n of "conform or drop out" (Cose, 1993, pp. 56-62) - the latter choice being the only one open to many of physical difference from the White Male European-oriented culture promoted by the system (a strong willed-woman, for example, or a dark-skinned Black man of prominently "African" features); the positive aspect of this mainstreaming approach was that it presented, promoted and reinforced an ideal of cohesiveness and unity that extended beyond the classroom into daily life.
The modern multicultural model, by contrast, serves to subvert the images of unity that society holds up for emulation. A student, malleable, easily impressed, can find few reasons to accept mainstream cultural reasoning when she or he is presented with daily reinforcements of his/her own individuality - and, at the same time, is bombarded with attacks (implicit and explicit) upon the general society from which the student is shown to be so individually different. Such "anti-socialization" is not the intent of multiculturalism; it is, however, one end result, reflecting and magnifying as it does the divisions and tensions that have always existed in the mainstream model (but were downplayed for the purposes of promoting unity). Thus, a "gangsta rapper" can achieve the same level of relevance and influence upon an inner-city Black student's perception of life because the school system has accustomed its pupils to a fragmented social environment without clear goals, rewards or ideals (Holmes, Prior, Miller, & Fleming, 1993, pp.60-64). It is a circular progression: the society becomes ever-more divisive and violence-prone because the schools do not socialize them otherwise - then the schools become ever-more an accumulation of "Balkanized" ethnic/racial groups, ready to burst into quick displays of violence, reflecting the social environment they serve. The school system as institutional actor imitates society verite, rather than providing an image of an ideal...