Analysis of Multicultural Education

Multicultural Education: Definition, Goals and Underlying Theory

According to Ornstein and Hunkins (1993), multicultural education consists of an attempt to teach an understanding and appreciation of differences among the many ethnic groups that compose American society. Further, it is an attempt to teach this understanding through the curriculum, and at all levels of education, kindergarten to grade 12, and in some cases even beyond into college.

Wessinger (1994) states that, in general, multicultural education programs have four objectives or goals. These are:

(1) to remedy ethnocentrism in the traditional curriculum; (2) to build understanding among racial and ethnic groups, and appreciation of different cultures;

(3) to defuse interracial tensions and conflicts; and

(4) to make the curriculum relevant to the experiences, cultural traditions, and historical contributions of minority groups.

As to theoretical perspectives underlying multicultural education, different authors espouse different theories. For example,

. . .
cultural program is provided by Wessinger (1994) in her discussion of Project REACH (Respecting Ethnic and Cultural Heritage). This multicultural education program has gained prominence as an academic discipline-based program for middle school social studies; indeed, REACH is now being offered to over 60,000 students and hundreds of teachers in twelve different states. REACH infuses information on the history and culture of various groups into the regular curriculum. It is a multicultural curriculum and process, as well as a teacher training process, managed on a school- or district-wide basis. The program is organized around the following four phases: (1) Human Relations Skills. Students participate in activities on self-awareness, self-esteem, interpersonal communication, and understanding group dynamics. (2) Cultural Self Awareness. Students conduct research on their personal culture, family history, or community. (3) Multicultural Awareness. Students study from booklets on American history from diverse ethnic points of view. (4) Cross Cultural Experience. Historical and cultural information in the booklets is made personal through dialogue and exchange with students and adults from different ethnic groups. The
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