t afrocentric curriculum within the context of multicultural education benefits students. Criticisms of the approach are also examined.
The Afrocentric Curriculum/Multicultural Education
In her discussion of the Afrocentric curriculum, Ratteray (1988) makes the point that a free mind is the first step in the pursuit of liberty, but states that African Americans have been hampered in that pursuit by both the Eurocentric dominant culture and by the lack of consensus among blacks on the nature and goals of black education. This lack of consensus, according to Ratteray can be seen in the conflicting trends found in the history of black education.
Conflicting trends in the history of black education are said to include the following: (1) opposing Eurocentric and Afrocentric definitions of the goals of black education; (2) attempts by European Americans to obliterate the African spirit and control the African American mind; (3) beginnings of an African American alternative vision of black education that goes beyond the non-academic, Eurocentric model; and (4) renewed efforts by some educators to reassert the Eurocentric educational tradition while others attempt to expand the earlier search for an African frame of reference.
Ratteray (1988) calls for European Americans to examine the diverse history and cultural traditions that comprise the multicultural American identity, and to acknowledge the contribution of African culture to the curriculum at all levels of education. She further notes that African Americans must study the role of African culture in contemporary life, and establish Afrocentric criteria for scientifically measuring and evaluating academic excellence. In other words, Ratteray is saying that through an Afrocentric curriculum, African-American students will benefit in terms of not only further understanding their own ethnic background and its contribution to society but also in terms of better understand...