Quality Education: An Interdisciplinary, Multicultural Endeavor.

Overview & Synopsis

The most effective education can best be achieved in settings that subscribe to a multicultural education philosophy, with an interdisciplinary perspective. Since America is a culturally pluralistic nation, where race, ethnicity, and culture are major public issues, public education should provide accurate information about the diverse groups. Since the early 1900s, the aims of multicultural education have broadened beyond curriculum revision to include providing students with skills and abilities that enable them to function within their own and the mainstream culture. These aims have been endorsed by educational organizations and should be translated into meaningful policies. Knowledge from other disciplines, particularly sociology, linguistics, and psychology, can be viewed from a multicultural perspective. Educators who have this perspective on the influence of family lifestyle, childrearing practices, bilingual education, cultural identity, and learning styles would not have to rely so heavily on testing. Other disciplines, notably anthropology, political science, and economics, have concepts that can be integrated with multicultural education theories and practices. Multicultural education should be made an integral part of the teacher education curriculum, involving liberal arts faculty as well as the education faculty in a combined endeavor to provide truly excellent education. (FG)