This book is designed to help nutrition educators communicate with an increasingly diverse clientele on issues related to food and nutrition, presenting strategies and ideas that can be used with families from various cultural backgrounds. Chapter 1 addresses the changing cultural demographics in the United States and the relationship between…

There is much research suggesting that cultural biases or attitudes are difficult to change. This study assumes that the reason for the difficulty is that such biases are deeply rooted in a variety of situational and individual sources that must work simultaneously for change to occur. In searching for a way to conform to this requirement, a…

The influences of culture and political status on the schooling experiences and educational attainment of African Americans are explored. The influences of culture and political status on educational research regarding African Americans are also discussed. Traditional learning environments, including public schools, have emphasized the cultural…

The concept of learning styles is based on the theory that an individual responds to educational experiences with consistent behavior and performance patterns. The complexity of the construct, the psychometric problems related to its measurement, and the enigmatic relationship between culture and the teaching and learning process means that the…

Canada is one of the few democratic societies that has addressed the issue of cultural and linguistic pluralism, incorporated it into its definition of national identity, and formulated it as a formal state policy of multiculturalism. Canada has always been an ethnically heterogeneous society, and the view that Canada values the cultural mosaic…

The contributors to this yearbook attempt to explain the reasons for the poor fit between schools and poor, immigrant, linguistically different, and racial minority students. The problems that confront schools because of changing populations and increased diversity are discussed in the following chapters: (1) "The Old Problem of 'New…

The work reported on in this yearbook collection represent the work of educators committed to the concept that genuine reform takes place in settings where students and teachers work together to create new educational communities. Reports on ongoing projects in several parts of the United States are included in the following chapters: (1)…

Class, culture, and race have influenced the educational experiences of children for centuries, and they are gaining importance in the increasingly diverse American society of today. This reference work explores the critical importance of these issues to American education and uses historical, anthropological, sociological, and theoretical…

An in-depth ethnographic study of an upstate New York Middle School in an ethnically polarized community investigated teacher and community response to multicultural literature initiatives. Most of the data for the study came from interviews with and observations of teachers in the school; it was collected mostly over the 1991-92 school year when…

This paper presents the cases of four preservice teachers enrolled in a critical multicultural education course during Spring 2000, showing how the readings, cross-racial dialogues, and journal reflections that were part of the course helped students, for the first time and irrespective of race and gender, discuss their experiences and question…

This paper identifies and explores three major factors that affect the career choices of African Americans. First, the future of the American employment market is strongly based in technology, yet approximately two-thirds of the African American population reported their level of education at high school completion and lower. Second, African…

This report to the President and Congress addresses issues affecting people with disabilities from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, based on a series of meetings which identified remaining barriers to full participation and developed recommendations for improving federal policies and programs. The main barriers which emerged were: (1)…

This study investigated the perceptions of female international graduate students from non-European countries of their adjustment experiences while studying at an urban research university, identifying coping strategies they used to overcome their problems. Data collection involved focus group interviews that emphasized: why they chose to pursue…

This paper reports a case study of Rajesh, a highly motivated and successful Asian Indian youth who has a severe form of spina bifida, a complex condition of the central nervous system. The paper also describes the demographics and discusses the child rearing practices of Asian Indian families, explains family structure and role relationships in…

This publication presents seven articles concerned with the education of students with disabilities or special talents who also have cultural or linguistic differences. Section 1 contains the following four articles: (1) "Code Switching: A Bridge or Barrier between Two Languages?" (Alejandro Brice and Linda I. Rosa-Lugo); (2) "Resistance Theories:…