico and Puerto Rico. When a Mexican Indian moves to the city from a rural area and becomes acculturated, he or she is regarded as mestizo, or part of the dominant group. Racial categories in Puerto Rico are also much more flexible than they are in France or Britain. A Puerto Rican may be able to change his or her racial category by becoming more highly acculturated and moving up the social and economic ladders. Non-White individuals in the United States, Britain, and France rarely have this option.

The French educational response to immigrants Language difficulty is one of the major problems which the immigrant groups face in France. Many of the North Africans speak Arabic and other languages.

176 Global dimensions of multicultural education They usually retain their culture, religion, and language when they settle in France. While the Algerians tend to speak French more successfully than do the other North African peoples, many of them also experience language problems in French society. The children of the immigrants, even if they are born and socialized in France, also tend to have problems speaking French because they grow up within ethnic communities. They primarily hear other languages at home, rather than French. This causes tremendous cultural conflict for the immigrant children, because they hear French at school and other languages at home. The Asian children usually face few adjustment problems in France. Most are from middle-class or wealthy families. French teachers usually respond more positively to Asian than to African and Arab children. Teachers usually feel that African children cause “problems” while Asian children are well behaved and highly motivated to learn. The French Ministry of Education recognizes the language problems of the immigrant children and has implemented special programs and courses to help reduce them. However, some of the educators I talked to said there were too few special language courses to meet the needs of all the immigrant children in the nation’s schools. The Ministry of Education states that immigrant children should be bilingual. Ministry officials say they want immigrant children to retain their first languages as well as to learn French. The immigrant children are offered special French classes for foreigners. These classes, which are conducted in the children’s first language, help them to learn French. Students remain in the special language classes until they are able to succeed in a regular French class. While taking special language classes for foreigners, they attend other regular classes taught in French. The French government recruits teachers for the bilingual classes who are native speakers of the children’s first language. It does this by making arrangements with the governments of the nations from which the immigrants came. Teachers are recruited, for example, from Portugal to teach the French language class to the large number of Portuguese children in French schools. The problem of ethnicity and schooling in France is regarded primarily as a linguistic problem – which reflects an assimilationist ideology. Despite the stated position of the Ministry of Education about bilingualism, the major goal of the special language courses seems to be to help the immigrant children and adults learn to speak and read French as quickly as possible so that they can become full participants in French society. Ethnic problems are usually seen as temporary in both France and England. A major assumption seems to be that when the immigrants learn to speak the national language they will assimilate, become good Frenchmen or Englishmen, and the ethnic problems will vanish. This assumption overlooks the fact that there is strong evidence of racism in both France and England,15 and that racism and discrimination will not necessarily disappear when immigrant groups become acculturated. It also ignores the fact that many ethnic groups remain biethnic and bicultural in highly modernized societies after these groups have had long histories in them. It fails to acknowledge the tremendous tenacity of ethnicity in highly modernized nations such as the United States and Canada.16 In England the problems of ethnicity and schooling are also viewed primarily as linguistic problems. However, British educators are more and more beginning to believe that there is a need to teach, at least to the immigrant children, information about ethnic histories and cultures. There was some, but not much, emphasis on teaching about ethnic cultures in France and seemingly little feeling among educators in either France or England that knowledge about ethnic cultures would

Multiethnic education across cultures 177 enrich the general curriculum and be beneficial for all students. This position is frequently articulated by ethnic studies advocates in the United States.17 There was also little evidence in Mexico that educators believe that information about contemporary Indian cultures will benefit majority group students.

Great Britain The problems of British immigrants in school and society Thousands of immigrants from Britain’s former colonies have settled in England’s metropolitan areas since 1947. Most have come from the West Indies (mainly from Jamaica), but many Asian immigrants have arrived from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Other migrants have come from West Africa.18 The experiences of immigrant groups in Britain are more similar to the experiences of ethnic groups in the United States and France than to the ethnic experiences in Puerto Rico and Mexico. Ethnic groups in Britain, such as Jamaicans, Indians, and Pakistanis, have distinct ethnic cultures and strong senses of peoplehood, are victims of racism and discrimination, and constitute clearly defined ethnic groups.19 Ethnic groups in Britain have clear boundaries, whereas in Mexico the ethnic boundaries are weak and are hardly existent in Puerto Rico. The Jamaicans in England have a strong ethnic identity. A Jamaican ethnic revitalization movement has emerged.20 This movement, known as rastafarian, has both political and cultural overtones and makes Britain’s Whites as nervous and suspicious as the Black Power movement of the 1960s made Whites in the United States. Britain and the United States were the only two nations in which I found definite indications of ethnic revitalization movements. In both nations, these movements have cultural, political, and economic dimensions. There are distinct and important differences, however, in the racial and ethnic situations in Britain and the United States. Non-European ethnic groups are largely newcomers to British society. Most of them have settled there since 1947.21 Consequently, England lacks institutionalized forms of discrimination and institutionalized ways of dealing with ethnic and racial differences. The United States, especially in the South, has had a history of apartheid and a racial caste system similar to the one which now exists in South Africa.22 Although England has historically lacked institutionalized forms of discrimination, there is evidence that institutionalized racism is emerging in Britain. England experienced serious race riots in 1919, in the 1950s, and again in the 1960s.23 A blatantly racist organization, the National Front, still agitates against immigrant groups in England. England has experienced some very ugly racial incidents in more recent years. Immigrant groups also experience discrimination in employment and housing.24 The West Indian and Asian immigrants in Britain, like the North African and West African immigrants in France, have problems adjusting to an alien cultural environment that is highly industrialized.25 Most of the immigrants in England are concentrated in the lowest paying jobs and the lower socioeconomic classes, and they face language problems and the usual difficulties of trying to function within two cultural environments which often conflict.26

The British educational response to immigrants British educators recognize the problems experienced by West Indian and Asian children in school. Many of the Asian children speak little or no English when they

178 Global dimensions of multicultural education enter school. Most of the West Indian children speak a variety of English which British educators regard as a dialect. Because of the linguistic problems which they experience in school, Asian and West Indian children often have frustrating school experiences. The early responses by British educators to the problems of immigrant children were almost exclusively related to language.27 Special programs were set up to train teachers and to develop materials for teaching English as a second language to immigrant students. British educators who are now working in multiracial education are devoting more attention to the psychological and cultural problems of immigrant students.28 In addition to helping these children learn standard English more successfully, special programs are increasingly characterized by components which include information about the history and culture of immigrant groups. A number of innovative school and training programs designed to help the immigrant student adjust to the British school and society are being implemented in London. Programs related to ethnic groups, like those in the United States, are isolated in the sense that they have not yet had a major impact on most British schools. They are usually concentrated in areas with heavy immigrant populations. Ethnic programs in Britain, like those in France and the United States, are assumed to be primarily for children of racial or immigrant groups.

Problems of multiracial education in Britain Although a number of innovative projects are underway in Britain, the goals of which are to help solve the complex problems of educating immigrant children, British educators and immigrant students face massive problems.29 Some of the schools in England are becoming increasingly Black. A few British schools are as high as 40 percent to 70 percent Black. The non-White population of British schools is increasing faster than the White population because of the higher birthrate among immigrant families. A Secretary of Education once advocated dispersal (or transfer) of non-White children when they exceeded one-third of the population within a particular school. Only two school authorities in London had dispersed students in the spring of 1977. One is being challenged legally. School officials believe that the new Race Relations Act will make dispersal illegal. Thus, Britain is faced with increasing numbers of Blacks in some schools. Eventually, England might have a number of schools which are totally populated by nonWhite pupils. We can expect all-Black schools in Britain, if they emerge, to cause new and more complicated problems for immigrant children and British educators.

Back to America The United States, when compared with Puerto Rico and Mexico, is characterized by more rigid racial categories, fewer options for non-White ethnic groups, more institutionalized racism and discrimination, and more concern about the color of an individual’s skin. A system of racial stratification is emerging in Britain and France, although racism seems to be more subtle in these rations than in the United States. Britain and France also lack rigid forms of institutionalized discrimination like those found in the United States. The United States has also experienced the most active ethnic revitalization movements and the most vigorous and sustained developments in programs and practices related to multiethnic education and ethnic studies. It may be that the development of ethnic studies curricula and the implementation of programs

Multiethnic education across cultures 179 designed to reduce racial problems are highly related to the degree of ethnic discrimination and ethnic protest within a society. Britain, next to the United States, has the most extensive programs related to race and schooling of the nations I visited. England has experienced racial riots and blatant racial incidents in recent years. Ethnic revitalization movements, at least among Jamaicans, have also emerged in England. It seems that France is doing less to solve the problems of its immigrant children than is Britain. It may be that France has less ethnic and racial conflict than Britain. However, it could be that the immigrant groups in France, more than those in Britain, “accept” their lower-class status and have protested very little. Throughout my sojourn in the five nations, I was impressed with the strong assimilationist ideology which dominates educational policy in each of them. Educators are as much committed to assimilating ethnic and immigrant groups into the common national culture in Mexico City as they are in Paris. The Mexican schools blatantly promote strong patriotism and national unity. The French feel that the North African immigrants should become “good Frenchmen,” just as most British educators believe that West Indian immigrants should master the culture and language of England and become effective British citizens. It is true that some of the nations I visited make assimilation easier for non-White groups than for others, and that the rewards for culturally assimilating, for example, are greater in Mexico than in Britain. However, educators seem as committed to assimilation in one nation as in another. The United States and Britain have the most developed pluralistic educational philosophies. However, these philosophies are emergent and controversial and endorsed by a minority of educators in each nation. Most schools in both the United States and Britain continue to socialize children into the common national culture and give little attention to pluralistic concerns. Advocates of pluralistic education have the difficult task of convincing decision makers and educational practitioners that the recognition and acceptance of ethnic diversity will enrich and contribute to the national culture in each nation I visited. I strongly believe, as I have stated in my other writings, that the schools should recognize and legitimize the cultures of ethnic group students.30 The needs of the nationstate and the needs of the individual are complementary and not contradictory. Only when excluded ethnic group members feel that they are part of the nation and that the nation accepts and respects their culture will they be able to become effective participants in the nation-state. Ethnic individuals who are politically and economically oppressed by the nation-state are alienated and focus on particularistic concerns rather than on national issues and problems. When ethnic groups attain inclusion into the social, economic, and political institutions within a nation, they focus on national cohesion and national concerns, rather than on particularistic issues and problems. Recognition and legitimization of ethnicity by schools and society is a promising way to increase national cohesion and promote effective citizenship in a pluralistic democratic nation.

Notes 1 Lawrence H. Fuchs. Hawaii Pono. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1961. 2 Charles F. Marden and Gladys Meyer, Minorities in American Society. 3rd Edition. New York: American Book Company, 1968. 3 A Hawaiian word meaning foreigner. It is used to refer to Whites of Northern and Western European origin. 4 James A. Banks, “Ethnic Studies as a Process of Curriculum Reform.” Social Education. Vol. 40 (February, 1976), pp. 76–80.

180 Global dimensions of multicultural education 5 Martin Carnoy, Education as Cultural Imperialism. New York: David McKay, 1974. 6 Pierre L. van den Berghe, Race and Racism: A Comparative Perspective. New York: Wiley, 1967. 7 Melvin M. Tumin with Arnold S. Feldman. Social Class and Social Change in Puerto Rico. 2nd Edition. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1971. 8 Neville L. Robertson and Barbara L. Robertson, Education in South Africa. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1977. 9 Isabelo Zenón Cruz, Narcisco Descubre Su Trasero. Humaçao, Puerto Rico: Editorial Furidi, 1975. 10 Exceptions include the ethnic groups in exile in Puerto Rico, such as the Cubans and Cuban Jews. Many Cubans feel that they experience discrimination in Puerto Rico, especially in employment. 11 Joseph P. Fitzpatrick, Puerto Rican Americans: The Meaning of Migration to the Mainland. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1971. 12 Phillippe J. Bernald, Ed., Les Travailleurs Étrangers en Europe Occidentale. Paris: Mouton, 1976. 13 Chester L. Hunt and Lewis Walker, Ethnic Dynamics: Patterns of Intergroup Relations in Various Societies. Homewood, IL: The Dorsey Press, 1974. 14 Andrée Michel, The Modernization of North African Families in the Paris Area. Paris: Mouton, 1974. 15 Hunt and Walker, Ethnic Dynamics. 16 Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan, Beyond the Melting Pot: The Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians and Irish of New York City. 2nd Edition, Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press, 1970. 17 James A. Banks, Multiethnic Education: Practices and Promises. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1977; Carlo, E. Cortés with Fay Metcalf and Sharryl Hawke, Understanding You and Them: Tips for Teaching About Ethnicity. Boulder, CO, 1976; Geneva Gay, “Curriculum for Multicultural Teacher Education,” in Frank H. Klassen and Donna M. Gollnick, Eds., Pluralism and the American Teacher. Washington, DC: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 1977, pp. 31–62. 18 Ernest Krausz, Ethnic Minorities in Britain. London: Paladin, 1971. 19 Dilip Hiro, Black British, White British. Revised edition, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1973. Also “The Colored Must Go! A Racist Movement Exploits Mounting Frustrations.” Time (December 12, 1977), pp. 50 and 55. 20 Krausz, Ethnic Minorities in Britin. 21 Hunt and Walker, Ethnic Dynamics. 22 John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town. Garden City: New York: Doubleday, 1949. 23 Hiro, Black British, White British. 24 Sheila Allen. New Minorities, Old Conflicts: Asian and West Indian Migrants in Britain. New York: Random House, 1971. 25 Ibid. 26 Community Relations Commission, Teacher Education in a Multi-Cultural Society. London: The Commission. 1974. 27 Schools Council Working Paper 29. Teaching English to West Indian Children: The Research Stage of the Project. London: Evans Brothers, 1970. 28 David Hill, Teaching in Multiracial Schools: A Guidebook. London: Methuen, 1976. 29 Bernard Coard, How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Sub-Normal in the British School System. London: New Beacon Books, 1971. 30 James A. Banks, Teaching Strategies for Ethnic Studies. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1975.

CHAPTER 16

MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND ITS CRITICS Britain and the United States* The New Era, 1984, 65(3), 58–64

The ethnic revival During the 1940s and 1950s social scientists predicted that ethnicity would wane in nation-states as they became increasingly modernized. Race relations scholars believed that interest groups would be related primarily to social class and to other voluntary and achieved affiliations in modernized nation-states. When ethnic protest movements emerged in nations such as the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s, it was clear that existing theories were unable to explain the complex nature of ethnicity in Western democracies. Ethnicity in most Western nations was far from disappearing when the seventies began. It was experiencing a renaissance.1 Ethnic discrimination, immigration, and the need for individuals to have cultural group attachments in modernized societies are some of the reasons why ethnicity persists in Western nations.2

The rise of multicultural education The demand for reform of the national education system has been an integral part of ethnic revival movements in Western nations.3 A major goal of most ethnic revival movements is to attain equality for the excluded ethnic group. The school is usually viewed by the victimized ethnic group not only as an important vehicle that can help it to attain equality, but also as an institution that contributes to the group’s exclusion because it reinforces the dominant anti-egalitarian ideologies and values of the nation-state. Since the school is viewed by ethnic reformers as an important institution in their oppression, they attempt to reform it because they believe that it can be a pivotal vehicle in their liberation. The reforms that schools have implememented in various nations to respond to the ethnic revival movements are known by a variety of names, including multiethnic education, multiracial education, and multicultural education.4 The varied names used to describe the reform movements reflect the myriad goals and strategies that have been used to respond to the ethnic movements both within and across different nations. While multicultural education within the various Western nations shares some important characteristics, in each nation there are significant differences in the histories and nature of the groups that have led the ethnic movements, in the kind of responses that have been given by national leaders, in the entitlements articulated by ethnic groups and in the political contexts from which the ethnic revival movements emerged. It is important to keep these differences between nations in mind when multicultural education is studied cross-nationally.

182 Global dimensions of multicultural education

The nature of multicultural education Multicultural education is an inclusive concept used to describe a wide variety of school practices, programs, and materials designed to help children from diverse groups to experience educational equality. It is therefore not unlike many educational innovations when they first emerge. When a new educational reform movement arises and is in search of its raison d’être, disparate programs and practices emerge and claim the new label. This happened when reforms such as progressive education, career education, inquiry teaching, and education for the gifted first arose in the United States. During its formative stages, when it is defining its boundaries and formulating its basic principles, an educational reform movement is highly vulnerable and susceptible to criticism. During this period many concepts which its leaders are formulating are violated by practitioners who become involved in the reform movement but who are neither adequately informed about its basic philosophy and aims, nor skilled in implementing its major components. A reform movement such as multicultural education, which deals with highly controversial and politicized issues such as racism and inequality, is especially likely to be harshly criticized during its formative stages because it deals with serious problems in society, and appears to many individuals and groups to challenge established institutions, norms, and values. It is also likely to evoke strong emotions, feelings, and highly polarized opinions. Scholars from both the right and the left criticize multicultural education. However, the radical left critique is primarily British rather than American. Some of the most acid and perceptive critics of multicultural education in Britain are radical scholars. American critics of multicultural education are primarily conservative and neo-conservative. Radical American scholars such as Apple, Katz, and Bowles and Gintis have not focused their analyses and criticisms on multicultural education but on the general nature of schooling.5 It is difficult to explain why multicultural education has been a target of radical critics in Britain but not in the United States. This may be due to the unique nature of multicultural education in the two nations and to their different histories of race relations. Kirp points out that America has historically had more explicit race relations policies than Britain.6 Multicultural education in the United States may have dealt more explicitly in its early stages with institutional racism and inequality than multiracial education in Britain. The American multicultural education movement may therefore be viewed more kindly by radical critics than its British equivalent. The radicals criticize multicultural education because they believe that it fails to promote structural reform of societal institutions. The conservatives criticize it because they perceive it as a threat to the status quo, are afraid that it will reinterpret the national experience, create Balkanization, help to splinter the nation, and prevent minority youths from developing the skills needed to participate in the national civic culture. Radical scholars criticize multicultural education for not doing what the conservatives are afraid it will achieve: significant reform of the social structure.

The radical critique of multicultural education The radical left critic argues that multicultural education is a palliative to keep excluded and oppressed groups such as Blacks from rebelling against a system that promotes structural inequality and institutionalized racism.7 Many radical scholars believe that capitalism is a basic cause of inequality in Western nations.8

Multicultural education and its critics 183 By focusing on cultural differences and human relations in the classroom, multicultural education, they claim, promotes the myth that all cultures are equally valid. This fiction is designed to make oppressed groups content with the status quo and with the system that oppresses them. Multicultural education, argue the radical critics, does not deal with the real reasons for ethnic and racial groups being oppressed and victimized. It does not promote an analysis of the institutionalized structures that keep ethnic groups powerless and victimized. It avoids any serious analysis of class, institutionalized racism, power, capitalism, and the other systems used to keep excluded groups powerless. Multicultural education, they further argue, diverts attention from the real problems and issues. Instead, it focuses on the victims as the problem. It describes the characteristics of powerless groups that supposedly cause their problems, such as their low self-concepts, confused identities, and linguistic deficiencies. Rather than multicultural education, the argument continues, we need serious analyses of the institutionalized racist and class systems that keep ethnic groups powerless and victimized. We need to focus on the institutions and structures of society rather than on the characteristics of minority students. Some of the radical critics of multicultural education in Britain tend to emphasize anti-racism as the major strategy needed to deal with the problems caused by the structural exclusion of ethnic groups.9 An important group of radical critics argues that the school is one of the social institutions that both reflect and perpetuate social class, ethnic, and racial stratification. Consequently, because it is a part of the problem, it is impossible for it to promote anti-racism and social equality. The radical critics of multicultural education tend to be cogent and explicit when they criticize the school but vague and ambiguous when they propose strategies for school reform. Bowles and Gintis, whose arguments are frequently used by the critics of multicultural education to support their positions, are perceptively critical of the school but are vague when they describe school reform strategies. In their chapter on “Strategies for Change,” they write, “How do we get there? . . . [I]ndeed, we have no firm, strongly held, overall, and intellectually coherent answer to the central issue. . . . [T]he overriding strategic goal of a socialist movement is the creation of working-class consciousness.”10 Neither in these statements nor in other parts of their chapter on change strategies do Bowles and Gintis delineate specific reform strategies. Their discussion of change strategies typifies radical criticism of multicultural education. If you follow the radical critique to its ultimate conclusion, you must abandon the school as a vehicle to help bring about equality. If the school merely reflects the social structure (which the critics claim is both racist and class stratified), then it is futile to try to promote change within it. This leads reformers to abandon the school and to try to implement a structural revolution outside it. In this role educators have forsaken their function. The radical critique, if logically pursued, can become an alibi for the educational neglect of ethnic issues. Multicultural education alone cannot make structural changes within society. It can, however, facilitate and reinforce reform movements that can take place outside schools. The schools can promote social criticism and help students to develop a commitment to humane social change.

The conser vative critique of multicultural education In both the United States and the United Kingdom there is concern about the eroding quality of the common schools. This concern is especially acute in the

184 Global dimensions of multicultural education United States. Many reports have called for increased emphasis on teaching basic skills and have emphasized the eroding quality of American schools.11 As concern for teaching basic skills increases, the commitment to multicultural education wanes because most back-to-basics advocates see it as a frill that diverts attention from the main goal of the school – the teaching of basic skills. This trend is evident in the Twentieth Century Fund Report which emphasizes the primacy of teaching English and recommends that the federal funds now allocated for bilingual education “be used to teach non-English-speaking children how to speak, read, and write English.”12 The back-to-basics critics of multicultural education often perceive it as a mushy movement which is more concerned about raising children’s self-concepts and making their racial attitudes more positive than it is about helping students to master basic skills. Maureen Stone is one of the most erudite back-to-basics critics of multicultural education in Britain.13 She argues that in their eagerness to raise the self-concepts of Black children and to teach them Black history and culture, teachers in Britain often act like counsellors rather than teachers, and have consequently largely failed to teach Black students the basic skills. Conservative critics of multicultural education believe that the school should help all students to develop the attitudes, skills, and knowledge needed to participate in the shared national culture. The school, they argue, should promote allegiance to the overarching idealized values of the nation-state and competency in the national language and culture.14 If ethnic groups want their children to learn ethnic cultures and languages, these should be taught by the groups themselves and not by public institutions such as schools. We should, the conservatives argue, make an important distinction between the function of public institutions such as schools and the role of private agencies such as ethnic institutions.

The tactics of the critics Critics to the right and left use a similar and effective method to criticize the multicultural education movement. Rather than analyzing the goals of the movement as stated by its theorists or describing the best school practices that exemplify these goals, the critics have chosen some of the worse practices that are masquerading as multicultural education and defined these as multicultural education. They have then proceeded to criticize multicultural education as they have conceptualized and defined it. The critics create straw men whom they then destroy. The radical critics of multicultural education in Britain, for example, have not studied carefully the works of American multicultural education theorists such as Mildred Dickeman, Geneva Gay, and Barbara A. Sizemore. As early as 1973 these scholars delineated goals of multicultural education related to the analysis and reform of the major social, economic, and political institutions of society.15 Writing in what became a highly influential book published by the National Council for the Social Studies, Dickeman, Gay, and Sizemore provided analyses of the schools and society that helped teachers to understand better institutionalized racism and structural inequality.16 These authors also suggested ways that teachers could help raise students’ consciousness about these concepts and problems – a goal consistent with the reform strategy proposed by Bowles and Gintis. Critics of multicultural education have focused on some of the most questionable practices and dubious assumptions associated with it. Ethnic holiday celebrations, the making of multiethnic calendars and other kinds of superficial practices are often assumed to constitute the essence of multicultural education. The fact that

Multicultural education and its critics 185 many teachers also have this conception of multicultural education merely confounds the problems of this nascent reform movement. Stone argues that the major goal of multicultural education in Britain is to increase the self-concept of Black students, which she views as inappropriate and harmful to their education.17 Yet theorists of multicultural education in Britain, such as Craft, Lashley, and Lynch, conceptualize goals for multicultural education that are more theoretically and empirically sound.18 There is a wide gap between theory and practice in multicultural education in both Britain and the United States. Critics such as Stone frequently derive their conceptions from misguided school practices rather than from the theoretical and empirical work of multicultural education scholars. A top priority for multicultural education in the coming years is to close the wide gap between theory, research, and practice. The problems of multicultural education have also been confounded by the fact that its theorists are still in the process of reaching consensus on goals. However, this is developing at an impressive pace, and although important disagreements still exist (such as which specific ethnic, racial, social class, and cultural groups should be included in multicultural education), there is consensus among theorists about the field’s major goals and boundaries.19 Most theorists and researchers in multicultural education, for example, agree that total school reform is needed to create a school environment that promotes educational equality for minority youths. They also agree that among the important variables in the school environment that influence the academic achievement and emotional development of minority youths are the learning styles favored by the school, the languages and dialects that are sanctioned, the teaching materials, and the norms toward ethnic diversity that permeate the school environment.

Responding to the radical critics Multicultural theorists need to study seriously the critics of the field, evaluate their arguments for soundness and validity and incorporate those ideas which will contribute to the main goals of multicultural education. These goals include reforming the total school environment so that students from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural groups will experience educational equality. Realistically, goals for multicultural education must be limited. Educators have little control over the wider society or over students when they leave the classroom. Educators can teach students the basic skills and help them to develop more democratic attitudes by creating school and classroom environments that promote cultural democracy. However, schools alone cannot eliminate racism and inequality in the wider society. They can reinforce democratic social and political movements that take place beyond the school walls and thus contribute in important ways to the elimination of institutional racism and structural inequality. The multicultural curriculum can give students keen insights into racism and inequality within their societies and help them to develop a commitment to social change.20 Multicultural theorists need to think seriously about the radical argument which states that multicultural education is a palliative to contain ethnic rage and that it does not deal seriously with the structural inequalities in society and with important concepts such as racism, class, structural inequality, and capitalism. During the early stages of multicultural education in the United States, when it focused primarily on teaching the cultures and histories of non-White ethnic groups, the attention devoted to concepts such as racism and structural inequality was salient. Yet, as the

186 Global dimensions of multicultural education ethnic studies movement expanded to include more and more ethnic groups, and eventually to include feminist issues and other cultural groups, increasingly less attention was devoted to racism and to the analysis of power relationships. Gay has expressed concern about the wide boundaries of the field: Another potential threat to multiethnic education comes from within. Although any educational idea must grow and change if it is to stand the test of time, such growth must remain within reasonable boundaries and retain a certain degree of continuity. If many new dimensions are added to an idea too rapidly, the original idea may be distorted beyond recognition. This may be beginning to happen to multiethnic education.21 The radical critique of multicultural education should stimulate multicultural educators to devote more attention to issues such as racism, power relationships, and structural inequality. Radical writers are accurate when they argue that racism and structural inequality are the root cause of many of the problems faced by ethnic groups in modernized Western nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom. However, as Green has perceptively pointed out, multicultural educators must live with the contradiction that they are trying to promote democratic and humane reforms within schools, which are institutions that often reflect and perpetuate some of the salient anti-democratic values pervasive within the wider society. Green writes, “Contradiction is the essence of social change.”22 The school itself is contradictory, since it often expounds democratic values while at the same time contradicting them. Thus radical scholars overstate their case when they argue that the schools merely perpetuate and reproduce the inequalities in society. The influence of schools on individuals is neither as unidimensional nor as cogent as the radical critics claim. The school, both explicitly and implicitly, teaches both democratic and anti-egalitarian values, just as the wider society does. Thus schools, like the society of which they are a part, create the kind of moral dilemma for people that Gunnar Myrdal described when he studied American race relations in the 1940s.23 Myrdal believed that this moral dilemma made social change possible because most Americans felt a need to make the democratic ideals they inculcated and societal practices more consistent. Multicultural education can help students to become more aware of the inconsistencies between democratic ideals and societal practices in Western societies, to develop a commitment to reflective and humane social change, and to acquire the skills needed to become efficacious in promoting social reform. Some creative work has been done by scholars in the United States such as Fred Newmann and Harold Berlak on social action projects designed to help students to develop political efficacy and civic action skills.24 The major goal of ethnic studies teaching, as conceptualized in my previous works, is to help students develop a sense of political efficacy and the knowledge and skills needed to influence public policy in order to increase equity within their societies.25 Craft, a British multicultural education theorist, believes that the school can contribute to the reformation of society: While schools quite clearly devote much of their efforts to social, economic and political continuity, they also contribute to social change. They generate an output of social criticism in each generation, and an element of original thinking across a broad spectrum. It is perhaps too simple an analysis of the social process to argue that education has only a conservative function.26

Multicultural education and its critics 187

Responding to the conser vative critics A main assumption of the conservative critics of multicultural education is that there is an inherent contradiction between responding to the cultural characteristics of students, teaching ethnic content, and teaching basic skills. Multicultural educators need to demonstrate the fallacy of this assumption and reveal how multicultural education is designed to help minority students to achieve better, and not less well, in school. A major assumption of multicultural education is that a curriculum that is consistent with the learning and motivational styles of ethnic youths, and that validates their cultures, identity, and worth will enhance their ability to master the basic skills. More conceptual and empirical work is needed to test the validity of this assumption. Teaching minority youths basic skills is one of the most important goals of multicultural education. Many conservative critics believe that the goals of multicultural education are un-American and that lessons taught in the multicultural curriculum undercut patriotism. This is a serious misconception. Multicultural education promotes goals that are highly consistent with American democratic ideals. A key goal of multicultural education is to help all students, including majority group students, to develop more democratic attitudes, values, and behaviors. This should be an important goal of citizenship education since a major aim of schooling in a democracy is to help students to develop the attitudes and values needed to be successful citizens in the national civic culture. Much evidence indicates that most students, from an early age when they first come to school, have anti-democratic racial attitudes.27 Their attitudes tend to harden if steps are not taken to make them more democratic.28 Helping students to develop more democratic values and attitudes is highly consistent with the goals of citizenship education in democratic nation-states. Educational practitioners as well as the lay public need to become more aware of the ways in which multicultural education tries to create a better education for all students.

Multicultural education and the American democratic tradition Multicultural education in the United States emerged out of the conflicts and struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. Thus it is a legitimate child of American participatory democracy. It is consistent with the American democratic tradition that views the school as an important socializing institution that helps the nation’s youth to acquire the democratic values, knowledge, and skills essential for the survival of participatory democracy. Because multicultural education has aims that are highly consistent with United States’ idealized values and goals, there is a much greater possibility that it will become institutionalized within American schools than more radical conceptions of school reform, such as those envisioned by the radical critics. Radical reform movements have rarely succeeded in American educational history, in large part because educators are mainstream Americans who perceive themselves as gatekeepers of the nations’ sacred democratic traditions, symbols, heroes, myths, and institutions. Movements that appear to threaten the nation’s democratic ideals, such as neo-Marxist notions of school reform, are likely to be summarily rejected by most American educators. The rich potential of multicultural education, despite its problems and brief, troubled history, is that it promises to reform the school within the context of the basic assumptions about schooling held by most teachers and to help schools

188 Global dimensions of multicultural education better to realize American democratic values. Thus multicultural education does not envision new goals for schools, but rather asks schools to expand their concepts of political and cultural democracy to include large groups of students who have been historically denied opportunities to realize fully American democratic values and ideals. It is for these reasons that I believe that educators who wish to change the schools so that they will better promote educational equality should opt for reformist approaches, such as those known as multicultural education, and reject radical proposals for the reconstruction of American society and schools. I suspect that reformist rather than radical approaches will also be more successful in reforming British schools. However, my colleagues across the Atlantic, rather than I, are in a position to argue the case for the reform of British schools. While radical scholarship has a richer tradition in Britain than in the United States,29 the British schools that I have observed are just as conservative, if not more so, than those in America.

Multicultural education: a troubled future Multicultural education has a rough road ahead in both Britain and the United States. While it is being harshly criticized by both left and right, it is searching for its soul and raison d’être. It is plagued by internal problems that must be solved quickly before it is dismissed by many educators as just another promising fad that failed. Conservatives damn multicultural education because they fear that it will revolutionize society. Radicals dismiss it as useless and harmful, as simply another tool of the ruling elite to contain ethnic rage. Yet, as the debate escalates, the problems of minority groups in the schools and society deepen. The new advocates of excellence in American schools are largely silent about equality. A quest for excellence without equality will increase the problems of minority students. New immigrants continue to flock to America to fulfil their dreams at a time when the dreams of many Americans are shattered. Ethnic tension in Britain has been exacerbated by the new wave of conservatism and rigid social class structure. Despite its problems, multicultural education provides sensible and concrete guidelines for action, within the existing context of schools and society, that can lead to increased equity for all students. Its biggest problem is that we have not had the will and vision to give it a chance to succeed.

Notes *

1 2 3

4 5

An earlier version of this paper was presented at a symposium at the University of Nottingham, June 22, 1983, during my lecture tour to British universities and polytechnics. The lecture tour was supported by the British Academy and hosted by Sunderland Polytechnic. I wish to acknowledge the thoughtful comments made on an earlier draft of this paper by a group of my colleagues in the United Kingdom and the United States. Glazer, N. and Moynihan, D. P. (Eds) (1975) Ethnicity: Theory and Experience, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press. Banks, J. A. (1981) Multiethnic Education: Theory and Practice, Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon. Banks, J. A. (1978) “Multiethnic education across cultures: United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, and Great Britain,” Social Education, 42, March, pp. 177–185; Bullivant, B. (1981) The Pluralist Dilemma in Education: Six Case Studies, Sydney, George Allen and Unwin. Bullivant, ibid. Apple, M. W. (1982) Education and Power, Boston, MA, Routledge and Kegan Paul; Katz, M. B. (1975) Bureaucracy and Schools: The Illusion of Educational Change in

Multicultural education and its critics 189

6 7

8 9

10 11

12 13 14 15

16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24

America, Expanded Edition, New York, Praeger; Bowles, S. and Gintis, H. (1976) Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life, New York, Basic Books. Kirp, D. L. (1979) Doing Good by Doing Little: Race and Schooling in Britain, Berkeley, CA, University of California Press. A thoughtful critique of multicultural education is presented in Carby, H. V. (1980) Multicultural Fictions, The University of Birmingham, Stencilled Occasional Paper, Race Series: SP No. 58. For discussions of race, culture and schooling in Britain see: Barton, L. and Walker, S. (Eds) (1983) Race, Class and Education, London, Croom Helm; and Tierney, J. (Ed.) (1982) Race, Migration and Schooling, London, Holt. See Barton and Walker (1983) Race, Class and Education; Barton, L. and Walker, S. (1982) The Empire Strikes Back: Race and Racism in Britain, London, Hutchinson. This conclusion was gleaned from my discussion with British educators and from the popularity among the British anti-racism advocates of Judy H. Katz’s work. See Katz, J. H. (1978) White Awareness: Handbook for Anti-Racism Training, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press; and Dodgson, P. and Stewart, D. (1981) “Multiculturalism or anti-racist teaching: A question of alternatives,” Multiracial Education, 9, Summer, pp. 41–51. Bowles and Gintis (1976) Schooling in Capitalist America, pp. 282 and 285. The National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983) A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, Washington, DC, US Government Printing Office; The Twentieth Century Fund Task Force on Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Policy (1983) Making the Grade, New York, The Twentieth Century Fund; Boyer, E. L. (1983) High School: A Report on Secondary Education in America, New York, Harper and Row. Twentieth Century Fund Task Force (1983) Making the Grade, p. 12. Stone, M. (1981) The Education of the Black Child in Britain: The Myth of Multiracial Education, Glasgow, Fontana. Thernstrom, A. M. (1980) “E pluribus plura: Congress and bilingual education,” The Public Interest, 60, pp. 3–22. Dickeman, M. (1973) “Teaching cultural pluralism,” in Banks, J. A. (Ed.), Teaching Ethnic Studies: Concepts and Strategies, 43rd Yearbook, Washington, DC, National Council for the Social Studies, pp. 1–25; Gay, G. “Racism in America: Imperatives for teaching ethnic studies,” in Banks, ibid., pp. 27–49; Sizemore, B. A. “Shattering the melting pot myth,” in Banks, ibid., pp. 73–101. Banks (1973) Teaching Ethnic Studies, ibid. Stone (1981) The Education of the Black Child in Britain. Craft, M. (1981) Teaching in a Multicultural Society: The Task for Teacher Education, Lewes Falmer Press; Lashley, H. (1981) “Culture, education and children of West India background,” in Lynch, J. (Ed.), Teaching in the Multi-Cultural School, London, Ward Loc Educational, pp. 227–248; Lynch, J. (1983) The Multicultural Curriculum, London, Batsfor Academic Educational. Banks, J. A. (Ed.), (1981) Education in the 80s: Multiethnic Education, Washington, DC, National Education Association. Hannan, A. W. (1983) “Multicultural education and teacher education: The British case with some American comparisons,” European Journal of Teacher Education, 6, 1, pp. 81–82. Gay, G. (1983) “Multiethnic education: Historical developments and future prospects,” Phi Delta Kappan, 64, April, p. 563. Green, A. (1982) “In defense of anti-racist teaching: A reply to recent critiques on multicultural education,” Multiracial Education, 20, Spring, p. 34. Myrdal, G. (1944) An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, New York, Harper and Row. Newmann, F. M. (1975) Education for Citizen Action: Challenge for Secondary Curriculum, Berkeley, CA McCutchan Publishing; Berlak, H. (1977) “Human consciousness, social criticism, and civic education,” in Shaver, J. P. (Ed.), Building Rationales for Citizenship Education, Washington, DC, National Council for the Social Studies, pp. 34–47.

190 Global dimensions of multicultural education 25 Banks, J. A. (1984) Teaching Strategies for Ethnic Studies, 3rd ed., Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon; Banks J. A. (1983) (with Clegg, A. A., Jr) Teaching Strategies for the Social Studies: Inquiry, Valuing and Decision-Making, 3rd ed., New York, Longman. 26 Craft, M. (1982) “Education for diversity: The challenge of cultural pluralism,” Inaugural Lecture, University of Nottingham, 26, February, p. 4. 27 Williams, J. E. and Morland, J. K. (1976) Race, Color and the Young Child, Chapel Hill, NC, University of North Carolina Press; Milner, D. (1983) Children and Race: Ten Year On, London, Ward Lock Educational. 28 Glock, C. Y. with Wuthnow, R. and Spencer, M. (1975) Adolescent Prejudice, New York, Harper and Row. 29 Lazarsfelt, P. L. (1973) Main Trends in Sociology, London, George Allen and Unwin.

PART 7

DEMOCRACY, DIVERSITY, AND CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION

CHAPTER 17

MULTICULTURAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION B. Day (Ed.), Teaching and Learning in the new millennium, 1999, West Lafayette, IN: Kappa Delta Pi, pp. 54–61

An important goal of multicultural education in the United States is to educate citizens who can participate in the workforce and take action in the civic community to help the nation actualize its democratic ideals. These ideals, including justice, equality, and freedom, are set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Democratic societies are works-in-progress that require citizens committed to democratic ideals, keenly aware of the gap between ideals and realities, and willing and able to take thoughtful action to make democratic ideals a reality.

Multicultural citizenship in the new millennium Citizenship education must be changed in substantial ways to prepare citizens to function effectively in the twenty-first century. Citizens in the new century will need the knowledge, attitudes, and skills required to function in their cultural communities, beyond their cultural borders, and in the construction of a national civic culture that embodies and exemplifies democratic values. In the past, citizenship education embraced an assimilationist ideology. Its aim was to educate students so they would fit into a mythical Anglo-Saxon Protestant conception of the “good citizen.” Conformity was the goal of this conception. One of its aims was to eradicate the cultures and languages of students from diverse ethnic, cultural, racial, and language groups. Indeed, many students lost their first cultures, languages, and ethnic identities as a consequence of this assimilationist conception of citizenship education. Many also experienced social and political estrangement within the national civic culture, and some became alienated from family and community. In addition, minorities often became marginal members of their cultural communities as well as marginal citizens, because they could function effectively neither within their cultural communities nor within the national civic culture. Even when they acquired the language and culture of the mainstream, they were denied structural inclusion and full participation in the civic culture due to their racial characteristics. They experienced cultural assimilation but were denied structural inclusion in mainstream social, political, economic, and cultural institutions (Gordon, 1964). Citizenship education must be transformed in the new century because of the deepening ethnic texture in the United States. The increasing ethnic, racial, cultural, and language diversity requires that educators reconceptualize citizenship

194 Democracy, diversity, citizenship education education and educate citizens who can maintain attachments to their cultural communities as well as participate effectively in creating an overarching, shared national civic culture. The national civic culture should actualize US democratic values stated in the founding documents. Cultural and ethnic communities must be respected and given legitimacy not only because they provide safe spaces and empowerment for ethnic, cultural, and language groups on society’s margins but also because they enrich the nation-state and the national culture. The kind of citizenship education needed for the twenty-first century is called “cultural citizenship” by Flores and Benmayor (1997) and “multicultural citizenship” by Kymlicka (1995). This type of citizenship recognizes and legitimizes the right and need for citizens to maintain commitments both to their cultural communities and to the national civic culture. Only when the national civic culture is transformed in ways that reflect and give voice to diverse ethnic, racial, and language communities will it be viewed as legitimate by all its citizens. Only then can its citizens develop clarified commitments to the commonwealth and its ideals.

Multicultural education and multicultural citizenship Critics have misrepresented multicultural education, arguing it is divisive and suggesting it will Balkanize the nation (Schlesinger, 1991). Yet multicultural education is designed to help unify our nation and to actualize its ideal of e pluribus unum – “out of many, one” (Banks, 1997). The claim that multicultural education will divide the nation assumes that it is now united. However, our nation is deeply divided along racial, ethnic, and social-class lines. During the past two decades, the racial and ethnic divide has widened within the United States. Wilson (1996) describes in poignant detail how low-income African Americans are isolated from middle-class African Americans and innercity European Americans. Research by Orfield, Eaton, and Associates (1996) indicated that school desegregation is being “dismantled” and that racial and ethnic segregation is increasing within our nation’s schools. The nation seems to have lost its will to racially desegregate its schools and communities. The new wave of nativism within the nation is also an indication that racial tension and divisions are increasing. Targets of the new nativism include bilingual education, affirmative action, and multicultural education. Much of this nativism originates in California, perhaps because it receives a larger percentage of the nation’s immigrants than any other state. The number of immigrants entering the United States today is the largest since the turn of the last century. More than 600,000 legal immigrants enter each year, most from nations in Asia and Latin America. If current demographic trends continue, by the year 2020 approximately 46 percent of students will be of non-European decent. Many of the current students enter our schools speaking a language other than English. The 1990 US Census indicated that about 14 percent of school-age youth lived in homes in which the primary language is not English (US Bureau of the Census, 1998). Social class marks another important division. The United States has the largest percentage of poverty among Western nations. The number of people living in poverty in the United States in 1997 was 35.6 million (US Bureau of the Census, 1998). In 1990, approximately one in five US children lived below the official government poverty line. Single families headed by women is the largest and fastest growing type of poor family (Blank, 1997). The gap between the rich and the poor is widening. In 1992, the top 20 percent of US households received eleven times as much income as the bottom 2 percent.

Multicultural citizenship education 195 The large number of immigrants entering the United States each year, the increasing percentage of school-age youth who speak a first language other than English, and the widening gap between the rich and poor present challenges and opportunities for educating effective citizens in the new century. Educators must find ways to actualize the opportunities that racial, ethnic, and language diversity provides while simultaneously creating new ways to minimize problems. All groups within our nation have values, perspectives, and languages that can solve some of the nation’s intractable problems and humanize the lives of all of its citizens. During the Second World War, the lives of many US soldiers were saved because the Navajo language was used in a secret code that perplexed military leaders in Japan. The code contributed to the victory of the Allies in the South Pacific and advances in the Korean Conflict and Vietnam War. Multicultural theorists assume that we cannot unite the nation around its democratic ideals by forcing people from different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups to leave their cultures and languages at the schoolhouse door (Banks and Banks, 1995, 2004). An important principle of a pluralistic democratic society is that citizens will voluntarily participate in the commonwealth and that their participation will enrich the nation-state. When citizens participate in society and bring their cultural strengths to the national civic culture, both they and the nation are enriched. As Flores and Benmayor (1997, p. 13) noted, “Agency is critical to the concept of cultural citizenship; it reflects the active role of Latinos and other groups in claiming rights.” Kymlicka (1995, p. 6) commented that a nation-state that actualizes multicultural citizenship incorporates both universal and specific cultural rights: “A comprehensive theory of justice in a multicultural state will include both universal rights, assigned to individuals regardless of group membership, and certain group-differentiated rights or ‘special status’ for minority cultures.”

Transforming the center but maintaining the margins We can create an inclusive, democratic, and civic national community only when we change the center to make it more inclusive and reflective of our nation’s diversity. This action will require bringing people and groups on the margins of society into the center. When groups on the margins of society begin to participate in the center, the center must change in fundamental ways. One important change is that groups with power must share it; equal-status relationships must be established between powerful and marginalized groups. Racial and ethnic harmony will not occur unless equal-status relationships are established and power is shared (Allport, 1954). Major problems occur in school and university communities when marginalized groups such as African Americans and Latin Americans are recruited and invited to participate in mainstream activities but the people in power remain unwilling to make changes to accommodate cultural, educational, and other needs of these groups. When African Americans and Latin Americans enroll in predominantly European-American schools, oftentimes the curriculum, staff, and community representations remain predominantly European American and mainstream. This kind of situation results in ethnic conflict and misunderstanding. Minority groups in these situations often experience a sense of alienation and rejection. Consequently, they try to create safe and empowering microcultural communities within mainstream institutions that will respond to their alienation and satisfy their cultural needs for representation and inclusion. These kinds of microcultural cultural communities often evoke negative responses from mainstream European

196 Democracy, diversity, citizenship education Americans, leading them to ask questions such as, “Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?” (Tatum, 1997). In her thoughtful book with that very question as its title, Tatum describe the cultural and psychological needs that African-American students are trying to satisfy when they create microcultural communities within predominantly European-American mainstream schools, colleges, and universities. When marginalized groups begin to participate in the mainstream, the relationship between the mainstream society and the margins should be a dynamic one. Within a society that reflects multicultural citizenship, people are able to participate both in the mainstream society and in their cultural communities on the margins. Marginalized communities should have the right to exist and, indeed, should be protected by the state so they can prosper. The margins are “sites of possibilities” (hooks, 1984) because they enable their members to find safe spaces and experience empowerment. They also serve as a conscience for the nation-state. The margins also enable individuals to satisfy some of their fundamental psychological needs left unfilled in a modernized nation-state. Apter (1977) described modernized societies as “thin” and primordial societies as “thick.” He argued that modernized societies leave some of the fundamental psychological needs of individuals unfulfilled. These are the kinds of psychological and cultural needs that African-American and Latin American students are trying to satisfy when they sit together in the cafeteria and create special clubs and groups within the school community. The cultural symbols and representations of diverse groups must be incorporated into the school community and into the curriculum if students from diverse groups are to feel included. Structural inclusion of diverse groups and their cultural symbols into a reconstructed mainstream will reduce the likelihood that marginalized groups will create cultural-specific institutions and symbols. The mainstream must be reconstructed to reflect the diverse cultural, ethnic, and language groups within it. The margins are also sites of possibilities because people in the margins have called upon the United States to live up to the democratic ideals set forth in the nation’s founding documents. These groups have served as the US conscience. Okihiro (1994) noted that it was groups in the margins that called upon the United States to live up to its democratic ideals when they challenged events such as slavery and the Middle Passage, Indian Removal in the 1830s, the internment of Japanese Americans during Second World War, and the segregation and apartheid in the South that lasted from the 1890s to the civil rights movement of the 1960s. People in the margins, such as African-American and European-American abolitionists, American Indians, and African-American civil rights leaders, challenged events that violated US ideals and consequently helped keep the nation more free and just for all citizens. As Foner (1998, pp. xx–xxi) pointed out, it was not the founding fathers who extended the idea of freedom in the United States but groups on the margins of society: The authors of the notion of freedom as a universal birthright, a truly human ideal, were not so much the founding fathers, who created a nation dedicated to liberty but resting in large measure on slavery, but abolitionists who sought to extend the blessings of liberty to encompass blacks, slave and free; women who seized upon the rhetoric of democratic freedom to demand the right to vote; and immigrant groups who insisted that nativity and culture ought not to form boundaries of exclusion.

Multicultural citizenship education 197 Schools should be model communities that mirror the kind of democratic society and multicultural citizenship we envision. In democratic schools, the following occurs: the curriculum reflects the cultures of the diverse groups within society; the languages and dialects that students speak remain respected and valued; cooperation rather than competition is fostered among students; and students from diverse racial, ethnic, and social-class groups experience equal-status in the school.

Research in multicultural education Educators should become familiar with research evidence regarding the effects of multicultural education and not be distracted by its critics, who disregard or distort this significant body of research. Research indicates that students come to school with many stereotypes, misconceptions, and negative attitudes toward outside racial and ethnic groups (Stephan, 1999). Research also indicates that the use of multicultural textbooks, other teaching materials, and cooperative teaching strategies can help students develop more positive racial attitudes and perceptions (Banks, 1991, 1995). This research also indicates that these kinds of materials and teaching strategies can result in students choosing more friends from outside racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. Research indicates that teachers can increase the classroom participation and academic achievement of students from different ethnic groups by modifying instruction so that it draws upon cultural strengths. In her study on the Warm Spring Indian Reservation, Philips (1983) noted that American Indian students participated more actively in class discussions when teachers used group-oriented participation structures consistent with their community cultures. Au (1980) and Tharp (1989), working in the Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP), found that both student participation and standardized achievement test scores increased when they incorporated teaching strategies consistent with the cultures of Native Hawaiian students and used the children’s experiences in reading instruction. Studies summarized by Darling-Hammond (1995) indicated that the academic achievement of minority students and students from low-income families increases when they have high-quality teachers who are experts in their content specialization, pedagogy, and child development. In her summary, Darling-Hammond cited a significant study by Dreeben (1987), who reported that when African-American students received high quality instruction, their reading achievement was as high as that of European-American students. The quality of instruction, not the race of the students, was the significant variable.

The future Educators should recognize that the goals of multicultural education are highly consistent with those of the nation’s schools: to develop thoughtful citizens who can function effectively in the world of work and in the civic community. Ways must be found for schools to recognize and respect the cultures and languages of students from diverse groups while, at the same time, working to develop an overarching national culture toward which all groups will have allegiance. This can best be done by bringing groups on the margins of society into the center; educating students who have the knowledge, skills, and values needed to rethink and change the center to be make it more inclusive; and incorporating the research and theory in multicultural education into school reform.

198 Democracy, diversity, citizenship education Rethinking and re-imaging the United States in ways that will make it more just and equitable will enrich us all. As Martin Luther King once said, “We will live together as brothers and sisters or die separate and apart as strangers.”

References Allport, G. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Apter, D. E. (1977). Political life and cultural pluralism. In M. M. Tumin and W. Plotch (Eds), Pluralism in a democratic society (pp. 58–91). New York: Praeger Publishers. Au, K. (1980). Participation structures in a reading lesson with Hawaiian children. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 11 (2), pp. 91–115. Banks, J. A. (1991). Multicultural education: its effects on students’ racial and gender role attitudes. In J. P. Shaver (Ed.) Handbook of research on social studies teaching and learning (pp. 459–469). New York: Macmillan. Banks, J. A. (1995). Multicultural education and the modification of students’ racial attitudes. In W. D. Hawley and A. Jackson (Eds), Realizing our common destiny (pp. 315–339). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Banks, J. A. (1997). Educating citizens in a multicultural society. New York: Teachers College Press. Banks, J. A. and Banks, C. A. M. (Eds). (1995). Handbook of research on multicultural education (1st edn). New York: Macmillan. Banks, J. A. and Banks, C. A. M. (Eds). (2004). Multicultural education: issues and perspectives (4th edn). New York: Wiley. Blank, R. M. (1997). It takes a nation: A new agenda for fighting poverty. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Darling-Hammond, L. (1995). Inequality and access to knowledge. In J. A. Banks and C. A. M. Banks (Eds), Handbook of research on multicultural education (pp. 465–483). New York: Macmillan. Dreeben, R. (1987). Closing the divide: What teachers and administrators can do to help Black students reach their reading potential. American Educator, 11 (4), pp. 28–35. Flores, W. V. with Benmayor, R. (1997). Constructing cultural citizenship. In W. V. Flores and R. Benmayor (Eds), Latino cultural citizenship (pp. 1–23). Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Foner, E. (1998). The story of American freedom. New York: Norton. Gordon, M. M. (1964). Assimilation in American life: The role or race, religion, and national origins. New York: Oxford University Press. hooks, b. (1984). Feminist theory: From margin to center. Boston, MA: South End Press. Kymlicka, W. (1995). Multicultural citizenship: A liberal theory of minority rights. New York: Oxford University Press. Okihiro, G. Y. (1994). Margins and mainstreams: Asians in American history and culture. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Orfield, G., Eaton, S. E., and The Harvard Project on School Desegregation (1996). Dismantling desegregation: The quiet reversal of Brown v. Board of Education. New York: The New Press. Philips, S. U. (1983). The invisible culture: Communication in classroom and community on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc. Schlesinger, A. M. Jr (1991). The disuniting of America: Reflections on a multicultural society. Knoxville, TN: Whittle Direct Books. Stephan, W. G. (1999). Reducing prejudice and stereotyping in schools. New York: Teachers College Press. Tatum, B. D. (1997). Why are all the Black kids sitting in the cafeteria? And other conversations about race. New York: Basic Books. Tharp, R. G. (1989). Culturally compatible education: A formula for designing effective classrooms. In H. T. Trueba, G. Spindler, and L. Spindler (Eds), What do anthropologists have to say about dropouts? (pp. 51–66). New York: Falmer Press. US Bureau of the Census (1998). Statistical abstract of the United States: 1998 (118th edition). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. Wilson, W. J. (1996). When work disappears: The world of the new urban poor. New York: Knopf.

CHAPTER 18

DEMOCRACY, DIVERSITY, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Educating citizens in a global age The 29th Annual Facualty Lecture. Presented March 3, 2005, to the University of Washington campus community, Seattle, WA

A thoughtful citizenry that believes in democratic ideals and is willing and able to participate in the civic life of the nation is essential for the creation and survival of a democratic society. Reflective and active democratic citizens make decisions and take action that promote political, economic, and cultural democracy. Historically, schools in nation-states throughout the world have eschewed cultural democracy and emphasized cultural assimilation and the eradication of the cultures and languages of students from diverse racial, ethnic, language, and religious groups (Banks, 2004a).

Challenges to the assimilationist notion of citizenship An assimilationist conception of citizenship education existed in most of the Western democratic nation-states prior to the rise of the ethnic revitalization movements of the 1960s and 1970s. A major goal of citizenship education in these nations was to create nation-states in which all groups shared one dominant mainstream culture. It was assumed that ethnic and immigrant groups had to forsake their original cultures in order to fully participate in the nation-state (Patterson, 1977). The ethnic revitalization movements of the 1960s and 1970s strongly challenged the assimilationist conception of citizenship education. These movements, triggered by the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, echoed throughout the world. French and Indians in Canada, West Indians and Asians in Britain, Indonesians and Surinamese in the Netherlands, and Aborigines in Australia joined the series of ethnic movements, expressed their feelings of marginalization, and worked to make the institutions within their nation-states responsive to their economic, political, and cultural needs. Indigenous peoples and ethnic groups within the various Western nations – such as American Indians in the United States, Aborigines in Australia, Maori in New Zealand, African Caribbeans in the United Kingdom, and Moluccans in the Netherlands – want their histories and cultures to be reflected in their national cultures and in the school, college, and university curriculum (Eldering and Kloprogge, 1989; Gillborn, 1990; Smith, 1999). Multicultural education was developed, in part, to respond to the concerns of ethnic, racial, and cultural groups that feel marginalized within their nation-states (Banks and Banks, 2004).

200 Democracy, diversity, citizenship education The right of ethnic and cultural minorities to maintain important aspects of their cultures and languages has been supported by philosophers and educators since the first decades of the 1900s. Drachsler (1920) and Kallen (1924) – of immigrant backgrounds themselves – argued that the Southern, Central, and East European immigrants who were entering the United States in large numbers had a right to retain parts of their cultures and languages while enjoying full citizenship rights. Cultural democracy, argued Drachsler, is an essential component of a political democracy. Woodson (1933/1977) made a case for cultural democracy when he argued that a curriculum for African American students should reflect their history and culture and harshly criticized the absence of Black history in the curriculum. He stated that schools, colleges, and universities were “mis-educating” Black students because they were not teaching them about African cultures and civilizations. Ramírez and Castañeda (1974) maintained that cultural democracy require that teaching methods used in the schools reflect the learning characteristics of Mexican American students as well as help them become bicognitive in their learning styles and characteristics. Kymlicka (1995), the Canadian political theorist, and Rosaldo (1997), the US anthropologist, make arguments today that echo those made by Drachsler (1920), Kallen (1924), and Woodson (1933/1977) in the first decades of the 1900s. Both Kymlicka and Rosaldo contend that immigrant and ethnic groups should be able to participate fully in the national civic culture while maintaining aspects of their cultures and that the dominant culture of the nation-state should reflect their experiences and cultures. Kymlicka calls this concept “multicultural citizenship”; Rosaldo refers to it as “cultural citizenship.” In order for all citizens of US society to experience political, economic, and cultural democracy, teachers need to have the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to create democratic classrooms and schools and to implement a culturally relevant (Ladson-Billings, 1994) or responsive curriculum (Gay, 2000). Research indicates that when teachers use knowledge about the social and cultural context of their students when planning and implementing instruction, the academic achievement of students can increase (Au, 1980; Lee, 1995; Philips, 1972; Piestrup, 1973). To support the goals of a political and cultural democracy and enhance the academic achievement of all students, teachers can gain insights from the research on culturally responsive teaching. This research provides information about the social contexts and purposes of education, the influence of culture on learning and schooling, and culturally responsive curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment (Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994).

Increasing diversity in the world There is increasing diversity as well as increasing recognition of diversity in nationstates throughout the world. After the Second World War large numbers of people emigrated from former colonies in Asia, Africa, and the West Indies to the United Kingdom to improve their economic status. Since the late 1960s, thousands of people from diverse language, cultural, racial, and religious groups have immigrated to nations such as Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Australia and Canada have also experienced increased diversity caused by immigrant groups seeking better economic opportunities. Nations that traditionally have been thought to be homogeneous, such as Japan and Sweden, now acknowledge their diversity. Although the population of the

Educating citizens in a global age 201 United States has been diverse since the founding period, its ethnic composition has changed dramatically since 1965 when the Immigration Reform Act was passed. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, most immigrants to the United States came from Europe. Today, most come from Asia and Latin America. A significant number also come from the West Indies and Africa. The United States is now experiencing its largest influx of immigrants since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Suárez-Orozco et al., 2005). The US Census projects that ethnic groups of color – or ethnic minorities – will increase from 28 percent of the nation’s population today to 50 percent in 2050 (US Census Bureau, 2000). Racial, cultural, ethnic, language, and religious diversity is also increasing in schools throughout the Western world, including the United States (Banks, 2004a). Forty percent of the students enrolled in US schools in 2002 were students of color. This percentage is increasing, primarily because of the increase of Mexican American students. In some of the nation’s largest cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, New York, and San Francisco, half or more of the public school students are students of color. In 2004, 58.9 percent of the students in the Seattle School District were ethnic minorities. In 2002, students of color made up 65.2 percent of the student population in the public schools of California, the nation’s largest state (California State Department of Education, 2000). Language and religious diversity is also increasing in the nation’s student population. About 20 percent of the US school-age population speaks a language other than English at home (US Census Bureau, 2000). Immigrant students are the fastest-growing population in US public schools. The percentage of African Americans who are foreign born is increasing. The Census estimates that 8 percent or 2.2 million of the African American population is foreign born (Snapshot, 2005). There is a wide racial and cultural gap between teachers and students. While 40 percent of the nation’s students are ethnic minorities, most of the nation’s teachers are White and speak only English. White teachers make up about 86 percent of the nation’s teachers (Cochran-Smith et al., 2005). The percentage of White teachers in the nation’s schools will not change in the foreseeable future. The vast majority (80–93 percent) of the students enrolled in college and university programs that prepare teachers are White.

Diversity: opportunities and challenges The significant changes in the racial, ethnic, and language groups that make up the nation’s population creates a demographic imperative for educators to respond to diversity. Diversity offers both opportunities and challenges to our nation, to schools, and to teachers. Diversity enriches our nation, communities, schools, and classrooms. Individuals from many different groups have made and continue to make significant contributions to American society. Diversity also provides our society with many different and enriched ways to identify, describe, and solve social, economic, and political problems. Diversity also provides schools, colleges, and universities with an opportunity to educate students in an environment that reflects the reality of the nation and the world and to teach students from diverse groups how to get along and how to make decisions and take actions that promote social justice. A diverse school environment enables students from many different groups to engage in discussions to solve complex problems related to living in a multicultural nation and world.

202 Democracy, diversity, citizenship education Diversity also poses serious challenges to our nation, to schools, and to teachers. Research indicates that students come to school with many stereotypes, misconceptions, and negative attitudes toward outside groups (Stephan and Stephan, 2004; Stephan and Vogt, 2004). Here is an example from a study by Van Ausdale and Feagin: Carla, a three-year old child, is preparing . . . for resting time. She picks up her cot and starts to move it to the other side of the classroom. A teacher asks what she is doing. “I need to move this,” explains Carla. “Why?” asks the teacher. “Because I can’t sleep next to a nigger,” Carla says, pointing to Nicole, a four-year-old Black child on a cot nearby. “Niggers are stinky. I can’t sit next to one.” Stunned, the teacher, who is white, tells Carla to move her cot back and not to use “hurting words.” (2001, p. 1) Without curriculum intervention by teachers, the racial attitudes and behaviors of students become more negative and harder to change as they grow older. Consequently, an important aim of multicultural education is to provide students with experiences and materials that will help them develop positive attitudes and behaviors toward individuals from different groups (Stephen and Stephen, 2004; Stephan and Vogt, 2004). The wide gap between the academic achievement of students of color such as African Americans and Mexican Americans and Whites and groups of Asian Americans such as Chinese and Japanese Americans is another important challenge in diverse schools and to a multicultural society. I will discuss research related to closing the academic achievement gap between Whites and most groups of color later in this chapter.

Education and diversity During the last three decades my research has focused on ways to reform schools so that they will increase the academic achievement of diverse groups and help all students develop democratic racial attitudes and a commitment to democracy and social justice. Education in a democratic society should help students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to become productive workers within society as well as develop the commitment, attitudes, and skills to work to make our nation and the world just places to live and work in. We should educate students to be effective citizens of their cultural communities, the nation, and the world.

Goals of multicultural education An important goal of multicultural education is to improve race relations and to help all students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to participate in cross-cultural interactions and in personal, social, and civic action that will help make our nation and world more democratic and just. The goal of multicultural education is to teach students to know, to care, and to act to promote democracy and social justice. Multicultural education is consequently as important for middle- and high-income White suburban students as it is for students of color who live in the inner-city. This story about a wealthy child near Hollywood from The Shortchanged

Educating citizens in a global age 203 Children of Suburbia indicates why multicultural education is needed by all of the nation’s students: The story is told about a little girl in a school near Hollywood who was asked to write a composition about a poor family. The essay began: “This family was very poor. The mommy was poor. The Daddy was poor. The brothers and sisters were poor. The maid was poor. The nurse was poor. The butler was poor. The cook was poor. And the chauffeur was poor . . .” (Hechinger, 1967, p. 5) Multicultural education fosters the public good and the overarching democratic goals of the United States. It also helps students to acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to make decisions and to take action that promote democracy and social justice. Multicultural education is trying to Americanize America and to help it to actualize the ideals stated in its founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. That is the essence of the multicultural education project, which has brought the nation closer to the democratic values stated in its founding documents. School-based reforms are needed to help students learn how to live together in civic, moral, and just communities that respect and value the rights and cultural characteristics of all students. Such efforts are made more difficult because a large percentage of students attend single-race schools and because segregation often exists within racially and ethnically mixed schools that use tracking and special programs to meet the special needs of various student groups (Oakes, 2005). According to Sowell and Oakley: The average White child attends a school that is over 78% White. The average Black child attends a school that is over 57% Black. The average Hispanic child attends a school that is over 57% Hispanic. The average Asian child attends a school that is over 19% Asian. (2002)

The dimensions of multicultural education What have we learned in the last three decades about ways in which schools can be reformed in order to increase the academic achievement of students from diverse groups, improve race and ethnic relations, and educate students so that they will make decisions and take actions that promote democracy and social justice? I have categorized the major research and scholarship that has been done over the last thirty years into five dimensions, which I call the Dimensions of multicultural education. I discuss this research comprehensively in the Handbook of research on multicultural education (Banks, 2004b). In this chapter, I will briefly describe each of these dimensions and some of the significant insights that have been gained from research, scholarship, and wisdom of practice within the last three decades. The five dimensions are (1) content integration, (2) the knowledge construction process, (3) prejudice reduction, (4) an equity pedagogy, and (5) an empowering school culture and social structure. The dimensions are summarized in Figure 18.1.

Content integration Content integration describes the extent to which teachers use examples and content from a variety of cultures and groups to illustrate key concepts, principles,

204 Democracy, diversity, citizenship education Knowledge construction

Content integration

Teachers help students to understand, investigate, and determine how the implict cultural assumptions, frames of reference, perspectives, and biases within a discipline influence the ways in which knowledge is constructed.

Content integration delas with the extent to which teachers use examples and content form a variety of cultures in their teaching.

An equity pedagogy An equity pedagogy exists when teachers modify their teaching in ways that will facilitate the academic achievement of students from diverse racial,cultural, gender, and social-class groups.

Prejudice reduction Multicultural education

This dimension focuses on the characteristics of students' racial attitudes and how they can be mdified by teaching methods and materials.

An empowering school culture Grouping and labeling practices, sports participation, disproportionality in achievement, and the interaction of the staff and the students across ethnic and racial lines are examined to create a school cultural that empowers students from diverse racial,ethnic, and gender groups.

Figure 18.1 The dimensions of multicultural education.

generalizations, and theories in their subject area or discipline. Research indicates that when teachers include examples of content from different racial and ethnic groups, students develop more positive racial attitudes toward these groups and their stereotypes of other groups are challenged (for reviews of this research see Banks, 2001; and Stephan and Stephan, 2004). Research also indicates that students become more engaged and active learners when teachers incorporate information about their cultures, histories, and experiences into the curriculum (Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994).

The knowledge construction process The knowledge construction process describes the extent to which teachers help students understand, investigate, and determine how the cultural assumptions, frames of references, perspectives, and biases within a discipline influence the ways in which knowledge is constructed within it. Scholarship in ethnic studies and women’s studies indicates that knowledge in the popular culture, in the media, and in textbooks reflects the biographies, perspectives, and cultural experiences of the scientists, social scientists, and historians who created that knowledge (Code, 1991; Collins, 2000; Harding, 1991; Jacobson, 1998). The biographical journeys

Educating citizens in a global age 205 of researchers greatly influence their values, their research questions, and the knowledge they construct. The knowledge they construct mirrors their life experiences and their values. The knowledge in the school curriculum and within textbooks has a powerful influence on how students view and experience the world. The construction of descriptions and interpretations of the settlement of the West (Turner, 1894/1989) and of slavery (Phillips, 1918/1966) are two examples of how people of color have been described and conceptualized in mainstream US history and social science. Frederick Jackson Turner (1894/1989) constructed a view of the settlement of European Americans in the West that has cogently influenced the treatment and interpretation of the West in school, college, and university textbooks (Sleeter and Grant, 1991). Turner described the land occupied by the Indians as an empty wilderness to which the Europeans brought civilization. He also argued that the wilderness in the West, which required individualism for survival, was the main source of American democracy. Although revisionist historians have described the limitations of Turner’s theory, its influence on the curricula of the nation’s elementary and high schools, and on textbooks, is still powerful.

An equity pedagogy An equity pedagogy exists when teachers modify their teaching in ways that will facilitate the academic achievement of students from diverse groups. Culturally relevant or culturally responsive teaching – a form of equity pedagogy – is used to help close the achievement gap (Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994). Many explanations have been given for the achievement gap between White students and students of color such as African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans. Multicultural education theorists and researchers believe that the difference between the home cultures of minority students and the school culture is a major reason for the low academic achievement of minority students. During the last three decades researchers have been investigating ways in which teachers can make use of elements from the cultures of students to increase their academic achievement. Researchers have described ways in which the languages, dialects, and home cultures of low-income and students of color can be used to motivate them to learn. Many studies describe the differences between the school culture and the home cultures of students from diverse groups. Researchers have described the ways in which verbal interactions differ in the school and in the homes of Navajo students (Philips, 1983) and how language use differs among White middle-class teachers, the White working-class, and the Black working-class (Heath, 1983). Some researchers have described how teachers can use the home language of low-income African American students, called Black English, as a vehicle to help them master standard English (Delpit and Dowdy, 2002). In 1996, a contentious national debate over Black English occurred when the Oakland Public School district proposed using Black English as a vehicle to teach African American students standard English. This recommendation is quite consistent with research by linguists. Research indicates that an effective way to teach students a second language is to build upon their home language or dialect rather than try to eradicate it (August and Hakuta, 1997; Piestrup, 1973). Some studies provide evidence to support the idea that when teachers use culturally responsive teaching the academic achievement of minority students increases. Au and Kawakami (1985) found that if teachers used participation structures in lessons that were similar to the Hawaiian speech event “talk story,”

206 Democracy, diversity, citizenship education the reading achievement of Native Hawaiian students increased significantly. They write: The chief characteristic of talk story is joint performance, or the cooperative production of responses of two or more speakers. For example, if the subject is going surfing, one of the boys begins by recounting the events of a particular day. But he will immediately invite one of the other boys to join him in describing the events to the group. The two boys will alternate as speakers, each telling a part of the story, with other children present occasionally chiming in. (p. 409, emphasis in original) Talk story is very different from recitations in most classrooms, in which the teacher usually calls on an individual child to tell a story. Lee (1993) found that the achievement of African American students increases when they are taught literary interpretations with lessons that use the African American verbal practice of signifying. Signifying is “a genre within African American speech that involves ritual insult – as in playing the dozens. Signifying always involves . . . [a] high use of figurative language.” (C. Lee, e-mail communication, February 5, 2005). Horowitz et al., summarize an important finding by Heath: Shirley Brice Heath (1983) discovered that African American children in a Southern community did not answer obvious, factual questions to which they assumed the teacher knew the answer. This kind of questioning, such as – “What color is this dish?” “How many fingers do I have? – common in many middle-class homes, was not part of their experience where questions were used only when the asker [really] did not know the answer. The result was that they did not answer such obvious questions, and teachers assumed they were less able learners. (Heath, 1983, as cited in Horowitz et al., 2005, p. 115)

Prejudice reduction Theory and research in this dimension focus on the characteristics of students’ racial attitudes and how teaching methods and materials can change them. Research indicates that the use of multicultural textbooks, other teaching materials, and cooperative teaching strategies that enable students from different racial and ethnic groups to interact positively in equal-status situations help students develop democratic racial attitudes (Banks, 2001; Stephan and Vogt, 2004). These kinds of materials and teaching strategies can also result in students choosing more friends from outside racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. Since the 1940s, a number of curriculum intervention studies have been conducted to determine the effects of teaching units and lessons, multicultural textbooks and materials, role playing, and other kinds of simulated experiences on the racial attitudes and perceptions of students. These studies indicate that curriculum materials and interventions can help students develop positive racial attitudes and perceptions. These studies provide guidelines that can help teachers improve intergroup relations in their classrooms and schools. Trager and Yarrow conducted one of the earliest curriculum studies in 1952. Titled They Learn What They Live, it

Educating citizens in a global age 207 examined the effects of a democratic multicultural curriculum on the racial attitudes of children in the first and second grades. The curriculum had a positive effect on the attitudes of both the students and teachers. This study indicates that in order for students to learn democracy, they must experience a democratic school and curriculum. Research indicates that when schools create superordinate groups – groups with which members of all the groups in a situation identify – relations are improved (Banks et al., 2001). When membership in superordinate groups is salient, other group differences become less important. Creating superordinate groups stimulates liking and cohesion, which can mitigate preexisting animosities. An example of a superordinate group is a basketball team that includes Black, White, and Mexican American students who are working together to beat an opponent. In this situation, race and ethnicity become less important than beating the opponent. In school settings there are many superordinate group memberships that can be created or made salient. For example, it is possible to create superordinate groups through extracurricular activities. There are also many existing superordinate group memberships that can be made more salient, such as the classroom, the band, the school, the community, the state, and the nation.

An empowering school culture An empowering school culture is used to describe the process of restructuring the culture and organization of the school so that students from diverse racial, ethnic, language, and social-class groups will experience educational equality and cultural empowerment. Research and theory indicate that creating a successful school for low-income students and students of color require restructuring the culture and organization of the school. Research indicates that the culture of some schools fosters academic achievement and that the culture of other schools does not (Brookover et al., 1979). Schools of the same social-class composition have significantly different effects on student achievement. Some schools in low-income communities – as well as in high-income communities – have cultures that foster high academic achievement. Researchers call these schools “effective” or “improving” schools. Other schools in both low- and high-income communities have cultures that do not foster high academic achievement. Levine and Lezottte have identified the important characteristics of effective or improving schools. They include ● ● ● ● ● ●

a safe and orderly environment, a shared faculty commitment to improve achievement, an orientation focused on identifying and solving problems, high faculty cohesion and collaboration, high faculty input in decision-making, school wide emphasis on recognizing positive performance. (2001, pp. 525–526)

Education for national and global citizenship Because we live in a global society that is highly interconnected, an effective education for the twenty-first century prepares students for thoughtful citizenship in their communities, the nation, and the world. Worldwide immigration and

208 Democracy, diversity, citizenship education globalization raises new questions about how to prepare students for thoughtful and active citizenship. Multicultural societies are faced with the problem of constructing nation-states that reflect and incorporate the diversity of its citizens and yet have an overarching set of shared values, ideals, and goals to which all of its citizens are committed. Diversity and unity must be balanced in multicultural nation-states. Only when a nation-state is unified around a set of democratic values such as justice and equality can it protect the rights of cultural, ethnic, and language groups and enable them to experience cultural democracy and freedom. In a democratic society, ethnic and immigrant groups should have the right to maintain important elements of their ethnic cultures and languages as well as participate in the national civic culture. Nationalists and assimilationists throughout the world worry that if they allow students to maintain identifications with their cultural communities they will not acquire sufficiently strong attachments to their nation-states. They have a “zero-sum conception of identity” (Kymlicka, 2004, p. xiv). The theoretical and empirical work of multicultural scholars indicates that identity is multiple, changing, overlapping, and contextual, rather than fixed and static – and that thoughtful and clarified cultural identifications will enable people to be better citizens of the nation-state. Writes Ladson-Billings: The dynamic of the modern (or postmodern) nation-state makes identities as either an individual or a member of a group untenable. Rather than seeing the choice as either/or, the citizen of the nation-state operates in the realism of both/and. She is both an individual who is entitled to citizen rights that permit one to legally challenge infringement of those rights while simultaneously acting as a member of a group . . . People move back and forth across many identities, and the way society responds to these identities either binds people to or alienates them from the civic culture. (2004, p. 112)

Balancing unity and diversity Balancing unity and diversity is a continuing challenge for multicultural nationstates. Unity without diversity results in hegemony and oppression; diversity without unity leads to Balkanization and the fracturing of the nation-state. A major problem facing nation-states throughout the world is how to recognize and legitimize difference and yet construct an overarching national identity that incorporates the voices, experiences, and hopes of the diverse groups that compose it. Many ethnic, language, and religious groups have weak identifications with their nation-state because of their marginalized status and because they do not see their hopes, dreams, visions, and possibilities reflected within the nation-state or within the schools, colleges, and universities (Ladson-Billings, 2004). The diversity brought to Europe by immigrants from its former colonies has increased racial, ethnic, and religious tension and conflict. The establishment of a policy by the French government – which bans the wearing of religious symbols in public schools such as the headscarf worn by Muslim girls – is a desperate attempt by a nation with a strong assimilationist history and ideology to deal with religious expression in the public sphere. As worldwide immigration increases diversity on every continent, nation-states are searching for ways to balance unity and diversity (Banks et al., 2005). The four Muslim young men who are suspected of being

Educating citizens in a global age 209 responsible for the bombings of the London underground on July 7, 2005 had immigrant parents but were British citizens who grew up in Leeds. However, they apparently were not structurally integrated into British mainstream society and had a weak identification with the nation-state and other British citizens. The Western world is perplexed, exhausted, and fear ridden as it attempts to envision and implement viable and creative strategies to respond effectively to the intransigent conflicts in the Middle East and Islamic suicide bombers (Barber, 2003). These events have resulted in bombings that have created a reign of terror throughout the world – including the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001; the bombings of four commuter trains in Madrid, Spain on March 11, 2004; the bombings in the London transportation system on July 7, 2005; and the bombing of a Red Sea resort at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on July 23, 2005.

The development of cultural, national, and global identifications Assimilationist notions of citizenship are ineffective today because of the deepening diversity throughout the world and the quests by marginalized groups for cultural recognition and rights. Multicultural citizenship is essential for today’s global age (Kymlicka, 1995). It recognizes and legitimizes the right and need of citizens to maintain commitments both to their cultural communities and to the national civic culture. Nussbaum (2002) states that we should help students develop cosmopolitanism. Cosmopolitans view themselves as citizens of the world who will make decisions and take actions that promote democracy and social justice. Nussbaum states that their “allegiance is to the worldwide community of human beings” (p. 4). Cosmopolitans identify with peoples from diverse cultures throughout the world. Nussbaum (2002) contrasts cosmopolitan universalism and internationalism with parochial ethnocentrism and inward-looking patriotism. Cosmopolitans “are ready to broaden the definition of public, extend their loyalty beyond ethnic and national boundaries, and engage with difference far and near” (W. C. Parker, personal communication, July 18, 2005). Cosmopolitans view social justice globally and are concerned with threats to the world community such as global warming, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and sustainable development. Students should develop a delicate balance of cultural, national, and global identifications (Banks, 2004a) (see Figure 18.2). Cultural, national, and global experiences and identifications are interactive and interrelated in a dynamic way. Each needs to be developed in the schools. Students should develop cultural, national, and global identifications that are critical and thoughtful. They should not be nonreflective and unexamined. Nationalism and national attachments in most nations are strong and tenacious. Globalization and nationalism are coexisting and sometimes conflicting trends in the world today (Banks et al., 2005). An important aim of citizenship education in a democratic society is to help students develop global identifications and commitments. The ways in which people are moving back and forth across national borders today challenge the notion of educating citizens to function in one nation-state. Many people have more than one national identity and live in multiple places. Students also need to develop a deep understanding of the need to take action as citizens of the global community, to help solve the world’s difficult global problems, and to make decisions and take actions that will enhance democracy in their cultural communities, nation, and the world.

210 Democracy, diversity, citizenship education

Global identification National identification Cultural identification

Figure 18.2 Cultural, national, and global identifications. Note A major goal of multicultural citizenship education should be to help students acquire a delicate balance of cultural, national, and global identifications.

Democracy and diversity The increasing diversity throughout the world today and the increasing recognition of diversity – as well as the intractable problems that the world faces – require a reexamination of the ends and means of citizenship education if is to promote democracy and social justice (Parker, 2003). Assimilationist conceptions of citizenship education that eradicate the cultures and languages of diverse groups will be ineffective in a transformed “flat” world (Friedman, 2005). In the flat world described by Friedman, scientific and technological workers educated in Asian nations such as India and China are competing successfully – and sometimes outperforming – scientific and technological workers educated at universities in the United States. The United States can no longer take its scientific and technological superiority for granted. It is being challenged by nations such as India and China. Effective citizenship education in a diverse and flat world will help students to attain new knowledge, paradigms, and perspectives on the United States and the world. The concepts, paradigms, and projects that facilitated the rise and triumph of the West between the sixteenth and the twentieth centuries are ineffective in the changed world of the twenty-first century. Citizenship education in the United States – as well as within other Western nations – must be reinvented so that it will enable students to see their fates as intimately tied to that of people throughout the world and to understand why a “threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King, 1963/1994, pp. 2–3).

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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books Authored (1970) Banks, J. A. March toward freedom: a history of Black Americans, 2nd edn (1974); 2nd Rev. edn (1978) (co-authored with C. A. M. Banks), Belmont, CA, Fearon. (1970) Banks, J. A. Teaching the Black experience: methods and materials, Belmont, CA, Fearon. (1972) Grambs, J. D., Carr, J. C., Banks, J. A., Cuban, L. and Glancy, B. J. Black image: education copes with color, Dubuque, IA, William C. Brown. (1973) Banks, J. A. (with contributions by A. A. Clegg, Jr). Teaching strategies for the social studies: inquiry, valuing, and decision-making, 2nd edn (1977). Reading, MA, AddisonWesley. 4th edn (1990); 5th edn (1999), New York, Longman. (5th edn co-authored with C. A. M. Banks; contributions by A. A. Clegg, Jr; change in 5th edn subtitle to Decisionmaking and citizen action). (1975) Banks, J. A. Teaching strategies for ethnic studies, 2nd edn (1979); 3rd edn (1984); 4th edn (1987); 5th edn (1991); 6th edn (1997); 7th edn (2003), Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon. (1981) Banks, J. A. Multiethnic education: theory and practice, 2nd edn (1988); 3rd edn (1994); 4th edn (2001), title changed to Cultural diversity and education: foundations, curriculum and teaching, Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon. (1982) Banks, J. A. We Americans: our history and people Vols 1–2, Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon. (1994) Banks, J. A. An introduction to multicultural education, 2nd edn (1999); 3rd edn (2002). Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon; Trans. ed. (1996). Tokyo, The Simul Press. (1997) Banks, J. A. Educating citizens in a multicultural society, New York, Teachers College Press.

Books edited with authored chapters (1971) Banks, J. A. and Joyce, W. W. (eds) Teaching language arts to culturally different children. Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley. (1971) Banks, J. A. and Joyce, W. W. (eds) Teaching social studies to culturally different children, Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley. (1972) Banks, J. A. and Grambs, J. D. (eds) Black self-concept: implications for education and social science, New York, McGraw-Hill. (1973) Banks, J. A. (ed.) Teaching ethnic studies: concepts and strategies (43rd yearbook), Washington, DC, National Council for the Social Studies. (1981) Banks, J. A. (ed.) Education in the 80s: multiethnic education, Washington, DC, National Education Association. (1986) Banks, J. A. and Lynch, J. (eds) Multicultural education in Western societies, East Sussex, England, Holt, Rinehart and Winston; New York, Praeger.

Selected bibliography 215 (1989) Banks, J. A. and Banks, C. A. M. (eds) Multicultural education: issues and perspectives, Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon; 2nd edn (1993); 3rd edn (1997); 4th edn (2003), New York, Wiley. (1995) Banks, J. A. and Banks, C. A. M. (eds) Handbook of research on multicultural education, New York, Macmillan; 2nd edn (2004), San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass. (1996) Banks, J. A. (ed.) Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action: historical and contemporary perspectives, New York, Teachers College Press. (2004) Banks, J. A. (ed.) Diversity and citizenship education: global perspectives, San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass.

Chapters and other contributions to books (1969) Banks, J. A. “The need for positive racial attitudes in textbooks,” in Green, R. L. (ed.), Racial crisis in American education, Chicago, IL, Follett Educational Corporation, pp. 167–185. (1971) Banks, J. A. “The causes of prejudice,” in Banks, J. A. and Joyce, W. W. (eds), Teaching social studies to culturally different children. Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley, pp. 16–23. (1971) Banks, J. A. “Social research: studying racial behavior,” in Banks, J. A. and Joyce, W. W. (eds), Teaching social studies to culturally different children, Reading, MA, AddisonWesley, pp. 213–219. (1971) Banks, J. A. Cortés, C. E., Forbes, J. D., Chun-Hoon, L. K. Y. and Blumenberg, E. Report and recommendations, Sacramento, CA, California State Department of Education, Task Force to Reevaluate Social Science Textbooks. (1972) Banks, J. A. “Black power: strategies of teaching,” in Rogers, V. R. and Weinland, T. P. (eds), Teaching social studies in the urban classroom, Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley, pp. 147–169. (1972) Banks, J. A. “Liberating the Black ghetto: decision making and social action,” in Wisniewski, R. (ed.), Teaching about life in the city (42nd Yearbook), Washington, DC, National Council for the Social Studies, pp. 159–183. (1973) Banks, J. A. “Poverty,” in McLendon, J. C. (ed.), Guide to reading for social studies teachers, Washington, DC, National Council for the Social Studies, pp. 100–103. (1974) Banks, J. A. “Curricular models for an open society,” in Della-Dora, D. and House, J. E. (eds), Education for an open society, Washington, DC, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, pp. 43–63. (1974) Banks, J. A. “Increasing teacher competency,” in Smith, B. O. (ed.), The final report and recommendations of the Summer Institute on the Improvement of American Education, Washington, DC, US Government Printing Office, pp. 173–205. (1974) Banks, J. A. “Teaching Black studies for social change,” in Johnson, R. (ed.), Black scholars on higher education in the 70s, Columbus, OH, ECCA Publications, pp. 89–111. (1975) Banks, J. A. “Quality education for Black students,” in Harris, N., Jackson, N., and Rydingsword, C. E. (eds), The integration of American schools: problems, experiences, solutions, Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon, pp. 165–175. (1975) Banks, J. A. “Should integration be a societal goal in a pluralistic nation?” in Muessig, R. H. (ed.), Controversial issues in the social studies (45th Yearbook), Washington, DC, National Council for the Social Studies, pp. 197–228. (1976) Banks, J. A. “Comment on ‘a content analysis of the Black American in textbooks,’ ” in Golden, M. P. (ed.), The research experience, Itasca, IL, Peacock, pp. 383–389. (1977) Banks, J. A. “Cultural pluralism: Implications for curriculum reform,” in Tumin, M. M. and Plotch, W. (eds), Pluralism in a democratic society, New York, Praeger, pp. 226–248. (1977) Banks, J. A. “Economic education for ethnic minorities,” in Wentworth, D. R., Hansen, W. L., and Hawke, S. H. (eds), Perspectives on economic education, New York, Joint Council on Economic Education; Arlington, VA, National Council for the Social Studies; and Denver, CO, Social Science Education Consortium, pp. 117–133. (1977) Banks, J. A. “The implications of multicultural education for teacher education,” in Klassen, F. H. and Gollnick, D. M. (eds), Pluralism and the American teacher, Washington, DC, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, pp. 1–30.

216 Selected bibliography (1979) Banks, J. A. “Education and ethnicity: response of James A. Banks,” in Daniel Levine (ed.), Civil rights issues of Euro-ethnic Americans in the United States: opportunities and challenges, Washington, DC, United States Commission on Civil Rights, pp. 243–257. (1981) Banks, J. A. “Multiethnic education and school reform,” in McClure, R. M. (ed.), Education in the 80s: curricular challenges, Washington, DC, National Education Association, pp. 112–123. (1983) Banks, J. A. “Ethnicity and curriculum reform,” in Samuda, R. J. and Woods, S. L. (eds), Perspectives in immigrant and minority education, Lanham, MD, The University Press of America, pp. 283–293. (1983) Banks, J. A. “Language, ethnicity, ideology, and education,” in Berg-Eldering, L. V. D., Rijcke, F. J. M., and Zuck, L. V. (eds), Multicultural education: a challenge for teachers, Dordrecht, Holland, Foris Publications, pp. 33–51. (1984) Banks, J. A. “Values, ethnicity, social science research, and educational policy,” in Ladner, B. (ed.), The humanities in precollegiate education (83rd Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education), Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press, pp. 91–111. (1985) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education,” in Husen, T. and Neville, T. (eds), The international encyclopedia of education Vol. 6, Oxford, Pergamon Press, pp. 3440–3442. (1985) Banks, J. A. “Reducing prejudice in students: theory, research and strategies,” in Moodley, K. (ed.), Race relations and multicultural education, Vancouver, BC, Centre for the Study of Curriculum and Instruction, The University of British Columbia, pp. 65–87. (1985) Banks, J. A. “Urban education: educational programs,” in Husen, T. and Neville, T. (eds), The international encyclopedia of education Vol. 9, Oxford, Pergamon Press, pp. 5400–5402. (1986) Banks, J. A. “Race, ethnicity and schooling in the United States: past, present and future,” in Banks, J. A. and Lynch, J. (eds), Multicultural education in Western societies, East Sussex, England, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, pp. 30–50. Trans. edn (1988), in Quellet, F. (ed. and trans.), Pluralisme et Ecole [Race, ethnicite et scolarisation aux Etats-Unis: Bilan et perspective]. (1987) Banks, J. A. “Ethnic diversity, the social responsibility of education, and school reform,” in Molnar, A. (ed.), Social issues and education: challenge and responsibility, Alexandria, VA, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, pp. 59–77. (1988) Banks, J. A. “Cultural diversity and intergroup relations: implications for educational reform,” in Heid, C. A. (ed.), Multicultural education: knowledge and perceptions, Bloomington, IN, Center for Urban Multicultural Education, pp. 1–13. (1988) Banks, J. A. “The influence of ethnicity and class on cognitive styles: implications for research and education,” in Lonner, W. J. and Taylor, V. D. (eds), Cultural and ethnic factors in learning and motivation: implications for education, Bellingham, WA, Western Washington University, pp. 53–73. (1988) Banks, J. A. “Response to Eaton,” in Lonner, W. J. and Taylor, V. D. (eds), Cultural and ethnic factors in learning and motivation: implications for education. Bellingham, WA, Western Washington University, pp. 79–82. (1989) Banks, J. A. “Black youth in predominantly White suburbs,” in Jones, R. L. (ed.), Black adolescents, Richmond, VA, Cobb and Henry, pp. 65–77. (1990) Banks, J. A. “Fostering language and cultural literacy in the schools,” in Imhoff, G. (ed.), Learning in two languages: from conflict to consensus in the reorganization of schools, New Brunswick, NJ, Transaction Books, pp. 1–18. (1990) Banks, J. A. and Parker, W. J. “Social studies teacher education,” in Houston, W. R., Haberman, M., and Sikula, J. P. (eds), Handbook of research on teacher education, New York, Macmillan (Project of the Association of Teacher Educators), pp. 674–686. (1991) Banks, J. A. “A curriculum for empowerment, action, and change,” in Sleeter, C. E. (ed.), Empowerment through multicultural education, Albany, NY, State University of New York Press, pp. 125–141, ff. 311–313. Reprinted (1992), in Moodley, K. A. (ed.), Education in plural societies: international perspectives, Calgary, Canada, Detselig, pp. 154–170. (1991) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education: its effects on students’ racial and gender role attitudes,” in Shaver, J. P. (ed.), Handbook of research on social studies teaching and learning, New York, Macmillan (Sponsored by the National Council for the Social Studies), pp. 459–469.

Selected bibliography 217 (1991) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education and the social studies teacher,” in Ellis, A. K., Fouts, J. T., and Glenn, A. D. (eds), Teaching and learning secondary social studies, New York, Harper Collins, pp. 276–278. (1991) Banks, J. A. “Social science knowledge and citizenship education,” in Kennedy, M. M. (ed.), Teaching academic subjects to diverse learners, New York, Teachers College Press, pp. 117–127. (1991) Banks, J. A. “Teaching assistants and cultural diversity,” in Nyquist, J. D., Abbott, J. D., Wulff, D. H., and Sprague, J. (eds), Preparing the professoriate of tomorrow to teach: selected readings for TA training, Dubuque, IA, Kendall-Hunt Publishing Co, pp. 65–72. (1992) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education: approaches, developments, and dimensions,” in Lynch, J., Modgil, C., and Modgil, S. (eds), Education for cultural diversity: convergence and divergence, London, The Falmer Press, pp. 83–94. (1992) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education: context and meanings,” in Lynch, J., Modgil, C., and Modgil, S. (eds), Education for cultural diversity: convergence and divergence, London, The Falmer Press, pp. 112–117. (1992) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education: history of,” in Alkin, M. C., Linden, M., Noel, J., and Ray, K. (eds), Encyclopedia of educational research (6th edn), New York, Macmillan, pp. 870–874. (1992) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education: nature, challenges, and opportunities,” in Diaz, C. F. (ed.), Multicultural education for the twenty-first century, Washington, DC, National Education Association, pp. 23–37. Rev. edn (2001), in Diaz, C. F. (ed.), Multicultural education in the 21st century, Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon, pp. 11–22. (1992) Banks, J. A. “The stages of ethnicity,” in Richard-Amato, P. A. and Snow, M. A., The multicultural classroom: Readings for content-area teachers, White Plains, NY, Longman, pp. 93–101. Rev. edn (1988), from a chapter in Multiethnic education (2nd edn). (1993) Banks, J. A. “Education and cultural diversity in the United States,” in Fyfe, A. and Figueroa, P. (eds), Education for cultural diversity: the challenge for a new era, London, Routledge, pp. 49–68. (1993) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education: Historical development, dimensions, and practice,” in Darling-Hammond, L. (ed.), Review of research in education Vol. 19, Washington, DC, American Educational Research Association, pp. 3–49. (1993) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education for young children: racial and ethnic attitudes and their modification,” in Spodek, B. (ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children, New York, Macmillan, pp. 236–250. (1995) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education and the modification of students’ racial attitudes,” in Hawley, W. D. and Jackson, A. (eds), Realizing our common destiny, San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass, pp. 315–339. (1996) Banks, J. A. “Black studies,” in Salzman, J., Smith, D. L., and West, C. (eds), Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history Vol. 1, New York, Macmillan, pp. 364–369. (1996) Banks, J. A. “Cultural literacy: the liberal arts curriculum, and the human condition,” in Perry, R. L. and Ashcarft-Easton, L. (eds), Inside ethnic America: an ethnic studies reader, Dubuque, IA, Kendall Hunt, pp. 23–37. (1996) Banks, J. A. “Measures of assimilation, pluralism, and marginality,” in Jones, R. L. (ed.), Handbook of tests and measurements for Black populations Vol. 2, Hampton, VA, Cobb & Henry, pp. 269–282. (1996) Banks, J. A. “Measures of attitudes toward school, physical self, Blacks, Whites, and neighborhood,” in Jones, R. L. (ed.), Handbook of tests and measurements for Black populations Vol. 1, Hampton, VA, Cobb & Henry, pp. 249–259. (1996) Banks, J. A. “Teaching social studies for decision-making and action,” in Grant, C. A. and Gomez, M. L. (eds), Making schooling multicultural: campus and classroom, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Merrill, pp. 221–242. (1997) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education: dimensions of,” in Grant, C. A. and LadsonBillings, G. (eds), Dictionary of multicultural education, Phoenix, AZ, The Oryx Press, pp. 177–182. (1997) Banks, J. A. “Transformative knowledge: implications for multicultural education and curriculum reform,” in Interculturalidade e coesao social na intervencao educative, Lisbon, Portugal, Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, pp. 107–125.

218 Selected bibliography (1999) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural citizenship education,” in Day, B. (ed.), Teaching and learning in the new millennium, West Lafayette, IN, Kappa Delta Pi, pp. 54–61. (2000) Banks, J. A. “The social construction of difference and the quest for educational equality,” in Brandt, R. S. (ed.), Education in the new century (ASCD yearbook), Arlington, VA, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, pp. 21–45. (2001) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education,” in Smelser, N. J. and Baltes, P. B. (eds), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences Vol. 15, Oxford, Pergamon, pp. 10160–10163. (2001) Banks, J. A. “Multiculturalism,” in Kurian, G., Orvell, M., Butler, J., and Mechling, J. (eds), Encyclopedia of American studies Vol. 3, Bethel, CT, Grolier Publishing Company, pp. 149–154. (2003) Banks, J. A. and Ambrosio, J. “Multicultural education in schools,” in Guthrie, J. W. (ed.), Encyclopedia of education Vol. 5 (2nd edn), New York, Macmillan Reference, pp. 1703–1709. (2005) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education,” in Asante, M. and Mazama, A. (eds), Encyclopedia of Black studies, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications, pp. 345–347. (2005) Banks, J. A., Cochran-Smith, M., Moll, L., Richert, A., Zeicher, K., LePage, L., Darling-Hammond, L., and McDonald, H. “Teaching diverse learners,” in DarlingHammond, L. and Bransford, J. (eds), Preparing teachers for a changing world: what teachers should learn and be able to do, San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass (Sponsored by the National Academy of Education), pp. 232–274. (2006) Banks, J. A. “Researching race, culture and difference: epistemological challenges and possibilities,” in Green, J., Camilli, G., and Elmore, P. (eds), Handbook of complementary methods in education research (3rd edn), Mawah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 786–789. (in press) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education,” in McCulloch, G. (ed.), International encyclopedia of education, London, Routledge. (in press) Banks, J. A. and Park, C. “Race, ethnicity and education: the search for explanations,” in Collins, P. H. and Solomos, J. (eds), Handbook of race and ethnic relations, London, Routledge.

Monographs (1976) Banks, J. A., Cortés, C. E., Gay, G., Garcia, R. L., and Ochoa, A. Curriculum guidelines for multiethnic education, Washington, DC, National Council for the Social Studies. Rev. ed. (1992), Curriculum guidelines for multicultural education, Washington, DC, National Council for the Social Studies. (Co-authored with C. E. G. Gay, R. L. Garcia, and A. S. Ochoa). (2001) Banks, J. A., Cookson, P., Gay, G., Hawley, W. D., Irvine, J. J., Nieto S., Schofield, J. W., and Stephan, W. G. Diversity within unity: Essential principles for teaching and learning in a multicultural society, Seattle, WA, Center for Multicultural Education, University of Washington. (2005) Banks, J. A., Banks, C. A. M., Cortés, C. E., Hahn, C. L., Merryfield, M. M. Moodley, K. A., Murphy-Shigematsu, Osler, A., Park, C., and Parker, W. C. Democracy and diversity: principles and concepts for educating citizens in a global age, WA, Seattle, Center for Multicultural Education, University of Washington.

Journal articles (1967) Banks, J. A. “Art in social studies,” Illinois Schools Journal, 47, 171–174. (1967) Banks, J. A. “From reading to writing,” Instructor, 76, 401. (1967) Banks, J. A. “Searching for the unknown,” The Arithmetic Teacher, 14, 683, ff. 689. (1967) Banks, J. A. “Understanding common fractions,” Instructor, 76, 58. (1967) Banks, J. A. “Why teachers are dissatisfied,” Phi Delta Kappan, 48, 354. (1968) Banks, J. A. and Hogan, E. O. “Inquiry: a history teaching tool,” Illinois Schools Journal, 48, 176–189. (1968) Banks, J. A. “A profile of the Black American: implications for teaching,” College Composition and Communication, 19, 288–296.

Selected bibliography 219 (1968) Banks, J. A. “Utilizing the historical method in social studies,” Instructor, 77, 104–105. (1969) Banks, J. A. “A content analysis of the Black American in textbooks,” Social Education, 33, 954–957, 963 ff. Reprinted (1976), in Golden, M. P. (ed.), The research experience, Itasca, IL, Peacock Publishers, pp. 375–383. (1969) Banks, J. A. “Relevant social studies for Black pupils,” Social Education, 33, 66–69. (1969) Banks, J. A. “A response to Professor Kirman [Letter],” Social Education, 33, 626–627. (1969) Banks, J. A. “Varieties of history: Negro, Black, White [Letter],” Harvard Educational Review, 39, 155–158. (1970) Banks, J. A. “Developing racial tolerance with literature on the Black inner-city,” Social Education, 34, 549–552. (1971) Banks, J. A. “Teaching Black history with a focus on decision making,” Social Education, 35, 740–745, 820–821 ff. (1971) Banks, J. A. “Teaching ethnic minority students with a focus on culture,” Educational Leadership, 29, 113–117. (1972) Banks, J. A. “The destruction of Black schools: a national tragedy,” Educational Leadership, 30, 269–271. (1972) Banks, J. A. “Imperatives in ethnic minority education,” Phi Delta Kappan, 53, 266–269. (1972) Banks, J. A. “Teaching Black studies for social change,” Journal of Afro-American Issues, 1, 141–163. (1973) Banks, J. A. “Curriculum strategies for Black liberation,” School Review, 81, 405–414. (1973) Banks, J. A. “Teaching for ethnic literacy: a comparative approach,” Social Education, 37, 738–750. (1973) Banks, J. A. “Teaching strategies for discussion of justice in America: fact or fiction,” Social Education, 37, 639–641. (1974) Banks, J. A. “Evaluating and selecting ethnic studies materials,” Educational Leadership, 31, 593–596. (1975) Banks, J. A. “Societal issues: cultural pluralism: A response,” ASCD News Exchange, 17(1), 4. (1975) Banks, J. A. “Americanizing the curriculum,” Teacher, 93, 19, 22, 27 ff. (1975) Banks, J. A. “Ethnic modification of the curriculum,” Illinois Schools Journal, 55, 24–31. (1975) Banks, J. A. “The implications of ethnicity for curriculum reform,” Educational Leadership, 33, 168–172. (1975) Banks, J. A. and Gay, G. “Teaching the American revolution: a multiethnic approach,” Social Education, 39, 461–465. (1975) Banks, J. A. “Teaching ethnic studies: key issues and concepts,” The Social Studies, 66, 107–113. (1976) Banks, J. A. “Crucial issues in the education of Afro-American children,” Journal of Afro-American Issues, 4, 392–407. (1976) Banks, J. A. “Cultural pluralism: implications for contemporary schools,” Integrated Education, 15, 32–36. (1976) Banks, J. A. “The emerging stages of ethnicity: implications for staff development,” Educational Leadership, 34, 190–193. (1976) Banks, J. A. “Ethnic studies as a process of curriculum reform,” Social Education, 40, 76–80. Rev. ed. (1976, May), in The Education Digest, 41, 24–27. (1976) Banks, J. A. “Evaluating the multiethnic components of the social studies,” Social Education, 40, 538–541. (1976) Banks, J. A. “Pluralism, ideology, and curriculum reform,” The Social Studies, 67, 99–106. (1976) Banks, J. A. “Why teach social studies?: a response,” The Social Science Record, 13, 21. (1977) Banks, J. A. “The curricular implications of ethnicity,” Thresholds in Secondary Education, 3(4), 3–8, ff. 32. (1977) Banks, J. A. “Pluralism and educational concepts: a clarification,” Peabody Journal of Education, 54, 73–78. (1977) Banks, J. A. “A response to Philip Freedman,” Phi Delta Kappan, 58, 695–697. (1978) Banks, J. A. and Gay, G. “Ethnicity in contemporary American society: toward the development of a typology,” Ethnicity, 5, 238–251.

220 Selected bibliography (1978) Banks, J. A. “Multiethnic education across cultures: United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, and Great Britain,” Social Education, 42, 177–185. (1978) Banks, J. A. “Reactions to article, ‘Putting Black into Brown,’ ” Social Education, 40, 191–192. (1979) Banks, J. A. “Ethnicity: implications for curriculum reform,” The Social Studies, 70, 3–10. (1979) Banks, J. A. “Shaping the future of multicultural education,” Journal of Negro Education, 48, 237–252. (1980) Banks, J. A. “Developing cross-cultural competency in the social studies,” Journal of Research and Development in Education, 13, 113–122. (1981) Banks, J. A. “Do censors want schools to disguise the real world?: a response,” ASCD Update, 23, 5. (1981) Banks, J. A. “Education for language and ethnic diversity,” The Humanist Educator, 19(4), 146–156. (1982) Banks, J. A. “Educating minority youths: an inventory of current theory,” Education and Urban Society, 15(1), 88–103. (1982) Banks, J. A. “The future and the American dream,” Social Education, 46, 388–389. (1983) Banks, J. A. “Cultural democracy, citizenship education, and the American dream,” Social Education 47, 178–179, ff 222–232. (Presidential address, National Council for the Social Studies) (1983) Banks, J. A. “Multiethnic education at the crossroads,” Phi Delta Kappan, 64, 559. (1983) Banks, J. A. “Multiethnic education and the quest for equality,” Phi Delta Kappan, 64, 582–585. (1984) Banks, J. A. “Black youths in predominantly White suburbs: an exploratory study of their attitudes and self-concepts,” Journal of Negro Education, 53, 3–17. (1984) Banks, J. A. “The culture conflict paradigm and language diversity: a review essay,” The New Era, 64(4), 104–107. (1984) Banks, J. A. “Education and American ideals: a response to Munslow,” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 5(6), 517–521. (1984) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education and it’s critics: Britain and the United States,” The New Era, 65(3), 58–64. (1985) Banks, J. A. “Ethnic revitalization movements and education,” Educational Review, 37(2), 113–139. (1987) Banks, J. A. “The social studies, ethnic diversity, and social change,” The Elementary School Journal, 87, 531–543. (1988) Banks, J. A. “Approaches to multicultural curriculum reform,” Multicultural Leader, 1(2), 1–3. Reprinted (1989), in Trotter Institute Review, 3(3), 17–19. (1988) Banks, J. A. “Education, citizenship and cultural options,” Education and Society, 1(1), 19–22. (1988) Banks, J. A. “Ethnicity, class, cognitive, and motivational styles: research and teaching implications,” Journal of Negro Education, 57, 452–466. (1989) Banks, J. A. “Education for survival in a multicultural world,” Social Studies and the Young Learner, 1(4), 3–5. (1990) Banks, J. A. “Citizenship education for a pluralistic democratic society,” The Social Studies, 81(5), 210–214. (1990) Banks, J. A. “Making a difference: a university education for the 21st century,” The Boule Journal, 54(3), 2–4. (1990) Banks, J. A. “Social studies education in the United States,” Society and Education, 14, 101–115. (1991) Banks, J. A. “The dimensions of multicultural education,” Multicultural Leader, 4, 3–4. (1991) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural literacy and curriculum reform,” Educational Horizons, 69, 135–140. (1991) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education: for freedom’s sake,” Educational Leadership, 49(1), 32–36. (1991) Banks, J. A. “Teaching multicultural literacy to teachers,” Teaching Education, 4(1), 135–144. (1992) Banks, J. A. “African American scholarship and the evolution of multicultural education,” Journal of Negro Education, 61(3), 273–296.

Selected bibliography 221 (1992) Banks, J. A. “Dimensions of multicultural education,” Phi Delta Kappan Record, 29(1), 12. (1992) Banks, J. A. “Reducing prejudice in children: guidelines from research,” Social Studies and the Young Learner, 5(2), 3–5. (1993) Banks, J. A. “The canon debate, knowledge construction, and multicultural education,” Educational Researcher, 22(5), 4–14. (1993) Banks, J. A. “The culture wars, race, and education,” National Forum: The Phi Kappa Phi Journal, 73(4), 39–41. (1993) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education: development, dimensions, and challenges,” Phi Delta Kappan, 75(1), 22–28. (1993) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education: progress and prospects,” Phi Delta Kappan, 75(1), 21. (1993) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education as an academic discipline: developing scholars and scholarship for the 21st century,” Multicultural Education, 1(2), 8–11, ff. 39. (1993) Banks, J. A. and Banks, C. A. M. “Social studies teacher education, ethnic diversity, and academic achievement,” The International Journal of Social Education, 7(3), 24–38. (1994) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education and school reform,” Doubts and Certainties, 8(4), 1–4. (A forum on school transformation from the NEA National Center for Innovation.) (1994) Banks, J. A. “Transforming the mainstream curriculum,” Educational Leadership, 51(8), 4–8. (1995) Banks, J. A. “The historical reconstruction of knowledge about race: implications for transformative teaching,” Educational Researcher, 24(2), 15–25. (1995) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education and curriculum transformation,” Journal of Negro Education, 64(4), 390–400. (1995) Banks, J. A. “The transformative challenges to the social science disciplines: implications for social studies teaching and learning,” Theory and Research in Social Education, 23(1), 2–20. (1995) Banks, C. A. M. and Banks, J. A. “Equity pedagogy: An essential component of multicultural education,” Theory into Practice, 34(3), 152–158. (1997) Banks, J. A. and Banks, C. A. M. “Reforming schools in a democratic pluralistic society,” Educational Policy, 11(2), 183–193. (1998) Banks, J. A. “The lives and values of researchers: implications for educating citizens in a multicultural society,” Educational Researcher, 27(7), 4–17. (AERA Presidential Address) (1999) Banks, J. A. “Multicultural education in the new century,” The School Administrator, 56(5), 8–10. (2001) Banks, J. A. “Citizenship education and diversity: implications for teacher education,” Journal of Teacher Education, 52(1), 5–16. (2001). Banks, J. A., Cookson, P., Gay, G., Hawley, W. D., Jordan, J. I., Nieto, S., Schofield, J. W., and Stephan, W. G. “Diversity within unity: Essential principles for teaching and learning in a multicultural society,” Phi Delta Kappan, 83(3), 196–210. (2002) Banks, J. A. “Race, knowledge construction, and education in the USA: lessons from history,” Race, Ethnicity and Education, 5(1), 7–27. (2003) Banks, J. A. “Teaching literacy for social justice and global citizenship,” Language Arts, 81(1), 18–19. (2004) Banks, J. A., Cookson, P, Gay, G., Hawley, W. D., Irvine, J. J., Nieto, S., Schofield, J. W., and Stephan, W. G. “Education and diversity,” Social Education, 69(1), 36–40. (2004) Banks, J. A. “Remembering Brown: Silence, loss, rage and hope,” Multicultural Perspectives, 6(4), 6–8. (2004) Banks, J. A. “Teaching for social justice, diversity and citizenship in a global world,” The Educational Forum, 68, 296–305.

INDEX

Note: Page numbers in italics indicate illustrations. Abbott, D. 143 Aborigines 199; see also Australia acculturation: forced 65; full societal participation 120 Acuña, R. 68, 149, 155, 156 Adam, R. L. 4 Africa/African: dashikis 19; debt owed by Europe to 136; slaves 155 African American/Afro-American/s 56, 58, 65, 66, 68, 70, 99, 132, 135; abolitionists 196; civil rights leaders 196; cost paid for desegregation 38–39; cultural characteristics 95; family 157; fight for rights 119; hairstyles 19; history see Black history; History Week 14; influence on development of US Southern culture 143; intelligence of 2; in predominantly European-American schools 195; students 20, 62, 196, 205; transformative scholars 135; women 134; see also Black; Negro Afrocentrism 145 Alba, R. D. 160 Algeria/Algerian 174; immigrants in France 174 Allen, P. G. 130, 156 Allen, S. 180 nn.24, 25 Allport, G. 195 Altbach, P. G. 158 America: creed values 118, 122; democratic ideals 40, 188; denial of equal opportunities to ethnic minorities 110; heroes/heroines, mainstream 140; multicultural education movement 182, 184; oppressed ethnic minority groups 58, 112; see also United States

American Dream 109, 111 American Educational Research Association (AERA) 11, 13 American Historical Association 135, 154 American Indians 23, 100, 155, 199; Indian Removal in 1830s 196; as portrayed in mainstream academic knowledge 154; students 197; see also Native Americans American Political Science Association 135 American Psychological Association 135, 154 American Revolution 31, 119; multiethnic interdisciplinary model for teaching 142 American society: diverse ethnic perspectives on development of 100; and history in school curriculum 72; reconceptualizing 72; and schools, reconstruction of 188 American Sociological Association 135, 154 Americanization 72 Amott, T. L. 136 Anderson, C. H. 59, 67 n.15, 69 Anderson, M. 1, 38 Anglicization 72 Anglo-American Centric Model 72 Anglo-American culture: dominant 117; heroes 71; perspectives on historical events 74 Anglo-Saxon culture: characteristics 76, 193 Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith 9, 77 anti-racism 183 Anyon, J. 158 Anzaldúa, G. 131, 138 n.6, 148

224 Index Apple, M. W. 158, 182, 188 n.5 Applebee, A. N. 130, 132, 138 nn.5, 7 Apter, D. 9, 99, 125 n.14, 196 Aptheker, H. 156 Aristotle 135 Asante, M. K. 145 Asian-Americans 23, 56, 59, 65, 66, 68, 70 Asians 132; in Britain 199; in France 175, 176; immigrants 177 assimilation theory/ideology 100, 116–119, 193; challenges to notion of citizenship 199; on citizenship 209; on citizenship education 210; critique of 119, 120–121; on individual opportunity in United States 100; Third World rejection of 119–120 Association for the Study of Negro (now Afro-American) Life and History 136 Attica State Penitentiary rebellion 109, 114 n.1 Attitudes Toward Whites subscale 46 Attucks, C. 4, 19, 20, 33, 34, 35, 71, 94, 140 Au, K. H. 197, 200, 205 August, D. 205 Australia 199, 200 Aztecs 171 Baker, H. A., Jr 136 Baldwin, J. 2, 96, 110 Balkanization of society, fear of 74, 100, 118, 208 Banfield, A. E. C. 63, 68 n.19 Bangladesh 177 Banks, C. A. M. 11, 13, 49 n.11, 60, 138 n.2 Banks, J. A. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 13, 26, 36 n.5, 49 n.1, 64, 67, 68 n.21, 77 n.5, 93, 94, 95, 103, 111, 126 nn.25, 27, 138 nn.2, 10, 14, 18, 20, 146, 147, 152, 159, 179 n.3, 180 nn.17, 30, 188 nn.2, 3, 189 nn.15, 16, 19, 190 n.25, 194, 195, 197, 199, 201, 203, 206, 208; content integration 133; dimensions of multicultural education 132–137, 203–207; knowledge construction 133–136; racial attitudes subscales 43, 46, 47 Banks, approaches to multicultural curriculum reform 140; additive approach 140–141; contributions approach 140; mixing approaches 143; social action approach 143; transformation approach 141–143

Bannaker, B. 140 Banton, J. 93 Baratz, J. C. 97, 117, 120, 125 nn.10, 11, 126 n.22 Baratz, S. S. 117, 125 nn.10, 11 Barber, B. R. 209 Barth, E. A. T. 42 Barton, L. 189 nn.7, 8 Bates, D. 38, 41 Beals, A. R. 95 Beals, M. P. 39, 41 Becker, C. 30, 32 nn.1, 3, 34, 36 n.2, 110 Begley, S. 157 Benmayor, R. 194, 195 Bennett, C. I. 10 Bennett, L. 113 Berlak, H. 186, 189 n.24 Bernal, M. 136, 157 Bernald, P. J. 180 n.12 Bethune, M. M. 38 Bettersworth, J. K. 26 biethnicity (biculturation) 45; questions raised by 47–48 Bilingual Education Act 115 Bill of Rights 193, 203 Billingsley, A. 96 Billington, R. A. 32 n.4 Black/s: bourgeoisie 57; Civil Rights Movement 9; cultural roots in Africa 19; experience, key concepts in 23, 24, 25; families in predominantly White suburbs 42, 43, 49 n.1; females in predominantly White suburban communities 49; interdisciplinary perspective within historical frame work 22; intragroup variation of 42; as largest ethnic minority 61; life and behavior 96; revolt of the 1960s 19, 57, 61, 167; as “social problem” 96; social scientists 96; suburban residents 42; and White relations 27; working-class spillover communities 42; youth, study of 42–48 Black English 205; and Black culture, descriptions and interpretations of 96; in schools, teaching and acceptance of 120 Black history 33–35; demands for 19; instruction, purpose of 20–21; key ideas and teaching strategies 25; teaching of 3–5; writers of 35 Black History Week 94 Black Studies: courses 71; demands for 19, 61; early scholars in 135; programs 19, 27; scholars,

Index 225 conservative analyses of Black experience 97; teaching of history 3–5 Blank, R. M. 194 Blassingame, J. W. 93, 96, 97, 149, 154 Bloom, A. 154 Blumberg, L. 42 Blumenberg, E. 6 Bogle, D. 153 Bolster, A. S. Jr, 36 n.4 Bond, H. M. 135 Bonilla, E. S. 9 Boston Massacre 34 Bourne, R. S. 119, 126 n.20 Bowles, S. 93, 101, 182, 183, 184, 188 n.5, 189 n.10 Boyer, E. L. 189 n.11 Brady, E. 138 n.4 Britain 174, 177–178, 181; Asian and West Indian children, linguistic problems 178; education response to immigrants 177–178; ethnic programs in 178; ethnic revitalization movements 179; immigrants in school and society, problem of 177; multiethnic education in 167; multiracial education in 178, 182; radical critics of multicultural education in 184; textbooks 31; see also United Kingdom Brookover, W. B. 43, 112, 207 Brookover Self-Concept of Ability Scale 43 Brown v. Board of Education, 1954 37, 40; assessing 39–40; conspiracy of silence 37–38 Bullivant, B. M. 95, 99, 188 nn.3, 4 Butler, J. E. 145 Caldwell, B. 126 n.17 Calhoun, L. 3 California: Berkeley 32; student population in public schools of 201 Cambodia 175 Canada 167, 199, 200; textbooks 31 Carby, H. V. 101, 189 n.7 Carlson, E. 42 Carmichael, S. 116, 125 nn.7, 9 Carnoy, M. 170, 180 n.5 Carpenter, L. P. 67 n.18 Carver, G. W. 1, 38 Castañeda, A. 117, 125 n.12, 152, 200 Catholic/s society 57; of European descent 57 Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington (Seattle) 11

Chavez, C. 140 Cherryholmes, C. H. 147, 154 Chicago 201 Chicago School of Sociology 99 Chicanos 56, 68; see also Mexican-Americans China 210 Chinese-Americans 59, 65 Christian-Smith, L. K. 158 Chun-Hoon, L. K. Y. 6 citizen/s: action 81, 88, 91; actor’s decision-problem 88; in global age, educating 199 citizenship 195, 196; active 208; assimilationist notion, challenges to 199–201; cultural 200; education 12, 193 Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s 7, 26, 61, 97, 199 Clark, K. B. 93, 110, 148 Clark, T. A. 42 Clegg, A. A., Jr, 68 n.21, 98, 190 n.25 Cleveland, Ohio 56 Cloud, O. M. 43 Coard, B. 180 n.29 Cochran-Smith, M. 201 Code, L. 135, 138 n.11, 147, 148, 155, 204 Coleman, J. S. 110 Collins, G. 6 Collins, P. H. 134, 138 nn.11, 12, 204 color: Americans of 60; of nation’s student body 132; of skin 172; status in United States 60 Columbus 113, 154 Comer, J. 9 Commager, H. S. 32 n.2, 34, 36 n.3, 77 n.3 Connolly, H. X. 42 Cooper, A. J. 149 Cortés, C. E. 6, 97, 134, 138 n.17, 153, 180 n.17 Coser, L. A. 99 cosmopolitanism 209 Council of Jewish Federation and Welfare Funds 67 nn.7–9 Craft, M. 185, 189 n.18, 190 n.26 Cross, W. 45 Cuban, L. 19, 33, 35, 35 n.1, 94 Cubans 180 n.10; Jews 180 n.10 culture/cultural: anthropology 23; artifacts, discrete 140; assimilation dominated US social science 99; citizenship 194, 200; clarified identification 103, 208; clash in classroom 110; conflict 134;

226 Index culture/cultural (Continued) democracy 200; development of national, and global identifications, 209, 210; difference model 117; elements within society, wide range of 63; and organization of school, process of restructuring 207; pluralism 76, 116–117, 120 Cummins, J. 103 curriculum: approaches 140–143; culturally relevant or responsive 200; movement for African Americans 129; process of reform 70–76; reform within pluralist-assimilationist ideological framework 124; stress on commonality of heritage 119; theorists and developers in multicultural education 134; see also ethnic studies Darling-Hammond, L. 13, 19, 138 n.10, 197 Davidson, H. H. 110 Day, B. 12, 193 de Mayo, C. 140 decision-making: capacity to make reflective decisions 81; essential components of 21; model 81; process 82, 87, 91; skills 81, 90, 91; and social action 27; and social studies curriculum 90–92; value component of 86–90 Declaration of Independence 118, 119, 193, 203 Della-Dora, D. 126 n.25 Delpit, L. D. 138 n.16, 151, 205 democracy/democratic: and diversity 12, 199, 210; citizenship education 12; goals of United States 203; ideals and societal practices, gap between 101, 186; social studies classroom 102; societies as works-in-progress 193; trends, current 194 Detroit 109 Dickeman, M. 100, 184, 189 n.15 Dimensions of multicultural education 132–137, 203–207 Diop, C. A. 136, 157 Dissertation Abstracts 43 diversity/diverse 199; opportunities and challenges 201–202; positive effects from 76; in world, increasing 200–201 Dodgson, P. 189 n.9 Dollard, J. 180 n.22 Donnelly, M. 136

Douglass, F. 40 Dowdy, J. K. 205 Downs, A. 42 Drachsler, J. 119, 126 n.20, 200 Dreeben, R. 197 D’Souza, D. 130, 135, 138 n.1, 145, 146 DuBois, C. E. 136 DuBois, W. E. B. 39, 136, 147, 156 Eaton, S. E. 40, 41, 194 Edmonds, R. 93 Edsel, E. L. 112 education: for Black uplift 38; and diversity 202; for the gifted 182; for national and global citizenship 207–208; responses to ethnic revival movements 93–94 Educational Materials and Service Center 10 Elam, S. 8 Eldering, L. 199 Elkins, S. M. 23 Ellerbeck, B. 13 Ellsworth, E. 148 Emancipation Proclamation 113 empowerment: for ethnic, cultural, and language groups on society’s margins 194; of school culture and social structure 137 England 177; immigrants control over economic, social, and political institutions 71; problems of ethnicity and schooling 176 ERIC 43 ESEA Act (Ethnic Heritage Studies Program) 77 ethnic group/s 59; in American life, role of 122; attaining inclusion into social, economic, and political institutions 179; Blacks as lower class 43; cognitive styles among 117; conceptualization 59; definition 59–60; excluded 179, 181; oppressed 116, 181; in pluralist-assimilationist ideology 122; psychological captivity in 44; rejection of “out-groups” 47; in teaching ethnic studies 58, 70 Ethnic Heritage Act (Title IX of ESEA) 115 ethnic minorities/minority 98: cultures 117, 120; education, imperatives in 109; group 59, 60; leaders and scholars 100; students, academic achievement of 197; students as political activists 111; unique learning styles 124; youth 112

Index 227 ethnic studies 59; assumptions about 70–71; curricula, organizing concepts for 64; and ethnic content, additive approach to integration into curriculum 140; and ethnic minorities 60–61; ethnic minority content, criteria for selecting 61–62; goals of 75–76; narrow conceptualization of 70; need for 62; new scholarship in 157; planning instruction 64–66; as process of curriculum change 70, 73; as process of curriculum reform 71–72; recent trends in 58 ethnicity/ethnic: in American society 55; awareness 120; Balkanization 100; conflict 74–75, 118; content, value of 63–64; and cultural experiences of the knower 148; cultures, trivialization and marginalization of 95; diversity 76; encapsulation 44, 46; enclaves 58, 71; exclusiveness 46; expanded definition of 58–60; hegemony 99; heroes 71, 94; holiday celebrations 184; hostility 109; identity 45, 46; literacy 63, 66–67; modification of total school curriculum 7; pride 74, 120; protest movements in Canada 181; protest movements in United States 93, 181; and racial pluralism within United States 99; revitalization movements 94, 167, 181, 199; revival movements of the 1960s and 1970s 93, 95–97, 100 ethnicity, stages of 44; biethnicity 45; of Black suburban youth, stages of 46–47; characteristics of stages of 45–46; ethnic encapsulation 44–45; globalism and global competency 45; identity clarification 45; multiethnicity and reflective nationalism 45; psychological captivity 44 ethnocentrism (pro-Blackness) 46, 74; goals of 111; measures of 43; parochial 209 European/s: Discovery of America 135, 155; immigrants to America 56, 59; settlers 97 European-Americans: abolitionists 196; ethnic groups 70; Eurocentric approach 97 Family Resources/family Relations Population Bibliography 43 Farganis, S. 147, 148 Faris, R. E. L. 113 Farley, R. 42

Farmer, J. 97 Faubus, O. 38 Feagin, J. R. 202 Feldman, A. S. 180 n.7 feminists 148 Fersh, S. 9 Filipino-Americans/ Filipinos 60, 65, 168 Finn, C. E., Jr 154 First World War 31 Fitch, R. M. 32 n.4 Fitzgerald, F. 93, 158 Fitzpatrick, J. P. 69, 180 n.11 Flores, W. V. 194, 195 Foner, E. 196 Forbes, J. D. 6, 68 Fordham, S. 151 Foucault, M. 147, 155 France 174–177, 200; assimilationist ideology 176; educational response to immigrants 175–177; ethnic and racial conflict less than Britain 179; government ban on wearing of headscarves 208; immigrant groups in 174, 175; language difficulty of immigrant groups 175; Ministry of Education 176; multiethnic education in 167; problem of ethnicity and schooling in 176 Franklin, J. H. 2, 33, 34, 68, 146 Frazier, E. F. 57, 67 n.10, 157 Frey, W. H. 42 Friedman, M. 69 Friedman, T. L. 210 Fuchs, L. H. 179 n.1 Gage, N. L. 9 Garcia, J. 94, 96, 97, 132 Gary, Indiana 56 Gates, H. L., Jr 136, 145, 156 Gay, G. 10, 13, 142, 160, 180 n.17, 184, 186, 200, 204, 205, 189 nn.15, 21 Geertz, C. 95 Genovese, E. D. 97, 154 Geok-lin Lim, S. 136 Germany 174, 200 Geronimo 71 Gillborn, D. 199 Gillespie, J. A. 100 Gintis, H. 93, 101, 182, 183, 184, 188 n.5, 189 n.10 Giroux, H. A. 48, 154 Glazer, N. 9, 56, 67 nn.1–5, 17, 99, 100, 105, 119, 120, 125 n.15, 126 nn.18, 21, 138 n.1, 145, 180 n.17, 188 n.1

228 Index global citizenship, education for 12, 207–208; decision-making process on global hunger and poverty 87, 88; global dimensions of diversity and multicultural education 11–12, 44, 45, 72; identification 209–210 globalism and global competency 45 globalization 208, 209 Glock, C. Y. 190 n.28 Goebel, J. 94, 96, 97 Goldmark, B. 84 Goldscheider, C. 69 Goldschmid, M. L. 111 Goldsen, R. 69 Goldstein, S. 69 Gollnick, D. M. 180 n.17 Goodlad, J. I. 158 Gordon, E. W. 148, 149 Gordon, M. M. 57, 67 nn.4, 6, 116, 121, 125 n.5, 126 nn.23, 24, 193 Graff, G. 130, 138 n.5 Grambs, J. D. 33, 34, 35 Grant, C. A. 138 n.2, 145, 152, 155, 158, 159, 205 Gray, P. 129, 138 n.3 Great Britain see Britain Greece 174; civilization origin in ancient Egypt and Phoenicia 157 Greek-Americans 57, 58, 59 Green, A. 186, 189 n.22 Green, R. L. 2, 9, 125 n.9 Greer, S. 147, 153 Greenfield, G. M. 153 Grossman, P. L. 160 Guadeloupe 175 Guerra, M. H. 9 Gunnings, T. S. 125 n.10 Gutman, H. G. 97, 154, 157 Gutmann, A. 89 Habermas, J. 147, 148 Hakuta, K. 205 Hale-Benson, J. E. 152 Hamilton, C. V. 116, 125 nn.7, 9 Handlin, O. 66 Hannan, A. W. 189 n.20 Harding, S. 134, 138 n.11, 147, 148, 155, 204 Harding, V. 149 Hare, N. 28 Harvard Project on School Desegregation 40 Hawaii/Hawaiians: curriculum, mainstream, Anglo-Centric 169; ethnic conflict in 167; ethnic groups 168, 170; interethnic relations in 168;

Native Hawaiian students 197, 206; Native 168; physical and cultural mixture among ethnic and racial groups in 168; race relations 167; school curriculum in 168–170; teaching English as second language (TESL) programs 169 Hawke, S. 180 n.17 Heath, S. B. 152, 205, 206 Hechinger, F. M. 203 Henry, P. 140 Herrnstein, R. J. 2 Higham, J. 69, 77 n.2, 116, 125 n.6, 126 n.19 Hill, D. 180 n.28 Hill, R. B. 96 Hiro, D. 180 nn.19, 23 Hirsch, E. D., Jr 154 historians: portrayal of Attucks 34; selection of facts in writing history 31 history: as body of unquestionable truths 29; facts, confused with past events 33; as method of inquiry 30; as process 25–26; structure of 21–23; uniqueness 22; varieties of 33–35 Hogan, E. O. 29, 36 n.5 hooks, b. 155, 196 Horowitz, F. D. 206 House, J. E. 126 n.25 Howe, I. 145 Hoxie, F. E. 150, 154 Hughes, C. C. 2 Hunt, C. L. 180 nn.13, 15, 21 immigrants: groups in Britain 177; in Western Europe 174 Immigration Act of 1924 119 immigration–migration 65 Immigration Reform Act, 1965 201 India 174, 177, 210 inquiry: and decision-making 85–86; as history teaching tool 29; teaching 182; valuing, and decision-making skills, students proficiency in 90 Inscoe, J. C. 2 interdisciplinary concepts 65; knowledge 21; scientific, higher-level 92 internationalism 209 Irish-Catholics 56, 57 Iritani, E. 6 Irons, P. 39, 40, 41 Isajiw, W. W. 77 n.1 Islamic suicide bombers 209 Italian-Americans 57, 58, 59, 70

Index 229 Jack and Jill of America 5 Jackson, A. 66 Jacobs, W. R. 68 Jacobson, M. F. 111, 204 Jamaican ethnic revitalization movement 177 Japan 200 Japanese Americans 62, 65; in Hawaii 168; internment of 97, 196 Jaramillo, M.-L. 115, 125 n.4 Jarolimek, J. 7 Jefferson, T. 140, 158 Jencks, C. 93 Jensen, A. R. 9, 63, 112, 126 n.16 Jewish-Americans 56, 57, 59, 70 Johnson, K. R. 8, 9 Johnston, W. J. 94 Jones, J. 136 Jones, R. J. 42 juvenile delinquency 96 Kallen, H. M. 119, 126 n.20, 200 Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP) 197 Kane, M. B. 67 n.18 Kaplan, A. 147, 153 Kaplan, J. 39, 41 Kappa Delta Pi 12 Katz, J. H. 189 n.9 Katz, M. B. 33, 101, 182, 188 n.5 Katzman, M. T. 43 Kawakami, A. J. 205 Kelly, G. P. 158 Kennedy, J. F. 56 Kerlinger, F. N. 82, 83, 84 Kerr, D. H. 102, 160 Kilson, M. 19, 20 King, J. E. 149, 155, 160 King, M. L., Jr, 8, 39, 41, 71, 94, 198, 210; birthday as holiday 140 Kirp, D. L. 12, 189 n.6 Kitano, H. H. L. 68 Klassen, F. H. 180 n.17 Kloprogge, J. 199 Kluckhohn, C. 63, 68 n.20 Kluger, R. 40, 41 knowing: a priori method 82, 83, 84; four methods of 82; limitations of ways of 83; private or “internal” method of 85 knowledge: characteristics of 147; construction and multicultural education 10–11, 133, 145, 204–205; factual 21; four categories of 21; goals of presenting different kinds of 159; interdisciplinary 92;

interrelationship of types of 151; method of authority 82, 83; method of tenacity 82; methods and ways of attaining 82; positionality and knowledge construction 147–149; and social science inquiry 85; typology 149–151; and values, synthesis of 92 knowledge, types of 150, 151–160; mainstream academic 149, 153–155; personal and cultural 134, 149, 151–152; popular 149, 150, 152–153; school 149, 150, 158–159; transformative academic 136, 149, 155–156 Kohl, H. 110 Korean-Americans 60, 65 Koreans 168 Kozol, J. 110 Krausz, E. 180 nn.18, 20 Kuhn, T. S. 2, 154 Kymlicka, W. 194, 195, 200, 208, 209 Labov, W. 120, 126 n.22, 152 Ladner, J. A. 42, 96, 97, 100, 149 Ladson-Billings, G. 13, 200, 204, 205, 208 Lake, R. W. 42 Lalli, M. 42 Lang, G. 110 Lashley, H. 185, 189 n.18 Lasker, B. 68 Latin Americans 195 Lazarsfelt, P. L. 190 n.29 Lee, C. D. 200, 206 Lee County, Arkansas 37 Leo, J. 129, 130, 135, 138 n.3 Lesser, G. 117, 125 n.13 Levine, D. U. 207 Lezotte, L. W. 207 Lincoln A. 20, 71 London, England 167; bombings of underground 209 Los Angeles 201; Watts district of 109 Lynch, J. 12, 93, 185, 189 n.18 McDill, E. L. 138 n.9 McKee, J. B. 2 McMillan, T. 136 McWilliams, C. 68 Madrid, Spain, bombing of commuter trains in 209 mainstream academic knowledge, literary legacy of 135 mainstream White Americans see Anglo-American culture

230 Index Malcolm, X. 8, 135 Mallette, M. H. 6 Mannheim, K. 2 Maori in New Zealand 199 Marden, C. F. 179 n.2 Marshall, H. H. 42 Martinique 175 Matthaei, J. A. 136 Maya 171 Meier, A. 68, 147 Meier, M. S. 68 Melendy, H. B. 68 “melting pot” concept 55, 109 Mental Health Abstracts 43 Mercer, J. R. 117, 125 n.11 Merton, R. K. 96, 149 mestizos see Mexico Metcalf, F. 180 n.17 Mexican American (Chicanos) 23, 58, 65, 66, 99; youths, learning styles of 117 Mexico 170–172; Asians 170; ethnicity in 170–171; Europeans 170; idealized notion of race relations in 170; Indians 171; Jews 170; mestizos contemporary Indians 170, 171; mestizos focus on civilizations of ancient Mexican Indians 172; multiethnic education in 167; National Indian Institute 172; National Museum of Anthropology 171; school curriculum 171–172; Spanish conquistadors 171 Mexico City, Mexico 167 Meyer, G. 179 n.2 Michel, A. 180 n.14 Millender 33 Miller, L. P. 125 n.11, 149 Mills, C. W. 69 Milner, D. 152, 190 n.27 Minnich, E. K. 134, 138 n.13, 149, 155 Mitchell, C. A. 149, 155 modernization and industrialization, impact on ethnicity 116, 117 Modgil, S. 101 Moluccans 199 mono-ethnic courses 7 Moodley, K. A. 95 Moore, J. W. 68 Morgan, E. S. 32 n.4 Morland, J. K. 46, 190 n.27 Morocco 174 Moton, R. R. 38 Moynihan, D. P. 56, 67 nn.1–5, 17, 96, 99, 157, 180 n.16, 188 n.1 Mullane, D. 40, 41

Mullard, C. 95 multicultural citizenship 193–194, 197, 200, 209; education 193, 210 multicultural education 10, 129, 136, 181; and American democratic tradition 187–188; Banks’s four levels of multicultural content integration 141; in Britain 188; conservative critique of 181, 183–194; curriculum reform, approaches to 140; development, paradigms, and goals 9–10; dimensions of 132–133, 203, 204; as entitlement program 129; and the future 137; gap between theory and practice in 185; goals of 159, 202–203; mixing and blending approaches into curriculum 143; movement, tactics of critics 184–185; and multicultural citizenship 194; multicultural content integration in 133, 140, 203–204; nature of 182; as opposed to Western tradition 130; prejudice reduction in 206–207; progress in 131–132; radical critique of 182–183; research in 197; rise of 181; as synonymous with Afrocentric education 130; teaching implications 159; transformative knowledge, and action 11; in United States 182, 188 Multicultural Education Series 13 multicultural teaching, five types of knowledge and their implications 134 multicultural theorists, responding to radical critics 185–186 multiethnic education 181; across cultures 167; and school reform 7–9 Multiethnic Model 72 multiethnic studies: dominant and desirable characteristics of 97, 98; as strategy to promote social change 101 multiethnicity/multiethnic: calendars 184; ideology 9; and reflective nationalism 45 Multinational Model 72 multiracial education 181 Murray, C. 2 Muskie, E. S. 56 Myrdal, G. 148, 186, 189 n.23 Nakano, L. 97 Nakano, T. U. 97 Nash, G. B. 156 National Academy of Sciences 154 National Advisory Commission of Civil disorders 8

Index 231 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) 38, 61, 136 National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) 5, 145 National Association of Scholars 145 National Commission of Excellence in Education 94 National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education 132 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) 6, 13, 184; Task Force 21 National Front 177 National Jewish Population Study 67 nn.7–9 National Urban League 61 nationalism 57; and national attachments 209 Native Americans 56, 58, 59, 65, 66, 68, 70; contributions 136; perspective 62 Native Hawaiians see Hawaii nativism, new wave of 194 Natriello, G. 138 n.9 Negro history 33–35; writers of 35; see also Black history Negro History Week (now Afro-American History Month) 136 Negroid physical characteristics 60, 173 Netherlands 200; Moluccans in 199 New York 201; City Board of Education 146 Newark, New Jersey 56 Newmann, F. M. 100, 101, 186, 189 n.24 Newsome Training School 37 Nieto, S. 13 Noguera, P. 13 non-White ethnic minority groups 70, 100, 119, 168 Northwood, L. K. 42 Novak, M. 69, 115, 116, 125 nn.2, 8 Nowicki, S., Jr, 43 Nowicki–Strickland Locus of Control Scale 43 Nussbaum, M. 209 Oakes, J. 203 Oakley, D. 203 Ocean Hill–Brownsville controversy in the New York Public Schools 56 Ochoa, A. S. 6, 89 Ogbu, J. 151 Okihiro, G. Y. 196 Oliver, D. W. 89, 102

Ordovensky, P. 160 Orfield, G. 40, 41, 194 organizing generalization 23–24, 65 Padilla, E. 66, 69 Pakistan 177 Pallas, A. M. 138 n.9 pan-Catholicism 57 Paris, France 167 Park, R. E. 99 Parker, W. C. 160, 209, 210 Patrick, J. J. 100 Patriotism 171, 179; development of 26, 29; in White children 35 Patterson, O. 99, 109 Peckham, P. D. 49 n.1 Peirce, C. 82, 84 Pennsylvania State University 146 A People’s History of the United States 156 Petersen, W. 68 Petrie, H. G. 158 Pettigrew, T. F. 42, 110 Phi Delta Kappan 8, 10, 109, 114, 129, 132 Philips, S. U. 152, 197, 200, 205 Phillips, U. B. 2, 113, 149, 154, 205 Physical Self-Concept sub-scale 46 Piaget, J. 118 Piestrup, A. M. 200, 205 Plotch, W. 9 pluralism: critique of 120–121; curriculum 100; curriculum reform 115; democratic nation, effective citizenship in 179; ideologies related to ethnicity and 100, 115, 123; resistance to pluralistic curriculum 97–100 pluralist-assimilationist ideology 9, 121–124 Poland 174 Polish-Americans 57, 58, 59, 70 Portugal 174 Prince Edward County 39 Psychological Abstracts 43 Puerto-Rican Americans 23, 56, 58, 60, 62, 65, 66, 69, 70 Puerto Rico/Puerto Rican 167, 172–174; Blacks 173; color and race in 172; migration to United States 173; multiethnic education in 167; racial categories in 172; return migrants 173, 174; school curriculum in 173–174; society 173

232 Index Quarles, B. 7, 33, 34, 68 Rabinovitz, F. F. 42 Rabinowitz, D. 67 nn.7–9 race/ racial: attitudes 104, 136; caste system 173; and cultural gap between teachers and students 201; and ethnic behavior 43; and ethnic harmony 195; and ethnic relations, four phases 99; ethnicity, and class influence on social knowledge 97; progress in United States 40; riots 8, 177; segregation 1 Race Relations Act, new 178 racism/ racist 20, 21, 26, 27, 28, 40, 60, 67, 94, 185, 186; criminal effects on victims 112; in France and England 176; institutional 12, 56, 57, 98, 185; institutionalized 37, 41, 95, 182 Raines, H. 97 Ramírez, M., III 117, 125 n.12, 152, 200 Randolph, H. 43 Rank, D. 67 n.18 Raths, L. E. 26 Ravitch, D. 145, 154 Redfield, R. 86 Reissman, F. 96 Réunion 175 Riles, W. 6 Rivera, F. 68 Rivlin, A. M. 146 Robertson, B. L. 180 n.8 Robertson, N. L. 180n.8 Robinson, J. 138 n.4 Rockefeller, N. 114 n.1 Rockefeller Foundation 5; Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy 12 Rollock, D. 149 Roosevelt, E. 140 Rorty, R. 147, 155 Rosaldo, R. 200 Rose, H. M. 42 Rose, P. L. 67 n.14 Rosenau, P. M. 154, 155 Rosenberg, M. 43 Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale 43 Rosenfield, D. 43, 46 Rosenthal, R. 111 Ross, B. 140 Rudwick, E. M. 68, 147 Ruiz, V. L. 136 Ruskin, B. 19 Sacajawea 140 Samoan-Americans 60, 65

Samoans 168 San Francisco 201 San Juan 167 Schlesinger, A. M. Jr, 129, 135, 138 n.3, 145, 146, 194 school/s: culture, empowering 207; curriculum to include ethnic content, modifying 71; ethnic studies programs 58; knowledge 149, 158–159; as model communities 197; position of “benign neutrality” 118; primary goal of 118; public, as integral part of social system 110; and society, recognition and legitimization of ethnicity by 179; textbooks 20, 145, 152, 158–160 scientific inquiry 26 scientific method: based on human values and assumptions 84; as way of attaining knowledge 83–85 Second World War 195 segregation and apartheid in the South 196 self-concept (psychology) 23 Senior, C. 69 separatism 65, 122 September 11, 2001 209 Sertima, I. V. 36 Shade, B. J. R. 139 n.21, 152 Sharma el-Sheikh in Egypt, bombings of 209 Shaver, J. P. 5, 89, 102, 138 n.20, 158, 189 n.24 Shockley, W. 8, 63, 68 n.19, 126 n.16 Shuy, R. 120, 126 n.22 Siddle Walker, V. 41 Silen, J. A. 66, 69 Simpkins, G. 125 n.10 Sizemore, B. A. 8, 9, 57, 67 nn.11–13, 100, 113, 125 n.9, 126 n.26, 184, 189 n.15 slavery 196; construction of descriptions and interpretations of 205; happy slaves 2, 3; and the Middle Passage 196; treatment within mainstream academic community over time 154 Slavin, R. E. 138 n.15 Sleeter, C. E. 13, 138 n.2, 145, 152, 153, 155, 158, 159, 160, 205 Slovak-Americans 57 Smith, D. H. 8, 9 Smith, J. D. 2 Smith, L. T. 199 Smitherman, G. 152

Index 233 social action: approach to multicultured curriculum reform 143; and participation activities 21 social justice 102, 199, 201, 202, 203, 209, 210 social knowledge 82, 85 social science: inquiry 84, 85; knowledge 103 social studies: curriculum 90, 101; ethnic diversity, and social change 93; heart of 81; program, goals in four major categories 91 socialization: of Black youths in predominantly White suburban communities 5; importance of ethnic group in 122; of individual 116; of individuals and groups into common culture 118 Sociological Abstracts 43 Sokol, E. 146 Sowell, J. 203 Sowell, T. 97 Spain 174 Spodek, B. 138 n.20 Stahura, J. M. 42 Stampp, K. M. 154 Stanford University 132, 146 Steinbeck 131 Steiner, S. 68 Stephan, C. W. 202, 204 Stephan, W. G. 43, 46, 197, 202, 204, 206 Stephan–Rosenfield Racial Attitude Scales 43, 46, 48; subscale 43, 46, 47 stereotypes and misconceptions of ethnic cultures and life-styles 94 Stewart, D. 189 n.9 Stodolsky, S. S. 117, 125 n.13 Stone, M. 184, 189 nn.13, 17 Strickland, B. R. 43 Strong, W. 102 students: ability to make reflective decisions 76; cultural knowledge 151; radical attitudes, characteristics of 206; and teachers, in democratic society 102; White and students of color, achievement gap between 205 Suárez-Orozco, M. M. 201 suburban youths, Black, study of 43–44 Sung, B. L. 68 Sweden 200 Switzerland 174 Taba, H. 99, 138 n.4 Takaki, R. T. 136, 156

Takashima, S. 74, 77 n.4 Task Force to Reevaluate Social Science Textbooks in California 6 Tatum, B. D. 196 Taylor, J. 45 teacher/s: attitudes and expectations 110; as cultural mediator and agent of change 101, 102, 103; effective characteristics in multicultural society 103; White, in schools 201 Teachers for a Democratic Culture 145 teaching: black history with focus on decision-making 19; cultures and histories of non-White ethnic groups 185; ethnic studies 6; for ethnic literacy 55; historical method 25–26; multiethnic perspectives 72; for social change 100–101; social studies for decision-making and citizen action 7; strategies and materials 66 Tetreault, M. K. T. 147 T-grouping 111 Tharp, R. G. 197 Theodorson, A. G. 99 Theodorson, G. A. 99 Thernstrom, A. M. 100, 189 n.14 Third World rejection of assimilationist ideology 119–120 Thornton, R. 150 Tiedt, I. M. 10 Tiedt, P. L. 10 Tierney, J. 189 n.7 Tomlinson, L. M. 6 Trager, H. G. 206 transformative academic knowledge 135, 136, 149, 155–156; since 1970s 156–158 Tsutakawa, M. 136 Tumin, M. M. 9, 180 n.7 Tunisia 174 Turner, F. J. 154, 155, 205; frontier theory 159 United Kingdom 101; African Caribbeans in 199; ethnic protest movements in 181; see also Britain United States 181; Census, 1990 194; Census, ethnic minorities 201; Commission on Civil Rights 110; Constitution 118; culture and society as an Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture 143; deepening ethnic texture in 193; ethnic and racial microcultures 96; glorifying 35; history, traditional interpretations of 135; idealized values and goals 187; immigrants entering

234 Index United States (Continued) each year 195; institutionalized racism and discrimination 178; marginalized ethnic minorities 20; multiethnic education in 167; non-White ethnic groups 178; percentage of poverty 194; public schools 201; race relations policies 182; rigid racial categories 178; school-age population 201; scientific and technological superiority 210; textbooks 31; see also America; Hawaii United States Constitution 193, 203 unity and diversity, balancing 208–209 Valdés, G. 13 Valentine, C. A. 96 valuation and knowledge construction 146–151 value/s: alternatives 89; and behavior patterns of European origin 109; clarification 86; component of decision-making 86–90 value inquiry 26; and clarification 86 90; in decision-making process 88 Van Ausdale, D. 202 van den Berghe, P. 180 n.6 Van Nees, J. S. 32 n.4 Van Sertima, I. V. 136, 157 Vietnam 175 Vlahos, O. 68 Vogt, W. P. 202, 206 Walker, L. 180 nn.13, 15 Walker, S. 189 nn.7, 8 Walker, V. S. 39 Walter, J. C. 145 War of 1812 31 Washburn, D. E. 125 n.1 Washington, B. T. 1, 19, 33, 38, 140, 158

Washington, G. 71, 140 Washington, DC 201 Weatherford, J. 136 Weis, L. 158 Werner, W. 95 Wesley, C. H. 135, 156 West, C. 155 West Indians in Britain 199 West Indies 77 Westward Movement 135, 152, 155; unit on 159 White, J. L. 95 White Anglo-Saxon Protestants 56, 59 White Anglo-Saxons 58 White Ethnic Groups 58, 65, 66, 69 White history 33–35 Wicker, T. 113, 114 n.1 Wiggington, F. 152 Williams, F. 126 n.22 Williams, G. W. 135, 150, 155, 156 Williams, J. E. 46, 190 n.27 Williams, R. L. 116, 117, 125 nn.8, 10, 11 Willie, C. V. 42 Wilson, W. J. 42, 97, 194 Woodson, C. G. 135, 136, 156, 200 Woodward, C. V. 145 World Wars 119 Yarrow, M. R. 206 Young, M. F. D. 147 Yugoslavia 174 Zangwill, I. 55 Zenón Cruz, I. 180 n.9 Zinn, H. 155, 156 Zschock, D. K. 43

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