The authors define three levels of content complexity in ethnic materials and present a sequence for incorporating complex ethnic content with an appropriate instructional strategy in order to elicit a higher level of cognitive functioning. (Author/SJL)

Examines the freedom to teach and learn from the author's point of view as a Mexican-American educator and writer. Asserts that teachers must take charge and implement into the curriculum the many literatures of the United States. (PRA)

Addresses the epistemological questions that undergird curriculum debates in higher education over the value and vitality of a canon, a need for intellectual and cultural homogeneity, and the articulation of norms for scholarly inquiry. Challenges general education to communicate the value-ladenness of allegedly objective curricula, events, and…

Discusses approaches used in composition classrooms that address the needs of students living in an increasingly multicultural society. Describes strategies that introduce students to the academic discourse community, and those that emphasize the students' own experiences. Discusses the use of textbooks that emphasize multiculturalism in their…

Publishers' requests to review educators' manuscripts on the pedagogy of pluralism have prompted the author to write this paper in which he takes on the anthropological "spoiler role," contradicting generalizations in the texts by providing exceptions from ethnographic research. Admitting to some personal biases about education texts in general…

Examines stories preserved in the African oral tradition for their use as educational texts. Suggests that these stories can be useful within the framework of a multicultural education program due to their linguistic, narrative, and thematic richness. (MAB)

After summarizing typical criticisms of multicultural composition readers, the author draws on work in "New Literacy Studies" to point toward composition pedagogies that encourage multicultural interactions beyond selections in assigned readers. The author suggests that what is ultimately needed is a productive critical frame not only for refining…

A systems analysis is used to identify four curriculum domains of international education. They are the following: (1) global education; (2) contemporary cultures education; (3) international relations; and (4) development studies. Each is presented in terms of its key goals and central concepts. Several innovative projects are described. (VM)

This paper offers guidelines for the selection of elementary and secondary education curriculum materials that properly recognize the variety of ethnic and cultural diversity within U.S. society. Two areas are addressed. The first is understanding the concept of culture when examining multicultural materials. The second is the determination of the…

This is a collection of articles in which the treatment of Puerto Ricans in published children textbooks over the past 10 years is reviewed. The collection is preceded by an editorial responding to an "American Educator" article branding the Council on Interracial Books for Children as a "leftist extremist" organization. The…

Discusses the recent controversy emerging over California's first serious attempt at rewriting traditional history texts from a more multicultural perspective. Analyzes the opposition to the idea of a common U.S. history and the solutions offered in its place. (CJS)

Multicultural education shows promise for reducing tensions between diverse ethnic, racial, religious, and national-origin groups. Schools, in conjunction with individuals, families, communities and the media, should develop and implement multicultural programs which will foster more positive attitudes. (MH)

Textbooks with a multicultural focus that attempt to promote tolerance are increasingly being used in elementary, secondary, and higher education. The issue is whether or not multicultural readers are a feasible replacement for the traditional literary canon. Changes in academic publishing are responses to activist and minority groups. (SLD)

Includes an historical overview of reading textbooks, a discussion of some procedures used by publishers to eliminate textbook bias, an analysis of a popular Houghton-Mifflin reading series (for grades 1-3), and a proposed statement of the rights of children to unbiased textbooks. (Author/GC)

This paper discusses the evaluation and dissemination of educational materials of relevance in a multicultural society in the context of cultural diversity in Great Britain, and of information service provision in education. The background of multicultural education in the United Kingdom (UK) is discussed in terms of both societal and educational…