Embracing Race: Why We Need Race-Conscious Education Policy.

Overview & Synopsis

This book examines unsolved issues of race and education, emphasizing four major race-conscious education policies: bilingual education, multicultural curricula, affirmative action, and remedial education. It suggests that such policies are critical to fostering self-determination and personal autonomy in students who would otherwise receive a deficient education. After an introduction, chapter 2 examines self-determination as a crucial underpinning of an education for justice and democracy, discussing the concept of personal autonomy within political philosophy. Chapter 3 examines bilingual education policy in light of Arizona's Proposition 203 and California's Proposition 227, defending bilingual education policy as a way to ensure that English language learners receive an education that improves their contexts of choice and supports the worth of their cultural identities. Chapter 4 explores the controversy surrounding multicultural curricula at the K-12 and college levels, viewing it as an educational approach that teaches students what they need to know to grow and succeed within a diverse society. Chapter 5 reviews and responds to common arguments against affirmative action in college admissions. Chapter 6 examines the debate over remedial education policy at the college level, defending its place in four-year colleges. (Contains approximately 350 references.) (SM)