Multicultural Education: Getting Started

Burnett, Gary. "Varieties of Multicultural Education: An Introduction." ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education: New York, NY. Jun 1994.

Mr. Burnett gives a summary of the types of multicultural education that were commonplace in 1994. The three main categories that he identifies are: content-oriented, student-oriented, and socially-oriented programs. Each of these groups has a different focus and purpose, despite falling under the same banner of "Multicultural Education." Teachers, local boards of education and the Department of Education may choose to focus more heavily on one strategy than other, but the tide of change will compel all parties to move towards at least one of these methods.

Personally, multicultural education is always a hazy topic for me. I went to fairly progressive public schools in Virginia growing up and earned an International Baccalaureate diploma in high school. That meant that my secondary education included more works-in-translation from foreign authors than original-English literature written by Americans. The history classes that I took were from a diverse perspective and focused not only on North America and Europe, but also Africa, Asia, and South America. As such, I think my own experiences were a great leap beyond what this article discussed. Additionally, the diversity of the classroom that I now teach in dictates an immutable multiculturalism. Algebra is fairly limited in intrinsic bias, so I feel that coupled with the melting pot that my students create, there is a fairly casual exchange of culture created.